SPUR - A Western Misadventure by Kent Tessman A text adventure on SynTax disk PCPD 993 Review by Bev Truter This is one of the few games I've played with a Western theme, and so far it looks like the best of the lot. The other three were Ghost Town (Scott Adams), GhostTown (Ed Chevey) and Ghost Riders of El Diablo (John Olsen). Spur has been written with style by someone who's obviously seen a lot of old cowboy movies and/or read a heap of Western novels. The story begins dramatically with you standing in the Main Street (actually, the only street) of Tumbleweed Flats at 9am in the middle of a gunfight, and the problem is that you can't remember why you're here. The sun beats down relentlessly, while Roy Heffer facing you from twenty paces away looks ready to draw his gun, fingers twitching over his holster.... So begins this jaunty little Western spoof, and when you've done what a man's gotta do (no choice of gender here, pardner), you'd better find a way of escaping the wrath of the law - in this case the local Sheriff and his trusty deputies. Perhaps you could dodge into Grady's Hotel and Saloon to the east, and check your bedroom upstairs to see if there's anything there that could possibly jog your memory about the events of the previous night. Aha! An empty whiskey bottle and a mysterious note - something about meeting "S" at the stables later on. You'll have to interact with many different characters in Tumbleweed Flats to find out exactly what's going on and what you are supposed to be doing. All characters are well-portrayed, and some might help you while others are a downright nuisance. The helpful ones sometimes require some incentive from you, and the nuisance-value ones are best ignored or avoided altogether. Although this is quite a short game geographically (only 30 locations long), you'll find yourself retracing your steps several times as there are plenty of problems to solve in most locations. The solution to many of the puzzles is not at first obvious, and requires exploring and searching locations and objects thoroughly to make any progress. There is no score pointwise, but typing SCORE gives a short running commentary on your list of achievements, and indicates how well or badly you are doing as a would-be hero. In Spur the Western genre and atmosphere are faithfully recreated for this tale of a cowboy, i.e. you in the role of Spur, galloping off (that's if you can find a suitable horse) to help a lady in distress. Can you become a real Western hero by rescuing her uncle from the clutches of the local baddie? (That's the one wearing the black hat, figuratively speaking). This game is absorbing, interesting and fun to play - moderately challenging, but not tear-your-hair-out difficult. Kent Tessman has used the Hugo Compiler to create a delightfully different game. Hugo looks fairly similar to TADS in structure, commands, gameplay and parser ability, although surprisingly this is the one and only game I've ever discovered that's been written with Hugo - let's hope there will be some more in the future. Both Spur and the Hugo compiler and engine are distributed free of charge, and no money is requested by the author. ENJOYMENT 6.5/10 ATMOSPHERE 6.5/10 DIFFICULTY 6.5/10 FINAL COMMENT Haul out your white stetson and go saddle up to ride the range....yeeee-haaaa!!! - o -