ATTENTION all battle-weary adventurers. Once again the call has gone out for a real live hero to investigate the traps and treasure, monsters and magic of some dank, perversely unmappable castle in a forgotten corner of Fantasyland.
One ought to yawn, turn the lamp low, put out the griffin and go to bed, but for aficionados of secret chambers hedged about by impenetrable logic puzzles the delights of playing the game seemingly never flag.
If you were bored by the last fantasy adventure you played, Castle Blackstar is unlikely to excite you wildly. That said, the SCR team has produced a competent text-only adventure.
The computer accepts most of the usual commands and has a 200-word vocabulary.
A modest prize is offered to the first few adventurers to reach the bitter end and return the Orb of Artemis to its rightful place.
One welcome feature is the ease of movement round the castle and its environs. Andrew Cummins of SCR says most of the problems are accessible independently of each other, so there is no need to spend days beating your brains out on one problem before you proceed to the next.
The program is apparently the first in a series of related quests. It remains to be seen whether players have the stamina to keep up with the series but Castle Blackstar should keep the peculiar minds of adventure freaks hyperactive for a month or so at least.