Producer: All American Adventures
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Scott Adams

Questprobe 3: Fantastic Four, Chapter One is the full title of this me which follows those superheroes, Spiderman and The Hulk. These games represent a link up between the inventive genius of the Marvel Comics Group, with its curious assortment of weird and wonderful characters, and the cunning and puzzle-minded deviousness of the Scott Adams intellect.

Whatever might be said of the adventure, one thing is certain: the theme of the game is totally absorbing. Within every young-at-heart person is a desire to know and learn all about superheroes. To be a superhero you must possess some extraordinary powers. With Spiderman it was the ability to cast webs and climb along walls and ceilings. With Human Torch it is the ability to throw flame and fly. The detail with which we are told of the superheroes' powers is part of the style of Questprobe, with comments like 'possesses the mental ability to control ambient heat energy' leading into a detailed synopsis of food-to-energy conversion via Adenosine Triphos hate for ATP for short).

The Thing is aptly described because not only does he have an orange, rocky-textured hide, but also he has no apparent neck or outer ears. As all other superhero creatures, The Thing derives its strange powers from a blast of radiation whose mutagenic affects bestowed superhuman strength - to the point where Thing can lift 85 tons. The Thing's body is able to withstand extremes of temperature from -75 to 800 degrees F for up to an hour, and can withstand the explosive effects of armour piercing bazooka shells against his skin without sustaining injury. It is with some relief that the player finds The Thing's intelligence has remained unaffected by the radiation - it would be worrying in the extreme to have such awesome powers in the hands of a moron!

The adventure begins in the Chief Examiner's office, a character who 'appears to be a foreground, real-time, high priority task running on an unattended Master Computer located somewhere in an ancient, forbidden museum of science on Durgan's planet'. So now you know! if you get stuck on this first location I would strongly recommend a good think on how well prepared you are for this adventure because it doesn't get any easier. It is the sort of adventure which would be difficult even with the solution sheet!

To get over the first hurdle you simply have to do the polite thing which gets the Examiner talking thus: 'In this test you must free Alicia Masters from Dr Doom. You'll have to master the powers of two Marvel Superheroes. You'll be able to switch your point of view at any time'. The two characters he refers to are, of course, Human Torch and The Thing. Switching between characters involves finishing the line 'THING I want you to...' with the word CHANGE which then gives you the line HUMAN TORCH I want you to...' at the bottom of the screen. In this way you can switch between one and the other at will.

I'm afraid it doesn't take long playing this game before you realise how clumsily it has been put together. The glaring white background of the Questprobe series is still there, along with poor vocabulary and a linear set of puzzles to be solved. But what makes this game a little worse than its predecessors is its confusing responses and untidy display. The response of 'OK' to everything you input is simply nonsense. Early on in the game, in the tar pit, I decided to swim. The program responds to this with 'OK', so naturally I assume I am swimming out of the pit. But no, I'm being sucked down and the truth is the program has not acknowledged my swim instruction. When changing from one character to the other say, Thing to Torch in the first frame, the program does not clear the screen and so 'I'm being sucked down' remains when it is clear Human Torch is outside the tar pit and is not being sucked down. Clearing the screen would have saved confusion here.

This is a very unfriendly and unresponsive adventure. Meeting the Blob provides as good an example as any of how the game fails to perform. EXAM BLOB gives 'OK, I see nothing special' while SMASH BLOB gives' OK, it's clobbering time. I smashed my way through the machinery'. This curious stock answer refers to the machinery of one of the first problems in the tar pit. This reply is either a joke or a bug and I tend to think it's the latter. Questprobe has never had the reputation of friendliness, featuring challenging puzzles and stunning graphics instead. Here the pictures are only modest and the puzzles are more involved and bewildering than clever. I can't help thinking Spiderman was less difficult and had more going for it. This third release shows little care for what the British adventure market wants and I think it unlikely that people are that interested in mind-bogglingly difficult games constructed in such an uncaring fashion.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: extremely difficult
Graphics: quite good but nothing to shout about
Presentation: very average
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: fast

FAX BOX
Title: uestprobe 3: The Fantastic Four - Part One
Publisher: Adventure International/All American Adventures
Price: £9.95

Yet another adventure that's been talked about and advertised for a long long time before its eventual appearance, but here it is at last. Now you have the chance to play the roles of both The Human Torch and The Thing. As with last month's Terrors Of Trantoss, you can change control from one character to the other, this time using the SWITCH command.

The single cassette comes in the currently fashionable double-size box, along with a large sheet of information about the different abilities of the assorted heroes and villains. This time you're up against the Ringmaster and his cohorts, the Circus of Crime, including the great Gambonnos and Princess Python, who, according to the notes, "performs with a 25-foot boa conistrictor". Bet that's a hard act to follow!

