THE ELVEN CRYSTALS I & II Two Text/graphic Adventure Games For the Price of Two by THE FINK On SynTax PD 90 and 259 Reviewed by JAMES JILLIANS Played on an Atari ST. It's time for another exiting trip into the fantastic land of myth and magic with these two STAC text 'em ups from The Fink! If it's elves you're after, you are going to be disappointed with these games as the legendary race of bow toting, Spock-eared forest dwellers with incredibly long life-spans don't make an appearance at all. There's only one crystal too, which makes the title doubly misleading! Let's get straight into the action: ELVEN CRYSTALS I ---------------- Starting the adventure you find yourself alone in the middle of a treacherous swamp, with no money and no idea where to go or what to do, with only a scroll giving the system commands for company. What's more, it's nearly dark and it's getting foggy. Sounds like one of the training missions for the S.A.S, except they haven't been invented yet. You are cold, tired and hungry. What you really need is a bite to eat and a warm, comfortable bed. The nearest town is somewhere off to the south, but to get there you must negotiate your way through the deadly quagmires - pools of quicksand which, if given half the chance, will drag you down to their bottomless depths. One false move and you're a goner! Yes, you guessed it, it's maze time! To progress any further you've got to wander aimlessly about (or draw a map and then wander aimlessly about) for umpteen hours trying to find a way out of the bl**dy swamp. Movement is allowed with all the normal text-adventure commands, ie. North, South, East and West (or for the typing-time economist, N, S, E, and W). What gets to you the most, apart from the fact that the font is extremely difficult to read, is that some of the locations don't seem to bear any relation to each other. Logically speaking, when you walk North into one location you expect when you go South again to return to the place you just left. But no, when you get back you find that the trackless wastes have suddenly turned into a deadly quagmire and you've just walked into an early coffin. Several sleepless nights (and 658,990,906,737 deaths later) you should reach the town. But the question is, have you discovered the equipment you need to progress any further? If the answer is no, it's time for another foray into the hellish slime pit! Okay, so you've got all the correct gear needed for a peaceful night's sleep and you've just discovered where the inn is. One more move and you've completed the first part of the game... Then the time limit runs out and you die! Did you remember to save the game? Sod's Law dictates that you didn't so it's back to the beginning of the adventure. Unfortunately by this point, out of sheer frustration, you've ripped up your notes on how to get through the swamp (and everything else that happens to be close at hand, including wads of your hair). A very rude word springs to mind. The problem with this game is that it's too difficult. It is only with the help of G.L. Wheeler, who wrote the solution and can now pride himself on rescuing a doomed man from the brink of complete mental breakdown, that I managed to finish the darned thing. Novices will find themselves unable to progress however much they try. Even experienced adventurers should find this game a challenge. The game is difficult for other reasons too. The computer doesn't understand many of the commands that occur to an adventurer as he/she plays. You often find yourself in the frustrating situation where you know how to solve a problem but you do not know how to phrase your command so the computer understands it. Here are just some of the words that that are not in TEC 1's vocabulary: SAY, SEARCH, WEAR, TALK TO, SPEAK TO, KILL There are also many objects mentioned in the room descriptions that cannot be examined, searched or manipulated in any way. The game would have been better if The Fink had included descriptions of things other than those directly involved in solving the puzzles. The game does, however, allow you to type in a string of commands all in one sentence. You could for instance enter instructions like these: GO NORTH, SOUTH AND THEN EAST, GET ALL, GO SOUTH AND EXAMINE THE SCROLL or, GET THE COIN, THE KEY AND THE SPADE AND THEN EXAMINE THE MAN. This adds to the user-friendliness and makes the game more of a pleasure to play. The text descriptions themselves are some of the best I've seen in any adventure game. They are very atmospheric and make you feel involved in what