Producer: IMS Software
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Quilled
Author: D Whitelock

In last month's CRASH I joked about writing a review live. That joke has now cracked up because I'm doing just that, sitting here typing out after my 'copy' date with May's CRASH lying beside me. The reason behind this slipshod attitude is not the snooker on the telly (although this provides the best background entertainment I can think of) but a problem which fills acres of Lloyd's letter pages that is, how do you get the infernal program to load when some dimwit needs his head examining? After trying many tape recorders I selected the one which seemed the nearest to a load, turned its realignment screw fully and pushed down on it hard with the screwdriver as only in this way would this program load (about once in every three attempts). Persons about to submit software to The Trail please note.

I thought it worth the effort because this game is well presented, with a very attractive redesigned ye olde character sette, neat little graphics slotted in above the text, and providing a vast area to run around in and explore. Also, who knows what software will turn up in the shops in the months ahead. Although not credited as such it is in fact a Quilled game. Surprisingly, though, not all the available memory is used up, something akin to arrogance for a game which makes use of a programming aid.

There are no easy problems to get you into this game, in fact there aren't that many problems per se, a fact which made itself plain after I had played for over three hours and visited some 40 locations. The only problems after all that time were two locked doors and a deadly mummy. Any difficulties with these will not be eased with a useful HELP command far from it, the program does not seem to understand HELP. Further, EXAMINE always gives 'There is nothing of interest'. The only object on these travels which appeared to be of any use was a spade and digging with this proved impossible.

This summing up paragraph could have had some cheap joke directed at the title of this software, but that would not be in keeping with the tone of The Trail.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: very
Graphics: small token graphics on most locations
Presentation: good
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: very fast

It's rather sad that certain adventure games on the market find it necessary to hide their origins. I refer, of course, to those written using Gilsoft's Quill utility. I assume the reasoning is that the buying public are prejudiced into thinking they're in some way inferior. True, there are some awful adventures, but most are quite good and often very competitively priced. Just because someone is the best machine-codist in the world doesn't mean they have the ability to write good adventures - Quill simply gave people with adventure ideas an easy way to try them out without the hassle of machine crashes; in fact, software houses have been using utilities like it for years! In Ghoulies, the code has been changed and graphics added, but the basic adventure was obviously written using Quill. Come on IMS Software, it's a good adventure, so why not show your appreciation by giving Gilsoft a mention!

Enough gripes about the software industry and back to Ghoulies. Your task is to find some magic treasure produced and hidden by an alchemist. Father Gilbert, before he died in the torture chamber of the Spanish Inquisition. It's now many years after his death and you've arrived on the ferry to start searching.

Ghoulies has all the features you'd expect from a Quilled adventure - two word commands, instant responses, and save and load facilities - but there are extras. The screen is the standard Quill format, but there's a small graphics section at the top illustrating the current location. Also, when you enter a building, the first letter of the location's description is enlarged (like an old fashioned scroll) to match the special typeface used throughout the game.

The first thing that'll strike you when you begin playing Ghoulies is the way in which the graphics, typeface and descriptions together produce a superb Gothic atmosphere. Another surprise is that there's so much going on - fat men with cheeses wander about, and ghouls steal corpses from gibbers, to name but a few. Ghoulies has so much atmosphere, it's difficult to get around to solving any of the problems (that's my excuse anyway!)

It's a shame IMS Software haven't admitted using Quill, but, all in all, Ghoulies deserves 10 out of 10 - but don't play it in the dark!

GHOULIES
IMS Software
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.50

Ghoulies isn't about what you think, so stop sniggering and pay attention.

Long ago a wicked monk got up to some very nasty business. The inquisition tried him but he would not spill the beans. His secret now lies in the ruins of an ancient labyrinth, along with some treasure and a lot of extremely unpleasant psychic manifestations - ghouls, ghosts and all the other things that go bump in the night. The locality is terrorised by such creatures. Your job is to seek out the hidden truth and to survive.

Ghoulies is a text adventure which looks like it was written on the Quill but features some fancy graphics. Those occupy the top few lines of the screen and are colourful and very well drawn. They are also almost instantaneous and waste no time.

The descriptions are reasonably detailed and there is a fine sense of atmosphere in the game. That is intensified, not interrupted, by the graphics. The general presentation alone is enough to make you want to play whilst the plot is intricate and riddled with hazard. You will get a good picture of a superstition-ridden late medieval village, with its apothecary, alchemist and hostile locals... not forgetting the ruinious abbey and its dark, foreboding crypt. IMS deserves a pat on the back for this attractive and well made program.