The Golden Oldie section ...

               Castle Adventure - Kevin Bales
           Two Heads of the Coin - Robert LaFore
        Inside the Pleasure Dome - Pleasure Dome BBS
          (Three text or text/graphics adventures
                   for PC on PD Disk 284)

The first of these three 'golden oldies', Castle Adventure, is
introduced by a chunky graphic of the castle and some suitable (if
basic) music. The story goes that you are trapped in the deserted
castle. There are 13 pieces of treasure which you must collect and
then you must find a way to escape.  Though you're told the castle
is deserted the author obviously doesn't count monsters as
inhabitants as there are several dotted about the 83 rooms who are
intent on tearing any intruder limb from limb. The game is
displayed graphically so you must manoeuvre your little man
(looking very much like a club symbol from a pack of cards) around
the rooms using the cursor keys, avoiding the monsters until you
have suitable weapons, after which time you can attack and kill
them before they kill you. The rooms are shown as outline walls
and any visible objects in them (a sword, a chalice etc) are shown
by an appropriate symbol. Bed, tables and other furniture are also
shown and you can type in commands like 'examine bed' which will
give extra information and, sometimes, a useful item.  Points are
scored for treasure collected and monsters killed and a high score
table is shown on the wall of the castle courtyard.

First impressions weren't too good as the graphics aren't exactly
awe-inspiring, but the game is surprisingly compulsive. The
puzzles aren't as restricted as I feared they might be by such a
basic graphical system and, with so many rooms to map, it isn't a
game you'll complete in a few hours - well, I didn't anyway.
Though I normally avoid games with an arcade element like the
plague, I found the monster-bashing to be pretty easy so long as I
was properly equipped and attired. There are a few quirks in the
game; sometimes the screen display gets a bit corrupted but it
doesn't seem to affect play, and on changing locations the display
returns to normal. Also after a while the monsters stopped being
called things like 'demon' or 'ugly Paul' (whatever that is) and
were called '13' or '12' which I assume refers to the number of
hit points they have.

The second game, Two Heads of the Coin, is a strict text detective
game in Sherlock Holmes style.  Aided by the loyal Dr Watson, you
have to solve the mysterious disappearance of Mrs Georgina Conway
when her husband visits you in a state of great agitation. By
questioning him you must determine what fate has befallen the
lady.

At the start you have to tell the computer your Christian name,
surname, title (Mr, Mrs etc) and favourite drink. Watson and
Conway will address you appropriately through the game and the
name of your choice of drink will also be echoed back at you.

The question and answer session is fairly well programmed, the
game being able to understand many sensible questions such as
'where do you live?' and 'what does your wife look like?'.  If you
get stuck for ideas, 'help' will cause Watson to chip in and ask
one of his own questions, the answer to which may, or may not, get
you going again. You'll have to endure Watson's increasingly sarky
comments the more you use the 'help' command though and Conway
will also get a bit abrupt if you ask him the same question twice.

Eventually you'll have to make a decision from the evidence given,
and there is plenty of it. However the game is not difficult once
you've got used to the sorts of questions you can ask.

The last game, Inside the Pleasure Dome, was devised by the
Pleasure Dome BBS and it's very strange. You can't map it by
normal means, you can't pick up or manipulate objects in the same
ways as in a normal text adventure. The only commands at your
disposal are spells which are cast to move from room to room or
make things happen.

The screen display is very garish using different colours for each
line of text, the border and heading. In each location you are
given the room titles, your state of health or mind (in the first
location you're told you are feeling 'hungary'!), visible objects,
a message, a question to ponder, a list of spells to cast (eg nix,
este, cantrip) and, in all locations other than the first, a lucky
number.

Casting a spell will not only cause you to change locations, it
may also herald the appearance of a strange, half-human woman who
often gives you a clue, either a hint to explain the spells and
lucky numbers or an idea where to go next - if you can work out
how to get there. But on a fast PC, I found the messages sometimes
disappeared from the screen before I could read them!  The aim of
the game, at the start, is to visit all the rooms in the Pleasure
Dome and then more will be revealed. All I can say is, even when
you know what you're meant to be doing, it isn't easy!

Two Heads of a Coin was my least favourite game out of the three.
I might return to Castle Adventure and Pleasure Dome at a later
date as both were fun to play though Pleasure Dome is very
confusing (to put it mildly).
                                                  Sue

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