Producer: Games Workshop
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Quilled

Key of Hope is the successor to Tower of Despair reviewed in the December issue of CRASH. Tower of Despair received a good review mainly due to its coherent plot and its detailed drawings within a booklet which linked up with the text in a novel way. Key of Hope lacks many of the impressive features of that game and, rather curiously, introduces a sparse set of poor, full screen graphics.

True, it can now call itself a graphic adventure, but if this only serves to annoy the reviewer then where is the commercial sense in this? in the first 100 locations there are 4 full screen pictures. The inclusion of poor graphics will alienate the text purist while disappointing those who expect pictures, where they do occur, to be of the highest quality. The compromise seen here suits no-one.

Having given the low down on first impressions let me say this game is set in Aelandor and does carry over some of the good points from Tower of Despair. Whereas in that first game your character, the Warrior Mage of Castle Argent sets off east, here he is concerned with the Western Marches of Aelandor. Given the familiar starting point you are not allowed the familiarity of the character in Tower of Despair. In Key of Hope, the White Godess has summoned you to her aid in her fight against the tyrant Malnor, Demonlord of Darkness. But to do her bidding you are catapulted through time where your task is to seek the far-flung pieces of the Key of Hope, the last defence against the shadow of Malnor.

The curious feeling your character experiences in frame one is explained by the fact that you have changed into a new body. Under your new guise you seek the artef act so potent it could not be left to exist in its assembled form. You must find the key, assemble its four parts and use it before Malnor succeeds in his plan to ravage the entire world.

Ian Livingstone suggests this game is an attempt to bridge the gap between standard adventure games and role playing games. I wonder if this explains the curious repeat locations (gentle rolling plains, and grassland like an enormous green carpet) which loosely link up the areas marked on the map in the guide.

A disappointment is the way in which these repeated locations can end up in a mess. For example, dropping the Talisman in the Mountains of Undying Solitude can see a Talisman follow you around as you try to find a way out. This somewhat shatters the image of wandering and reminds the player its just the computer pushing up a repeat location description.

One unusual aspect on the plus side, is the ability to examine objects to the point of actually seeing them graphically on the screen. The game is short, but this is mostly compensated by the inclusion of two parts on the tape. The problems are fairly few and far between but those you do meet will certainly get you thinking.

Key of Hope retains the marvellous redesigned character set for its text as used in Tower of Despair, and some of the panache of that earlier game's guide. It is not necessary to have played rower of Despair before attempting Key of Hope, but to be honest, someone who began playing with the latter game would be missing the better part of the tales of Aelandor.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: quite difficult
Graphics: on odd occasions and not really worth the bother, except for the graphics of objects which are fine
Presentation: very good, with old style writing
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: instantaneous, except where graphics are drawn

NASTY HOBBITS

Richard Price sets out on the road to Rivendull while Tolkien turns in his grave.

Not long ago, after a long day at the keyboard, I settled down in front of the TV for a few hours of mindstretching intellectual activity - namely Hawk the Slayer, a film which would make Mary Poppins seem like high art.

At the beginning was a short voiceover which summed up the plots of about 75 percent of all adventure programs: "This is a story of heroic deeds and the bitter struggle for the triumph of good over evil and of a wonderous sword wielded by a mighty hero when the legions of darkness stalked the land."

All but one of this month's software fall into this category. Games designers seem to think that this sort of plot is all that most players need. I doubt it and once again make a plea for real storylines and humour. Grumble, grumble...

Never mind though, Delta 4 Software has taken the archetype of all those solemn hero tales and turned out a classic parody.

KEY OF HOPE
Publisher: Games Workshop
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.95

The second Games Workshop release is Key of Hope, the successor to Tower of Despair and a two part adventure with some graphics.

Tower featured a cover picture of a strapping weight lifter. Key of Hope sports a dramatic, nay pneumatic, warrior-maiden surrounded by fierce beasts and icy pinnacles... phew.

This program too is written on the Quill and has a difficult gothic typeface. The plot continues the tale of Aelandor in Tower.

Castle Argent has been reduced to ruin and the ever-evil Malnor threatens to take over the world. Find the pieces of the key and then destroy Malnor - thus saving the world for the White Goddess of Truth.

All this is better than going to the office though a bit more strenuous. There are 400 locations and an assortment of magical artifacts and horrors.

The graphics on the review copy were very simple although a call to the Workshop gave me reassurance that these were not the final versions. Neither was the Examine function very productive, except with specific objects, and it could have more variation in its response.

If you enjoyed Tower of Despair then you will no doubt relish the sequel.

Of all the words that might describe Games Workshop's Key of Hope, successor to their Tower of Despair, my choice is WEIRD.

As the game starts, you find yourself standing in the ruins of Castle Argent, the very same Argent from which you set forth on your first quest in Tower. I trust you have played Tower. You have? Good! So you know of the demon Lord Malnor!

Now that Maltior has returned, his essence has fused with that of his ages-old prison to give him horrendous new abilities which are slowly transforming the globe. The castle is now a ruin because the White Goddess has transported you forward in time and placed you in a new body so that you may help her in her age old battle with Malnor.

This Adventure is like Tower of Despair inasmuch as it has been written with the Quill and uses the same Gothic-style character set. But, unlike Tower, Key of Hope has graphics in some of the key locations and, by the look of them, they have been added using The Illustrator program.

Now to the weird part! in one respect it is totally unlike any Adventure I have played before. This is because of the way you move from location to location, or don't, as the case may be. The first time I played the game, it gave me the impression that it was vast. I began to feel like a hiker in a large galaxy! It was not until I tied dropping objects and moving off that I became aware that something very strange was going on! Whatever I decided to drop would follow me about until I hit one of the other main locations in the game! How this works seems to be that every key location in the game is surrounded by a number of other locations which act as a kind of buffer between the key places. By moving a certain number of times in any of these outer locations, you get deeper into the game.

It was for this reason that I found Key of Hope a lot more difficult to play. It is available for Spectrum 48k and comes from Games Workshop.

Spectrum 48K
Games Workshop
£7.95

Following on from the excellent Tower of Despair comes this latest atmospheric two-part text and graphics adventure from Games Workshop.

The adventure features over 400 locations - though only some are illustrated - and has beautifully designed manuscript-style text.

The White Goddess of Truth has requested your aid in the battle against the evil Malnor. You must collect the scattered pieces of the Key of Hope to defeat the Demonlord.

You begin, confused, at the ruins of Castle Argent. Nearby is a plain ring, a spirited, snow-white stallion and a glittering sunsteel sword. It's all too easy to get lost when you start to roam around but with luck you should find a talisman. Pity it's too hot to pick up, though.

You must find water quickly else your bones may soon lie bleaching in the sun and the search for the key over before it has barely begun. Your quest is definitely not going to be easy.

As before, a rich plot, plenty of locations and puzzles and fulsome prose. Highly recommended.