Timequest - Legend RRP œ39.99 (import), œ23.99 (Special Reserve)
(Text/graphics adventure for PC, runs on 1 meg ST with emulator)

The concept of time travel, where a device can project the human
body or consciousness into a different time zone, isn't a new idea
and has inspired authors and, in more recent times, film directors
who have frequently propelled their heroes (and occasionally
heroines) into what is sometimes a hostile, and invariably a
confusing, future.

Travel into the past brings other hazards, the favourite conundrum
being - what if you accidentally killed one of your own ancestors?
Would you then cease to exist .... and, if so, how is it that you
were able to travel into the past in the first place? The idea
that the destruction of a single small creature way back in the
past could somehow result in the non-emergence (or downfall) of
the human race is frightening yet fascinating. Bob Bates has used
this basic premise as the basis for his first game from his own
company, Legend, which has previously released Spellcasting 101,
reviewed in SynTax Issue 11.

The time is the near future, 2090, where time travel is a reality
by means of an Interkron unit. Time travel is controlled by the
Temporal Corps, based in Washington and headed by General Drexler.
You are a mere private but it is you that he calls for when
another member of the corps, Lt Vettenmyer takes an interkron
into the past and then returns it to the present, empty except for
an enigmatic message "Beware the Ides of March".

Investigations show that Vettenmyer has visited the scenes of ten
critical events in Earth history and altered them so that
civilisation as it currently exists will be destroyed. Another 35
or more minor events have also been visited.  It's up to you to
travel back, repair the damage caused, set events back on their
normal course and then find Vettenmyer who has established his
headquarters somewhere in the past.

Once in your interkron, you'll find that you can travel to any of
the places your enemy has previously visited, arriving seconds
after he left. In some of them, he will have left little messages
for whoever is trailing him but in others you will have quite
complex problems to solve or people to help and this will often
aid you in completing a repair in another time zone. The times you
can visit range from 1316 BC to 1940 AD and cover places as
diverse as Mexico, Cairo and Dover.

The ten major missions concern such important historical events as
the burning of the Spanish Armada (you must ensure that Drake
meets with Queen Elizabeth I), the Spanish conquest of Mexico
(your task here is to re-establish the Quetzlcoatl myth which
Vettenmyer has tampered with so that the Aztecs believe
themselves to be invincible) and the Mongol invasion of China
(without your help they will attack Europe instead). In fact it is
worth getting the missions wrong and then attempting to use the
interkron to see how the future is affected. Mongol horsemen
charging through Paris, knights jousting from motorbikes? What next?

The style is pure Infocom once again, it's great to see it
reappearing under another name and the story, though essentially
fairly mundane, has been treated in such a way that it is
enthralling to play.  There are certainly plenty of places to go
and things to see and working out the interconnections between the
different events, places and times is mind-boggling stuff. The
system used is identical to Spellcasting with text or
mouse-controlled menu input, compass rose and detailed graphics
which may alter according to your actions, such as picking up a
visible object.

The location graphics tend to reappear from one time zone to
another - for example, the Dover scenarios all commence in a small
shed by a pub on the cliffs but whereas in the earliest zone
(1361 BC) you can travel from there to Stonehenge (which,
surprisingly, you walk to in one session ...  perhaps Bob Bates is
more energetic than I!), in another you can visit nearby woodland
and yet others will restrict you to just the pub, shed and
intervening lawn with only subtle differences. You'll be entombed
with a dead Emperor in Peking, if you're brave enough, on another
trip and the graphics there are created in classic Chinese style.
In ancient Rome you will take part in a chariot race while in

Egypt you'll encounter King Tut himself and maybe even rescue a
small baby from a basket in the river.

As I mentioned before, a favour for a favour works in this as in
many other adventures, but this time you're not only travelling
from one place to another but also between different times. I
sometimes felt that actions I was carrying out in the less
important time zones could have turned out to be almost as drastic
as some of the ones Vettenmyer had carried out!

Timequest is now my second favourite adventure (after Zork Zero),
having ousted Spellcasting 101 from number 2 slot.  You only
realise exactly how complex and convoluted the plot and puzzles in
Timequest are as you get further into the game and it is certainly
a lot harder and less linear than S101. If the ending lives up to
the rest of the game it may even beat Zork Zero to the top slot.
With Spellcasting 201 due in the near future, Legend look set to
take over as the new Infocom and good luck to them.

                                                     Sue