Hero Quest - Gremlin RRP œ9.99-œ12.99
               (RPG for ST, Amiga and PC)

                Reviewed by Bill Commons

I first heard of this role-playing game in an article in SynTax,
in which a reader was listing his top ten adventures and several
of his choices were my favourites as well. I rushed out and bought
it for my ST and could not get on with it at all. It is supposed
to be a computer adaptation of a popular board game but I had not
heard of it before and most other board games except chess didn't
seem to transfer to computer use in my opinion.

The idea of the game is that up to four players toss a coin to see
how many moves they make or attack a monster plus search for
treasure/hidden traps or doors. The playing area is divided into
rooms or corridors and there are also hidden potions or secret
monsters to find. I put this away with the intention of playing it
in the future.

When I was asked to review it on the Amiga I persevered and now I
find it is one of those games that becomes very addictive with
each playing. I first tried to play with one man and stayed on the
lower levels to equip him with the best armour and weapons.

This proved to be the wrong way as he soon got killed by the many
traps and monsters I had to tackle.

Once I had worked out how to group my team of four players it was
much easier as they each take a turn at bashing the monsters and
the wizard and elf can also cast healing spells on the other
members.

There is an on-screen map of places that you have visited but in
the early stages I also drew my own maps on paper to see at a
glance where I had been.

There are fourteen quests to solve but each time you enter one it
is reset so you may try one quest as many times as you like. The
traps and coins are moved as well, so you cannot go round a
planned course.

The quests are well thought out. In one you are in prison with no
possessions so you must fight the monsters bare-handed until you
find the room that contains your weapons, armour and spells.

Another is in a gold mine with no connecting passages so every
door you enter will teleport you to another room. Good if you land
on a monster, not so if you go onto a square containing one of
your party.

Some quests are connected in that you need something in one to
allow you to complete another.

I had a few minor niggles with this adventure. One is that it only
uses one disk drive so a lot of unnecessary disk swapping occurs.
Next you cannot exchange items between members of your party so if
a wizard picks up a weapon or a fighter a wand, neither can use
them. Lastly I thought I deserved at least a fanfare on completing
it, instead of a message saying "Congratulations, you have
completed the quest", which you get at the end of all of the
previous thirteen quests.