ENCHANTED CASTLE
          A Text Adventure on SynTax disk PD 194.
                    Author: Michael Wilk

                Reviewed by Bev Truter on PC

This is a medium-length gem of a text adventure! Why no-one else
has done a review before is totally mystifying. You start off
being asked your initials (this creates a "personae" file for
saves), and your sex, (Male or Female). This last query determines
the sex of the Royal Personage you have to rescue - a handsome
prince if you're female, and presumably, a beautiful princess if
you are of the male persuasion. After several introductory screens
on how to proceed, commands to use, etc., your adventure begins
.... at midnight, in a mysterious medieval castle, with you in
total darkness and nothing in your possession.

There is no status line on the top (or bottom) of the screen, but
this only adds to the atmosphere. Also no point score, and the
parser does not understand the word "examine" in any form, so
close observation of all descriptions is essential. Your main
objective is to escape the castle, but to complete the game
successfully you have to find the priceless Star Diamond, rescue
the prince/princess, and destroy the evil castle before you make
your final bid for freedom.

Enchanted Castle is not a Treasure hunt/Greed-quest sort of game,
rather it involves solving various problems to enable you to
proceed further towards your ultimate goal - escape! The problems
are varied and interesting - are the Dragons friends or foes? What
is that Ugly Troll doing there? Exactly when DID the tiger have a
square meal?  What (or who) lurks at the bottom of the well?  And
where on earth can I find a suit of armour?

This game has well over 100 locations, and will certainly not be
solved in one, or two, or even three sessions - definitely not a
game for the impatient! It has been beautifully written with great
attention to detail, and is totally bug-free. There are also no
spelling mistakes or poor grammar - essential really, in a
text-only adventure. With plenty of intriguing, but not
mind-numbingly difficult problems to solve, marvellous room
descriptions and fantastic atmosphere, this is truly a game in
which to lose yourself for a few days/weeks....months?? So if you
are an avid text adventure fan (and even if you're not), go on,
try this one.














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