Memory: 48K
Price: £9.95

Mosaic Publishing has coined a new word to describe its program, The Width of The World - bookware. The game is an uninspiring text adventure, limited in the number of locations and the number of problems to solve.

You play the character Alan Roxbury, whose wife Sarah disappeared some seven years ago when over-population caused the world to expand in some mysterious way, creating gaps in the fabric of space into which Sarah disappeared. The depressing tale is told in the accompanying booklet, an unexceptional piece of writing by Ian Watson.

Your task is to discover one of the gaps, pass through it and rescue your wife. Most of the usual two-word commands are accepted by the program, which also includes a few long-winded graphics pictures of locations.

It is unlikely that many people will readily identify with a middle-aged Volvo driver who smokes Gauloises and makes maps of the world for a living. In the case of The Width of The World, for bookware read boreware.

NEVER MIND THE QUALITY..!

Your company, Geographica, is working on a project to produce Mappamundi, which students of pidgin Latin will quickly translate as 'Map of the World'. But this one is to be different - it is to be computerised and to include other scenarios.

Suddenly, something inexplicable happens, and world travel is brought to a halt - even driving home from work becomes difficult. The world map has changed. Millions of people mysteriously disappear, including your wife.

Thus reads the short science fiction story, Width of the World by Ian Watson, which forms part of a new package from Mosaic Publishing. Mosaic specialises in 'Bookware' - complementary book and software - and an Adventure game of the same name by Simon Gould accompanies the book.

Playing Width the World after reading the story offers the adventure player the chance of making it all end happily ever after, for the game takes up the theme where the story ends.

The setting of the events is an unusual one for science fiction - right in the heart of rural England between Forby and Launchester. You start by your bungalow at Ferrier Malvis, and the game takes you into the surrounding countryside, where you may visit the village shops, your small pottery works and your old office at Geographica.

There are various side puzzles to be solved on your way to solving the game itself which is enhanced with graphics. I say enhanced, because, being a bit of a purist, I am not usually too keen on graphics in an Adventure - all too often the repetition of pictures slows down the game and leaves little the imagination. But in Width, the graphics are limited to just a few locations, and display, unless requested otherwise, appears only on the player's first visit. There is just enough to make a light break from the text every now and again, and to provide a little variety.

The game is written in Basic, but the Spectrum's response is quite fast. The output/input mode is a little unusual, in that the computer's reply is quickly displayed, and input is inhibited during a pause for reading.

I left Width feeling that here is a game that is not mind-bendingly difficult, but certainly not a dead give-away. It is a light-hearted excursion, with a humorous disposition.

For example, I had to fix a revolving door before I could enter a building. On being successful I was told: "You didn't know you could mend revolving doors, did you?" In the true spirit of Adventure, the player can have the satisfaction of achieving things which in real life might be totally beyond his capabilities!

Width of the World includes the short story and Adventure game for the 48k Spectrum. Published by Mosaic, it is a new release available through John Wiley at £9.95.

THINGS FALL APART AFRESH

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £9.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Mosaic, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex

This is Mosaic's second bookware package to have an adventure theme. Based on the story The Width of the World by science fiction writer Ian Watson, it deals with a rather intriguing notion. The world is expanding; a journey which would normally take a few minutes now takes hours. And strangest of all, people are disappearing without trace.

In the game you are Alan Roxbury, whose wife was one of the unfortunate victims of the so-called 'distance effect' and disappeared ten years ago. You have been waiting ever since for the world to widen again, and now your chance to find her has finally arrived.

Although the book and software are in a combined package, the game does not follow the story but is really a sequel to it. You still need the story, though, as it sets the scene and provides valuable information for solving the game. This way much of the fun of playing it is preserved.

The text reads well and is generously supported by clues and often extremely funny responses. Surprisingly, the word examine isn't recognised. Instead you use 'look' which allows you to examine specific objects, as well as to describe your location, and that caused me some initial confusion.

There appears to be no scoring system either, although that is probably unnecessary with this kind of game. As for the occasional grotty graphics, these seem rather superfluous and they take a while to appear.

Like The Pen and the Dark (Mosaic's previous bookware) this is at times an infuriating, but nevertheless entertaining, game. The most annoying feature of it is that whenever you reach certain locations, such as where your wife used to go shopping, you are overcome by the distance effect and the game begins all over again.

Which is rather like what happens when you get too close to the Pen in The Pen and the Dark. Indeed, The Width of the World is very much in this tradition. A strange force which, by all accounts, should not exist has weird effects on those who experience it.

The game conveys the essential mystery created in the book, and demands a considerable degree of patience and perseverance to play. If you enjoyed The Pen and the Dark you're likely to enjoy this one just as much. If not, I'd suggest tackling something a little less exacting to start with.