The Quest for the Holy Snail

History has got it wrong. Apparently King Arthur was a lazy fat slob and left all the hard work to his knights. It was no surprise, therefore, that when Arthur decided that someone must undertake the Quest Of The Holy Snail he didn't volunteer himself (royal privilege, I suppose) but one of his knightly mates... you!

I have to confess that I didn't fancy this game. It just didn't appeal to me. The title alone was enough to put me off. However, when I played it, I didn't find it so bad. By the time I got to the castle I was quite enjoying it.

The aspect of the game that I found so good was the plays on words. They were absolutely awful. So bad, in fact, that they were good — if that doesn't sound too contradictory. I'd love to include a couple of examples here but I don't want to spoil the enjoyment of other people when the messages appear on the screen.

I did a lot of groaning when I saw some of the messages, but mostly they brought a smile to my face (something not easily accomplished).

The problems are (as in First Past The Post) not very difficult, but one or two need some thinking about. It is a larger game (37 locations) with quite a few problems to solve. My favourites were a sign pointing to certain death and a stamping foot. The solutions weren't very difficult (some people might consider them too obvious) but were quite amusing.

One point to note is that you have to use the commands LOIN, LOUN and LOBE (no doubt familiar to Simon Avery fans...) fro Look In, Look Under and Look Behind respectively, although the inlay will document these instructions.

The game is very playable and enjoyable, and I can definitely recommend it.

Reviewed by Phill Ramsay, played on the Amstrad