Lure of the Temptress - Revolution Software RRP œ30.99-œ36.99
          (Graphic adventure for Amiga, PC and ST)

            A second opinion by Steve McLaren

After reading a few reviews for this adventure I was quite
excited about Virtual Theatre, it sounded really good. The ratings
were quite high, between 89% and 91%, so going by the rave reviews
I just had to buy the game. Then I read Graham Wheeler's review in
SynTax (November issue) - he certainly gave the game a good review
and, I'm sorry, Graham, but I cannot quite agree with you on your
review. Ok, the graphics are quite good but not as clear as
Lucasfilm or the same quality.

The game has some nice touches to it, like the magical moment in
turning into Selena. The dragon was quite impressive and the scene
where you are on the drawbridge. As for your companion, Ratpouch,
who is your servant and will do many deeds (ha, ha, ha) for you, I
found this to be a weak link in the game. You are not forced to
use Ratpouch in any situation which you can do yourself and you
are not penalised for not using him. I found I really only used
Ratpouch three times, once to escape from the dungeon and telling
him to picklock doors and then open them and after rescuing Goewin
from the Skorl, all she was useful for was to make a potion and
help out in the caves.

So as for the aspect of giving orders, it fell rather short in my
book. Ok, it was good to see people milling about in the game,
that worked well, and to talk to people for information or to be
given an item, which is quite standard in any interactive
adventure. One thing really annoyed me ... in Tadigh's house is
this apparatus and on the apparatus is an oil burner. I was going
over this apparatus to find the oil burner; this part is rather
fiddly since the oil burner is not clearly seen. It is more
guesswork to find the damn thing before a Skorl came in and
punched your lights out.

The puzzles are not too taxing for the ol' brain to work out. I
found that things mostly fell into place. I think there is far too
much talking than sorting out puzzles - there are more puzzles in
any Lucasfilm adventure where they DO tax your ol' brain. I
finished Lure of the Temptress in just over a week so for 20 quid
(through Special Reserve) I felt that I did not get my money's
worth of gameplay. Another problem with this game, if you haven't
got a hard drive, is the disk accessing which is rather annoying
waiting for the screens to load. Every screen is loaded
individually. Even when you want to go back to the same screen it
has to load it in there again. I think this is rather poor
nowadays when other games come on more disks and disk swapping and
accessing is kept to a minimum.

And finally, the ending of the game. I felt I was robbed after
getting near to Selena after fighting the beast on the drawbridge,
I eagerly waited for the final showdown with Selena. So I trotted
off into the tower, waited until it loaded in the screen (yawn),
had my finger ready on the ol' mouse button to get ready to fight
Selena and use the Eye of Gethryn and what happens? Robbed! The
game takes over and within a few seconds it was all over. If you'd
blinked you would have missed it. Next thing I knew I was reading
the ending text about some of the characters. Well, I thought,
what a waste of time ... getting through to the end and you can't
even have a battle with Selena.

So was I expecting too much from this system of Virtual Theatre? I
am not sure. There are better adventures to buy with your
heard-earned dosh. I myself would not recommend this at all. If
you are interested in this game, it is best to buy it secondhand
and not waste too much money. My friend Ken Bond has given up on
it in disgust and another friend of mine was not at all impressed
with the game either.

I do not know how the glossy mags can justify their ratings with
this game, it left me stone cold and I didn't enjoy it. I was glad
to finish the game after paying 20 quid for it so beware of glossy
reviews, they can be wrong, especially this time. If you want a
great game for far less money, buy The Four Symbols ... but that
is another story ...