Myth - Magnetic Scrolls

Myth,  the  latest  adventure  from  Magnetic  Scrolls,  is  only 
available  to members of Official Secrets - hence no RRP  at  the 
start of this review. Membership details are given at the end.

Picture the scene. The year - 30AD. The place - Zeus' temple. The 
occasion - a temple-warming party.  It sounds like a great  place 
to eat, drink, be merry and, quite possibly, pass out. 

And  so  it would be if not for one thing; the party is a pretext
for  getting the  gods together.  It seems  Zeus is worried about 
them losing their followers to a new religion - Christianity - so
he thinks up a plan, lures the  gods to his  party and  then puts
his  plan  into operation.  One minute, all the gods are  sitting 
there (or lying, if they've been enjoying themselves a little bit
too much) then Zeus drops his bombshell.

Though the gods have always dealt in the past with new religions, 
Zeus  sees Christianity  as more of a threat and reckons the gods 
must fight it.  But looking round the temple,  he can see that  a 
lot of the gods have got rather complacent and out-of-shape so he 
proposes they all smarten up a bit. The way Zeus proposes this is 
done is by setting you each a test.  Guess who's first? Got it in 
one!

So  one minute,  you,  Poseidon,  are enjoying yourself  at  this 
shindig  and the next .......  pow!  Dumped outside the Gates  of 
Hades  without so much as a sausage on a stick to remind  you  of 
the party.

Your  task,  explained on a piece of paper given to you  by  Zeus 
before  you were whisked to this hell-hole,  is to  enter  Hades' 
Palace,   go  to  the  throne  room  and  steal  his  helmet   of 
invisibility.  Problem one is that Zeus has stripped you of  your 
godly  powers to make it fairer (fairer for whom,  you may  ask?) 
Problem  two is in the shape of a hydra who guards the  Gates  of 
Hades with the single-mindedness of a faithful guard dog.


There  is one easily accessible location to the east in the  form 
of a garden.  There is a lot to investigate here;  an altar and a 
tree  with  an  interesting-looking fruit on  it  are  two  major 
features while a little lamb frisks  about, exploring the  garden 
while eluding your grasp.  

The rest of the area is surrounded by swamp which you can't enter 
(or can you?) ..........  and that's it! Obviously that hydra has 
got  to  go  and meet his maker if only you  can  work  out  how. 
There's nothing more frustrating than a seemingly  unsurmountable 
problem  right  at  the  start of a game  but  what  a  sense  of 
satisfaction when you work out what to do.  

Once you've sorted out the hydra,  you can enter the main part of
the adventure. But, be warned, it isn't all that big - but  then, 
this is a bonus adventure so one  shouldn't expect another  Guild  
of Thieves. 

Myth  was  first talked about quite a long time ago so  has  long 
been anticipated by subscribers.  Is it worth the wait?  Yes,  if 
only because of the famous Magnetic Scrolls humour, style and, of 
course,  those magnificent pictures!  Again,  only a few of them, 
but  they  ARE good.  The story is uncomplicated but  it  doesn't 
matter as it has been well fleshed-out to make it atmospheric.

Unfortunately, the game is marred by a few silly errors and bugs. 
Without  going into detail and spoiling the story by telling  you 
about the problems in the game,  I will mention the two main ones 
I spotted.  One is the altar in the garden. Described as a marble 
altar  in  the  location  description  and  on  examination,   it 
miraculously  turns into a wooden one in some messages  when  the 
lamb rubs against it.

The other main one is more serious.  Due to a bit of poor  error-
trapping,  it  is possible to finish the game 30 points short  by 
not completing one of the major puzzles in the game. I found this 
rather surprising  coming  from a company  of  Magnetic  Scrolls' 
calibre.


Finally,  a  personal criticism of the adventure - I  do  dislike 
games where you have to play cards and this is one of the  things 
you  must  do in Myth.  I'm not really giving  anything  away  by 
saying that as it is really obvious that you have to do it.  Card 
games seem to be a popular puzzle but they can be so frustrating, 
especially  in this case as once you have  started  playing,  you 
can't  stop  and  save your position when you are  on  a  winning 
streak.

On average,  then,  Myth is a good game to get as a bonus through 
joining Official Secrets but, as one would expect, not as good as 
their commercial releases. However, you will get a good few hours 
fun and a considerable amount of amusement out of it. 

Annual  membership  to Official Secrets costs œ19.95 in  the  UK, 
œ24.95 in the EEC. 
To contact Official Secrets/Special Reserve,  write to 
PO Box 847, Harlow, CM21 9PH
or ring the hotline number on 0279 600204.