Label: Excalibur Software, Unit 209, Telsen Industrial Centre, Aston, Birmingham B6 6TN
Author: CG and SG Groves
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Tony Bridge

The bad news is the price - £6.95 is just a little bit too much for this one.

Even though it's a four-parter, each part is pretty small, and presentation is stone-age Quill.

However, from here on, everything is good news. Pride has been written by someone who really knows their adventures, and all the little problems that adventurers like to be confronted with.

You take the role of John Pride, a lowly detective on the trail of drug pirates, the four parts of the story taking you from a poppy-covered artificial farm satellite via teleport back to your spaceship, which has been taken over by an evil alien presence, and finally to regain control.

There's nothing sensationally original here, but is is superbly crafted.

The first part is a good illustration. After every few moves, you must fill your bottle with water and drink, so you must never get too far away from the source. There is a short cut, but you can't carry more than a certain number of objects when using it. Several forcefields block your way until dealt with, while creepy-crawlies can put an end to your toils all too soon. To add to all your troubles, there is a kleptomaniac android who will come along at just the wrong moment and upset all your object-juggling by nicking the most important one! And this is just the first part...

A subtle sense of humour, plenty of knowing winks in the direction of well-loved adventuring cliches, puzzles of all kinds as well as a great atmosphere make this PAW'd adventure an absolute delight to play.

SUPPLIER: Excalibur Software
MACHINE: Spectrum
PRICE CASSETTE: £6.95 Mail Order only from: Excalibur Software, Unit 209, Telsen Industrial Centre, 55 Thomas Street, Aston, Birmingham, B6 6TN

The galaxy has outlawed the growing of poppies except on designated space farms, to overcome the problem with opiate drugs.

But alien bandits plan to raid one of the farms, so John Pride - that's you - Pride Of The Federation and your mate Jacko, have been planted on one of the farms, to thwart any attempt at a hijack.

You wake up after a drinking bout with Jacko, and find that while you were sleeping it off, an alien force has taken over the station...

This is a three part adventure, with a plot that offers a lot of scope. My expectations were raised by the quality and presentation of review notes, and particularly noted the advice to examine all objects, both moveable and immovable.

I have rarely been so disappointed, especially in view of the potential of the plot. It all started when I tried to read a notice over a door; "I can't do that" was the reply. So I tried "Examine notice".

By the time I had examined the door, the spiders near it, and the droid past it, and got the same reply, I began to get frustrated.

This increased as more and more notices appeared throughout the first dozen or so locations. The only time I got a different reply to EXAMINE was for "Examine south door". That time I moved south! 'Nuff said!