Midnight rescue was created in 1989 by The Learning Company and was deemed to be a educational game aiming to strengthen the leaning and critical thinking in children.
The aim of this game was to prevent the school from disappearing at midnight, so players had to find the hiding spot of Monty Maxwell (The Master of Mischief). To do this, the player had to roam the halls of Shady Glen School and piece together clues found by reading articles correctly and answering questions correctly and the player must deduce which of the robots he is hiding in by comparing photographs taken of robots to clues obtained by reading passages left around the school and answering questions about them within nine minutes. The game also contains a plethora of articles ranging from fictional character diary entries to excerpts from famous works of literature
During the game, the player will be attached by Maxwell's 4 robots (Buffo, Lectro, Pogo, Rollo, and Turbo). When they appear they would attack the player by attempting to crash into them or throw items such as marbles or pies at them. This results in loss of time or film.
If the player uses his camera to take a picture of the robot before this happens, however, the robot will run away and the player will learn characteristics about that robot. These photos hold information that can be used to identify the robot that Morty is hiding in.
When the player has all four clues and photographs of each robot, he must decide which robot he thinks the Master of Mischief is hiding in. The player must compare the clues gathered from answered questions to photographs that reveal characteristics about the robots. If the player correctly guesses the robot the Master of Mischief is in, he gets a bonus score based on film and time remaining. This will be added to the total lifetime score. If the player guesses incorrectly or fails to gather enough information by midnight, one of the robots will cover the player with invisible paint and the player loses the game. Losing a game does not affect the lifetime score.
Each time the player completes the game, his lifetime score increases (although in the 1995 version, the player receives the points they earned if they guess wrong). At certain score amounts, the player will advance a rank and the game becomes more difficult. At higher ranks, more photographs are required of each robot, the robots move faster, some of the articles posted around the school do not contain clues, and the readings become more difficult.
This game was probably one of the best games I played growing up. I did not have easy access to the internet (at the time, we only have Web1.0 and a dial up modem) but I had access to the good old DOS gaming system.
10/10 game.
I highly recommend anybody to play it!
