A Look Back At...

                 LANCELOT - Level 9 (deleted)
        (Text/graphics adventure for ST, PC and Amiga)
  Removed from cryogenic storage and given the full post-mortem
                        by James Jillians

Get out the flared trousers and platform soles - it's time for a
look back at another golden oldie of adventuring, a relic from the
enlightened age when text adventures were actually commercially
produced for the ST. Yes, it's another one of those Level 9ers
that readers know I love so much, and a particularly good one at
that.

In days of olde, the good King Arthur ruled over England (then
called Logris) from his glorious city of Camelot. He was aided by
a congregation of knights from all over the land, eight and forty
honourable souls each of whom had a place around a huge round
table fashioned by the wizard Merlin. In order to complete his
company, Arthur needed two more knights. Just as he was beginning
to give up hope of finding them, in steps Lancelot (yes, you) with
a desire for candidacy.

Of course, Arthur can't just accept anyone into his band of trusty
knights, so he sends Lancelot off into Logris to prove himself
worthy by various deeds of valour and heroism. Fortunately (or
unfortunately, whichever way you choose to look at it), nine of
Arthur's Round Table knights have been captured by evil lords and
are being held hostage around the realm. If you can rescue them,
Arthur tells Lancelot, then you will have proved yourself to be a
true Knight of the Round Table.

This is all well and good, but as Lancelot comes before the king
to be told this, he claps his eyes on the beautiful Queen
Guenever, and he falls madly in love. He craves to become the
champion of this modest and winsome gentlewoman, but in order to
do so he must prove himself to be the best knight in the world by
still more acts of honour and courage.  So off sets Lancelot, his
heart full of steely resolve, to rescue the knights and sort out

any other problems there might be. And this is where Part 1 of the
game begins...

In fact, as the keen adventurer soon discovers, Logris does have
more than its fair share of strife. On your journeys you have to
cope with besieged cities, evil witches, dragons, corrupt lords,
giants, invisible monsters and even birds stuck up trees. In fact,
there's a huge amount to do and this already makes Lancelot a
pretty big adventure.

But that isn't all! As soon as this is done, your beloved Guenever
gets captured by an evil Baron, before you get a chance to woo
her. As the best knight for the job, you set off on a daring
rescue mission. Then, when this is done and you have won
Guenever's eternal and undying love, you have to follow destiny
and unwittingly father a child to the beautiful Elaine of Corbin
who will fill the fiftieth and final place of the Round Table.

Now comes Part 3, the Quest for the Holy Grail... but I am sure
you are already convinced that you will get more than your money's
worth when you play this game! Hours and hours and hours and hours
and hours of fun.

Lancelot follows the regular Level 9 formula. The Level 9 system
is, of all adventuring systems, my favourite because it is so
user-friendly. It features what are known as "higher level"
commands, like GO TO, RUN TO and FIND which allow you to travel
immediately to any accessible location, person or object in the
game. There is little tedious typing-in of compass directions, and
this leaves more time for the fun - puzzle solving.

The puzzles are, in the main, pretty easy. A lot of them involve
other characters whom you meet as you progress. You soon pick up a
band of trusty followers (rescued knights, friendly damsels, etc.)
Once befriended, these can be instructed to do anything that you
can do yourself, so if you find yourself short on time, you can
just type in a string of commands and send a character off on a
quest. However, a lot of the puzzles involve co-operation between
characters, for example, breaking open locked doors, or standing
on a pressure pad while you pass through a door. Once you've
mastered the technique of getting characters to do things
simultaneously, there shouldn't be too many difficulties - and if
you do get stuck, you'll kick yourself when you are told the
answer.

There are the normal object related puzzles though, and these are
fairly simple - for example, putting burning coals on a pile of
cloth to set it on fire. Also, because you are a knight, a
remarkable number of problems can be sorted out by duelling or
making the sign of the cross. (No hard mazes though, JNJ). To make
things easy, the only things you can examine in locations are the
objects listed after the "You can also see..." message.  This is
standard Level 9 procedure, and it stops you wasting a lot of time
examining everything everywhere.

Although not especially demanding, the game is nevertheless good
fun to play. It is a cross between adventuring and story- telling
because the text is full of messages put there just for atmosphere
or to recount more of the Arthurian Legend. If you wait around,
the characters have messages describing their actions, and as you
travel between locations there are interesting bits of text
telling you about a farmer who's just passed by, or some lovers
beneath a tree, or a stable lad who is going about his duties...
These have absolutely no relevance to the puzzle-solving but they
really make you feel involved.

The game is not designed to be humorous like Gnome Ranger, but it
has a compelling "fun" feeling about it.

I had very few problems with syntax - the game understood almost
everything I wanted to say. There aren't any noticeable spelling
errors (but annoyingly many of the words are written in capital
letters as part of a long-expired competition!) There are,
however, a few bugs - for instance, objects appearing in bizarre
places and the wrong message coming up when you examine something.
They don't impede your playing much, but can be irritating.

There are some great graphics, although the observant among you
might notice that all the churches are the same, all the long
roads are the same, and so on!  The game comes with a map and an
instruction book which contains a brief, adapted version of the
Arthurian Legend. The game also features the command most valued
of all by to the modern adventurer - RAMSAVE.

ROUND-UP

I highly recommend Lancelot to everyone who owns an Atari ST. It's
huge, and after days of sheer fun, is immensely satisfying to
complete. Adventuring at its best.
                        FUN FACTOR: 9/10

NOTE :- Probably the only way you'll get to play this game is by
writing to me and asking me to lend you my version, which I will
be more than happy to do. I would also like to hear from anyone
who is willing to lend me a copy of a Level 9 adventure I haven't
yet played. So far I've played Lancelot, Gnome Ranger, Knight Orc
and Scapeghost.  Please write to:- James Jillians, 31 Stockett
Lane, Coxheath, Maidstone, Kent. ME17 4PT.
                              - o -