by Alexander Tait March 27, 2002

Who Is Oscar Lake? (1996, Emblem/Language Publications Interactive) Walkthrough

Here's another obscure title that few have played and none have written a walkthrough for. This is a unique adventure game that was designed to help learn another language. I played the English version (i.e. to teach English). It was unfortunate that this was the only version I could get because I would have enjoyed it more had I been required to try and learn/understand what was being said in French, Italian, Spanish, or German (the languages this game was made in). With the language challenge removed, we have a fairly simple adventure game wherein a diamond has gone missing from a New York museum, believed stolen by Oscar Lake, the international jewel thief. Unfortunately, you are framed with a mock passport in Oscar's name. You must prove your innocence. The game engine is the QuickTime projector engine 2.12, so it brings along the artifacts and idiosyncrasies those familiar with it have experienced. As with other QuickTime titles, there is variability in events occurring. On three occasions, I became stuck because events did not occur when I entered a room. I saved my game and came back to it later, did exactly the same thing, only to find the event occurred! This made for some frustration. The QuickTime videos are very unusual, with a strobe like effect making the characters seem like they are in slow motion. The acting is uniformly average (compare with Byzantine, a similar idea, if you think I'm being unfair) and there is very little excitement, even when the oh-so-obvious plot is revealed. Strangely for a game designed for adults, there are no believable adult characters, and the villain is more a caricature than a real character, happily revealing how they committed the crime, believing they are too smart to get caught. The graphics are average even for 1996 and average compared with other games using QuickTime. There are no puzzles, only some inventory driven puzzles which are very easy. However, it is possible to do the wrong thing and get caught in a dead end. Be sure to save regularly. Your progress is scored as a percentage and can be accessed from the user-friendly menu at the top of the screen. The game can be finished in less than 5 hours. I think it would be a great tool for teaching a teen or adult a foreign language but as a game, it deserves to be forgotten. Play this if you want to play every adventure before you die OR if you want to explore the potential teaching uses the media has.

NOTE: For some strange reason, in Chandler's office, it is possible to talk with her while standing in front of her desk. However, you do not get any conversational choices unless you sit on the couch, which starts the conversation from the beginning!

STATION
The game begins in a train station with a QuickTime video leading you out to a platform. Turn around and enter the station proper. Go over to a telephone. Use your telephone card with the phone. A person called Chandler tells you to buy a 5:45 ticket to New York. Go over to the ticket booth. Speak with the ticket seller. Give him the money for the ticket. Take your ticket and go out to the platform. The train arrives and takes you to the Square in New York.

SQUARE
Enter the Grand Hotel lobby.

GRAND HOTEL LOBBY
Approach the attendant and ask for your reservation. Your room isn't ready yet. Ask for Chandler's office. You are told it's on the penthouse floor. Go over to the elevator and choose "PH" on the elevator panel.

PENTHOUSE
A man sits at a desk, Chandler's secretary. Speak with him and ask to see Chandler. He buzzes you through. Enter Chandler's office and sit on the couch, Speak with Chandler, apparently an old friend (or more?). She tells you to get your key from the front desk. Return to the lobby.

GRAND HOTEL LOBBY
Speak with the attendant again. He asks for your credit card. Give it to him and he gives you a key for room 758. Go up to the seventh floor to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
Use your key to unlock the door. For some reason your briefcase is already there! No passport either… Hmm, I smell a rat. Watch TV if you like. Check the message on the TV-it tells you you're in danger. Go over to the desk. Pick up the invitation to see the Blue Light, a blue diamond, at the Grand Gallery. Pick up the credit card. It lists Chandler's private phone number. You may phone her if you wish. Check the messages on the phone. Go out of the hotel to the Grand Gallery.

GRAND GALLERY
Speak with the assistant. Give her your invitation. Go into the gallery proper. Speak with Mandy Ming, the museum curator (?) for some inane conversation about the Blue Light. The assistant comes in, gives Mandy some meaningful, bitchy looks (never explained) and tells you that Chandler would like to see you in your room. Return to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
On entering your room, there is no sign of Chandler. Go up to the penthouse-she's not there either. Return to your room again. Switch on the news. The Blue Light has been stolen! As you attempt to exit the room, Detective Dash turns up with a warrant to search your room. They find a forged passport in the name of Oscar Lake. You are promptly taken to the police station for questioning.

POLICE STATION
After some questioning, Dash leaves the room, returning a few moments later. You find out from him that Oscar Lake is an international jewel thief and no one knows what Oscar Lake looks like because he is a master of disguise. After a little more questioning, he lets you go. Return to the hotel lobby.

GRAND HOTEL LOBBY
Speak with the attendant. The news of the robbery is on the Internet already! Go upstairs to the penthouse.

