Graphic delight

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It came as a considerable shock to discover that, until recently, I had been living a sadly deprived existence. I first realised this when I reviewed Time And Magik, and this suspicion was reinforced as I became entranced with Lancelot - I had been suffering from a lack of Level 9. Final proof was supplied with Gnome Ranger - an outrageous exercise tinged with the usual Austin humour.

The positive reaction to Time And Magik encouraged the Austins to re-enter the BBC Micro market. We must ensure that they never leave it again, I had quite forgotten just how funny they could be.

Ingrid Bottomlow, a fetchingly Ramboesque picture of hirsute feminine charm, comes home from the Institute of Gnome Economics. Life down on the farm is transformed, as described most touchingly in The Gnettlefield Journal - a 48 page booklet supplied with the game.

At the end of this hilarious saga her desperate family consult a leprechaun and Ingrid is teleported into the wide blue yonder. Undaunted, she sets about returning home, helping distressed entities on the way. And so the game itself starts.

I often say that I am a text-only fan where adventures are concerned, but the standard of illustrations in Gnome Ranger is little short of superb and my resistance to adventures containing pictures is crumbling rapidly as a result.

The text quality is, naturally, superlative. Once again I must use some of my precious word allowance to illustrate because those who have not come across adventures of this quality may find it hard to believe. So, there follow two typical snatches from the first part of this three part offering:

'The centaur introduced himself: "Hello, my little rosebud. I am Capricorn Centaur, humble proprietor of this multifarious emporium. You may take anything your heart desires from this infinite variety by first giving me two other items in exchange".'

To my mind this is far superior to merely being told that you can obtain items by barter. Similarly, how about this - as Ingrid encounters a Caledonian eagle:

'She took up Ingrid carefully in her talons and carried her down to the base of the pinnacle. Before flying off, she dropped a small silver bell into Ingrid's hands. "If ye need any help, my dear, just give a wee ring on this and I'll be with ye before ye can say porridge".'

Inevitably, I had to ring the bell - and then enter SAY PORRIDGE - simply to see what happened: 'I don't think the eagle was being quite that literal' was the response.

Part one of the adventure consists of a lovely long chaining puzzle. The ultimate task is to defeat a wicked witch and to achieve this, a team of helpers must be recruited and put to work. This is not as easy as it looks but - as always - there are plenty of places to explore as you find your way around and begin to work out a plan of campaign.

Newcomers to adventuring should notice the importance of the WAIT command at various points in the game. For example, there is the need to coax a very shy nymph into doing your bidding, and patience is essential as you go about this - she won't come charging up to you from the depths of her leafy glade.

There is an interesting variant on the maze principle - go to the marsh area carrying anything and a mist envelopes you. One way out is to drop everything - which doesn't help your progress much - but you still need to figure out another way to extricate yourself and still retain your possessions.

The high level commands mentioned when I reviewed Lancelot are available in Gnome Ranger and this is a great aid to later stages of the game. You should not, however, imagine that map-making is now redundant - their greatest help comes after this.

The best way to use these commands is to explore everywhere painstakingly and thoroughly then work out what tasks need to be done. Now - having made notes - use the high level commands to work your way through each section of the adventure as economically as possible. The two most useful instructions - to my mind, at any rate - are GO TO location and FOLLOW entity. The latter clarifies matters most helpfully at times.

As always, a comprehensive hint sheet is available and a glance through it had me in stitches: It's almost as much a work of art as the game itself.

Mad Hatter