The Fool's Errand - Miles Computing RRP œ25.00 - œ30.00
      ("Puzzle" game for Amiga (reviewed), ST and PC)

              Reviewed by Dave Barker

The Fool's Errand is a very difficult game to categorize as it has
more in common with the books of logic puzzles and brain-teasers,
that you can buy in local newsagents, than the standard games that
SynTax readers are used to playing. Originally released for the
MAC in 1987, it was released for the Amiga, PC, and ST in 1990.
The game comes on two disks for the Amiga, four single-sided disks
for the ST, and four 5 1/4 disks for the PC. The Amiga version
supports an external drive, the ST disks can be copied onto two
double-sided disks, and the PC version can easily installed onto a
hard-drive. So disk swapping can be minimized if not eliminated.
The disks are not copy protected, that is achieved by the use of a
code wheel. The program saves to one of the game disks so copying
the disks for personal use is necessary. The PC version has the
option of joystick, keyboard or mouse control, although both the
Amiga and ST versions default to mouse control only.

The mystical land of Tarot has fallen under the corrupting
influence of the High Priestess. The four kingdoms Cups,
Pentacles, Swords, and Wands are on the verge of war. The evil
High Priestess has stolen fourteen treasures from these kingdoms
and has hidden them throughout the land. The Sun has recruited
you, The Fool, to discover the names of the lost treasures and
inscribe them in The Book Of Thoth, thus freeing the land of Tarot
from the grips of the High Priestess.

The game begins with a short prologue which sets the scene before
you enter the game proper. The initial aim of the game is to
solve nearly sixty puzzles. These are of a wide variety and
include scrambled pictures and letters, hidden words, mazes,
pentominoes, a card game, coded sentences, and wandering control
buttons. The map and the story are intertwined, solving a puzzle
usually opens up another part of the story and gives a piece of
the Sun's map. Initially you have access to only a limited number
of puzzles, as you solve one puzzle another is revealed. However
during the game the number of accessible puzzles gets smaller so
that after a couple of hours play, and with all the easier puzzles
solved, progress becomes slower and a great deal more thought is
required.

Once all the pieces of the Sun's map have been revealed you must
put them in the correct order. They should form a continuous path,
through a 9 x 9 grid, which reflects the Fool's journey through
the land of Tarot. Although this initially appears an awesome task
careful reading of the text, and close examination of the
individual pieces, will give clues. With the completion of the
Sun's map the final task is to name the fourteen lost treasures.
Once again clues are given in both the story text and on the map
itself. When the last lost treasure is named the prologue is
activated and the final confrontation between the Fool and the
High Priestess is shown.

There is, unfortunately, a major fault in the program, although it
is not a fatal one. The game instructions state that once you
have completed the Sun's map the whole story may be printed out.
Initially this option is blocked on the pull down menu, but it
remains blocked even after the map has been completed. This fault
appears to be deep within the coding of the program because it
seems to affect all three formats. A colleague who played the PC
version said that he had played and saved the game using the mouse
option, but when he had re-installed the program in one of the
other two modes and then restored his saved game the print option
then became unblocked. It seems that the fault effects the game
only in mouse mode which is great if you are playing it on the
Amiga or ST!

In conclusion I found The Fool's Errand both absorbing and
entertaining, it also offers something which is rare these days, a
game which is both novel and very good. Most of the puzzles, even
those which appear difficult at first, are easy once you have
understood them. Often clues can be found elsewhere within the
text of the story, so it is simply a matter of finding them.  The
only problem is that of the print story option previously
mentioned. Unfortunately it seems that this game has not been
released through a major distributor therefore it may prove
difficult to purchase.  However I did note that "Special Reserve"
were advertising both the Amiga and ST versions for œ7.49 in most
of the monthly magazines for July. Alternatively you can contact
the UK distributors direct, they are:-

The Software Business Ltd.,
Brooklands,
New Road,
St Ives,
Huntingdon,
Cambridgeshire.
PE17 4BG.

Telephone - 0480 496497.