Producer: Runesoft
Retail Price: £7.50
Author: D.V. Stevenson, J.A. Slack

With a name like Spoof you might guess this piece of software represents a lampoon on the software scene. On playing, it reveals a sometimes biting satire on the fantasy world in general and the text adventure in particular. Unfortunately, much of the humour will be lost on all but the most experienced, and literally die-hard, adventures as this adventure proved most difficult without some guidance. As in most comedies there is a fall guy. You help Yaw Ning (The Tired One) to find Spoof the Magic Dragon, despite the whole world being set against him.

You begin in the village square and enter the store to collect your adventure kit and sword to find that the shopkeeper is really a doctor. Who can this doctor be? We learn he is stranded on this tiny planet because he has lost a vital component from his Time Machine. Thus start the Chronicles of Yaw, Part 5387, with the first quest of many to find and return the part.

Moving south past a Keep Out sign you find a green slimy frog sitting amongst the folds of a beautiful dress. Once you've kissed the frog you have nine moves to get back to Grimy Gerty's which lies nine moves somewhere to the north. This may now seem straightforward but what might you have done had you not read what you must do in this column? Luckily my hair is firmly attached to my scalp and I managed to contact Runesoft.

A little further on you find some wart remover but don't drink it - it's one of the items needed to fulfil the quest from the three headed vulture; others are the dress of a princess, a magic rope and the ring from a pig's nose. This last is wonderfully and amusingly set up since no sooner do you learn of your need for a pig's ring than you see a conspicuous sign pointing to a pig's cave. These ever-so easy occasions comically contrast with the utter lack of mercy shown should you make a wrong move with any of the puzzles. To this extent not only is the vocabulary unfriendly but so is the program as a whole, One slip or inappropriate input and you're dead! And it is no use matching satire with silliness. On requesting HELP I was told to panic. I input PANIC to meet IN A BLIND PANIC I THRASH ABOUT, LOPPING MY HEAD OFF WITH A SWORD AS I DO SO with the inevitable result I AM DEAD. One very cute point is you can panic to your heart's content - but only before you find the sword.

At the Bogg Inn you find yourself with yet another quest - the place is riddled with them - this time to get Lancelot's armour. It may show how pedantic this adventure can be to say that you can only enter the inn once (so wandering around aimlessly is not a good idea) and you TALK to the locals in the bar but don't SAY anything, this last being the more usual entry for communication.

One of the few places you can examine anything is within the fairy ring and the only thing you can examine here is the goblet whereupon you drop it. If you stick the pieces back together again you have, in the vernacular of another source of satire, something completely different. This may be the time to mention that you'll need the Holy Grail before you can embark on the barge.

Humour necessarily pervades each and every place name with the Obligatory Mountains, Lake Necessary and Necessary Forest. In the Lake Necessary monster's lair you are told THERE'S A FUZZY PHOTOGRAPH OF WHAT MAY, OR MAY NOT BE, A HUMAN BEING ON THE WALL. The monster busies himself eating half a cat and your left arm and if you try to swim away the monster kills and devours you. The last thing you see are half a cat, a bit of owl and your left arm swilling around the contents of the monster's stomach.

Spoof is a Quilled adventure and therefore has an almost instantaneous response time. As a satirical piece it is often amusing and would suit a jaded and very experienced adventurer.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: Very difficult
Graphics: Occasional, things like signs
Presentation: White text on blue. Good
Input facility: Verb/noun
Response: Very fast

Fed up with his mundane existence and his nagging wife (Dro Ning), not to mention his whinging kids (Mo Ning and Complay Ning), Yaw Ning decides to leave them and look for adventure down at the local (The Drink Ing?). There he hears tell that Spoof the Magic Dragon has returned...

Alex: The adventure's not much like the description, but you wouldn't expect it to be. The aim is to find a component for the doctor's machine. Response to your commands is excellent, with almost immediate replies. But the best part about this adventure is the humour, which makes a pleasant change from the usual seriousness. HIT

Alan G: Adventures aren't usually very funny, but this one is and it tends to make it stand out from the rest. What's more, you don't have to wait ages for a reply. However, text-only adventures aren't new, and they only have limited appeal. Even this one, with its humour, will only be interesting for a short time. The text is white on a blue background and there's absolutely no sound at all. MISS

Alan H: The idea is quite basic, but the content is much better than lots of the other adventures, especially the humour which helps to maintain your interest. This all goes to make one of the most playable adventures around, and there are various screen prompts to help you on your way. The fact that there's no sound, rather than detracting from the game, tends to make it even better. HIT

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

After a long career of portentous and mysterious adventures the grim, hardened explorer may well have lost his sense of humour somewhere in the depths of his copious backpack. Never fear Spoof, by Runesoft, will go some way to restoring that essential character trait.

Using the Quill interpreter, this classic text adventure invites you to participate in the hunt for Spoof the Magic Dragon. That may well be intended to mislead, as there appear to be a number of other sub-quests.

As you leave the obligatory village in your role as Yaw Ning, the deeply-bored citizen, you will discover signs pointing to such typical destinations as The Secret Mysterious Hidden Cavern.

Despite the spoofy style the adventure is well-constructed and contains all the necessary problems to make an adventure the brain-racking experience it should be. The authors have made good use of the Gilsoft system and its minor limitations do not intrude on the action. The humour gives a real lift to the program without interfering with the journey and its problems.

