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I have been programme to believe that all Orcs are nasty, vile creatures, so the opportunity to take the role of one and find out for myself seemed interesting to say the least.

The particular creature that Level 9's Knight Orc, allows the player to become is apparently two rungs down the ladder from a tape worm and answers to the name Grindleguts. His basic task in this three-part game is to survive. He begins his uncomfortable journey tied to a house in the midst of a jousting contest (apparently he volunteered to be the Orcs' champion whilst in a drunken stupor and is now paying the price). Obviously his very first task is get out of this contest and make it back to Orc Mountain in one piece. Actually finding a way across a broken viaduct is the main aim of part one; hardly a difficult quest, it's designed to get the player used to how the game works and what actions are possible within it. Parts two and three are much more involved and require the utilisation of everything learned in part one if the player is to get anywhere at all.

Using their Kaos writing system, Level 9 have provided the facility for the player to use 'High Level Commands' such as FOLLOW, GO TO, WAIT FOR, and the ability to communicate with - and even recruit - the many other characters inhabiting the game. In fact, bribing people to do your bidding is a very important skill which has to be mastered if any progress is to be made. The parser is very impressive and can quite easily handle phrases like DENZYL, FIND THE MAT AND THE KEY, FIND ME, GIVE EVERYTHING TO ME THEN RUN TO THE CASTLE, and while the player amuses himself doing other things in the game Denzyl will troll off and so as asked (if he's feeling generous toward you!).

The graphics are quite nice to look at first time around, but gameplay is faster without them and the game loses no atmosphere due to their absence.

The overall feeling I got with Knight Orc was one of slight confusion. Once successfully within part two the player discovers that he is wearing a visor, removal of which reveals the landscape and characters around him to be not what they seemed at first. This little quirk made me wonder if it was worth carrying on, as I presumed I was no longer playing the part of Grindleguts nor was I in a land of mystery and magic... was it all an illusion? Maybe if I had been able to play it more extensively all would have become clear. As it was, time being against me, I did not get as far as I would have liked; however, what I did see impressed me and I shall certainly try hard to find the time to continue with Knight Orc. Level 9 once again prove themselves to be masters of the single-load adventure, and with their other recent release, Gnome Ranger, getting rave reviews everywhere, it looks like the Austins will be having a very nice Christmas, thank you very much.