Reviews by Canalboy

Blood Of The Mutineers was to be the first in a projected trilogy of text only games with Captain Blizzard as the protagonist; a barnacled follow up to the previous Rick Hanson secret agent trilogy from the same Robico stable. As the eighties drew to a close, however (this game was released in 1988) and the market for text adventures waned and then died, the plug was pulled on the mooted sequels. So definitely not a case of "One Two Three O'Leary."

The game is around half the size of previous Robico offerings and the difficulty quotient is higher as well - the very start of the game features a frenetic, tightly-timed set piece involving Blizzard's egress from a mutinous crew and you will most certainly die many times before plotting a successful escape. This and other timed action sequences require much plotting and learning by death, in the accepted manner of the time.

The game comprises four specific areas, each of which cannot be revisited after leaving.

The parser is ok when sticking to two word verb/noun input but often becomes confused when attempting anything too sophisticated; "put x on y" will, for instance just drop the referenced item in most instances and prepositions in general are usually but not always ignored. There is one particular command which is needed to elude the black bear that is far too distanced from any other parser requirement in the game as to be unfair. The location description also offers no suggestion that the requisite action would work. Robico often seemed to work one extremely torturous puzzle in each of their games (c.f. the sleeping guard in Island Of Xaan). Several of the puzzles are multi-faceted and tough; again as above you are expected to die and learn several times and a few items have moon logic uses. These instances inevitably walk the tightrope between being fresh puzzle ideas and downright "how was I supposed to know that?" out of left field contrivances. The puzzle mentioned above involving the bear is in my opinion unfair even if it is also quite elegant; more of a nudge from the location desription would have been welcomed and the valedictory verb to summon your rescuers is unique to me in the pantheon of text adventures. The final puzzle necessitates the invocation of a verb which I have never come across in any previous text adventure; at least its use is hinted at. Another puzzle revolving around a rope bridge will be familiar to those of you who have played the mainframe game Hezarin. The denouement in the Temple appears somewhat rushed (quite possibly due to memory restraints) and the game as a whole does not match up to the company's earlier Rick Hanson trilogy.

There is no "score" although "take all" and "og" for go back one command are present;the latter however doesn't work if you die. Presumably dying would be one the main reasons for employing it. Unusually there is a "where" command which will tell you the location of a previously dropped object and as in all other Robico games "examine all" will parse a description of all your inventory items as well as meta objects in the current location description. The location descriptions are more detailed than previous games from the O'Leary Brothers and this is I suspect the main reason the number of locations are only half the number of the earlier adventures. A typical example: "The Captain looked around. He was outside the entrance to the Temple. The building was perfectly carved in the shape of a skull. The teeth were beside him and looking past the ivy which trailed from the nasal opening, he could see two, large eye sockets, black and menacing! The only exit was west to the chasm edge." Shades of Level 9's Dungeon Adventure and Talent System's Lost Kingdom Of Zkul there.

Anyone of a squeamish nature would do well to avoid this game as the grand guignol is splattered on rather too copiously, somewhat akin to a Dario Argento giallo film.

I think "Nasty" rather than "Cruel" would best describe the player experience as there is no inventory limit and there are no thirst, hunger, or light daemons. It is however very easy to miss an essential item and not be able to backtrack to retrieve it as the four main areas are, as previously mentioned, self contained. One item in particular which you have already used and presumed lost is hidden away at the start of a new section; if you miss it second time around you will be close to the end but unable to finish. Examine and map everything very carefully.

I can't honestly say I enjoyed this game as much as the Rick Hanson trilogy. There are far too many gruesome deaths and blood splattered descriptions and the last part comes across as rushed hack work. It is a shame that Robico couldn't have released this as a disk based game with less gore and more of a thrilling climax. I clocked up BeebEm to 200 per cent CPU speed and it runs very quickly with nary a misspelling or bug to report.

I have just finished play testing Derek Haslam's new version of this game for RISC OS emulators. Thirty-nine years after the original Acornsoft version was released the author has extensively rewritten and expanded the game into a highly entertaining 296 room odyssey to claim the magical Talisman of Khoronz and return with it to Carraway Court (together with various assorted plunder you have accumulated along your quixotic way). Freeing himself from the memory shackles of the old 32K BBC the programmer has been able to produce a much more interesting and absorbing experience.
I have seldom played a text adventure which has the almost perfect melding of back story and puzzle fest. Derek is a natural writer and the world of the island of Karos (together with sundry small islands scattered around its coast) is woven skilfully around the story of the wizard Khoronz and his battle against the evil Vork.

The game encompasses many regions, from snowy mountain passes to treacherous swamps (watch what you are wearing) and thick forest. A castle sitting on a remote island, a deep and hazardous coal mine traversing a large underground region and stone barrows containing hidden clues are all to be explored and the game also features many NPCs, both friendly and informative ones who will impart essential information, sell you essential items (the barter system is de rigueur in some cases) and sometimes kill you. There are volcanic eruptions, sea monsters, wolves and kobolds to deal with, together with the most original use for an anvil that I have ever come across. It is possible to circumnavigate the island of Karos on a craft and there are several landing spots but be careful as it is very easy to drown on needle rocks or be sucked into a whirlpool amongst other entry points to Davy Jones's Locker. You will need a certain amount of nautical know-how to manoeuvre the boat correctly.

One unusual facet of the game is movement. In the main part of the island the normal eight compass directions plus up and down and occasionally in and out are used but indoors and occasionally at the more far flung regions left, right, forwards and backwards are used. This took me a while to perfect but it actually works very well once you get your head around the logistical concept.

The game does feature a very generous lamp timer, a continually descending number of energy points (you start with 1000 and lose one for each move or occasionally more at sea) but these can be replenished in several ways. There are no thirst or hunger timers. I particularly like the lamp icon which appears in the top left hand corner of the screen to remind you if it is on or off.

The inventory limit is set at a very high number and realistically heavier objects are more difficult to carry; indeed one can only be dragged. Almost every item has at least one use so discard nothing. Occasionally you will receive a helpful message stating that an item is no longer needed after you have used it for a particular task.

I finally finished after approximately fifteen upgraded versions and amassed over a thousand points although there was one treasure I did not collect along the way.

The fully released final version will include an incremented hint system at certain locations where continually typing "hint" or "help" will give you clues of gradually increasing helpfulness. This function is likely to get a fair amount of use as the puzzles in the game are sometimes far from easy but always fair. I don't think that it is possible to put the game into an unwinnable state without the player being aware of the fact.
I would definitely advise creating a map as the island is so large you will get lost on more than one occasion and the layout may even suggest a problem solution or two.

I thoroughly recommend giving this Tolkienesque work a go. Details of where to download the game are available on CASA. It can also be downloaded from Derek's web site http://www.boulsworth.co.uk/intfict/index.htm