Amstrad Action


Flook

Author: The Balrog
Publisher: Wow
Machine: Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #74

Flook

This game is strange - very strange! You start in a small, dark attic playing a game on your computer when suddenly a giant bug crashes through the skylight and eats your computer whole! Later in the game you'll encounter an Aspidistris reciting Richard III, the Balrog-throwing champion of Magdawouk and many other weird and wonderful characters. Aided by your pet flea, Pedro, you (Heronimus Flook) must seek out and rescue Vile Narcilcrisis who was captured by an evil wizard.

Written by David Oya and originally published in to parts in 1986, Flook is a "Quilled" game with no graphics. The whole thing reminded me of a game called Mural in which lots of quirky, totally illogical happenings beset the player for no obvious reason. Although Flook has more logic than Mural, this logic is still a bit tenuous in places (you have to scare off an elephant-sized geranium by dropping a clockwork mouse, for example!)

But is the game any good? Well, I was initially put off with said bug (that's the giant bug and not a bug in the game!) right at the start - I was totally stuck! However, once I eventually worked out how to escape (with a little help from the solution) I found that the game was quite large and amusing in places. However, the puzzles in certain parts are a bit illogical and the parser unfriendly, so it can be a very frustrating game. Apart from the poor start I did like it, but as with one of Wow's previous releases, Simply Magic, it is an acquired taste. You'll either like Mr. Flook and Pedro or not - worth trying, though!

The Balrog

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