The Four Symbols - author The Grue! RRP œ5.00 (Text adventure for PC, ST and Amiga) Reviewed on a 486SX by James Judge The full version of The Four Symbols (for the ST, PC and Amiga) can be bought from Borphee Computers, 64 County Road, Ormskirk, L39 1QH for œ5. The unregistered PC version is available on PD 605. Haha! After hearing what a great programmer the Grue was from various people, and seeing his sage-like advice on TADS programming cropping up in the hallowed pages of SynTax, I was looking forward to trying out one of his games. Was I impressed? Read on... You start the game with not a great idea of who you are or what you are meant to be doing. A small paragraph introducing you to the game tells you there is something not quite right about your situation, but heck, what can you do? Explore! That's what. After a little exploration you will come across a crowd of unruly villagers, a cute cat and a shop that is crying out to be broken into. My first problem was actually getting into the shop. Call me a fool for getting stuck on the first problem of a game, but, well, it just didn't click. A few handfuls of hair later I was back on track, figuring out just what the game entails. After exploring as far as possible and picking up all the items you come across you are forced to deal with the group of villagers who are getting really ticked off by this time. What seems to have happened is that the village has been under a spell of bad luck recently and that has made the villagers edgy. That is fine until you come across the villagers and a black cat. Now, we all know that whoever owns a black cat is a witch, don't we? So, when this cat starts making itself known to you by purring and rubbing itself up against your leg, what can you do, especially with half the village giving you baleful glares? Have no fear, though, fate sorts itself out and places you firmly into the ducking stool with nothing left to do apart from drown (unless, of course, you don't drown and then you are definitely a witch, so you'll probably be burnt at the stake). But wait! Fate has put her fat ugly foot in the way again and given you a way out of your current position. Just as you are about to be given another ducking the village elder comes screaming to the pond side waving a wooden chest above his head. Egad! The village's lucky symbols have been stolen (there are four of 'em and are called The Four Symbols. Wonder if that's what this game's named after?) and the only way to retrieve the symbols is to draft a Terminator-like hero with hefty guns, bigger muscles, huge quantities of charisma, machismo and sex appeal as well as intelligence to put the most blatant boffins to shame. A quick look around confirmed, to the elder's suspicions, that there was no-one like this in the near vicinity, so he asks for volunteers. As you seem to fit the bill rather poorly you raise your hand and cry 'Cooooeeee, I'm-a ready!'. And from here your adventure starts properly, the mission is to retrieve the Four Symbols. As the version I was playing was the shareware one, I didn't get too far into the game. Overall the standard of the game was very impressive. I noticed no errors (either typing or programming) and this is just what I had been told to expect. Looking into the history of this game it was Grue's first attempt at a game that he, himself, concocted and wrote and was available on the Amiga first with Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Atari and PC versions to follow. With such a long history (with bits being re-written and added every time) this may be the reason. Also in 1992 it was voted the best 16-bit adventure game by the Adventurers Conference. The puzzles are nicely devious, but solvable and most people will get a great sense of accomplishment from playing the game. All but the most novice player will get a way into the game and even with a bit of help from other players the game should not suffer. As a first attempt at a game this is most surprising - it is everything an adventure should be. Maybe it is this perfect because Grue! feels at home on TADS and HAS written the game a number of times for different platforms. Well, if this is the standard of his games, I can't wait to see the next one that is in the process of being playtested at the moment! Well done, Grue! - o -