The Hound of Shadow - Electronic Arts RRP œ24.95
              (Text/graphic adventure)

              Reviewed by Paul Brunyee
 
This is the first in a suggested line of role-playing games 
developed with the Timeline system which allows characters 
created and developed in one scenario to be transported into 
other scenarios in a similar manner to how characters in table-top
role-playing games may be moved from adventure to adventure.
 
The Hound of Shadow is an adventure inspired by the Cthulhu 
Mythos created by H.P.Lovecraft in the 1920s. These Cthulhu 
Mythos are based upon an understanding that forces of evil, 
currently expelled from the earth, are constantly seeking passage 
back to this world in order to rule and dominate by terrible and 
foul means. Great Cthulhu, to quote his full title, is one of the 
deities collectively known as the Ancient Ones or Great Old Ones 
who features at the centre of this macabre fiction. Mention is 
also made within the Mythos of several fabled and revered books, 
the most notable of which is the Necronomicon, a "..shunned and 
terrible book .. which contains shuddersome and frightening hints 
of the Great Old Ones..", written by the mad Arab, Abdul 
Alhazred. Lovecraft created many terms of reference of this genre 
which feature within the adventure quite prominently.
 
The adventure is based in the 1920s, following the Great War, 
when interest in the occult and spiritualism was rife. The Hound 
Of Shadow is described as a powerful and evil force summoned by 
its evil-minded followers which you must endeavour to defeat.
 
Creating a character.
 
The first thing to do before starting the adventure is to either 
create your own character or use one of the three already 
defined. To create your own character you must go through a 
lengthy dialogue answering various questions and allocating a 
quantity from a fund to several attributes. For example, the 
initial questions to answer are :
 
i) Male or Female 
ii) Title, (Mr, Miss, Dr, Professor, Lady etc.) 
iii) Nationality, (British or American) 
 
Points (i) and (iii) above are accompanied by high quality sepia 
pictures; in the first instance of a man and woman wearing period 
clothes, and in the second by two flags resting at angles to each 
other. This trend for high quality graphics continues throughout 
the adventure to accompany choice location descriptions.
 
The adventure then produces a textual summary of a character it 
has built for you, with values seemingly chosen at random. For 
example, you might read: "You are a healthy, active, enthusiastic 
person conversant in several languages, of fair intelligence and 
well educated." You have the option of using these values or 
choosing from another set generated for you.
 
The next step is to choose a profession from a list including 
Aristocrat, Freelance Reporter, Gentleman Adventurer (men only!), 
Novelist, Private Eye, Psychic Investigator, Scholar, Sleuth and 
Socialite. These professions are described in the game manual 
together with related attributes. For example, the Freelance 
Reporter would be able to research topics thoroughly and perhaps 
be able to bluff or persuade people where appropriate. The 
Private Eye would be a good judge of character and be highly 
observant. And so on.
 
After choosing a profession, you specify the skills of your 
character by allocating quantities from a fund to each of the 
following areas: Physical, Social, Investigative, Academic, 
Logical, Creative and Spiritual. For example, the Physical skill 
includes areas such as brawling, climbing, driving, shooting and 
swimming while the Investigative skill includes areas of 
listening ability, psychology and perception to name but a few. 

This fund is allocated by the program, apparently taking into 
account various decisions you have made up to this point. This 
section is completed with the mouse by moving the pointer along a 
rheostat below the icons and choosing the desired level or 
quantity of the fund to be allocated to each particular skill. 
When all of the fund is allocated you will be prompted to save 
this character and start the adventure proper.
 
The adventure.
 
The adventure starts with a brief introduction explaining that 
you have met a long-time friend who invites you to a seance. As 
the last arrivals at the seance, you barely have enough time to 
take in the surroundings or examine the other people around the 
table when the Adept Karmi enters and proceeds to enter a trance, 
or so he would have you believe. After a none-too-convincing show, 
the Adept suddenly arches his back and screams aloud. He raises a 
finger at a young man by your side and shrieks "The Hound Of 
Shadow is upon you" before collapsing onto the table......
 
By this time, the method of interaction with the adventure will 
be getting more and more familiar. To question a person, you 
simply type exactly what you want to say, for example "I'm 
looking for John Smith, is he here?". Although, in a lot of 

cases, I found it hard to extract useful responses from people to 
this type of direct questioning.
 
The initial stages of the adventure involve researching the 
mysterious happenings which you and your companion have found 
yourselves in. This will call for visits to the British Museum's 
Reading Room to find relevant references in various texts which 
may explain certain events. Other people will have to be 
approached and quizzed. The plot builds as you become immersed in 
the events until you too are subject to the evil forces and awake 
one night covered in blood. A tiny incision was made in a vein - 
but by whom?
 
The more typical adventure commands are available, together with 
being able to 'GO TO location' and 'WAIT UNTIL a certain time'. 
Indeed, as in real life, peoples' movements and actions are to a 
certain extent governed by the time. You will have to meet people 
at certain times and in certain places to progress; you are even 
able to catch trains using the timetable included in the game 
manual which also acts as the game protection. By entering 
something similar to 'WHAT DO I KNOW ?', you can request that
the adventure summarises all the salient points about your 
investigations so far.
 
The Hound Of Shadow is a large and very verbose adventure which 
will undoubtably hold a player's attention for a considerable time.
Compared with some other traditional adventures, the gameplay
does not come to a shuddering halt because a particular puzzle 
hasn't been solved - in the Hound Of Shadow, you are able to 
approach puzzles at a more collected pace. If you miss a hint to 
perform an action, your companion may well suggest the action to 
take - just as might happen in real life. With the atmospheric 
text and high quality spot graphics, the Hound Of Shadow has 
perhaps been rightly described as a standard by which future ST 
RPGs must be judged. A tall order maybe, but either way, it's 
gripping stuff!