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The sequel to the wonderful Gordello Incident (GI), Gordello's Demise (GD) is rather frustrating for adventurers who've struggled through GI. Why? Because it turns out that GI was nothing but a dream! Aaarrgh!

The task is to kill Dr. Gordello and destroy his Clonetron. GD, created using Tom's own adventure system, re-uses the now classic horizontally split screen. Clone AA is the 'super clone'. You can give Clone AA individual commands and, once Clone AA has met another character, can CALL and control that secondary character (e.g. gardener, strongman, locksmith).

This is an excellent method of creating an adventure that fully utilises NPCs in an interactive manner as well as providing an adventure that can never be accused of being linear. In addition, each character has individual skills. For example, the boxer will be an ideal character to open certain stubborn doors, while the gardener will be your vote to do a spot of digging. How Tom's squeezed all of this into 48K is beyond me!

Because of the advanced use of interactive characters, the variety and type of puzzles are extended beyond the norm. You're also given part three of GI on the flipside of the cassette plus the solution if you've never played the original and don't wish to purchase it. My advice, though, would be to buy that and the sequel to fully appreciate the storyline.

There's no doubt that Tom Frost is the most inventive and innovative independent adventure author around. He confirms that status with GD. While not quite having the oomph of the original, Gordello's Demise is still a worthy sequel.