Eric The Unready Legend Entertainment / Accolade - RRP œ34.99 (Text/graphics adventure for the PC) Reviewed by Neil Shipman Prepare yourself for a laugh a minute as you don the mantle of Eric, hapless knight of the rhomboid table, in what must surely be one of the funniest adventures ever produced. Eric is the sort of character who is always making a mess of things - like impaling his jousting instructor or destroying Duke Theobald's feasting hall by knocking over a candle. So why should he be the knight chosen to rescue Princess Lorealle the Worthy after she is kidnapped and imprisoned in the castle of the evil witch on the other side of the land of Torus? Because Queen Morgana and her lover, Sir Pectoral, fully expect him to fail, that's why! Ancient prophecy decrees that King Fudd the Bewildered will die on his 60th birthday in one week's time and the kingdom will pass to the unmarried daughter who is at his bedside when he croaks. The Queen plans to marry off Lorealle against her will and ensure that her daughter, Grizelda the Hefty, is the one who will inherit the throne. Morgana will then rule Torus with Grizelda as her puppet. Can Eric save Lorealle and thus thwart Morgana's plan? According to Bud the Wizard he must collect a number of items spread throughout the land if he is to succeed. These include things like the Pitchfork of Damocles, the Raw Steak of Eternity and the Crowbar of the Apocalypse. When such an item is found the adventure advances to the next day and you automatically lose everything which is no longer required. Furthermore, you cannot move on until you've solved all the necessary puzzles on each day. Legend Entertainment have made refinements to their standard interface so that you no longer have to wade through incredibly long lists of verbs and nouns if playing in menu mode. The first page always includes a verb needed to solve a particular puzzle, there are less objects to play around with, and all important non- inventory items appear in the picture window. The quality of the graphics shows an improvement on their last adventure and talking with characters has been simplified. Double- clicking with the mouse on someone in the window brings up a list of questions to which they will respond, usually with a wisecrack! There are also many 'cut scenes' containing pictures of people and windows of text, some animation and a 'meanwhile' feature. This brings you up to date with what's going on in the witch's castle and helps to keep the story moving along nicely. In addition, there are many more full screen graphics enabling you, for instance, to pilot a raft through the Swamp of Perdition, play pelmanism or read the Torus Inquirer (a square paper for a round world). This newspaper is a typical example of tabloid journalism and contains many way-out stories and classified ads, all of them worth reading as they may give clues to solving some of the game's puzzles. These puzzles are really quite easy and, although you might get held up slightly on one or two occasions, it shouldn't take you long to complete the adventure. But, having done so, it's well worth playing again because there is so much in it that's not directly applicable to problem-solving that you can't possibly take in everything first time around. The author, Bob Bates, leaves no opportunity unexploited to lampoon, parody, satirise and pun his way through an exceptionally funny tale. The more adventures you've played the more you'll get out of it but, if you've seen the movie, read the book, listened to the album, subscribed to the magazine, watched the tv quiz show, and generally worked your way through a few games you'll find a lot to make you laugh. Here are just a few of the things he pokes fun at: Zork and the (Not So) Great Underground Empire, (reverting at one point to the original first screen of Zork 1 irrespective of the mode you're playing in!), Monty Python, LucasArts, Star Trek, Elvis, King's Quest, Computer Gaming World, Lord British, Sim City, Fantasy Island, Pepsi, Led Zeppelin, Disney, The Secret of Monkey Island, Questbusters, Grues, The Wheel of Fortune quiz show, and even his own work including Timequest and Arthur. My favourite part of the adventure came on the third day when, in the Pavilion of Tomorrow, I was faced with the task of getting a particular object from the table. Just when you think you have worked out how to do it you find that Bates has seemingly anticipated your next move and placed yet another stumbling block in your way. The series of actions required to solve the puzzle was so reminiscent of the Babel Fish routine in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that I thought it was wonderful! One of the things I like about text adventures is that if the author is any good he/she will anticipate the sort of command a frustrated player might make and will provide a suitable response. In Eric the Unready it's well worth trying all sorts of inputs - even when you know they can't possibly be right - like answering 'yes' or 'no' to an obviously rhetorical question - because you're more than likely to get a witticism in return. On the first day try mooning the farmer, eating the muck or screwing the pig. And when you have succeeded in rescuing Lorealle how about giving her a kiss?! There is so much to make you laugh in Eric the Unready that ultimately I felt rather swamped by the silliness of it all. But I could hardly wait to replay it and see what I'd missed - and I can guarantee that it won't be long before I dip into yet again. Even if your sense of humour isn't very strong you couldn't fail to be amused by the antics of this unlikely hero. I defy you not to laugh a good deal of the time and have no hesitation in recommending the game to both novice and experienced adventurers.