Uninvited - Icom/Mirrorsoft RRP œ24.99

(Note: Prices vary......bargains currently available from mail 
order firms as low as œ14.95 in some cases!!) 

The very title of this piece of software conveys the doom ridden 
gothic atmosphere which pervades the game.Shades of Lovecraft, 
Poe and King stare down upon the house to which you have NOT 
been invited! The packaging, which is similar to that of Balance 
of Power, comes in the form of a hard backed book which doubles 
as disc holder and instuction manual. The tone of the book is a 
cross between Vincent Price and Rocky Horror, a form of 
supernatural levity and gallows humour which may not endear 
it to those of delicate dispositions.

I was impressed to note that there are instructions to optimise 
the dual disc drive capabilities and feel that the game is 
irritatingly full of "change disc" messages for us single drive 
owners!!). The loading screens are full of foreboding and good 
doom-laden colouring. Although the house would seem to be the 
standard Arkham house of Lovecraft it has been situated by Loch 
Ness.

Your object is to enter the house, find your brother, and phone 
for a taxi since, as in all good horror stories, your car is 
inoperable following a crash. The controls to this adventure are 
through GEM by clicking items you can move, open, examine and 
operate them at will. It is this use of detailed GEM compatible 
art and menu bar commands that makes the game novel. In the 
first place the artwork has to be detailed since there is no 
descriptive narrative until the object is clicked on by the 
user. Some descriptions are lightly humorous others are 
downright blood-curdling, coupled with use of sampled sound 
effects an altogether Hammer atmosphere exudes from the monitor 
screen. 

Secondly there is an ease of 'getting' or 'dropping' items that 
I have never experienced, since each person, container or room 
has its own inventory window and moving objects is simply a 
matter of dragging things around and dropping them in the 
appropriate window. Thirdly the ability to manipulate objects on 
screen can give the most entertaining effects, try for example 
running round in the wheelchair, it will even hang off the 
ceiling!

This is a novel approach to adventures, seen earlier in a game 
called Deja-Vu.

I thoroughly applaud the system and think it must be what the 
window system and GEM were written for - besides desk 
accessories work with it as well. My only warning to those 
considering the purchase, is that some of the graphics are 
horrific skeletal heads and zombies abound. There is a strong 
supposition that players are aware of the nuances of the 
supernatural and so some background reading is recommended to 
the neophyte. All in all a ripping good adventure with laughs 
and chills in fairly even mix.
 
                                       John