Ecoquest 2 : The Secret of the Rain Forest - Sierra RRP œ39.99
            (Animated graphic adventure for PC)

                      Reviewed by Sue

After his underwater ecological adventures in Ecoquest 1 :  The
Search for Cetus, young Adam Greene and his father have now moved
to Iquitos in South America as part of his Dad's job with the
Ecology Emergency Network. We all know the damage that is being
done to the Rain Forest and even on their flight in, Adam and his
father will see evidence of blasting. An unpleasant character at
Customs has GOT to be a major baddie in the plot, especially when
you notice the oil pouring out of his launch and polluting the
River Amazon.

Shortly after their arrival, Adam is left to his own devices when
his father has to go to the Embassy after his luggage is stolen.
Adam takes a nap in a boat and is kidnapped ... by two otters.
Luckily these creatures, as in the first game, can talk and they
explain to Adam that he has to visit Forest Heart. This turns out
to be a very large tree, the most important one in the forest, who
is dying and it is up to Adam to find a seedling to take over her
role. The one that was destined for this important task had been
killed by the developers.

Adam is armed only with his wits and his Ecorder, a snazzy device
given to him by his father to let him record things about the
environment - animals, plants, ecological disasters, people etc.
This instrument lights up when passed over something of interest
on the screen so that Adam knows which items to record. The other
purpose of this device is that it is educational for the player,
because this game is designed for kids as well as the young at
heart. Points are gained for using the Ecorder as well as for
solving puzzles.  Adam also clears up any litter he finds during
his travels for more brownie points.

Once Adam works out how to prove to the animals and birds that he
is a friend and not a nasty "yellow hat", he will find many who
will help, mostly if he does them a favour too.  Classic adventure
stuff then, and not too hard, given the ages it is aimed at.
There's a lot of humour in it too, again, to appeal to the
children.

The graphics are very colourful and the animation up to Sierra's
usual standard, bearing in mind that this game is a few years old
now. The music is rather nice too, and the style verges on the
cute but not nauseatingly so. There is a small amount of speech,
just an odd comment at a few points of the game. I couldn't work
out the logic behind which bits had speech and which didn't; maybe
it was due to a problem during installation? All the text is on
screen anyway and remains there until a key is pressed, to give
youngsters time to read it.

All in all, a lovely little game, especially for children or
adults who want an easier game for a change.




                              - o -