Previous Next

To you, me and the Wicked Witch of the West, melting might not be our ultimate goal in life, but for snowmen, well, it's what they live for. When a snowman dissolves, you see, it's only his physical form that cops it; his consciousness, soul, life force, karma, spiritual self (depending on your preference) passes on to a higher plain of existence, a sort of deep frozen Nirvana where chocolate never melts in your hand and all the snowmen live in perfect permafrost harmony.

But Jack Frost (the cold-hearted villain in this tale) has ruined it all for one snowman by freezing him so cold he'll never melt. Jack also tore up the piece of paper which would have told the snowman where to go in the unlikely event of someone being able to melt him! Your task is to find the seven pieces of paper and put them back together and then to thaw out The Last Snowman.

It all sounds a bit Jackanory; that's because it has been written for kids (although if you're a beginner in adventuring, it also might suit you - if you can handle the cuteness). The adventure has been written by the same authors as the Angelicus Saga and Angelicus Answer, Margaret and Mike Crewdson.

Instead of the normal north, south, east and west, you have to go forwards, backwards, left and right. You can choose to see the full instructions before playing the game or give them a miss. A tune and a picture of the snowman accompany the loading.

It was written with the help of GAC (Graphical Adventure Creator) so there are loads of pictures. I particularly liked the scarecrow and the snowman. At all times you're required to be polite and helpful to all the characters you meet. The graphics can be turned off, but you might miss out on vital clues (that's a hint, by the way!).

One excellent touch is that each game is personalised. The Last Snowman addresses the player in a number of places. When you send off for the game, tell WoW the name of the child that's going to be playing it and they'll insert it into the game.

If you have a green screen monitor you might have difficulty reading the text which is dark red against a dark background. Apart from that there are no major faults, and I reckon young kids'll love it.