LEGEND
Century Software
Memory: 48K
Price: £14.95

You may need a fork-lift truck to carry away Legend from Century Software. The game comes in a vast video style box containing a thick novel, a map, keyboard overlay and the cassette..

The program is in two parts. The first is an adventure game which is mainly menu driven with a graphic combat sequence in real time - nearly, anyway. Your role is that of Rek the Reluctant and your task is to search the land of Drenai for warriors to defend the inhabitants against the relentless and terrible Nadir hordes. On your way you must also solve a number of sub-quests.

There is very little text input as most options are chosen by single keypresses.

The second part of the game depicts the siege of Dros Delnoch, where you have taken the warriors you recruited in the first half. That section is a graphics strategy game and some rather spindly soldiers are shown against a backdrop of battlements.

The combat sequence adds little to the game and is mainly a matter of reflex - a warrior is shown flailing his sword around and when it stops you must choose from different types of thrust. The siege may well appeal to strategy fans but can easily become tedious after a time and could not be called addictive.

The instruction book read "Legend, the game, is not based on or inspired by Legend, the book. This raised a big question in my mind as I loaded the game into my Spectrum. Why use the title Legend and then why include the 380 page book?

These questions were answered just a few moves into the Adventure for, as I was bidding Horeb the innkeeper farewell, he beckoned me over to kiss his three daughters, saying "You remember their names, of course?" Although the game does not follow the plot of the book, it is set in the world of Legend and the characters are the same. You must therefore read the book to find out who's who and answer some historical questions.

You take the part of Rek, adopted son Horeb, with the task of becoming the Eagle of Bronze and raise an army to defend Dros Delnoch against the Nadir barbarians from the north. Not an easy task for, as well as trying to do all that, you must search the kingdom for the magic armour and sword of the Eagle.

The method of input and output is unusual, with full text used to describe the locations and answer the more complex puzzles, whilst multi-choice input is used for movement. Graphics come into play when you enter into combat with other characters, or run the length of a Cave of Doom. To negotiate these caves is rather like driving north up the southbound carriageway of the M1.

I found that coming to grips with some the objects takes some thinking about, in a large number of locations you are given the option to search and in most cases get a reply like: "What would you like to find?" If, for example, you can deduce what you need to gain entry into a tower in the Valley of Tears that item will then turn up!

Should you become tired of playing the Adventure, you can flip the tape and play part two which is an arcade game. This recreates the final battle at Dors Drenai but, finding it somewhat repetitive, I soon gave up in favour of part one.

LEGEND OF THE AXE

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £14.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Century Communications

Scott Duncan joins the defenders of Dros Delnoch in Century's Legend.

Legend, Century's first venture into the adventure/strategy market (not counting MUD, that is) is of a familiar species: bookware.

As seems to be the norm with this sort of game now, product presentation is of a high standard, with the components enclosed in a very large video style box.

In the box is the book, at 384 pages the largest I have yet seen in bookware, a map, instruction booklet, key overlay, and tape with two different games on it.

I had read the book before, when it first came out (and was incensed to discover that Century have apparently cut its price from £4.95 to £2.95!), and, while I enjoyed it, felt that it was nothing special. It's a good, solid potboiler, and the basic plot is a hoary one - the heroic defence of a supposedly doomed fortress by a motley band of failures, who, forced to draw upon their innermost reserves, find moral salvation. As a result, I wasn't expecting much from the game. I was wrong.

To begin with there are two games, and both, in their own way are challenging. The manual, which is rather skimpy unfortunately, shows a certain lack of imagination in calling the first game, centering on Rek's adventures recruiting defenders for Dros Delnoch, the Role Playing Game, and the second, which covers the actual battle, the Siege. Somehow, I couldn't help feeling that some rather more evocative titles might have been chosen - especially as the first paragraph of the manual states grandly "you are about to enter the fantasy world of Drenai - a world of danger and high adventure - the world of LEGEND."

The quest game begins with the player, Rek, being summoned to the palace of Lord Abelayn where he is told that he is to succeed Earl Delnar as the next Lord Warden of Dros Delnoch. Abelayn suggests that Rek search for the legendary armour of the Earl of Bronze, and a "magic weapon of great power." At this point, the astute player will have noticed the first divergences from the book's storyline.

