Magnetic Scrolls Collection - Magnetic Scrolls/Virgin Reviewed by Sue The game can be downloaded from www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=676 The review first appeared in Red Herring magazine and has been updated. Following the development of their new Windows environment that they first introduced us to in Wonderland, Magnetic Scrolls re-released three of their older games, Fish, Corruption and Guild of Thieves, using their new system. Starting the installation, you're told about the power, speed and spare memory of your machine; this affects the way the game is installed. The installation onto the hard disk is pretty painless and when it's complete you're given the option to decompress the graphics - and told it can take from 2 minutes to 2 hours depending on your machine! I opted for 'yes' then visualised a long wait during which I could cook tea, eat it AND wash up before being able to play the games. But I was pleasantly surprised to find my Akhter took under 10 minutes ... but there's no way of knowing how long it will take until you try. However, this was ten years ago, modern machines will probably do it in seconds. But, on with the games! I'd completed all three on the ST when they were originally released, so it was more a case of 'what changes have been made and are the games better?' rather than 'what are the games like?'. But in case you haven't seen the originals, I'll recap briefly on the plots. Guild of Thieves is basically a treasure hunt game. You're keen to join the Guild and the Master Thief has set you a task; to strip the local castle and surrounding countryside of all its valuables. He knows exactly what treasures are there for the taking so don't think you can miss one and get away with it! None of the treasures is just sitting there, waiting to be picked up; you're going to have to work hard if you're going to join the Guild, crossing hot coals, sorting out a colourful maze and even breaking into a bank. Fish casts you in the role of an inter-dimensional secret agent. You carry out your work by inhabiting a 'host' body - and it doesn't have to be human. In fact you start the game in the body of a goldfish, swimming about in a bowl and enjoying a little peace and quiet. It doesn't last long because your boss calls you to duty - the Seven Deadly Fins, another group of agents, but baddies this time, are up to their old tricks. This time they're sabotaging a world of fish - the devils! Before you can enter the main game, you'll have to sort out three small scenarios but despite their small size, they're no pushover to solve. The whole game, and especially the main part, is full of fishy puns, especially when you take a trip on the fish world's underground system. Corruption has a more normal setting, if you can call the world of high finance with cross and double-cross normal. You've just started a new job in the City and everything should be perfect but you'll soon become aware that Things Are Not What They Seem To Be and someone is heading for a fall - you! If you're not careful you'll be accused of some very dodgy dealings and put in the slammer. It's up to you to find out who is/are the bad guy/s, collect enough information to prove your innocence and bring the guilty to justice. The system used for all three games looks identical to that used for Wonderland with various optional windows that you can pick and re-size to suit your taste. You can have pure text, graphics, a compass and displays showing your inventory and room contents as icons, plus a map. The text, as with Wonderland, scrolls up the window far too quickly to be read and will often need to be scrolled back down again. The graphics are basically the same as the original pictures but some have added animation - bubbles rise from the castle in the fish bowl, water drips into the sink in the bathroom in Corruption and the miller in Guild of Thieves strums his lute. Unfortunately he still strums his lute after you've managed to get it from him, but then Mag Scrolls were never ones for changing the graphics to suit changes in the adventure, unlike Legend. The items in room and inventory windows may seem like a good idea but as far as I'm concerned the inventory window is just a waste of screen space when it's so easy to check what you're carrying by typing 'I'. Mag Scrolls like to hide objects in the text and so items in room icons are a dead give-away as they reveal all these objects without you doing a thing. The compass can be useful, as can the map if you can't be bothered to draw one. You can use the map to travel quickly from one point to another, though you'll occasionally get 'are you sure?' prompts at some locations - again a give-away that 'something' drastic could happen. You can also double-click on icons to examine them or drag them from one window to another - but would you really want to? It's far quicker to type 'get x' or 'drop x'. When originally produced, all three games were well-received and gained good ratings in the glossies. I liked 'em too, especially Fish and, to a lesser extent, Guild. But even with the Windows system, the word that occurs to describe them is 'dated'. There's still the old annoyance when unlocking doors (what key? Remember to open it too), no oops or undo, no ramsave/ramload. There are just too many windows to be manipulated and the screen gets to look crowded all too quickly. Legend's system is almost as versatile and what features are missing can easily be done without. In conclusion, if you haven't played Fish, Guild or Corruption, and you like text games and can put up with the small niggles I've mentioned, The Magnetic Scrolls Collection will certainly give you weeks, if not months, of head-scratching at its various problems. - o -