you are playing. The graphics are well drawn and complement the text perfectly. There is no music or sound of any sort. There are some nice touches. There is a hidden adventure, almost as long as the game proper, set in the modern world, in which you assume the role of the author of the game on his quest to become all-powerful and eternally evil. This can be accessed by a typing in a secret word. Although it takes a while to solve many of the puzzles (if you can at all!) the game isn't very big. In fact, in order to complete the game you only need to make about 40 commands (not including directions). With the hidden game, however, which almost doubles the size, even the cleverest adventurer should be occupied for quite a while! You can save your present situation to disk, so if something nasty happens you can re-load it and start again from there instead of from scratch. Unfortunately, it is impossible to change the file-name of your saved position so if you want to have several saved games on the go at once you'll need several disks. There's also a RAMSAVE facility which allows you to store a single position in the computer's memory. The game contains some pieces of bad language and possibly objectionable foul humour, so if you're easily upset by these, it isn't recommended! J.J. RATINGS for THE ELVEN CRYSTALS I: GRAPHICS : 7 out of 10 SOUND : n/a EASE OF USE : 6 out of 10 VALUE : 7 out of 10 DIFFICULTY : 9 out of 10 FUN FACTOR : 5 out of 10 THE ELVEN CRYSTALS II --------------------- Similar to Crystals I, Elven Crystals II is another STAC text adventure and is equally devoid of elves. Really this game is just more of the same ... but better. Plot-wise TEC 1 and TEC 2 are unconnected except that the games are both set in the same fantasy realm. Graphically, the game is even better than the original (practice makes perfect). Although there aren't graphics in every location there are enough to illustrate the adventure. This time The Fink has stuck to the good old "Sanserif" font, standard with STAC, and thank heavens for it! The game needs to be played in medium resolution, or have the pictures disabled otherwise the text will not fit on the screen. TEC 2's puzzles are perhaps slightly easier than TEC 1's but even so, without a solution I haven't completed the game. Most of the puzzles tend to be fun rather than frustrating and they get progressively difficult. There are no riddles or brain-taxing mathematical problems which I enjoy. All in all, I think the beginner will find the game too hard, the expert will find the game too easy, but for those in between it is just about right! An added bonus is the return of the "hidden adventure". Another escapade into the warped and twisted mind of The Fink on the quest to sink down into the pits of hell and never return. The two-in-one adventure game works well and caters for different tastes. If you are the perfect angel - a true upholder of the virtues of good, (ie. me) then you'll enjoy the proper adventure. If, however, you are a sadistic, power-crazed and mega-lo-manic bast**d (not me, even though James Judge might tell you otherwise) you'll get a real kick from the rumbustious romp afforded by the hidden game. During one of my momentary lapses I said a rude word. (Yes,I admit it). But thanks to this peccadillo I discovered one of the game's many humorous aspects. When you swear you are sent instantly to the Washyourmouthoutwithsoapandwater room, to be purged of your sin by a particularly vicious tidal wave. A nice touch I thought, and one of many. Sound? What sound? (Plea to all adventure game programmers: Why can't we have a text-adventure with some funky music (or at least some halfway decent sound effects?) Surely that's not too much to ask?) J.J. RATINGS for THE ELVEN CRYSTALS II: GRAPHICS : 8 out of 10 SOUND : n/a ..... GRRR! EASE OF USE : 7 out of 10 VALUE : 7 out of 10 DIFFICULTY : 6 out of 10 FUN FACTOR : 8 out of 10 J.J. ROUND-UP for BOTH GAMES: Both TEC 1 and TEC 2 are STAC text/graphic adventures that are highly recommended. TEC 1 is quite hard and will be appreciated by a keen and experienced player. TEC 2 is aimed more at the average player and I find it a more enjoyable and satisfying game. The pictures from both games are attractive and the text descriptions too are atmospheric. Both games have "hidden" adventures which make a nice change from the proper games. Both games have slightly limited vocabularies which make them slightly frustrating - have a thesaurus handy! THERE IS NO SOUND OF ANY SORT (I've a good mind to start a campaign!).