Producer: Atlantis
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: D. Liddle & J. Kesson

Now here's a bit of culture for you. There was this geezer, who may well have been blind, sitting around on a Greek island in about 800 BC, chronicling the kind of tales that led to those spectacular monster films with hideous sea creatures and winged horses, and the gods above playing animated chess with the heroes. Well, that geezer was Homer, and even if some of the monsters may well have been a figment of the translation, the stones are still a super base for an adventure.

The story here centres around the Greek hero Odysseus's return from the fall of Troy to his homeland of Ithaca, the smallest of the Ionian Islands in the Ionian Sea. Odysseus was noted for his courage and ingenuity which helped the Greeks win the battle of Troy. His ten year return home was fraught with danger and he could only win his wife Penelope after killing her suitors.

The game begins with a very pleasant tune and a reference to a 'Beowolf which transpires to be an anonymous Old English epic poem notable for its starting words or stressing parts beginning with the same letter. There are graphics in this adventure and the first picture showing your Greek sailing vessel is decorative enough. The first frame is of the 'you ain't gonna get any further until you've solved this one' type. 'You are on a beach along which are lit numerous signal fires. To the north can be seen a city engulfed in flame with a giant wooden horse rearing its head above the conflagration'. A short sword lies in a fire and you clearly aren't going to get it until the fire is out. Boarding the galley is perhaps a little exacting and is an early sign of the not-so-friendly vocabulary ahead. The EXAMINE command is also far from friendly and invariably fires out an 'I can't' with a mind-numbing lack of originality.

The highly entertaining 'I can't' greets your first attempt to leave the shore in your ship; the game wastes little time or effort giving prompts. Giving some nautical thought to your predicament should see you set sail for the first encounter where a lack of nautical awareness might make it your last. Your first destination is the Libyan promontory of Lotophagi, the land of the Lotus-eaters. This land bears the fruit of the lotus, a stoneless, saffron-coloured fruit about the size of a bean. It has the property of making those who have tasted it lose their memory. If I now tell you that some described the fruit as a kind of apple from which a heavy cider was brewed you'll see what I mean about the essence of these old works getting messed around in the translation.

There's a curious bit in the first area visited where you pick up the coconut and this is acknowledged by sticking the maze picture of the forest up onto the screen, otherwise it's a straightforward case of picking up the goodies and heading back to the ship. Once the nautical narks learned in the first instance are adhered to zipping from one area or island to another is perfectly feasible right up to the fifth destination, the shores of Aeaea. Beyond here are two large rocks representing the fates of the whirlpool of Charybdis and the six-headed monster, Scylla.

I personally found Return to Ithaca interesting as I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology. Ancient Greece was a time of real heroes and the enthralling mix of otherworldy events and ghastly, hideous creatures makes both compelling book reading and adventure playing. The programming behind this game turns out to be not as sophisticated as it might but the theme is enough to keep the player's interest.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: moderate, perhaps difficult without a book on Greek mythology
Graphics: average for a cheap game
Presentation: good
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: fast Quill response

Label: Atlantis
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K
Reviewer: Richard Price

Sailors' tales always grow in the telling. Tall stories of sea-beasts, strange lands, magic and monsters have probably been around since someone first got the idea to hollow out a tree trunk and float away down river.

The ancient Greeks, being sharp traders and daring seamen, were particularly partial to such nautical fantasies - twenty-five centuries or so ago you could have wandered into a dockside bar in the Greek port at Maresilles and listened to the story of the crazy explorer who claimed to have sailed so far north that he's discovered an island called Britain and, further north still, a place where the sea froze. This bit would always get them rolling around helplessly with laughter and calling for more retsina.

Nobody believed such stuff, of course, probably because they'd all taken in the tallest story of all - the Odyssey, a mixture of bizarre traveller's tales held together by the central theme of Odysseus' return home from the Trojan War.

This Odysseus, a crafty and fairly vicious pirate who called himself King of the Isle of Ithaca, had got up the gods' noses somewhat by devising the idea of the Trojan Horse and bringing about the ruin of their precious city of Troy.

So when he loaded up his war-galley with loot he may fondly have believed that he'd be back home with his wife Penelope in a few weeks or so. The gods had other plans and saw to it that he spent the next ten years going from danger to danger.

Return to Ithaca from Atlantis software lets you retrace Odysseus' journey and relive his exploits amongst the drug-crazed Lotus Eaters, cannibalistic Laestrygonians and the renowned Cyclops.