SPOOF THE MAGIC DRAGON!

Spoof by name, and spoof by nature, this refreshing Spectrum game pokes fun at all those cliches so often met by avid Adventurers.

The game starts with the title "The Chronicles of Yaw, Part 5387". Yaw, so the inlay tells, is the husband of Dro who, together with their children Mo and Complay, form the Ning family. In fact, the inlay makes good reading - it had me in stitches!

Yaw is fed up with his mundane existence and goes off to his local, The Dragon Inn, to find himself an Adventure. "Well don't come back drunk!" shouts Dro and slams the door behind him.

Down at the Inn, the Innkeeper has a laugh at Yaws expense. "Haven't YOU heard of Spoof?" asks, winking at the other customers, "Legend says that when King Froggo returns, so will the Magic Dragon to avenge old wrongs."

"What we need is an adventurer, to kill him!" shouts a drunk. "I'm here, I'll kill him!" shouts Yaw who sets off and soon finds himself in Necessary Forest.

This game, as well as providing a lot of laughs, is also crammed full of challenges - in fact, you can hardly make a move without being interrupted in one quest and given another one.

At one point, you find yourself near a phone box and the phone starts ringing. Like a mug, you answer it. "Hello, is Dave there?" asks a voice at the other end. "No," you answer. "Call him, will you, he's probably just down on the beach."

So you do and, sure enough, Dave waves and makes his way up to you through a secret tunnel in the cliffs.

Dave is sent a mysterious mission and he invites you to follow. You get in his boat and, as he rows you across the Essential Ocean to the lighthouse, he sings songs about fish fingers - you're sure you've heard them before. You notice his black beard glistening, either with spray or spit, as he sings.

Spoof is a text-only Adventure with instant response and constant wit. My only complaint could possibly be that every now and again a command is difficult to phrase - but that is not to say the vocabulary isn't adequate. If you enjoy a good laugh, then try Spoof, you'll love it! Meanwhile, I'm going back in to see if there's a Mandatory Maze!

Spoof is for 48k Spectrum from Runesoft, priced £7.50.

DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT YOU'VE BEEN HAD

Runesoft
48K Spectrum
£7.50

It happened ont he witching hour 'neath the glow of a Trinitron tube. I felt a sense of alarm and a definite tightening of the skull. Whipping out a pocket mirror (always carried) I found myself confronted by what appeared to be a grinning potato. My stony visage had finally crumpled with pleasure. I'd stumbled upon one of those rare delights, a genuinely funny adventure,. The thing was called Spoof, for the 48K Spectrum from Runesoft. I cackled hideously long into the night.

Spoof is a standard format text prog that parodies all those now familiar sword 'n' sorcery cliches. Anyone with a fondness for the genre can't help but raise a smile as they wander past rotting wooden signposts proclaiming, 'The Obligatory Mountain' and 'The Necessary Forest!' You take the guise of Yaw Ning (the tired one), a wretched peasant embroiled ina number of puzzling tasks. There's the shopkeeper who's really The Doctor (yes, him) in disguise - he needs a vital component for his time machine; Bulbo the enlightened lighthouse keeper who's after the legendary Golden Fleece (well it gets chilly out there on the rocks); the cheerful proprietor of The Bog Inn... I can't remember what he's after...

Still these tasks are of little import. The game's strength is in its jokes and witty repartee. The telephone routine is a good example, and it doesn't give too much away! The scene takes place after a trudge across 'The Obligatory Mountain'. Imagine a telephone. It starts to ring...

Keaton: Um. Answer 'phone...

Spoof: "Hallo. Is that Dave?"

Keaton: "Um. No.

Spoof: Can you get him for me? He'll probably be down on the beach. Shout him for me will you?"

Keaton: Um. Shout Dave.

Spoof: As I shout I see a figure on the beach. It waves to me and disappears into the cliff below. Moments later he arrives at the cliff-top singing about fish fingers or something. He stops singing and takes the 'phone from me. He puts the 'phone down. "I have to go to the lighthouse. Would you like to come?"

Keaton: Um, Yes.

Spoof: "Follow me," he says and then he disappears down the secret tunnel.

Keaton: Um. Follow Dave.

This quality of interaction is maintained throughout the game. Beautifully observed and precisely anticipated it's a real pleasure to play. Apparently author's Don Slack and Dave Stevenson conceived the idea after an altogether larger, more sombre project.

"We'd just finished this fully fledged heavy duty Dungeons and Dragons adventure," says Slack, and thought that the whole genre could do with a send-up. We bounced some ideas around and decided on Spoof. Spoof the magic dragon! It sounded about right. I think it's a good idea to have a bit of variety on the adventure scene. There's plenty of room for parody."

FAVOURITE

Both authors have their favourite sequences. "I like it all!" declares Stevenson with undue modesty. "No, I think the place names tickle me the most. They're so corny."

Slack is fond of the Owl and the Pussycat routine. "That whole section on the barge is really funny," he says. "I also like the double endings." He goes on to explain in detail and I suddenly realise that what I thought was an odd bug in the program is in fact all part of the joke! Slack and Stevenson are so pleased with the character of Yaw that he's slated to return at a later date. I for one will be waiting.