PIGGERY JOKERY
       Available from www.richmond62.freeserve.co.uk

                 Written by Philip Richmond
                Reviewed by Bev Truter on PC

Aaaahhhh! Verily and indeed, what a delightful game to play...

Piggery Jokery (PIGGY) was first written for the Amiga quite some
time ago, then became available for the PC using an Amiga
emulator, and now Phil has revamped it and rewritten it for his
latest version of CAT for the PC. The minimum requirement for
running PIGGY smoothly is a bottom-of-the-heap Pentium, and
running CAT through Windows is child's play, with very simple
type-and-click routines for saving and restoring your game
positions.

You play the part of Archibald Blake, who appeared previously in
GORY STORY and HAZARDOUS HOLIDAY. This time you are on holiday in
Thornleigh Meadows, indulging yourself in a spot of
butterfly-catching in the beautiful English/Welsh countryside.
After capturing a large Red Admiral in a cornfield and putting it
in a glass jar there's a sudden flash of light, and Lorelez, Queen
and Protector of the Animal Kingdom appears.  She is extremely
displeased with you, and to teach you a lesson she transforms you
into a small pink pig known as Peregrine.  Before you can return
to human form you will have to perform nine noble deeds to help
the various animal inhabitants of the nearby woods, then return to
the cornfield and release the butterfly. As a pig you will see
life through an animal's eyes, and hopefully gain some
understanding about the everyday problems many of the wood's
inhabitants must face.

The first animal you meet is Walter Woodpecker, outside the
unclimbable fence surrounding the woods. He'll help you, but only
if you find something edible to give him. Once through the fence
and into the woods you'll meet a wide variety of woodland
creatures - a squirrel, beaver, badger, and many more. If you
EXAMINE and TALK TO the animals you'll soon discover what they
want, or how to help them, and the game's huge appeal for me was
this interaction with the different animals.  There are a few
"baddies" in the game - three humans and one animal - and you will
first have to survive being chased by the latter, and figure out
how to get rid of it, before you can deal with the humans.

Naturally, as a pig, you can't climb trees or pick up too many
items at a time; but you'll soon discover a discarded Harrod's
carrier bag lying around, which you can wear by thrusting your
little piggy head through the handles. When you drop anything, you
release the front toes of your trotters, and the item falls from
your grasp, which conjures up a lovely picture of a small piglet
picking up and discarding items.  Typing EXAMINE ME brings up a
simply gorgeous description of yourself/Peregrine, and all the
animals in PIGGY are similarly well-described.

The puzzles in PIGGY aren't particularly hard or difficult to work
out, but for each noble deed performed there's a huge feeling of
relief, and I found it a very rewarding experience to trot about
as a pig, rescuing and helping the animals. The full score is a
neat 100/100, and the gameworld consists of about 31
beautifully-described locations. Although not particularly vast or
complicated, PIGGY is a truly delightful game to play, oozing
charm and atmosphere. Even if you have already played PIGGY, I'd
recommend a second look at this game in its new CAT incarnation.
Phil has added at least one completely new character, a rather
sneaky one called Franklin... PIGGY is downloadable from Phil's
website, along with several other CAT games by other authors.












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