Journey to Pompeii

                  Reviewed by Peter Clark

The story begins in 1918 when you, Adrian Blake, a British
explorer are on an expedition for the King. You find yourself
surrounded by enemy forces but manage to find shelter in a cave
and decide to wait it out. Due to the poor conditions, you become
ill and suffer a fever. The Goddess Ishtar, also known as
Aphrodite and Isis, appears to you and offers to heal you in
return for your love. You refuse her offer and soon find yourself
on the mend without her intervention. At the first available
moment you return home to England and to your fianc‚e Sophia. A
year later, on the brink of your wedding, Sophia disappears
without trace. You search for her without success.  It is then
that the curse spoken by the vindictive Goddess comes back to
mind. You search through ancient scrolls to find the spell to
invoke Ishtar and, when she appears, she offers you a challenge in
exchange for the return of Sophia.

Ishtar sends you back to August 20th in the year 79 A.D. Here your
first task is to discover the identity and whereabouts of Sophia
who has been reincarnated as a freed slave. Then you must win her
love and trust, as she has no memory of their life in the future,
and lead her out of Pompeii. You have just four days to do this as
Mount Vesuvius, according to the history books, will erupt and
destroy the city on August 24th in the year 79 A.D. If you are
successful, you will be returned to your own time with your
fianc‚e Sophia.

This part of the game is all contained in the introductory
sequence and you have no control over it at all. Your game starts
with you as a guest in the house of Popidius and it is from here
that you must start to explore the city of Pompeii. A map of the
city is available by tapping the Space Bar and close-ups of
sections of the map can also be accessed in this way. You also
have access to an encyclopaedia that will give you an insight into
the ways and customs of the local inhabitants.


You will spend most of the game talking to the various characters
and many of these will require you to carry out tasks for them.
The first of these involves placating a couple of gents who are
arguing about a donkey cart blocking the roadway. If you have done
enough exploring in the Popidius' house, you will have found the
necessary items to sort this out.  During the game you will have
to react with the owner of the Tavern, the lady who runs the
perfume shop, the baker, a crazy soothsayer, the local witch and
many others. There are several puzzles within the game, some of
which, if you fail to get the correct answer quickly enough, will
result in your early demise. The one that had me dying many times
involved a snake under a stone. I needed the stone to throw at a
branch but, picking up the stone, disturbed the snake. Having got
the branch I assumed that it could be used to kill the snake.
However, trying to hit the snake with it proved deadly. After many
tries, I eventually found the answer. I will not spoil it for you
by explaining any further but it was quite an original solution.
At several places during the game, objects seem to fall from the
rooftops and quick movement is needed to avoid an early bath!

The game is not the most difficult that I have seen and certainly
not one of the best games available at the moment.  My main
criticism is the map. The city is laid out in a series of
criss-crossed roadways and, even though your current position is
marked on the map, I found it difficult to work out which way I
was facing. There are no compass points available. The game is
certainly worth playing but don't expect to get overexcited.

System Requirements: - Windows 95/98 (although I ran it under Me
perfectly well) Pentium 200
12x CD Rom
32 MB Ram.

Available on the Timescape label from Dream Catcher.





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