Shoplifter II: The Second Caper
Release type: Shareware
Release date: April 18, 1994
Levels: 3
Author: Sherwood Forest Software
Related games: Shoplifter
Shoplifter II seems to take after the general design of Shootout at Dodge: an overworld that connects to several shops, each strewn with pickups and guarded by flitting dangers. You can freely enter any shop, but to leave you must work your way through to the exit. As in Capcom's DuckTales NES game, the goal seems to be more to reach a high level of accrued wealth than to meet any specific criterion. Once in the overworld (which is to say, the mall corridor), the player may leave the game at any time through the exit.
The shareware episode of Shoplifter II only includes the first store, Seers (say it aloud; every name is a pun of some sort). Along with the Rascal games, this is one of Rob Sherwood's few implementations of a trial edition, suggesting a certain level of confidence in the material. Indeed, Shoplifter II is one of Sherwood's stronger games. It is bright and colorful. The mall corridor is very detailed and well-drawn, much as in the Rascal games. The game supports Sound Blaster cards with digitized sounds and music. It is clear that Sherwood put his work into the game.
Its problems are all familiar for players of Sherwood's other games. The collision is often strange, with wall boundaries extending far beyond their visible limits. Enemies move quickly and arbitrarily, though in this case a careful player may study the patterns well enough to avoid danger. There is little care given to the placement of rewards (or indeed dangers), or to level structure -- though again the game is easier to navigate than earlier efforts like Pedestrian Panic. Overall it can feel as though the player has very little control over success or failure, and that any skill or prowess invested in the game is squandered on a negligible reward system.
Still, the art design is to be admired -- both clean and detailed. Likewise the premise is interesting and unusual enough, as one must equally expect from Sherwood Forest Software.
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Story[edit]
Welcome to the Felonville Mall. You are notorious shoplifter, "The Rug". You have been released on parole from your earlier caper, but that old kleptomania has struck again. During the years you have spent in jail for the acts in Shopliter I, the mall has added a few new stores. Now you are on a shoplifting spree to end all others. Let's get to those stores, and have a nice day.
Instructions[edit]
The concept of Shoplifter II is just like Shoplifter I. You must move your man in all the stores, and get as much merchandise as you can while avoiding the cameras. Each time you get hit by a camera, you lose a little bit of your stealth. Get hit enough times, and you will get caught. Get caught three times, well, you end up in jail, and the game is over.
To move your man, simply use one of the arrow keys to go in the corresponding directions. You can enter the stores by going to the door of the one store you want to enter. Once you are in the store, the only way out is to find the exit door, or to get caught enough times to lose the game. The elevator will take you to other floor of the mall. On the second floor of the mall is the exit door that will take you out of the game.
Please note, this is the shareware version of the game. The only store you can visit is "Seers". To get the other stores, you must register. Also in the registered version there is Soundblaster support in the whole game.
Credits[edit]
Shoplifter II is another of the many fine products from Sherwood Forest Software. Rob Sherwood, president.
Availability[edit]
Available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:
- Public Software Library's PSL Monthly #2-12: Programming (December 1994)
- Public Software Library's PSL Monthly Volume #3-01: Games (January 1995)
- Public Software Library's PSL Monthly #3-10: Education (August 1995)
- Best of Select Games Special 5 (June 1996)
Archive History[edit]
Added to the archive on May 26, 2011. Located on one of many CD-ROMs hosted on cd.textfiles.org, during a search for Game-Maker file types.
Links[edit]
Downloads[edit]
- Shoplifter II (125 kB)
- Mall 1 map (15 kB)
- Mall 2 map (15 kB)
- Seers map (57 kB)