The game is Quilled text with some location graphics, mainly to depict new landfalls. Not surprisingly you begin on the sea-shore beside the burning towers of Troy. There you get your sword and board your galley. Check your inventory carefully and you'll pretty quickly have the sword tucked in your belt. Sailing is another matter - the description of the ship doesn't include all the details.

Set sail and you'll be carried to the land of the Lotus Easters, a strange tribe who thrive on hallucinogenic fruits. There, within the maze which can be tricky if not mapped, can be found a barrel of wine. You're going to need that wine at your next stop - the island of Polyphemus - where you'll find the Cyclops, a voracious giant who's quite happy with a snack of sailor pie.

Quite possibly you'll go back to the ship with your wine clutched in your hot little hand only to find yourself stranded forever amongst the laid-back Lotus Easters. There's your trusty ship, a speck on the horizon. Forgot to drop anchor didn't you? There are a number of tricks like this dotted around the game and you'll quickly learn to be careful and apply logic to the proceedings.

If you know the Odyssey legend you'll remember that Polyphemus was disposed of in quite a complicated way. The program uses a different and more simple method to get out of his clutches so don't assume that because you've read the book you can walk through the game.

In general though it does stick to the original storyline, ideally suited to a text-only style. At times I felt more could have been made of the sea-travel - once you've upped anchor you are simply transported to the next destination and don't need to navigate your way around the ancient Mediterranean. This seemed a shame as it would have been more entertaining to find correct routes, even if it meant visiting places at the 'wrong' time in the story. Certainly it would have given a more open feel to the play.

Descriptions aren't too bad. They can get quite lengthy and often contain concealed information. More could have been made of the strange scenes, however, and the horror of Polyphemus' cave was not played up to its full extent.

The graphics are full-screen Illustrator type. They are pleasant enough and use repeated routines for quite a few of the locations, placing the same ship in varied landscapes.

Not enough has been done to alter the basic Quill messages and Examine too often gets the I can't response - again slightly more detail would have enhanced the feel.

Despite these criticisms. I enjoyed playing Return to Ithaca. It's not a mind bender but the story is familiar and the approach intelligent.

What's more it's cheap, so the combination could be irresistible to those on a tight budget.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
SUPPLIER: Atlantis
PRICE: £1.99

At £1.99 this adventure is a good buy., there is no doubt. So bear in mind the low price, as you read on, for a review must be a critical assessment, irrespective of price.

This is a game that typifies Quilled games at their worst.

The recognised vocabulary patchy, and the quality of replies to the player is taken into account in the vocab rating, too. "I can't" is just not good enough without some sort of explanation as to why.

Quite often a player will have a perfectly reasonable theory as to why a particular command should produce results, but it is the incorrect one. Some sort of explanation is required, or the player is left wondering whether it is the vocab he entered that is lacking, or the command itself.

The plot covers the tourney of Odysseus back to Greece after the fall of Troy, a journey which took ten years. As Odysseus, you must set sail in a galley anchored off a beach near a burning Troy, and your journey takes you to various islands, with tasks to perform and problems to solve on the way.

The game plays quite well, The problems are quite logical, and fairly easy - but are just enough to make you pause and think awhile.

Thinking perhaps the branch was meant to blind the cyclops, barring my exit, I tried, many ways. Whether this was vocabulary or the wrong answer, I could not tell, for I CAN'T was the only response I could get.

Pity - could have been a really good game. I suspect that had it been programmed by the authors, instead of Quilled, a lot more of the detail would have been covered. But it's still good value at the price.

Atlantis
£1.99

You play the part of Odysseus in this graphic adventure, and must re-enact his epic voyage from the fallen city of Troy to his girlfriend Penelope in Ithaca. A journey which lasted ten years and was fraught with countless perils, according to the extremely brief instructions.

Return To Ihaca is Quilled, with rather average, though not unattractive, graphics from The Illustrator. These are full screen, and annoyingly repeat every time you enter a location, so you have to wait for them to draw each time.

The game is very difficult. Even I, a supposedly experienced adventurer, became stuck within the first two locations. In the end I had to phone Atlantis and ask for help (it was either that or risk the wrath of Bryan and his whip again). However, rather than to be an entertaining challenge, the difficulty is increased to near impossibility by a very tight vocabulary. At times you are required to use really obscure wording like SET SAIL. The fun of trying various solutions to a problem is diminished because the program is almost totally unresponsive. Except when you enter the right combination, it doesn't play along with your ideas. Thus instead of the computer being a tool for you to control, you end up working for the computer, which isn't the way a good, user-friendly adventure should be.

That said, for a mere two pounds Return To Ithaca will provide a reasonable challenge for the experienced adventurer, if you can tolerate the finicky vocabulary. But it you're a novice: stay clear!