PENTHOUSE
Speak with Chandler again. She tells you she doesn't trust Mandy Ming. Go back to the gallery.

GRAND GALLERY
Mandy Ming is not around. Ask the assistant where she is. She tells you her office is in the back of the gallery. Go in. Go up to the desk. Look down. Open the second drawer on the left. Pick up the menu from the Square Café. It has "dinner tonight" written on it. Turn right. Get the fax. Obviously, Mandy is involved with Oscar Lake. The message tells Mandy that her contact is the waitress at the Square Café and she must tell her that "Oscar sent me". Go to the Square Café.

SQUARE CAFÉ
Talk to Mandy. She says she does work for Oscar Lake but didn't know he was a thief, and you get the feeling she's telling the truth. She got her job sending packages to the Lake Corporation from the gallery through Chandler. Yet, Chandler denied knowing Oscar Lake and said she was suspicious of Mandy… She gives you a letter proving Chandler arranged her employment. Return to the lobby.

GRAND HOTEL LOBBY
Speak with the attendant. He tells you that you have messages in your room. Go up to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
There is a message on your phone. Call 555-2539. A voice tells you their name is Cypher Key and they want to help you with information about Oscar Lake. The voice advises you read and article in today's paper about this recent and other related thefts. Go out to the newsstand.

NEWSSTAND
Wake up the newsagent. Speak with him about a paper. Give him the money and take a paper. Read an "in depth" analysis about the current situation. Go to the police station.

POLICE STATION
Speak with the desk sergeant. How obliging he is with information, especially with the number one suspect! He shows you a photograph of the stolen items. Return to the lobby.

GRAND HOTEL LOBBY
The attendant tells you that you have yet more messages in your room. Go up to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
The phone message tells you to phone 555-5253. Cypher Key tells you to look at Chandler's secretary's computer on his desk. The access code is in the secretary's address book under "Z" in the top drawer of the desk. Cypher Key will meet you in the Square afterwards. Go up to the penthouse.

PENTHOUSE
Luckily there's no one around. Go up to the computer. Turn left. Open the drawer. Look in the secretary's address book. Under "Z" you find the access code is "zebra". Turn back to the computer. Click on the zebra picture to access the "secure" files. Chandler seems to have an unusual knowledge and interest in the stolen artifacts. Exit to the elevator. As the doors open, horror of horrors, the secretary has returned! You manage to make up a weak excuse that he pretty much believes. He advises you phone Chandler nest time. Return to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
Phone Chandler. She denies knowing Oscar Lake. When you explain how much you know, she suddenly becomes very interested in seeing you. Go up to the penthouse.

PENTHOUSE
Speak with Chandler. She asks if you found Mandy Ming. You reveal that you know she knows Oscar Lake. She becomes very angry and asks you to leave. Go to the Square Café.

SQUARE CAFÉ
Speak with Mandy again. She tells the waitress that she knows Oscar Lake. Instead of getting a package, she receives a key, which she recognizes as a key to a music box in the gallery. She gives it to you. Return to your hotel room.

HOTEL ROOM
Check your television. Cypher Key has sent a new message. Apparently, Chandler's secretary's computer has email evidence against her. Go up to the penthouse.

PENTHOUSE
Go up to computer again. Click on the envelope. Read the emails between Chandler and Oscar. The evidence is cut and dried-Chandler has framed you. Return to the gallery.

GRAND GALLERY
Go over to the shelves. Mandy Ming appears. Use the key on the music box she indicates. Open the box inside to reveal the Blue Light. Tell her what you know about the stolen objects. Go outside to the Square.

SQUARE
Go over to the bench. Speak with Cypher Key. He returns your passport and instructs you to tell the police all you know about Chandler and Oscar Lake. (This game could have been called "WHO IS CYPHER KEY?", because we never find out who he is!). Go to the police station.

POLICE STATION
Talk to Detective Dash and the desk sergeant. You tell him about your plans to meet Chandler in her office. He advises somewhere more public. You decide on the Square Café. He says he will listen discreetly to the meeting. Return to your room.

HOTEL ROOM
Phone Chandler. You tell her to meet you at the Square Café. Go there.

SQUARE CAFÉ
Talk with Chandler. Surreptitiously, Dash sits at the bench listening to you reveal what you know… Stupidly, she reveals what she knows and even tries to bribe you (a strange thing to do given if she does nothing, you'll go to jail)! Dash moves in and places her under arrest. The ending is a newspaper headline that does nothing toward tying up loose ends about Oscar Lake. I checked my score (100%) so I assume I did everything that needed to be done. Some sort of closure about some outstanding questions would have been good. We never even learn who Oscar Lake is, why you were involved when Mandy could have been an adequate fall guy, or who Cypher Key is! Was this leaving the story open for "Who is Oscar Lake? 2"? We'll never know…or care!

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