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"By Brian Howarth and Mike Woodruff of Gremlins fame" boasts the cover of this Supergran adventure, but I'm afraid that the authors haven't equalled the quality of that earlier adventure.

The plot requires you to recover valuables that have been stolen by Scunner Campbell, who will of course do his best to stop you. In addition, Gran, who isn't exactly a spring chicken anymore, seems to come over all frail and fragile periodically, needing good doses of porridge to pep her up so that she can continue her search.

As an adventure for kids (which is how it describes itself), Supergran is quite good, with puzzles that should appeal to younger players, though they are unlikely to provide adventure veterans with any real challenge. I seemed to spend more time assembling the ingredients for a bowl of porridge than in searching for stolen goods.

Unfortunately, Supergran is rather sloppy in places, and I found myself getting no helpful response to such standard commands as OPEN DOOR, and WEAR HAT. In fact, the program tells you that it doesn't know the word "WEAR" despite the fact that it is specifically referred to in the instructions as a word that is understood. The program also tells you about various objects that you can see, only to later tell you that it doesn't know what they are. Plus, the authors don't seem to know how to use the full stop, which sets a poor example for the kids the game is presumably aimed at.

C.J.