Advanced Xoru - on PD 170
        (Evaluation copy of text adventure for PC)

                Reviewed by James Judge

Not a standard text adventure this.  Instead it tries to come as
close as possible to a D&D game without worrying about stats etc.
After giving your character a name and selecting a class (Paladin
etc.) you are given the choice for sound which consists of a few
'wheeps' when fighting, a rumble when anything dies and a few
other bleeps, not worth the effort really.

You are then told that while you were sitting in an airport you
felt as if you were slammed against a brick wall, your atoms being
torn apart, jiggled around and put back together. When you regain
full control of your body and mind you find you are in a strange
and frightening alien world.  That's all the info you're given
until you call up the help menu which then gives you the objective
and instructions about getting round the game.

You find out that you were 'called' to this world to descend into
the depths of a dungeon and meet the evil Ebony Titan and
presumably destroy him.  Now you've established what you're meant
to be doing, who you are and what you are, you will hopefully
start tapping away at the keyboard to play the game.

The game doesn't take place in the usual dark, dank dungeons with
great big horrible spiders springing from every corner. No,
instead it is played in coloured corridors and room and other such
strange places.

Wandering around you'll come across the obligatory D&D style kit
which ranges from magical rings to swords and other such dealers
of death. Of course you'll also bump into a monster now and again
and the combat is handled quite well.  After a good description of
the monster you are now faced with the computer opponent takes a
swipe at you accompanied by a 'wheep'.  It either hits or misses
and then you have a go. Type in ATTACK ....  and if you've got a
weapon ready you'll have a chance to decapitate him. And so it
goes on with a running commentary from the comp until you or it is
the only one alive. Simple but effective.  Text descriptions are
very good.  Not flowery but straight to the point and informative
although you can't examine the wonderfully carved statue that is
apparently in the room which is disappointing.

The version I'm using to review is an evaluation copy with only
the first level on it and you've only got eighty moves to use
which isn't much considering moving around and fighting. This
means I haven't got far into the game so I may be wrong but, from
what I've seen, the puzzles are... eer... useless. They are the
'use an item at a particular place' type and even these are quite
rare. Instead the main feature of the game is making decisions.
For example:

You come across a hobbit in a room who is shuffling ten cards.
You can pick one card but the hobbit takes one of your items away.
You can then look at the card and it will either do something good
or bad for you. Now, will you gamble your precious items away or
will you ignore the chance of becoming stronger or a better
weapon? These are the types of decisions you must make.

The full version of the game costs a whopping $44.95 which isn't
really worth it, even if you DO get a spiral bound manual with the
full version. All in all this game is very average. It's big, nice
descriptions, good idea, just an inkling of dungeoneering
atmosphere but it just doesn't do it for me.

There are plenty of other games which take this a step further,
doing away with the text inputs and giving you a map instead.
They also include more interesting and varied kit as well as a
better character creation bit.

As a text adventure this game is average, as a D&D game it is OK
and when put together it is fun for the odd foray into the world
of Xoru but not really worth $44.95 so you can actually get
somewhere in it.



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