WATCHING OUT FOR GREMLINS

Richard Price finds something nasty in the blender and goes to El Dorado.

Publisher: Sentient Software
Memory: 48K
Price: £2.99

The Amulet was disappointing - the plot was very similar to Level 9's Lords of Time with seven time zones to be journeyed through in the search for the fragments of the Time Lord's amulet. That invited comparison, though, to be fair, The Amulet is only a third of the price of the Level 9 program.

Travel across the zones is random so planning can be quite tough. I also found that I was getting bumped off too often and for precious little reason.

In the medieval section, already protected by a shield, I picked up a sword only to be immediately offed by an irate Norman. Although I was armed I was given no chance to fight of flee - that sort of event did not endear me to the game, especially as the same sort of thing kept happening elsewhere.

This one also comes from Sentient Software, but unfortunately it does not aspire to the novelty of the previous game. Whereas Scoop was an inspired and novel game, The Amulet repeats the tired and worn fantasy theme of the quest.

The simple aim is to find the seven shards of the shattered Amulet, which are scattered through time. Trying to retrieve the segments entails traveling through time and space using the magical power of the Amulet. You start out with a section of the broken Amulet, which when rubbed enables you to travel in time, in search of the other pieces. Each 'Time Zone' consists of several very similar locations, all with very bland location descriptions. Objects are sparse, so it is easy to find each section of the amulet with very few major obstacles to be overcome.

Some of the locations insist on playing lengthy tunes after each input which are simply irritating and slow down play, particularly the zone featuring the 'Frenchman' (who insists on killing you if you're not careful).

The Amulet is a rather cliched, and nondescript adventure, with lackluster location descriptions, devoid of atmosphere and lacking colour.

Scoop and The Amulet, Sentient Software, Branch House, 18 Branch Road, Armley, Leeds LS12 3AQ.