Producer: Central Solutions
Retail Price: £3.99
Author: G Fong, K Murray

Prelude's story goes like this. Your mission begins in a briefing room somewhere in southeast England. You have been briefed by your commanding officer and must now fulfill your vital mission.

To the east of the briefing room is the CO's office, a modestly decorated place dominated by a large desk and chair in the centre of the room. A portrait of the gaffer himself glares down from one of the walls. To the south is the CO's secretary. She asks if you have seen the CO and of course the answer is that you haven't. An open door lies to the north while the main doors which will presumably get you out of these first three locations are to the east. Now the problem is (and you've been given the salient points to mull over) is how to get out of the main doors to the east of the secretary's room without the following report coming up 'The secretary follows you out. You feel a sharp stabbing pain in your back. As you lie on the floor dying you decide never to trust a woman again (especially German ones!)'. The only clue that I dare proffer is if you hang around in the secretary's office for a while she comments on not feeling very well, the inference being that all the noise has given her a headache. This clue really won't be much help until you're onto the solution anyway so I don't think I'm giving too much away.

Later on you meet a radar tower, what appears to be an aircraft runway, and a stores department where I am sure there must be a way past the wire mesh above the counter.

Antteroo is an arcade game written in 1985 which, considering the age of some of the software reviewed this month, is positively bang-up-to-date. Unfortunately many of the programming techniques are woefully ancient with jerky character movement replacing the very smooth scrolling which typifies the 1986 game. Further the animation is primitive in the extreme with the only noticeable change being from a right-facing character to a left-facing one. Also, for my liking at least, the second frame jumps in difficulty far too much when compared to the relatively easy first frame.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: pretty difficult
Graphics: average but fast
Presentation: okay
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: Quill

Central Solutions
£3.99

Don't judge a book by its cover. Can the same saying be applied to computer games? If so this inlay's verdict's pure amateurism. And when you turn the box over to reveal more of the same... Double your displeasure?

Antteroo isn't actually that bad, but it's so-ooo unimaginative. Does your collection really need another platforms and ladders variant? if so here's a competent, moderately difficult addition to that teetering pile that threatens to crush you.

On the otherside, Prelude turns out to be a graphic adventure set in WW2, produced with The Quill and Illustrator so it lies outside my domain. Suffice to say, those who like this sort of thing may find it a reasonable bargain. They're unlikely to want Antteroo too though. Tough!