Ooze - Dragonware RRP œ24.95
                   (Text/graphic adventure)

                   Reviewed by Andy Thompson

Dragonware  describe Ooze as not just a new horror adventure but a
game that pays satirical homage to the horror genre and sets a new
standard  of  computer game  excellence - a  large claim which I'm
sorry to say Ooze, even at its best, never manages to live up to.

You  play  Ham Burger and start the game outside Carfax Abbey, the
home of your late Uncle Cheez Burger (as you  can  see  there  are
some   terrible  puns  in  this  game!).  Cheez  died  under  very
mysterious circumstances, and you  are  here  to  investigate  his
death.  To  help  you,  included  with the game, is the diary that
Cheez left you in his will. This tells how Cheez first  discovered
that  the Abbey was haunted and how the ghosts are trapped in  the
Abbey, forced to serve the all powerful, all evil Ooze. Cheez  and
the  ghosts tried to destroy Ooze, but Cheez was defeated.  So  it

looks  like  it's up to you to go in there, find out what happened
to Cheez, find Ooze's lair, and avenge Cheez's death.

On your travels inside the Abbey you'll meet many ghosts including
Ludus, Lancelot, Vino, Horus, and even  the  ghost  of  Cheez.  To
start  with all the ghosts want to get you out of their Abbey,  so
you  must go  around earning each ghost's respect. (Rather similar
to the start of Scapeghost  really!).  The  game itself isn't that
large, about 70 locations,  but most of the locations  have  their
uses.  One  really  annoying  part of the game is that some of the
objects you need are easily overlooked as they  are  usually  only
given  a  passing  mention in the over-long location descriptions.
Most of the descriptions are far too  verbose, instead  of  adding
atmosphere  to  the game they just tend to slow the game down. The
puzzles although clever on the whole are a little too obscure  and
without hints you'll find yourself getting stuck rather too often.

The  graphics  are good  with over  20 detailed  pictures, most of
which match  the descriptions  well. The game  also has a few  new
features like sampled sound effects, and  Murx (more on him  in  a

moment). Most of the sound effects fit well into the game like the
creaking of doors and the ticking of the clock etc.  However  some
can  really  get  on  your  nerves,  such  as the  moaning  of the
wandering   souls   (which   actually   sounds  like  a  group  of
half-strangled  cats)  which start  up every  time  you  walk past
them. You'll  soon find  yourself  turning the  volume  down  and,
eventually, off.

Murx  is  a  hint imp, call his name and answer one of his riddles
correctly and he will give you a hint to  the  game.  Usually  the
hints  are  more  cryptic  than  the  riddles  OR the puzzles, but
they're sometimes enough to jog the memory into solving a  puzzle,
so he shouldn't be completely ignored.

The  main problem with the game is it's riddled with bugs, some of
which allow you to bypass some puzzles and take objects which  you
shouldn't  be allowed to take yet e.g. you open the trunk and find
it's too dark to see inside, you can't feel inside,  so  the  only
solution  should be to go and get a brighter light. However if you

type 'ENTER THE TRUNK' the game comes back  with  'You  have  just
picked up the pick-axe'?!! Also when you save your position in the
game the game comes back with 'Game LOADED successfully'! It gives
you  the  impression that the game has never seen a play-tester in
its life!

Another reason that the game is not as addictive as it could be is
that the  game's understanding  of  sentences  is  virtually  nil.
Unless  you get exactly the correct wording, the game will usually
come  back  with  some  sarcastic  remark  about  why  should   it
understand  that,  and that the computer is not powerful enough to
work out what you just typed. Dragonware  obviously  hadn't played
a  Magnetic Scrolls game when they wrote  this.  Guild  of Thieves
would  have  shown them  what the  ST is REALLY capable of - eg to
climb a rope in any normal game you'd type 'CLIMB ROPE'  or 'CLIMB
UP ROPE', Ooze doesn't understand either of those, it'll only work
if you type 'CLIMB  ROPE  UP'! Not exactly  the first wording that
springs to mind.

If  you  are especially good at  horror  adventures,  or  play  it
alongside  some  hints,  you'll probably enjoy Ooze, but if you're
used to the standard of Magnetic Scrolls' parser or Infocom's lack
of bugs it's probably best to give it a miss.