Jacaranda Jim - Graham Cluley (Text adventure) Reviewed by James Judge Available from Graham Cluley, "Malvern", Seaton Road, Camberly, Surrey, GU15 3NG for œ5 (you get the latest version plus hints, maps and help if needed) or from SynTax, 9 Warwick Road, Sidcup, Kent, DA14 6JL for œ2.50 (you get an earlier, shorter version). Well, you've gone and done it again haven't you? What have you done? Well, you've bought another adventure game that will have you tearing you hair out for nights on end. What's that? Why will it have me tearing my hair out? Read on and see... You're on your way home in your trusty spaceship when, suddenly, you crash. That's all you can remember until you feel a slight smack around the chops and you wake up and see a bearded monstrosity leaning over you. 'Phew, glad you're alive. You had a nasty bump', says the monstrosity (whose name, by the way, is Alan). You find out you crashed on the planet Iberspleen V and that this Gribbley (don't ask me what one of those are, please) called Alan pulled you from your beloved ship. That is all you know but, after calling up the help menu, you find that it may be a good idea to get off the planet and go home. After a small exploration you find your ship, a torch and a few buzzards as well as a chain and maybe a computer game. If you pull the chain you go funny all over and appear in a market place with elves bustling all around you. Yes, it IS a good way to join two locations, totally daft but a good way. You soon become involved in your quest murdering postmen (where to put the body though?), being the 10000000 customer in a tailors, giving a thief a package holiday and being sick. It all sounds jolly good fun, doesn't it? -- The screen is laid out in a very Infocomish way with the status bar up the top and the text beneath it (which is black on a white screen). Typing brings up a menu with certain options open to you. You can get some hints and tips, find out the object of the game, find out how to register your version of the game and about Graham's other game; Humbug. A nice little thing that is used in the game is the ability to scroll through your last ten commands using the cursor keys. This eliminates the need to type in when using repetitive commands but I've never used it. All the way through there is a Graham's sense of humour present which reminds me of Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and other games of the same breed. This is probably because Graham was first introduced to the wicked world of adventuring by an Infocom game. All text descriptions have a jolly, light hearted feel and the responses to your inputs are enough to make you cry. I'm one of those people who type in all the known swear words to see what the response will be and I've come across some really good ones in my time (Simon Avery's have had me chuckling here and there) but these are real side splitters. Problem wise the game is very good with only one or two slightly illogical things to do. For example you drink a champagne bottle and pass out. You then wake in a random room with all your items scattered around town, sometimes making the game impossible to complete but the really strange thing is that if you spit, you get a bird seed!?! One of the main puzzles in the game is colour association. It may sound simple but it just doesn't strike you that, when you're progressing down one avenue of problem solving (where DO you put the postie's body?), you should be matching up a flag to the town hall etc. Near the end of the game you will also need to re-use some of the coloured items. Throughout the game you will meet many characters from a gorilla named Grog to an irate pirate. The most notable character is Alan, the Gribbley who has got an infatuation with the word 'Invoices', try saying it during the game and see where you end up but make sure you've got the wand or you'll have to restart the game. This is a very good game which Graham should be proud of. Not only is it great but Graham programmed the thing from scratch! Well worth the five pounds if you ask me, I can't wait to get into Humbug which is meant to be bigger, better and funnier. Goody, goody. - o -