Zodiac Software
£3.50
Authors: Andy Lowe and Dave Dutton

As if in response to my recent pleas for more female heroines, Zodiac Software have created Charlotte Webster. A Fairly ordinary mortal with a weakness for computer games and Bay City Rollers posters (yukk), she is hurled into the midst of an absurdly crucial mission by the purchase of an innocent-looking computer game. Won over by the excruciatingly awful poetry of a certain Zytrwxz ('runty looking') she is summoned to the court of King Derek of Fantasmia ('self-loving') who charges her with the task of defeating the wicked, devastatingly evil and thoroughly selfish Ruth ('nasty').

This epic quest is divided into five action-packed parts, including an intermission which gives you a chance to sit hack and savour the jokes over a quiet little snack. The adventure takes you through the obligatory, glowing portal, the inevitable maze, a withered (no sorry, handsome) old man, a locked tower and a very climbable looking tree. No prizes for guessing that this whistle-stop tour of adventureland isn't to be taken entirely seriously. There's even a cliche corner where you can solve all your favourite puzzles for the 50000th time AND enjoy them.

It's very easy for a parody to lurch into a repetitive round of boring, predictable and thoroughly monotonous spoofs. This one doesn't - probably because there's too much going on. The screen does a passable imitation of your trusty Speccy loading up, turns into a badly programmed home-grown adventure complete with spelling mistakes (it's all over in a moment, don't panic) and punctuates Charlotte's trip with one or two appropriately musical sound effects. A variety of friendly and not so friendly Fantasmians include Norris the joking gnome, a sexist bookseller, several stereotypes, a herd of man-eating cows, a journalistic elf called Mike and an are - of course.

Behind all this lunacy there lurks quite a playable adventure. Don't expect mind-bending puzzles (you'll be too busy reading the text anyway), just a thoroughly entertaining jaunt through a jungle of parodies, wisecracks and cross-references.

Interaction with other characters is always interesting and almost always helpful. If you do get really stuck you can summon Zytrwxz by saying Z. The environment is complex enough to take quite a bit of exploration and one or two brain-teasers should keep you guessing for a while.

As another production home grown in the fertile soil of Gilsoft's PAW, Fairly Difficult Mission has all the facility's usual advantages. The parser accepts complex sentences and pronouns, allows you to speak to other characters and has a RAMSAVE feature. Inevitably there are a few limitations but no very glaring ones.

Presentation throughout is impeccable. Colourful graphics and one or two special effects turn Charlotte's fairly difficult mission into a very professional game. If you have the odd £3.50 to spare, a lunatic streak, and a dark sense of humour, send your grubby contributions to Zodiac Software, 22 Peakdale Avenue, Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

FAX BOX
Game: Fairly Difficult Mission
Publisher: Zodiac Software, 22 Peakdale Ave, Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs ST6 5QP
Price: £3.50
Reviewer: Mike Gerrard

Fairly Difficult Mission? Sounds just about my level. This latest Zodiac game is a generous four-part epic (plus foot-notes, plus a bonus 'Intermission' program), hence the slightly higher-than-usual price, but it's worth every penny. As I've commented before, even the loading instructions with Zodiac games are hilarious, as is the introduction. One difference this time is that in the interests of sexual equality, the star of this adventure is computer-freak Charlotte Webster who sits at her Speccy about to load her latest game into it - just like you. Coo what thrills!

Zodiac's games are full of little touches that always amuse me. Try examining the TV and your own TV does a good impersonation of a TV just waiting to have a Spectrum game loaded into it. Later on in the game, when you meet King Derek of Fantasmia (who he?), you'll be given your own chance to review an adventure game that you also get to play, and it looks like some of those that are sent into me from time to time, complete with mis-spellings and bugs! Clever use of PAW here.

You've been summoned to see King Derek by the man with no vowels (no vowels, I said!) and that's Zytrwzx, who also sounds like the hero of many an adventure sent into me. Zodiac's tongue is never far from its cheek, if you know what I mean. After meeting Derek and being given your mission, which is to bring back the stolen... oh, never mind, that's not really the point. Next thing you know you're in the game's featured maze - and even this had me laughing, especially when I got some help at escaping from the rather tall elf called Mike, though he'd only give it to me in return for a stamped addressed envelope. Now who could this be based on? (Write your answers on the back of a fiver, please, and send them to me).

The first part of this game is admittedly more of a 'page-turner' of an adventure, to get you into the story, but the vast numbers of EXAMINE commands and little sub-routines make it great fun to play through. The nub of the adventure comes in the middle two parts, which I mention only because it allows me to use the word 'nub', which doesn't happen often. But when you get to the 'nub' (there it is again), the game gets tougher by far. Curses - you have to wait longer between the jokes! The whole thing's a send-up of adventures where the heroes have funny names, there's an obligatory quest, an obligatory maze and an obligatory glowing portal. They've even given you a chance to use a swear-word legitimately in the program - is this a first? And possibly a last?

Anyone who's bought earlier Zodiac games won't need me to tell them to rush out and buy this one... well, you've got to stay in and buy it actually as it's mail order only. Anyone who hasn't tried one before: do yourself a favour and investigate pronto, if not sooner.