You get your own act together in the Chief Examiner's office, where your mission is recounted to you if you say a magic word associated with Scott Adams, author of the Questprobe series. A bit unfair on newcomers who can't possibly be expected to know such 'in' information, but the word is listed in the complete vocabulary that you're also provided with - and you're definitely going to need it. It's your task to free Alicia Masters from Dr Doom, monarch of Latveria and possessor of a nuclear-powered, micro-computer enhanced suit of iron armour, I bet he has trouble getting that dry cleaned.

Thing is going to have cleaning problems too, as he begins the game knee deep in a tarpit, and typing I for Inventory shows that all he has is the tar that's covering him. Slowly, move by move he sinks, though you can prolong his survival a little if you tell him to hold his breath once he goes completely under. So what can you do as Human Torch to get him out? A good question, and if I had the answer I'd tell you. After a few hours play I still haven't cracked this first problem, and I've resisted the temptation to ring the software house and ask. A nearby shack provides Torch with a candle, but igniting the tar in the pit (which doesn't always burn) only produces a well- sizzled Thingburger.

Wandering off to a field reveals Dr Doom's castle, protected by Blob, while the Circus of Crime is gathered together in a tent in a fairground. There's a cannon you can climb inside, for what good that does you, and it's when you're battling against Ringmaster's constant attempts to throw you out of the tent that you discover Thing has tarried too long in the tar and the game's over.

Despite the frustration of this first problem. the game's still sufficiently interesting to keep you trying, as you wonder if the solution lies in battling with Blob, inside the circus tent, or in the hot little hands of the Human Torch himself.

The graphics are displayed on the top half of the screen, and very nice they are too. The text scrolls beneath in AI's typical jerky style and rather confused layout. My only quibble is with the price - a little on the pricey side compared with other adventures in the £6.95/7.95 range.

Publisher: Adventure Soft/US Gold
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K

Once again it's time to pull your Y-fronts over your jeans and join more Marvel superheroes in clobberin' the evil opposition into stupefied submission.

Where Spidey and the Hulk have gone before, the Thing and his incendiary chum, Human Torch, now follow in the third of the Questprobe games. Eat your heart our Beyond - how's Superman coming along?

For those whose normal reading matter is less lurid a brief explanation is necessary. These two lads are one half of the Fantastic Four (™ as the blurb repeats over and over). The four were changed into strange mutants by an overdose of radiation and now possess special powers - which, of course, they only use to do good. Reid Richards, their nominal leader, can stretch his body like a lump of Silly Putty whilst Torch can become pure fire and project gaseous streams of hot plasma - handy if you run out of matches to light the stove.

Poor old Thing has become immensely strong but suffers from some unfortunate lurgy which makes him look rather like a dinosaur with very bad skin tone. He is understandably touchy about this as girls find him a little too chunky. The fantastic fourth was a lady - as far as I can remember she was able to become invisible.

The adventure stars only Thing and Torch. Naturally, such superheroes would be rather wasted on ordinary felons and their enemies also possess superpowers - which, of course, they only use to do bad. In this game the obese Blob, the evil Doctor Doom in his nuclear powered armour and the entire Circus of Crime are led by the mind-bending Ringmaster. Your mission is to rescue the fair maiden Alicia Masters from the evil terror of Dr Doom.

The program is presented in the familiar Scott Adams/ Adventure International format - white screen, bright and speedy half-frame graphics and fairly minimal description: "I'm in the fairgrounds outside Latveria and I see here a circus tent. I can go north." You can become either of the superheroes during the game and will find it useful to switch from character to character throughout the action.

There are only about 12 immediately available locations at the beginning of the game and, because there is a time limit, very little exploration is initially possible.

What's the problem... ah well, Thing has become trapped in a giant tarpit near to Doom's castle and will drown unless you can find the means to rescue him. I strongly advise you to read the instruction booklet very carefully before you start. There is a considerable amount of detail about the powers our heroes possess and you'll be entirely in the dark about how to save Thing unless you've read up on them. Even afterwards you will probably find it extremely hard going.

The first Thing (sorry) to realise is that Thing can hold his breath for a long time. If you don't command him to do this he'll simply suffocate after about twenty inputs - at this point the game ends and you have to start all over again. If he's holding his breath he'll be able to survive until he reaches the bottom of the pit. While he's sinking it seems to be almost impossible to instruct him to do anything except wait this for about 17 moves. Finally, he'll be able to "feel ground" where there's some machinery to smash and a dark hole with air in it.

