REVIEW FOR: MULTI-DIMENSIONAL THIEF (TGC Version) By Joel Finch Dwarfed on the PC by Grimwold This is the second time I've reviewed this game, I had the pleasure of playing it the first time when it was written with AGT. The author's now converted it to his own adventure writing language, TGC. I won't dwell too much on the adventure itself, there don't appear to be many great changes from the AGT version (though I think I spotted a few here and there). I'll just reprint the scenario from my first review: Basically, you're a thief, a good one. Recently, you have been approached by a representative of the Multi-Dimensional Thieves' Guild. You're asked to perform a simple test to see if you're worthy to join this underground organisation. Since you've always dreaming of belonging to this famous guild, you accept eagerly. You're placed in a series of rooms, with the object simply to escape. As I said in my first review, this is a very, VERY funny game! Joel has an open, easy-going style of writing which is very nice to read. His humour is first class, giving a witty response to almost anything you type in (try swearing repeatedly!). The puzzles are well-thought out and some 'standard messages' are random, so you have a different response to the same thing. Anyway, I'll now go onto the actual system of TGC since this is the first game I've played that has been written with it (The only game?) The quoted requirements for Thief are: 300K RAM, 1.8M disk space (though it only takes 1.5M, you need some space for saved positions) and DOS 3.0 or higher. VGA, SVGA are optional, though you can play the game in text mode only. A mouse is also supported. The screen layout for Thief is very tidy. The left half of the screen is taken up with the normal text adventure (type something, message appears, etc.) while on the right are a selection of icons for such things as GET, DROP, HELP, PUSH, EXAMINE etc, as well as the normal direction letters which are highlighted to indicate a valid exit. Above the icons is a little television. It's this that pushes Thief into the 'illustrated adventure' genre as when you examine various objects, some of them are shown graphically in the little TV. The VGA images I've seen are superb, definitely of a professional standard and I would imagine the SVGA versions would be even better. The mouse can be used quite easily to either click on an icon, or select words from the text on screen. After a bit of practice, it becomes second nature to type 'X' with your left hand and click on a long word with the mouse. In addition, pressing the up-arrow key brings the last sentence typed down to be edited. You can also program the function keys yourself to do various things. I have found very little to raise an eyebrow at in this game. The only very minor quibbles I had were that the 'G' abbreviation (for Get) didn't always work, 'IT' was a bit tricky at times, there were a couple of minor spelling mistakes and several other abbreviations had been omitted. This is purely me being picky though, and shouldn't spoil anyone's enjoyment of what is a fine game. Joel Finch has shown us that not only is he a very good adventure author, but a superb programmer too. Even if you've already got the AGT version of Thief, I can recommend that you get this one. TGC, the system used to write this game, should be out soon. The game is registerable in the UK through Sue Medley at a very reasonable œ10. Grimwold's ratings: Graphics - 8/10 Sound - N/A Puzzles - 8/10 Atmosphere - 9/10 'Grabability' - 10/10 VFM - 8/10 Overall - 9/10 @~Full registration details are in the adverts section. @~The unregistered version of TGC Thief is on PD 724 (HDD only) @~and TGC is currently in beta-test ... Sue - o -