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It's three in the morning and I've just had my throat cut for the umpteenth time. I've said before that these MP adventures are getting better, and they are.

How the notting hill do I get through the gates? Why can't I get the shotgun off the farmer? Why don't I just give up and go to bed? Next day: Aah...That's how it's done! What? Not again. Right. This time I give up. If anyone out there can solve this adventure - tell me how!

A long time ago Lady Leonara was left at home while her husband went off to war. While he was gone she took a lover. But, alas, she was caught by Lord Salim upon his return. The enraged lord sealed her in her room and left her to die.

Many years later Lord Sadim is killed in an accident. As he lies dying, a woman in white is seen laughing all over his corpse. Frequent sightings of this mysterious woman over the ensuing years convince the locals that she is the ghost of the Lady Lenora.

Seeing as how you flunked out with the Blue Dragon the locals offer you one final chance - redeem yourself or retire. Can you enter the castle, overcome the dangers and give the lady her final peace? Probably not, but at least you can have fun trying.

You find yourself outside the west gate of the castle and your nightmare begins...

The game follows the usual MP style of coloured messages and long descriptions. A departure from the norm is the use of real-time and character interaction. If you sit pondering what to do you invariably see a "Time passes..." message. This instils a feeling of panic. The first time the monk "smiles sadly, blesses you and moves on" you'll be racing after him to try and find out what you should've done!

Two things I found while nosying through the program were the two commands VERSION and MODE. VERSION gave, "Version 1.1 MP Software". MODE was a funny one, but it seems to switch between Mode 6 and Mode 7. Yes, I know we don't have Mode 7! Makes you think though, doesn't it?

I'm not sure I can give a valid verdict on this game as I didn't get far enough. It seems quite hard and is therefore worth recommending but, and it's a big but, you get your throat slit far too often for my liking.

At any rate it compares very well with similar types of adventures and, on balance, is a worthwhile addition to the collection. Overall, MP adventures are always reasonably priced and as such, are definitely worth buying. Recommended.

Merlin