SHIELD OF DESTINY Written by George Rawson Downloadable from the SynTax site at www.syntax2000.co.uk/downloads Review by Bev Truter on PC George has used Phil Richmond's gamewriting utility CAT to program this classic-style text adventure from scratch, after 'losing' all his previous data on this game that he originally started writing for his old Amiga.....at least, I THINK that's how the story goes - check the history of SoD by typing INFO during gameplay, and all will be revealed. SoD is similar in style to two other (AGT) games that I've played over the years; i.e. THE LADY IN GREEN and NEW ENGLAND GOTHIC. Like these two AGT games, SoD relies heavily on plot and story-telling, with a few fairly simple puzzles thrown in to keep the plot jogging along at a fair trot. George has concocted a good old-fashioned yarn about Sir Rufus (played by you), a knight in the land of Graznia, sent on a mission by Queen Zania to rescue both the Shield of Destiny (stolen from the palace) and her daughter Clothilde (kidnapped). The Queen cannot understand why King Dergar of Oranza, formerly a loyal friend and supporter of Graznia, has suddenly turned on her in this fashion, and you (as Sir Rufus) will have to unravel the various strands in this mystery, and (hopefully) return with both the shield and the Princess to collect a well-deserved reward for all your troubles. Progress through the SoD is achieved mainly by talking to other characters in the game. It seems as though everyone is able to help you in some way, or at least provide sound advice, although on some occasions you'll first have to provide certain characters with an item or do them a good turn before help is forthcoming. Establishing your identity and being able to prove that you are indeed Sir Rufus, a loyal and faithful knight of the realm, is also important; with so many enemies roaming the countryside, other people are quite understandably wary of believing you too readily. There are several puzzles to solve before you can discover more scenery and advance the story; and it pays to ASK ABOUT as well as the more general TALK TO . As I mentioned earlier, the puzzles in SoD are fairly simple and shouldn't hold you up for long, the main point of SoD is to gradually unravel the mystery of the missing shield and Princess, and discover how the story unfolds. Although somewhat limited in their responses, there are many different characters in SoD for you to interact with, and listening carefully to what each person has to say should ensure that you amble your way through this pleasant quest without too much difficulty. The only small difficulties I encountered were a lack of synonyms for some words, meaning that you have to hit on exactly the right word for your commands to be understood, and a slightly illogical solution to one problem in the game. For example, a loaf of bread can be referred to as BREAD, but not LOAF. Similarly, a casement, or window, can only be called CASEMENT, and not WINDOW. Some of the doors described in certain locations cannot be examined, ('I don't know what a DOOR is'), but can nevertheless be unlocked ('Unlock door with key' doesn't work in some locations, whereas 'unlock door' does). The gameworld in SoD is fairly large, consisting of 96 locations. There's the palace and its surrounds to explore, the church and a forest beyond the palace, and then a small village - if you can find a hidden underground way to sneak into the village undetected... Then finally you'll have to cross a river, and infiltrate the enemy King's palace, where a disguise definitely comes in handy. Even after finding, freeing and rescuing the Princess, you still have to work out exactly how to get her back home, along with her trusty maid, Betsy. The total score in SoD is 137 points; but I think the scoring system may be a bit haphazard, as on one occasion I scored 155/137, and on my next try 165/137. SoD is a very linear game, and each item needed for later use in the game has to be discovered/taken the first time around through the scenery - if you return later on, i.e. work your way back to where the item was, then some events will subsequently not be triggered, and game characters will not respond to you, when you know perfectly well they should. This happened to me on 3 different occasions, but once you work out what the problem is, it's easy enough to restore a saved game at a point before the problem occurred, and play on from there. These are only a few minor technicalities that might cause a hiccup in your progress through SoD, as it's quite easy to get yourself into an unwinnable, or at least 'unproceedable' state. However, the depth of plot, the intricacy of the story, and George's good story-telling abilities all combine to make SoD a compelling and interesting game to play - I was hooked for 3 entire days straight - stuff the housework piling up! SoD is a good old-fashioned style text adventure to play, particularly if you enjoy a tale about the quest for a missing magical shield, filled with dash and derring-do, and sprinkled liberally with not-too-challenging puzzles to solve. - o -