McMURPHY'S MANSION - David Martin on SynTax PD 196
     (Text adventure with optional on-screen map for PC,
                  runs on ST with emulator)

                  Reviewed by Marion Taylor

The  first  screen  to hit your eyes  when  you  load  McMurphy's 
Mansion  is  a request for your name for  the  'Official  Durham, 
Scotland  Register'.  I wondered if Durham had been moved  across 
the  border  without anyone noticing,  but discarded that  as  an 
idea.  So,  gritting my Scottish teeth,  I entered my name, to be 
faced  with 'Are you a laddie or a lassie?' Shaking my head at  a 
Texan's idea of Scot-speak,  I entered Lassie and got on with the 
game.

It seems that three weeks ago you received a telegram telling you 
of the death of your Great Uncle,  who was extremely wealthy, and 
requesting  that you high-tail it to Durham (Scotland!)  Regional
Airport, ASAP. This you do, and you are met at the airport by one 
Aaron McBee,  Barrister, a man with a very heavy Scottish accent. 
(What kind of Scottish accent is that,  one wonders, and why is a 
barrister doing the leg-work?) Anyway... into the elongated black 
limousine and McBee gives you the low-down about your late  Great 
Uncle. This wealthy eccentric spent all of his time playing games 
and the only way you're going to get your hands on his fortune is 
to prove that you're a worthy heir. McMurphy didn't seem to trust 
banks  as  his fortune is hidden in gold bars in and  around  his 
mansion.  You have been left one small clue and it's up to you to 
discover what you can.  McBee can tell you no more.

You are  now entering the drive of a mansion with manicured lawns,
a  cobblestone drive,  trees with  berries and  a rose bed shaped 
like a Shamrock (oh, well!) with  thousands  of perfectly  formed
roses. In fact, we are told, this place could have  starred in an
old  Sherlock Holmes movie. (How did  he get into this?) Upstairs 
in your bedroom,  McBee hands you a small  brass key.  wishes you 
good luck, and departs.

You look around your bedroom and notice a 'wee' box on a dresser.
The brass  key opens it, and bingo - you've found your first gold
bar!  That leaves  another  11 still to find and having done that
you  will then  be given three master clues that will lead you to
the  rest of McMurphy's fortune.

Once you get  over the aggressive Scottishness of the  text,  and 
it  took this Scot a 'wee' while to do that,  McMurphy is a  very 
fair offering. The room descriptions are detailed and repay a lot 
of examining as objects are hidden in other objects.  The  Living 
Room, in particular needs a great deal of examining. You can look 
through  all  the the windows to see what's outside and  you  can 
even  climb through some of them.  I climbed through an  upstairs 
window,  but having no head for heights, promptly climbed back in 
again, no doubt missing a vital clue.

There's  a built-in map of the mansion,  but not of the  grounds, 
which  can be turned on by using MAP and off by using  XMAP.  You 
can use + instead of Take and - for Drop.  The = key has been set 
to  read as +,  so that you don't have to keep hitting Shift  all 
the time,  a nice touch.  R lets you repeat a command and  COLOUR 
will  let you change the screen default colour.  WORDY  has  been 
used  instead of Verbose and SHORTY for Brief.  There is  also  a 
very  comprehensive  manual which is well worth  the  trouble  of 
printing out.  Multiple commands are allowed, using a period, and 
or then. 

If you do manage to do something dangerous,  like falling through 
the Attic floor, the game will halt for 1 minute while the damage 
to yourself is repaired.  You don't die and you revive where  you 
landed with all your possessions intact.  I found this irritating 
the first time it happened - a minute seemed a long time - but as 
you  don't have to reload a saved position (if you had  one!)  it 
works very well and it shows a different way of thinking.

There's at least one bug which I fell over (I'm not renowned  for 
finding bugs in games),  going NE from one of the Circular  Drive 
locations lands you near the aforementioned Attic, and I promptly
fell through the floor. As I hadn't at that time found the Attic,
I was prompted to  have a further go at looking for a way up, not 
being too keen  on climbing window  ledges. I also  looked around

for  something  to stop me  falling through the floor. So the bug
was very useful.

The author  rates  this game as  Difficulty: 5 but he doesn't say 
what the scale is, 1-5 or 1-10 or whatever.  He reckons it should 
take 80 hours to complete  but I think 80 hours even for a novice
is on the long side. Nevertheless, McMurphy is an enjoyable game,
and well worth the PD Price.