A Charm Of Hobbits

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The adventure-game world was taken by storm when The Hobbit made its appearance on the Spectrum some time ago. Although the graphics have been lost during its conversion to run on the Beeb, the novelty and charm of the game have been preserved.

The Hobbit is, of course, an adventure game based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. You play the role of Bilbo, the hobbit, and your task is to recover the treasure from the evil dragon, Smaug. He lives far away on the other side of Middle Earth, the enchanted land which is your home.

Because The Hobbit is based on a novel, the characters and plot are of a much higher standard than in most adventure games. No one character is fixed to any one location - all move around the land intelligently.

The computer understands a large vocabulary and complex instructions can be issued to the other characters. Even a few adverbs can be thrown in - a welcome change from the typical "TAKE SWORD" type of adventure.

A slightly annoying feature of the game is the necessity to load some data from tape whenever you restart the game.

This is a trivial point however, and is heavily outweighed by those on the positive side. Adventure addicts will adore The Hobbit, but even those who, like myself, are very choosy when it comes to adventures, will enjoy it thoroughly. And, of course, if you tire of the game you can always read the book - supplied with the cassette.

David Acton