HOTEL NOTELL by R. Baribault A Text Adventure on Disk 334(PC), 333(ST), 873(Amiga) Review by Bev Truter on PC Using AGT, this is another sub-average text adventure written by a young American male, obviously. The original version (Dec. 1991) I got from Sue was fatally bugged near the beginning, so I downloaded another version from the Net, and found that although the date was exactly the same the annoying bug had been fixed, and a whole heap of new window-dressing added. eg, the sound file which produces a few bleeps and wheeps in the death scenes, and different colours in the screen layout (white text on blue background, red status line.) [Uh-oh, this probably means that the ST and Amiga versions in SynTax library are possibly unfinishable, if they use the original bugged source code....but back to the PC version...] There's also a .STD file, which allows you to customise some of the automatic AGT responses in the game, according to the blurb; but quite frankly I don't see how, unless you get hold of the source code and are sufficiently entertained by this game to want to dig around in the .CMD file... a distinctly remote possibility, I think. Oh, and the good(ish) news is that Hotel Notell looks like freeware, BUT..... The bad news is that despite the valiant attempts to improve the look of the game, it is basically still a tacky, tasteless turkey, filled with juvenile efforts to be risque, and only succeeding in looking embarrassingly crass. The plot itself isn't too bad - you have to clean up the city you currently live in, by finding three different bits of evidence which will get rid of the corrupt mayor who's running the whole show. Problem is, judging by your behaviour early on in the game, you are part of the `bad element' that needs to be 'cleaned up'. Yes, having sex with the local prostitute to get a condom for making a balloon toy to amuse a bawling baby is only the beginning....to that you can add robbing the local tavern so you can bribe the town drunk, and stealing $20 that some poor bum has stashed away for a rainy day. And all this in one morning, before midday.... It crossed my mind at more than one point that perhaps the best way to clean up this city successfully would be to commit suicide.... If only there were some faint glimmering of humour in all this lot it wouldn't have been so annoying, but it's all done so seriously. "Leather Goddesses" was gloriously, breathtakingly tasteless, and intentionally so, but it was also very funny and engagingly clever. Hotel Notell is just the opposite - gratingly lacking any charm or sense of fun. Time is quite important in this game - you begin by waking with a terrible hangover in a sleazy hotel in the morning, and you progress through midday, afternoon, evening and night, with some events only happening after a certain time/number of moves has elapsed. For example, the casino is only accessible from the evening onwards, and the exclusive brothel 2 floors below your bedroom is only open at night. (One wonders how exclusive it can be if it's located in the same sleazy hotel). Collecting the first two pieces of evidence is quite easy, although time-consuming, as you have to type in "wait" over and over to get through to the appropriate time of day (or night); but getting the third piece of evidence is fairly awkward and requires a downright illogical action on your part, resulting in an entirely unconvincing scene explaining how you succeeded in tricking the mayor into leaving his office. The game rambles across 57 locations, most of them dead boring and running west/east, as a fair amount of gameplay involves wandering backwards and forwards along the "sidewalk" of the city streets; with enthralling room descriptions such as...."On a sidewalk. There are dense trees to the south." Or for variation,....."On a sidewalk. There are thick bushes to the south and dense trees to the north." Spelling and grammar are so-so - I didn't see anything too dreadful, but the quality of writing is lifeless and unimaginative, with descriptions of people, places and events lacking any colour or inspiration. This has the unfortunate effect of creating a drab and dreary gameworld with little atmosphere - definitely not the sort of game that you get drawn into. Well, overall I suppose you might just enjoy this game if you're a spotty teenager (male) who sees himself as the local hero, determined to turn the tables on vice and corruption in the Big Bad City, with an eye to becoming the next mayor and winning the heart of the nice girl-next-door. (Of course, the nice girl-next-door would have to be as thick as several planks to find you attractive). But if you're over the age of 16 you'd probably be vaguely irritated by this immature effort which turns a reasonably good plot idea into a non-event. So avoid, or play it to find out how NOT to write a text adventure. ENJOYMENT 2/10 ATMOSPHERE 3/10 DIFFICULTY 3.5/10 FINAL COMMENT Disappointing...dull, but I HAVE played worse games. - o -