LIGHT CAST ON DARK STREET

MICRO: BBC 32K, Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £9.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Mosaic, Baffins Lane, Chichester, Sussex

"You've read the book now play the game".

Like The Hobbit before it, this game is closely based on a previously written tale.

The tale is science-fiction, which is included in the booklet that accompanies the cassette. The story is The Pen and the Dark by Colin Kapp. It is one of a series featuring the Unorthodox Engineers.

The game instructions advise the player to read the first few pages of the story which sets the scene and reveals the object of the adventure. The remainder of the plot should only be read when the player is stuck.

The player assumes the identity of Fritz Van Noon, head of a team known as the Unorthodox Engineers.

You are set the task of solving the mystery surrounding the appearance on the planet Ithica of a strange black hole phenomenon known as the Dark.

All previous attempts to destroy the Dark have been foiled by the Pen, the surrounding vast, freezing shadow that chills the mind and body of all who approach.

As you would imagine, the Unorthodox Engineers find a very unorthodox solution to the enigma, which is why the story has been supplied with the game as without its help I doubt if anyone would arrive at the correct solution.

As the instructions point out, however, knowing the solution is only part of the problem. You must find the equipment required and faithfully re-enact the storyline, which in itself has many problems.

The game is coloured-text only and uses the GO DOOR type format of commands.

Overall the text has a nice feel to it probably because it has been lifted from the book. It contains many amusing replies, such as; "To carry more you would need a supermarket trolley complete with outboard motor".

To ensure that the player follows in the footsteps of the story the program will only permit certain objects to be obtained where the correct sequence of the storyline is followed. This means that unless you SAVE the game state you cannot take short cuts when you replay the game at a later date.

I enjoyed playing this, an unusual adventure, which has some nice touches. It should be said, however, that a quick glance at the program, which is written in Basic, reveals some very unsophisticated programming. This probably accounts for the limited number of locations contained within. A short game which. while it's fun, does not deserve its high price tag.

Turning a book into an adventure proved a successful formula for the Hobbit and a new company Mosaic has set out to capitalise on it.

The Pen and the Dark is one of the first book/adventures to come out of the Mosaic stable and it carries out its task very effectively.

The story is one of the many in the book The Unorthodox Engineers, and whether you buy this game or not, the book itself is well worth reading! The main idea of the story is that you must investigate a strange area of "something" that has appeared that seems to have no logical explanation.

As I was lucky enough to get hold of a pre-production copy of the BBC and Tandy versions, I did not have a copy of the book that comes with the game to hand, so I therefore was playing the game for about a week before the copy of the book I ordered arrived from W. H. Smith's.

I found the game a little hard going without the book, but once I had it, it made everything a lot clearer.

One thing which really endeared me to the game was at one point I was at a loss for what to do next. So I read-up on the section of the story I was in and thought I had the answer. With baited breath I typed in the necessary sentence, and the computer responded with "Anticipating the plot will not improve it."

This is the first venture into software by Mosaic, and if the rest of their software comes up to this standard then they should be very successful.

Pen and the Dark will be available in January with more versions, including a Commodore 64 one.

The Pen and the Dark
From Mosaic for BBC, TRS-80/Genie and Spectrum. Price is not yet known.