Yet More Level 9s...
              Time and Magik and Ingrid's Back

           Reviewed By James Jillians, on the ST

I hear you groan - surely not another review of a ye olde Level 9
game? Didn't he get the hint when none of us replied to his offer
to borrow Lancelot?

Actually, one person did reply - Jean Childs. She didn't want to
borrow Lancelot (or any other part of my now quite sizeable
collection), but she did offer to lend me two games I had not yet
played. In the (misguided?) hope that somebody somewhere will be
remotely interested in what I have to say, here's a mini double
review of Ingrid's Back and Time and Magik...

Ingrid's Back is the sequel to Gnome Ranger and continues the
------------- story of Ingrid Bottomlow, the well-intentioned but
extremely aggravating graduate of the Institute of Gnome
Economics. Having returned from the "holiday" her family
thoughtfully sent her on (with the help of a magic teleportation
scroll), Ingrid discovers that trouble faces the small Gnomish
hamlet of Little Moaning.  The sly Jasper Quickbuck, local
business tycoon, plans to bulldoze the gnome's Dribble Valley to
build a Yuppie housing estate.

You guessed it - it is your job to fill Ingrid's shoes and stop
this dastardly scheme. There are three parts to this quest - the
first is to appeal to the relevant authorities. To do this Ingrid
needs to get all the inhabitants of Little Moaning to sign a
petition, many of whom require something in return for their help.

It soon turns out that the petition has been in vain - the next
morning Ingrid looks out of her window and sees a steamroller
heading at full speed towards her family's farm, driven by Silas
Crawley the malicious goblin and his beefy Troll chums. Armed only
with her mother's cooking, and with the help of her pet dog
Flopsy, Ingrid must blow up the steamroller and then trap the six
trolls who hold her family hostage.

A temporary solution may have been found, but Ingrid decides to
tackle the problem at heart. So off she sets to Ridley's End, the
mansion recently bought by none other than Jasper Quickbuck.
Posing as the new maid, Ingrid must dig up evidence of Jasper's
shady deals and illegal practices before he realises something is
amiss.

I can't fault Ingrid's Back - it's another classic not to be
missed. Like other Level 9s, it is a combination of puzzles and
story telling. The puzzles are neither too hard nor too difficult;
they require a bit of thought, but all should be eventually
solvable.

As the most observant among you might have guessed, the game is
designed to be humorous. The comical characters are very well
described and play a major part in the game. The detail of the
game's text is quite astonishing - the room descriptions are funny
and imaginative and there are many pop-up messages to keep the
story going.

The game works using Level 9s 'advanced' system. This means that
you can FIND or RUN TO any object, person or place, interact
highly with other characters and use a host of other 'higher
level' commands that you wouldn't find in other adventures.

Each part can be played separately, so really you have three games
in one. I was able to complete all three parts (with a little help
from Sue) - it took me a long time, but I finished feeling
thoroughly satisfied.

I recommend this game to everyone - it is one of the best text
games (and indeed one of the best games) I have ever played. I am
sure you will agree.

Time and Magik is a compilation of three Level 9 classics - Lords
-------------- of Time, Red Moon and The Price of Magik. The games
are not as advanced as Ingrid's Back and do not feature the
"higher level" commands found in the later Level 9 games.


Lords of Time has you travelling between nine time-zones in search
of mystical objects needed to defeat the evil time-lords whose
plans of world domination must be thwarted. The good thing about
this game is the variety of locations you visit - a Roman city,
the prehistoric age, a futuristic zone and a medieval village and
many more. The zones can be completed in order, but the puzzles
often require objects from previous zones.

The puzzles are crafted to fit their setting, and are pitched at
my favourite difficulty level - not too easy, but solvable with a
bit of thought. The puzzles are not all object related - there are
some riddles, maze-type problems and puzzles that require you to
perform actions in a specific order.

The text is enjoyable and atmospheric, but rarely humorous.
Valuable treasures are hidden around the game which aren't vital
for the game's completion but give you points. I completed the
game with a score of 840 out of 1000, so I must have missed some.


I enjoyed Time and Magik - enough to want to complete it anyway.
Although not the most intricate of games, it is worth getting the
compilation for and will provide many a day of enjoyment. Another
recommendation is that Jean Childs rates LOT as one of her
favourite games of all time.  The other two games are, in my
opinion, not quite as good.

Your mission in Red Moon (SYCTAI) is to recover the stolen Red
Moon which provides magic power to the realm of Baskalos. The game
mostly takes place in and around a huge castle where the moon has
been hidden.

The Price of Magik has you recovering the Red Moon from the hands
of the evil magician Myglar who has stolen it for the second time,
and, of course, intends to use it to hold the world at ransom. He
lives in another big castle into which you must venture, this one
populated by dreaded undead spirits.

Both RM and POM are massive, with vast mazes of empty rooms.  You
are given the whole place to explore all at once rather than in
small manageable chunks as in Lords of Time. Both games feature
magic systems which ask you to discover spells, find the object
which works as a focus for each and then use them in the right
places. There are fighting systems in which you repeatedly type in
"KILL MONSTER" and lose Life Points until you die.

All in all both of these games are a bit tedious, and I could not
be bothered to complete either. If huge exploration games are your
cup of tea, however, then maybe you'll like them. They are very
slickly presented and a lot of care has gone into them, but they
are of a genre that does not appeal to me.

You probably won't be able to get hold of these games - you
certainly can't buy them in the shops. If you like the sound of
either Ingrid's Back or Time and Magik then I suggest you write to
Jean Childs and ask to borrow her copies.

Here's my latest Level 9 league table:
1. Ingrid's Back
2. Scapeghost *
3. Lancelot *
4. Gnome Ranger *
5. Lords of Time
6. Knight Orc *
7. The Price of Magik
8. Red Moon

I own copies of the games marked with a * (ST versions). I would
be more than happy to lend them to you if you get in touch. I
would also love to hear from ST owners who have copies of Level 9
games that are not on that list that I could borrow - I have many
games to lend in return.

My address is :

James Jillians, 31 Stockett Lane, Coxheath, Maidstone, Kent.  ME17
4PT.  Tel: 01622 747401 (6 - 10pm)


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