Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Legend

                       Reviewed by Sue

It's Riddle Night at Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, the galactic
equivalent of Cheers, the place where everybody knows your name.
Run by Mike Callahan, who built it in the 40s, it stands somewhere
near Long Island and, the story goes, you'll always find it when
you need it.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the outer limits of the universe, two
nebulous entities converse. The universes are being cancelled -
they're too expensive to maintain. Only if something of infinite
redeeming value can be found will funding be reinstated.

The game is based on the books by Spider Robinson, which I haven't
yet read, though since playing the game I've put in an order to
Amazon ... so look out for reviews of them some time this
Millennium. You play Jake Stonebender, your story untold at the
start of the game though it's clearly a sad one from the photos in
your wallet. Of all the regulars at the bar, you are slightly more
'regular' than most. The others include Josie Bauer, a Time Cop,
Mickey Finn, an alien who originally came to Earth to destroy it
but is now married to Mike's daughter, Pyotr, a vampire, and Doc
Webster, the enthusiastic punster who organizes the Riddle Nights.
There are also always strangers who have found themselves at the
bar when they needed help. Sometimes they have to be left until
they are ready to tell their stories, but their tales are always
worth waiting for.

The game follows several of these stories in detail as you, Jake,
try to help the people concerned solve a problem. Squish, for
instance, is an alien who has dropped into the bar. His race are
concerned about mankind's space exploration so have decided to
neutralize our spirit of exploration in a novel way ... using a
satellite which reduces the amount of testosterone. No wonder
there are more 'new men' about, muses Jake. So he and Noah
Gonzalez (bar regular, ex bomb squad) 'borrow' Squish's space ship
and take a quick trip to disable the satellite. Unfortunately
Squish can't be seen to be giving them any help or he'll get into
trouble with his superiors so he can't tell them how the ship
works, or warn them about various defense mechanisms on the
satellite.  You (ie Jake) and Noah will have to rely on your own
skills to see you through.

The second story involves chocolate. Not just any chocolate, this
is the best chocolate that has ever been made. It was made from
special beans which grew on trees in a remote part of the Amazon
jungle. Unfortunately these trees were cut down many years ago by
a firm that made pencils! But Josie, a chocolate addict, being a
Time Cop, knows how to take the two of you back to the right time
to stop the destruction and save the chocolate for posterity.

The third revolves around Pyotr the alcoholic vampire. He's
missing and you have to find him and discover why he's gone. It's
at this stage of the game that some of your own history comes to
light as Pyotr, drunk as a skunk, becomes very obnoxious when you
try to help him.  Having sorted out his problems which involve his
lost love, another vampire, you can enter the fourth part of the
game. Al Phee, travelling salesman, has taken a drug which lets
him read other peoples' thoughts ... and it's driving him crazy.
Once you've knocked him out, you travel to the future to try to
find a cure.  This is the stage I'm currently at, and I gather 
that there is one more part involving Ralph von Wau Wau, wonder 
dog, plus the finale, to come.

I don't think that Callahan's Crosstime Saloon was ever released
in the UK. Richard Hart, SynTax reader and retailer of computer
games in the States got it for me, so contact him if you want to
ask him to search out a copy for you. His advert is in this issue.
And after a shaky start with Squish's story, which involved a lot 
of mechanical button puzzles ... which I loathe ... I really got 
into the game with the 'chocolate' scenario. Yes, that's more my 
kinda thing! Pytor's tale has some very amusing parts, mostly 
connected with his family's coachman, an Igor-like figure 
("Yeth, marthter" etc) and a Gypsy who sounds like Joan Rivers. 
This is the sort of game that reminds me why I started playing 
adventures in the first place. Excellent.

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