Magic Mansion - Denise Sawicki/AGT
 (Text adventure for ST or PC on PDs 128 and 129 respectively)

It's hard to believe that it was only a year ago that your
life was turned topsy-turvey. You can remember it so clearly ...
it was your eleventh birthday and you were just about to open your
presents. Suddenly you were abducted by a wizard and taken to live
in his house. In the time that's passed, you haven't been allowed
out of the two rooms that are now your "home" - a pokey bedroom
and a miserable bathroom where the shower leaks all the time.

The wizard is so mean too, not only in the way he treats you but
in the way he spends (or rather, doesn't spend) his money. He
tells you he has a huge mansion in its own grounds with servants
to wait on him but he feeds you disgusting food that only just
keeps you alive.

Then, this morning, he appeared in your bedroom and told you he
was taking some friends out for a meal. It was only breakfast but
because of the expense it meant you'd have to go without food
today. That was almost the last straw ... the LAST straw was when
you realised that it was exactly a year ago today that he'd taken
you from your parents. That means - yes, it's your birthday;
you're twelve today. Happy birthday, pah! It's not going to be
much of one stuck in this awful place with nothing to eat. If only
there was some way to escape and get back home ....

This is the start to Magic Mansion, one of the runners-up in a
recent AGT contest. The storyline sounds a bit twee but the game
itself is excellent once you get into it. Of course, your first
aim is to escape from your room and this you'll do fairly easily.
Then you can start to explore the mansion and you'll meet the
wizard's servants; four girls and four boys, all about your age.
They are a bit wary when they first meet you as they know they
should be doing their jobs for the wizard so that they won't get
into trouble when he gets back. You'll also encounter the wizard's
familiar, a nasty black cat (of course), and his dog, a ferocious
pit bull terrier.


The mansion certainly is big and grand, apart from the servants'
rooms in the attic which are a bit better than yours but not much.
But the wizard's lounge has a huge tv screen on the wall with lots
of channels, his dining room is beautifully furnished, his bedroom
palatial, his mirror-walled bathroom sumptuous and his library the
envy of anyone who loves to read. You can even use his computer
and run several programs, including a game called Magic Mansion
which gives you a creepy feeling of deja vu. But how do you get
out? The building hasn't any windows or doors though there are two
rooms which each have a doormat below a doorknob fixed onto the
wall.  How odd! Though you twist, turn and pull the knobs, there
is no door to be seen - but there MUST be a way out, mustn't
there?

However, breakfast can only last so long and the wizard will soon
be back. Woe betide you if you're still exploring when he gets
home! And now he's back, things will be more difficult as you seek
to gain your freedom and return to your family.

My first impression of Magic Mansion was that it was the best
programmed AGT adventure I'd seen. Denise Sawicki seems to have
catered for most inputs and plenty of synonyms are permitted so
you don't get too many "fat chance" or "I don't understand"
messages. Location descriptions are of average length but the
messages are nice and long, giving a good atmosphere to the game.
The other characters wander in and out of the rooms as you explore
though occasionally they may enter and leave in the same move, not
giving you a chance to see who is there. There are lots of objects
to collect and manipulate too.

Then I got stuck - it was bound to happen! I know that I need a
particular object to solve a puzzle and I am pretty sure it's in a
safe ... but I can't find the combination to it. But as far as
I've got, I've really enjoyed it and would recommend it.

                                                  Sue