Meanwhile as Torch you can flit around getting handy objects like gunpowder, a candle and a purple worm. If you close your eyes you can enter the circus tent too and collect a cannon - you need to close your eyes to avoid the effects of Ringmaster's psi-powers. Even getting this far took me many, many attempts, all resulting in restarts to try different ways to get a working light-source to Thing before he slipped beneath the tar - nothing logical seemed to work, even weird ideas like firing the purple worm out of the cannon into the pit. It wasn't possible simply to fly above Thing and give him the worm, which may well be a glow worm. He'll take the candle but of course that goes out in the tar.

Part of the problem for me was the way the program responds. On every input there's an OK statement whether or not the action was successful. Sometimes the interpreter will tell you you can't do things but at others you'll find that you've entered a string of commands which get no adverse comment, all to no avail. Even an 'I can't' would have been more helpful.

The interpreter also behaved oddly at times - at one point I was flying above the pit with my candle and asked Torch to do something with it. He simply denied he had it though an inventory check told me 'OK I'm carrying a candle.'

With this and other minor irritants I ended up being downright frustrated rather than entertained. The lack of full descriptions adds to this feeling, as does the lack of any hint facility - you're told to buy a Scott Adams booklet if you need any help. All money in the bank, I suppose.

To be honest, compared with the super-friendly interpreters of Level 9 games or even the basic Quill responses, this well-worn Scott Adams style seems rather primitive and took my attention away from the game itself. The only thing I wanted to clobber was my Spectrum.

All told, a fairly inaccessible game opening with a linear set of problems in a closed set of locations. Unless you're smart enough to get through this in one or two goes you may well end up feeling cheated and disappointed.

Marvel Comic fans will probably ignore everything I've said but, if it was my pocket money, I'd get myself something friendlier like Worm in Paradise or Heavy on the Magick.

Spectrum/CBM64/Amstrad/Atari/BBC
U.S. Gold
Graphic Adventure
£9.95, BBC: £7.95

At long last the eagerlyawaited Questprobe 3, featuring The Human Torch and the Thing, has been released by U.S. Gold. For anybody who has not yet played a Scott Adams gameis there anybody? - let me tell you they are not easy.

Based on the Marvel comic characters, you take the part of both heroes. A pleasant effect has been created in that, by switching roles, you can help your partner. For instance, if you are in the form of, say, The Human Torch when you examine Thing, an instantly-drawn graphic of Thing appears, using the split-screen method with which, I am sure, we are all familiar. Then, by switching roles, you see a picture of The Human Torch - different to say the least.

Your mission is to save Alicia Masters from the evil Dr Doom. To hinder you in your task are such motley villains as Blob, a rather cheerful monstrosity, who is able to bond himself to the Earth by force of will. Then there is Ringmaster and his unsavoury Circus of Crime, which contains as villainous a bunch of performers as you could wish to meet.

The parser accepts complete sentences using 'and' and 'then' as linkwords and the graphics are well-defined and instantlydrawn.

Questprobe 3 will definitely be a giant hit but my feeling is that the Adams database is a little obscure and the price is £2 too much, but I doubt if that will deter any would-be superhero/ines from buying the game.

US Gold
£9.95

In the third of the Questprobe series, you control both the incredibly strong (and imaginatively named) Thing and The Human Torch, who can, as his name suggests, turn into a flaming mass. Your task is to rescue Alicia Masters from the evil Doctor Doom, which makes a change from collecting gems as in other Scott Adams games.

Otherwise there is not much difference between this and the others. The graphics are often stunning, and really catch comic book style. There are some difficult puzzles, probably Adams' most endearing quality; the first, involving a tar pit, will prove popular with the helpline I'm sure. But the text is pathetically brief, with virtually no description. A useful complete list of vocabulary is given, and it runs to 700 words. Some of these are plurals however, and when playing, the parser still feels restrictive. The responses are limited, and the game has an annoying habit of printing OK if it understands the first word of your input - even if the rest of it is absolute rubbish, or before any messages (for example, "OK Sorry I can't", which is just sloppy English).

Questprobe 3 is not a bad game in itself, but when compared with products like Level 9 games, or even some budget titles, it is weak. Adams has produced better, such as Spiderman. Unless you like tough problems or pretty pictures, I wouldn't recommend it; and as for the US Gold claims that "Scott Adams is the undisputed master of the art of adventure writing" - I'm disputing it!

At last it had arrived, and as usual it started with the opening credits. I thought they were terrific, you will see why when you start playing the game! When I first became hooked on Adventure after playing Adventureland back in May 1981, I never imagined that one day.... well, enough of that!

But the credits alone do not indicate the quality of the game. This is one humdinger of an Adventure!