Time is actually the most important part of the quest game. You have roughly 90 days for your mission. By that time, you must have achieved your objectives and reached Dros Delnoch. Otherwise, the Nadir hordes led by their leader Ulric, who has a natty line in biting chickens' heads off, will sweep over the walls of the fortress and fall upon the defenceless (and rather spineless) Drenai empire.

Before you are allowed to set out, however, you must face the first test in a series of problems designed to combat tape piracy. This is nothing more than a check on whether or not you have the book. If you don't, woe betide you - you won't even leave Drenan, the capital city. Once the main part of the adventure is entered, it soon becomes clear that this is no classic two word input verb-nouner. Most of the decisions are menu driven, and, usually, once you have visited a particular place, returning is only a waste of time.

Let's assume that you follow the book's story as closely as you can, in which case the first place visited will be Graven Forest. Here, as in the book, you face a bandit in single combat. Combat in the quest is graphic. A large figure appears on screen - wearing a red tunic and a silly smirk - and waves his sword arm windmill fashion. He will stop in one of five positions, and you must select the appropriate parry and riposte within a very limited time span.

Unfortunately, it is at this point that the one major problem in the game raises its ugly head. The template supplied lists only your attack options; you have to refer to the booklet to find which keys defend against which enemy attack, and you have to memorise these.

I finally worked out a solution to this; I stuck five pieces of paper to the screen in the various attack positions, with the number of the correct defensive keys on each. As a result, I managed to survive a little longer than I did when I first started playing - but my TV looks like it cut itself shaving.

The template, which should be a game aid, is in fact a downright hindrance. It only covers six keys, and it's not really worth the effort.

As you progress through the game, you will face , various rather more intellectual challenges. Some are open input questions, whilst others involve working out simple substitution codes, or mathematical problems - or even brain teasing riddles of the sort Gollum would have loved.

It's only after you have started your travels through the empire that the game begins to exert its charm - of which it has a great deal. In the limited time available to me, I got quite involved.

Some seasoned adventurers might turn up their noses at the game because of its menu driven structure, but I thought that it worked very well. Indeed, there are a great deal of potential adventurers who will see this as a good introduction to the field.

Incidentally, when you find the Cavern of Death, you will have to play through a mindless little arcade game, which involves ducking or jumping over arrows. It's important to avoid as many as you can, not merely because if you get killed you have to start again but also because the more wounded you are, the longer you have to rest for and remember, time is vital!

If you are successful in recruiting characters to your cause, or in finding the Earl of Bronze's armour or the lost magical weapons, you are told that they will be waiting for you at Dros Delnoch. At the end of the game, you will be given a percentage measure of your efficiency. The better you do, the more troops you will have to face the Nadir.

On loading the Siege game, you will see a wall divided into 10 sections. This is only the first wall, and there are six in all. You have to deploy your troops along the wall in the most efficient way possible, before the Nadir attack.

When the Nadir hordes do start attacking, you will see them swarming over the battlements; your men are blue, their enemy red, on a yellow background. Below each wall section is a display showing the number of men defending and attacking. After each wave, you have the option of moving your forces around to reinforce weak spots, or of retreating to the next wall.

The Nadir attack three times a day, and will not fight at night (union rules it seems). If they fail to win at least half a wall, they will retreat when night falls.

It's exceedingly nerve racking watching the barbarians sweeping over your troops, and the decisions you must take require a fair amount of thought. While there may seem to be less for the player to do in this game, as opposed to the quest game, it is far more challenging. I must admit that, so far, I have been slaughtered mercilessly very soon.

Legend is a very competent game, and should do very well. It is, however, very expensive at £14.95. On the other hand, with the book and two games included, it is worth it, I feel.

Now perhaps if I could find the Earl of Bronze's armour, the magical weapon, recruit Druss and Joachim, work out what Bowman wants, help the sheriff of Riverdale build her bridge (non sexist game, this) and solve a few other problems, I might have a better chance..