Topologika
£9.95 disk only

Last month I reviewed Topologika's Countdown To Doom, an extended (text-only) version of an adventure previously released by Acornsoft. Acheton, another re-release didn't need any extending - it already had one of the most complex and convoluted adventure environments ever devised. Very much in the style of the archetypal Colossal Adventure, it combines a progressive science fiction scenario with the more traditional treasure-hunt theme.

The Ruling Council of Acheton issues a monumental challenge to sentient life-forms everywhere: explore the planet, discover the secrets of its magic locations and risk death to find as much treasure as possible to boost your reputation as interplanetary challenger supreme.

The journey begins modestly enough outside a farmhouse. You enter it and find a set of standard adventuring equipment: an empty bottle, a bunch of keys and an oil lamp. A little more exploration reveals a massive network of bizarre underground caverns. Acheton is a planet of many secrets: magical laboratories, secret harbours, complex mazes, dangerous dungeons, gardens and cliffs are all concealed in a complex subterranean environment.

There are numerous treasures, ranging from jewel encrusted orbs to antique paintings and violins. Unfortunately just picking them up isn't good enough - you have to take them back to a safe near the entrance of the labyrinth. This is easier said than done - some routes are extremely difficult to negotiate while carrying certain objects. Should you try to close the safe door before you've collected enough, the Ruling Council gives sneering voice to its contempt.

One of the more justifiable criticisms levelled at this type of game is that long stretches of time are spent wandering around sets of forbidding but mostly empty caverns. Not so Acheton - budding magicians need to have their wits about them all the time. Innocuous looking torture chambers are more than likely to spring into life, the plants in the wizard's greenhouse are more dangerous than they look and gaping chasms are just waiting to swallow innocent adventurers up. Should you fall prey to a sudden and untimely death, you are given the option of reincarnation. If you choose to reject it your journey reaches a fitting end in the gloomy jaws of hell.

Experienced adventurers will find one or two of the problems rather familiar. Inevitably you need to fill your bottle with water and recharge your lamp after a given number of turns. Going on to automatic pilot doesn't always work though, as some seemingly obvious problems have deviously hidden depths. The Ruling Council has a nasty sense of humour and delights in leaving misleading clues. The one or two puzzles that you may have enough experience to solve come as a welcome respite from the high difficulty level that characterises the others. If you really do get hopelessly stuck, Topologika's inbuilt hint system is always ready to help...

For an older than average game Acheton has an efficient parser which responds to complex commands, including ALL and EXCEPT. There's no EXAMINE command (you see everything you need to in one go) and no RAMSAVE option so it's advisable to keep saving to disk.

All those who fell in love with the Jewels of Darkness trilogy and adventures of that ilk probably won't be able to resist it. It's definitely one of the best versions of that veteran genre on offer. Acheron is available for £9.95 direct from Topologika at FREEPOST, PO Box 39, Stilton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE7 3BR.

FAX BOX
Game: Acheton
Publisher: Topologika, PO Box 39, Stilton, Peterborough PE7 3RL
Price: £9.95 (Plus-3 disk version only)
Reviewer: Mike Gerrard

Topologika's just brought out several Speccy disk-only (and text-only), adventures, and titles like Countdown To Doom and Philosopher's Quest might be familiar to anyone with a Beeb-owning friend. The latter sold in its tens of thousands for that machine, but the one I'm looking at in its new Spectrum incarnation, is Acheton.

This takes place in the four thousand and twenty-seventh year of the reign of Yelka-Dekkim IV (just thought you might be interested). It's a challenge to the greatest adventurers in the known universe, but that won't prevent YS readers from having a go as well. Your task? Simply to uncover the secrets of the land of Acheton. Did I say 'simply'? (Yes I did, 'cos I remember saying it).

To give you some idea of the scale of this disk-only game you're given a clue sheet which won't give anything too much away by itself, but which runs to 233 questions! The 'on-line' help is a feature of Topologika games, and I'll bet a lot of people have mixed feelings about this. If you're having trouble with something, you type HELP and you're prompted for a clue number, which you get by looking at the clue sheet I mentioned. Typing in the number gives you a genuine clue, and you're then asked if you want a more detailed due, right through to the solution to the problem being given - but you're always warned if that's about to be revealed. A good feature for beginners, but you'll have to be really disciplined not to look up the answers each time you get a bit bogged down.

With this game you start at the end - the end of a road, surrounded by forests, farmhouses, fields and a slight depression. You already have 50 points to your credit and haven't even touched the keyboard yet! Can this success last? Well it seems to do early on, as you can soon pick up quite a few treasures. The adventure's basically another excuse to go wandering round an underground cave system at the start - and I like the Tomb Room where failed adventurers are buried. It does open up to other areas too later on, and obviously the treasures get rather tougher to collect!

The parser's not up to the standard of Level 9 or Magnetic Scrolls. It can cope with multiple inputs, but really it's your basic VERB-NOUN type, and one disappointment is the lack of an EXAMINE command, which can not only add fun to a game but gives clues to the puzzles too. To its credit is the game's size, which at about 140K means a hell of a lot of game-play - as your map will soon show. So if you don't insist on the latest state-of-the-art fancy adventure, then Acheton is good value-for-money.

Spectrum +3 Diskette: £9.95

The mysterious ruling Council Of Acheton issue a message to sentient We-forms everywhere. They challenge the greatest adventurers in the universe to uncover the secrets of their realm, Acheton. For those who succeed the rewards will be great; riches power and knowledge, for those who fail... death.

Standing at the end of a road with a building to the North gave me a sense of Deja Vu. The feeling increased as I entered the building to discover a lamp, a bunch of keys and an empty bottle. How long before I found the grate leading down to the cave system? In fact it wasn't long at all, unfortunately this particular grate opened only to allow access to a well and a freezing death. Obviously there had to be another way down.

Travelling west along the road through the forest, I came across an old mine entrance, thinking it to be the way to treasures undreamed of, I descended. Regret quickly followed as a loose slate fell on top of me, subsequently ending the game.

There had to be another way down!

East from the budding took me to an enchanted forest, the trees closed in behind me blocking off the exit. To climb a tree seemed the logical answer, but which one. Each tree (when descended) took me to a different location, one of which was a small clearing consisting of a hole leading down to a chamber and a network of tunnels.

By the time I reached the 'immense hall of smooth rock' in which lay the 'large boulder with the characters "J4" inscribed on it', I had had enough. Level Nine released a better version of this type of adventure years ago. I suggest you buy their Colossal Adventure if you want to take part in this style of quest. Although Topologika*s version is by no means poor, it doesn't match up to Level Nine's expertise.