I promised in May to tell you if I had managed to get Thing out of the tarpit - the answer is YES, but only to find him imprisoned in a trap just as confining! And to my consternation, I discovered that rescuing thing is only a side problem to the objective of the game!

I also promised not to tell you how I managed this feat! I will just give you one little hint. After trying out all sorts of complicated manoeuvres and theories, the most obvious, the easy way out, and yet the totally unthinkable, is the answer!

The Fantastic Four features The Human Torch and Thing, and breaks completely new ground in Adventure technique. Here, you have the ability to change at will throughout the game, between the two persona. "Thing, I want you to..." changes to "Human Torch, I want you to..." by the simple command "BECOME TORCH".

Not only can you change between the two, but in fact you HAVE to, because the two must act very much as a team if they are to win through.

So you must not only learn to control the characters and exploit their fantastic powers, but must also learn how to use them to complement each other in a combined effort to rescue Thing's girlfriend, Alicia Masters, from the evil clutches of Dr. Doom.

This game has a full-sentence parser, and it will be absolutely necessary to take advantage of it, for if input had been restricted to only two words, it would have made necessary the asking of further questions. This could give too much away, and make life merely extremely hard instead of impossibly difficult!

Right at the start this time, you find yourself face to face with the Chief Examiner. If you do the right thing, at random you find yourself as Torch or Thing. No matter which character you are playing, if you waste precious moves, Thing will get sucked down and drowned in the tar.

Torch, however, is quite comfortable situated on safe ground nearby, and free to investigate the outside world, where he is likely to bump into our old enemy Ringmaster and a host of other baddies.

Dr Doom's castle is just around the corner so Torch can pop in to see what's cooking! Or can he? That would be just too easy, wouldn't it?

Fascinating opportunities, but the trouble is Thing is on the way down and once he meets his end, so does the game! What the hell do you do, with nowt but a candle and a built-in flame thrower?

OK, solve the problem. New problem - worse! Before long I noticed a Thing-sized dent in the wall - I had been hitting my head against it for hours!

A breakthrough here will give you a bit of breathing space, but how much is not at all clear!

And again, after hours and hours of desperately trying the same things over and over again, knowing they don't work yet sure they must, you take action that is once more the most obvious possible move, and then you'll probably need to start the game all over again - IF you can figure out why!

And then - if you are a reviewer with a tight deadline, and if you are lucky enough to have a certain phone number, you reluctantly use it! "It's not that I can't solve it, Scott" you'll start, unconvincingly, "It's just that I have this deadline..."

"OK, you know what you want to do, so don't forget the game has a full sentence interpreter. Perhaps an adverb...?"

"Gosh! Got it!"

"And I must tell you, there are some super animated graphics to look out for! But you're not any where near them yet! Have a nice day," (What's this? it's gone midnight over here!) "By the way, I'll be in again tomorrow evening!"

Well that's one of the advantages of being a reviewer for Computer and Video Games magazine. You can call Scott up for a hint or two. Even the country's best Adventure Helpline needs the odd piece of advice every now and again...

The fully animated graphics only appear in the SAGAPLUS versions on disk, so don't expect them on tape versions. These have excellent in-memory graphics created by Adventure International UK's artist, and - they display instantly. But do not fill the full screen or the same degree of animation that is to be found on the disk SAGAPLUS.

However, I was playing a text only, pre-production version and even that was enough to make me wake up bleary-eyed each morning, shouting "Flame On Nova!!"

When I had played well into the game, I spent a while away from the computer and contemplated it thus far. How could I get Thing through a wall of fire without burning him up? How could I get Torch anywhere near the wall of fire, so that hopefully, he could pass through it and switch it off from the other side? Let's see, what objects had we get between us?

It suddenly hit me that, quite incredible in an Adventure game, the problems had been intriguing, capable of solution (so far!) and yet between them, Thing and Torch had come across a mere three "gettable" objects! And these were so mundane, you just wouldn't believe how much they could do with them!

In this Questprobe, you don't have to collect Gems! But no Questprobe would be complete without its Natter Energy Egg, and *Bio-gem, would it! Once you find them, you'll be relieved - but before long you'll be worrying yourself silly about them!

And while you're worrying, if you're not careful - BOOM - an earthquake to go with a virtual hurricane! But that could be the least of your worries.

Will you be able to find and rescue Alicia Masters, and thus collect the next secret password in the series?

I suppose after having read this review you're in doubt as to whether I like it or not - all I will say is that's absolutely brilliant!! Miss it if you dare.

Finally, some pretty harsh criticism. Why on earth couldn't the Fantastic Four have been held back to appear in Questprobe Four? It would have been so much neater and far less confusing!