Producer: Dollar Soft
Retail Price: £6.50
Author: R. Stevenson, P. Durbidge

'You must move from one location to another trying to find three keys and ultimately the scroll. When these objects have been found take them to the hut. (How exotic!). When moving about, you may come across various items which may be of help to you later on, and you may pick these up if you wish to... may instruct with various phrases such as NORTH, SOUTH, TAKE STONE.'

I hope Dollar Soft forgive me for one moment but this no-nonsense northern description of adventuring I found genuinely amusing. It's also good to know that the company is continually improving its product - I have version 2.0 - and no doubt Dollar Soft will glean some useful information for the next amendment, once all the reviews are out. The cassette inlay gives the impression of a company new to adventuring hoping to attract a fresh audience. Well, if this is the case Black Tower isn't such a bad game and shows some features which, like the cover, bring a smile to the countenance of a jaded reviewer.

The screen is divided into roughly two halves. The upper shows a simple graphic representation of the scene while the bottom half scrolls information about the location, visible exits and what you can see. I say scrolls but this is to demean what is a theatrical romp across the screen. The print enters stage right, prints across at a steady, moderate reading speed, then flits left as if in a ballet dance. Once this bolero has ended a return to the norm is abrupt. You see Josh, a stilted, wooden character first met in Suicide Island. But no, I will not banter endlessly as if lamenting a wet weekend in Whitley Bay. No, this game has more going for it than Suicide Island.

Black Tower has an average response time of 27 seconds due to its curious, novel, printing display. It shows some advances on its predecessor. Suicide Island, by allowing L for LOOK and both TAKE and GET for picking up objects. The game is a little rough at the edges and doubtless version 2.1 will be nearing completion by the time you read this.

Difficulty: Average
Graphics: Yes, but poor
Presentation: Good
Input Facility: Allows simple sentences
Response: Probably the slowest ever written
Special Features: Character Interaction, but low level

Your quest is to find three keys and a scroll and return them to the hut where you started.

With one or two exceptions, the graphics are not worth viewing. The text scrolls smoothly on a split screen under the graphics, but the response is painfully slow at about 10 seconds which is a long wait. Worse is the fact that key location details disappear under the graphics by the time the response is complete. Although there is time enough to read all the text, a quick look aside to jot down details on your map and you'll miss other vital information.

Other shortcomings include a QUIT with no RESTART?, a failed TAKE that gets no response at all, and a blanket reply YOU CAN'T DO THAT YET! to commands that are unrecognised.

Any attempt to examine either a character called Josh, who might be man or beast for all I know, or any other feature results in the hilarious reply: CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT.

This is a pity, since the map developed in quite an interesting way and so did some of the events, like helping a servant with a crossword. Given a bit more thought, more memory and less graphics, Black Tower could have proved quite interesting and enjoyable.

Black Tower is from Dollarsoft for the 48k Spectrum.