Zzap
1st October 1989
Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Magnetic Scrolls
Machine: Commodore 64/128
Published in Zzap #54
Myth
The Official Secrets adventure club has been running a few months now and is apparently doing very well. For £19.95 you get six bi-monthly issues of the club magazine Confidential, Gnome Ranger by Level 9 (or a special surprise alternative), use of The Adventure Helpline and Adventure Contacts, automatic membership of the Special Reserve Software Club (giving discounts on loads of games), and of course the exclusive mini-adventure reviewed here - Myth, specially written for the club by Magnetic Scrolls.
In this light-hearted look at the Greek mythological world, you play the Sea God, Poseidon, and, guess what, you can't swim!
Mucking about in heaven is an easy life and you have a great time going to riotous parties. So when your brother Zeus invites you to his temple-warming party, you accept on the spot. When you arrive everything seems to be normal, with lots of food and drink to indulge in, but then Zeus decides to make a very serious speech about the rise of Christianity and how the Greek gods should prove their superiority by each performing a difficult task.
He hands you a piece of paper with your task on it: to find Hades' fabled Helmet Of Invisibility. With a flash you're transported to the gates of hell. Looking around you spot your first problem - a huge nine-headed Hydra guards the gates and isn't going to let you past. Armed only with a shield and trident (unfortunately not of the nuclear variety) you decide not to rile him and instead explore a garden to the east where a frolicking lamb and marble altar are to be found (I wonder what must be done here?!).
The only other route takes you into a deep swamp (aw no, you can't swim!) where an old James Bond trick can help you survive. Get through this and you reach the infamous River Styx, full of dead souls making the journey to hell. A ferryman and Death himself make an appearance here, along with a perplexing puzzle concerning transporting six keys over the river.
It didn't take me too long to make a fair bit of progress in Myth, as the puzzles aren't that difficult to solve, although fine for beginners. Experienced adventurers will probably find it a bit easy, although they'll have plenty of fun reading the humorous text and admiring the beautiful graphics which appear every few locations (these can be swapped for small mono cameos to quicken play). Then there's a typically refined Magnetic Scrolls parser which accepts multi-command sentences. One thing missing (although most won't need it) is "Help" - as members can always phone the Official Secrets Helpline!
Although I wouldn't exactly recommend forking out 20 quid just for the game, Myth is a great freebie incentive for those interested in joining the only professional adventure club in Britain.