Camelot - Labyrinth Software RRP œ5.95
               (STAC text adventure for ST)

Camelot is the first adventure from a new home-grown software
company which has been set up by Matthew Pegg in Milton Keynes. In
it, you take the part of Sir Waldo, a poor and inexperienced
knight who travels to Camelot in order to join King Arthur's Round
Table. In your hand you clutch a note from your village priest,
Father Wormflax, to present to the King. Apart from that, you have
6 groats and your clothes - and they aren't very smart. But it's a
very exciting day for you which makes it even more disappointing
when your way into Camelot is barred by a guard.

Luckily, there is a favour you can do for the guard that will
enable you to get into Camelot. At last! Knights are milling about
the courtyard and preventing you from doing anything other than be
swept along with them into the main hall. There you see King
Arthur and discover that you have arrived at a bad time.  No-one
has seen Merlin for a few days or knows where he is, and Queen

Guenever has been kidnapped. The knights are sent off to do their
best to find them and you are left alone with a despondent King.

After giving him the note, you are free to start to explore the
Castle and visit such places as the forge and Merlin's tower
where entering Merlin's study involves a small amount of copy
protection. Finding Merlin isn't too difficult and he will give
you some help which will point you in the right direction for your
next move. Further information from Merlin will set you off on a
sub-quest looking for pirates in order to recover his crystal ball
which has been stolen but which he reckons he could use to find
Guenever if it was returned. So it's "yo-ho-ho" and off to sea we
go!

Camelot is text-only apart from the loading screen and some
introductory text in the first location which is designed like a
page from an illuminated manuscript, both of which are very nicely
done. The whole game is professionally presented with average
length location descriptions but good responses to inputs. One
effect I liked in particular was the idea of changing the text
colour according to the type of location so a stream and the sea
are in blue, forest locations in green, a shed in brown and so on.
I also liked the style of humour in the game too; there's a fair
amount sprinkled through the game such as the Uther Pendragon
Memorial Library which appealed to me for some insane reason.

The game itself isn't too hard (which isn't to say that I didn't
get stuck in it!) but as far as I have seen, it is fairly linear.
Personally I prefer a more open adventure but in Camelot you seem
to have to concentrate on one problem at a time so if you get
stuck, that's it. There is a HELP command but it only gives
general advice and you can also list the VERBS which may aid you
in finding the right input.

Labyrinth Software are interesting in marketing other people's
programs (adventure or otherwise) which can be written with or
without a utility. They are mainly dealing with the ST market but
will also consider Amstrad PCW or C64 programs.  Their future
releases will include a STAC tutorial on disk (hints and tips, a
souped-up quickstart file and a free game with source code) and
their next adventure will be Curse of the Mummy, based on the
Universal film series. So if you have a game you'd like them to
consider or you'd like to purchase a copy of Camelot, just contact
them at 70 Malletts Close, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11
1DG.
                                             Sue