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"The first age of Aalinor saw the rising of Gorgoroth, Lord of the Underworld. In that time great evil was done to the fair works of Aalinor and its people." The noble and wise Lord Geremot tried to harness the power of two magic orbs to defeat the evil, but he was defeated and sucked into a time vortex and the twin orbs were lost. You must recover both orbs and fuse them to set free Lord Geremot and to ensure that the evil of Gorgoroth does not rise again.

The opening scenes of this adventure are strikingly similar to the Magus masterpiece Village Of The Lost Souls. Unfortunately Orbs isn't quite in the same league. Despite marvellous room descriptions and wise setting of puzzles, the game is littered with spelling mistakes and simple grammatical errors: "The Carpenter works busilly" is a prime example.

I wish more software companies would employ proof readers for their products, as Potter aren't alone with this particular problem!

However, most of the location descriptions are atmospherically set and make the bones tingle: "A rotting corpse, writhing with maggots and covered in festering boils lies on the floor." My mistake was in examining the corpse, for I soon discovered black boils developing all over my skin and felt decidedly poorly. The computer informed me I had died of the dreaded lurgy and was now an ex-adventurer!

It's funny, the symptoms were pretty similar to the Black Death. I had always thought that the lurgy was dreamed up by the Goons - we learn something every day.

I later found myself "hanging on the clapper of a huge bell, which is crusted with the sulphurous deposits from the smokes that rise from below."

I was surprised that I couldn't Take and Search and the failure to condense SOUTH to S was most annoying - these are surely things which Potter could put right. I also feel that being told you are of "Neanderthal Intellect" may insult some adventurers.

Nevertheless this is an adventure which I would happily slot into my Top Ten, though Potter has some way to go before it seriously challenges the quality of Robico, Shards or Epic.

Pendragon