Four With Battune - Merle Goodman - on PD 197
   (Four text adventures for PC, run on ST using emulator)

The first thing you're probably wondering is, who the heck is
Battune? He's a (sometimes) friendly alien from the planet
Amaphore who accompanies you as your guide on these four
adventures. Rumour has it that he's an over-sized rabbit with a
polka-dotted reptilian tail but as the games are text-only, I
wouldn't like to swear to it.

The four games are all written in roughly the same way. You type
in your name at the start of each and then your name is
incorporated in many of the responses as you play. The first game
is Battune in Wonderland and is, not unexpectedly, Merle Goodman's
(and Battune's) version of the Lewis Carroll story, complete with
White Knight, March Hare, Hatter and all the usual characters.
Your aim is to find your way out of Wonderland after following the
White Rabbit down the inevitable rabbit hole.

The second game is Battune the Sailor. In this you have to rescue
a princess from a spell cast on her by an evil magician. You start
in the port of Bagdad (sic) near your ship and must first find a
crew, a map to the magician's island and enough provision for the
trip. In collecting the items you need, and solving other problems
on the way, you'll be aided by the Thief of Bagdad .. if you can
find him. The second part of the game takes place on the
magician's island where you'll meet Pegasus, a cyclops, Medusa,
some skeletons and various other characters in your search for the
means to wake the princess from her enchanted sleep.

The third game is Cavern's City. This game is in four parts but
I've only seen two of them, 'cos I'm stuck at the end of part two!
The first part takes place in the streets and buildings around the
Cavern's City Hotel. Various objects are dotted about and in the
first location is a white card. Reading this will give a clue as
to the first object you need and the location you should take it
to. Go to the correct location and there'll be a person waiting
holding another white card. Give them the item they want and

you'll gain the card and the next clue. After solving ten of these
simple puzzles you get a reservation for the Hotel and can pick up
the keys from the lobby.

This takes you into the second part of the game, inside the hotel.
This time your aim is to defeat the werewolf in the basement and
open the iron gate there to leave. There are several guests in the
hotel including Count Dracula, the Lone Ranger and Frankenstein's
monster and quite a few problems to solve - one of which, as I
mentioned before, has me completely stumped, despite digging out
Roget's Thesaurus! However the next part of the game is set in the
caverns under the city where you must find your way through and
the final part is in the surrounding countryside where you must
find the route to the Golden City.

The last game is Museum and you must obtain six samples of
different cultures and deliver them to Battune's spaceship. You'll
visit such areas as a Map Room, a Slaves' Tomb, a Hall of
Mirrors and more mundane places as a Barbecue Pit and a Kitchen.
However aliens known as the Meezeeys will steal things from
you on occasions, making life more difficult. Again, I haven't
finished this one, more through lack of time than getting stuck.

Where these games differ from most other PD adventures is that
many features in them are random. Often the locations are arranged
randomly and selecting a new game will mix them up again so I'd
suggest you make an initial map and then save your game! Sometimes
objects are found randomly and in the first part of Cavern's
City, the ten clues you get come from a larger selection of
available messages, thus affecting the objects found too.  Four
more Battune adventures are also available which don't seem to use
so many random elements.

On first sight the games look primitive but turn out to be very
playable and user-friendly with hints being given when you get
killed or try to do something too soon and with four games on one
disk, none of which is small or will be completed too quickly,
they represent excellent value for money.
                                                 Sue