Out for a spell

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This two-part text adventure is set 200 years in the future when a career as a showbiz personality or pop singer no longer appeals to school-leavers. They want to be magicians - but more like Merlin than Paul Daniels.

To do this they must join the International Union of Magicians. However, the Union doesn't want a sudden influx of semi-skilled members, so it decided that all prospective candidates would have to earn their nomination by learning the fourteen basic spells.

This put them on the shortlist. The handful of successful candidates would be announced at the annual banquet and only those present would be admitted to the elite band of magicians.

The first part starts at the school gates where you are assaulted by the leader of the Mob.

You are told you must return later to participate in the ritual book-burning ceremony or the Mob will ensure that you never get to the Magicians' Ball.

Your first task is to find your schoolbooks and return for the bonfire so that the Mob won't bother you again, leaving you free to search for spell plaques hidden around a town that boasts a shopping centre, library, police station, wax museum, bad housing and a park.

Provided you remembered to examine the books, you will be on the first rung of the ladder. Your next task is to enlist the help of your girlfriend, Diane, who wears a Just Seventeen T-shirt - which is a lie 'cos she's only sixteen.

Now you're ready to do your bit for nature conservation, with just rewards, as Woody will save you several times if necessary. But make too many silly mistakes and he won't bother. The spells are in capital letters on plaques, and to learn them you must read the plaque.

The name of each spell is self-explanatory - for example, bounce allows you to jump higher and alien changes you or something into something else.

Some spells are simply cast, while others have to be cast at something or someone, while *spelling mistakes* can be cancelled with the reserve spell, although in the first part just touching a plaque will suffice.

The emphasis in part one is on learning the spells, the easier ones being used to discover the more elusive ones.

I thoughtlessly cast grav without a roof over my head and I soon discovered that aliens can't read plaques - at least in the beginning. It was slow, but rewarding progress from *another annoying school-leaver* to *on the verge of membership*.

Part two begins with you dreaming about Universal Magic. Poor Woody got the chop, but Diane is still with you. As you are no longer a novice, your spells are more effective, allowing you to cast while an alien.

In contrast to the first part, the problems must now be solved in a certain order.

The map for this part can be split into three sections - up to the wood, the brick building complex and, finally, the countryside and banquet hall. It's easy to find a quick way back to the brick building, but there's a slightly less obvious method for returning to the asylum.

The loading screen for part one could damage your eyesight but part two has an animated picture of a wizard. Pressing the spacebar a few times sends him into manic mode.

The programming is very user-friendly and inputs such as "Ask Diane for help" are understood, as are multiple commands separated by a full stop or comma.

A very comprehensive help sheet is available if you send an sae to Central Computing.

In part one, Status reminds you which spells you know and can cast safely, as well as any that are active.

Part two replaces this with an indication of whether the location is inside or outside.

Most adventurers are familiar with the save and load to tape facility but not so recognisable are the store and recall commands.

They are rare on the BBC Micro, but commonplace on other micros and allow you to save your current position, giving instant recall.

It's amazing how audacious this makes your adventuring!

Author Simon Maren has written an absorbing adventure about enterprising youth. Stubbornly refusing to be conformist, his storyline and quirkly puzzles are refreshingly original, often with a sideways swipe at more conventional adventures.

Barbara Gibb