OTE: The references to "Krovnia", "King Eric" and "Roobikyub" are used in the original review and are not typos. THE PAWNPCW version, AMTIX!, issue 16 (February 1987), p.43 - reviewed by Rob Steel Rainbird (Magnetic Scrolls) £24.95 disk, PCW8256The lovely Anita Sinclair from Magnetic Scrolls came up to Ludlow especially to show me The Pawn on the 'Joyce'. Well, I was really impressed... and the game was good too! Now, I wanted to give you a balanced, in depth, critical review of this adventure (something which I may attempt in a minute), meanwhile, if you own a PCW 8256 and want a rest from business type interfacing, go out and get a copy of this game. It's really wonderful! You begin by being bashed on the head by some unknown party and regaining consciousness on a gravel path in the land of Krovnia. This particular Kingdom is at present, in something of a political upheaval. King Eric has managed to upset many of his subjects by refusing to re-instate the citizenship of the Roobikyub dwarves following their recent banishment. A certain scheming little chappie, by the name of Gringo, is busy plotting to overthrow the King from the mountainous regions where he and his compatriots are holed up. Travelling east from the path brings you face to face with the magician Kronos and his famous gliding platform. Kronos is not an easy character to determine - I decided he was a baddie - but as he is obviously more powerful than myself I do what he asks of me... for now. Your main task is to escape from Kerovnia, but there are so many other characters and little tasks to deal with (if you want to) that one soon becomes completely distracted as you get sucked down into the game. The adventurers' horse, you know... the one with the Clint Eastwood complex, kept me happy for hours. It conjured up a great image of me riding on the back of this hovering steed (it has no legs, you see), who wears a Stetson and poncho and loves to tell you that the Magnum is the world's most powerful handgun etc. Most other characters are at least as interactive as the nag and, if not in immediate danger, you may while away the hours indulged in conversation with them. The Devil, in particular, knows a lot about a lot, but don't dally with him too long or he will revert to his soul purpose in life! The parser is amazing, managing to deal with ultra complex input such as: "Ask Kronos about the wristband then get chest and go east then east and examine it then drop it and listen to band". This is really quite a naff example, it's much more powerful than shown here, but this gives you the general idea. You can repeat previous commands using the "copy" key and correct or amend input using the normal controls. A large number of locations are represented graphically and these are great... even on the green screen. You may scroll the pictures up and down, or view them in "dither" (don't ask!) or standard mode, or switch them off completely. Other controls include: "Verbose!" Room descriptions are given fully every time you enter a room, "Brief":- Room descriptions are given only if "Look" is typed, "Exits":- lists the ways out of your current location (not necessarily your current predicament!) etc etc. The options are far too many to list here. The Pawn is a comparative masterpiece. There are obviously one or two hiccups in it, one should understand that with a game of such complexity, for example, typing in "Look shaft" when at the bottom of the ladder gives the reply "which shaft"? The Shaft or the shaft?... petty I know and as there are very few other quirks I don't really know why I mentioned them at all. There is usually no one solution to a problem in this game all objects behave much as they would should they really exist. It doesn't have to be the shirt which is tied to the hoe and rake (little clue there!) or even the hoe and rake which need to be attached to each other. The rope may be used along with any other suitable objects to make a lever. I only had a few hours in Kerovnia, but I want to go back there as soon as possible. Not necessarily to complete the game, just to have another look around, chat to honest John, listen to Jerry Lee Lewis or feel sorry for the snowman. The characters in The Pawn live, the plot unfolds step by step and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it. The packaging is very good, consisting of a Novella (which needs to be referred to throughout play), full instructions, a map of Kerovnia and a nice box! It has to be the best adventure I have ever played on the Amstrad!
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