KOBYASHI AG'KWO                         
                                                                
  Written by Clive Wilson. Available from Zenobi Software, 26   
       Spotland Tops, Cutgate, Rochdale, Lancs, OL12 7NX        
                                                                
                     Reviewed by David Haire                    
                                                                
Many years have passed since last you visited this world of     
YGOR. Years since the KOBYASHI NARU was experienced.            
                                                                
Now, the Etherions have taken over this world, transformed and  
renamed the Naru, that great quest for immortality as the       
AG'KWO, a greater quest than the one before.                    
                                                                
And so again must you venture upon the land, seek out the       
artifacts before your time is up and your strength depleted.    
                                                                
You begin in a room with a monitor and four buttons. The monitor
will give you clues to the location of the artifacts. To enter  
one of the 'ZONES', you must press one of the buttons.          
                                                                
This game is written using PAW, unlike Kobyashi Naru, which used
an icon system.                                                 
                                                                
The screen is laid out with a status bar across the top. This   
shows the number of credits you have amassed (your score), your 
current strength, the time taken, and the number of artifacts   
recovered. Below this is the location text, which is concise and
descriptive, although more detail would have been nice in some  
places. The exits are shown using direction arrows below the    
text.                                                           
                                                                
Text can be displayed in any one of three fonts, the second of  
which is not very clear. The EXAMINE command, or its            
abbreviation X, can be used to examine most things in the game, 
including items and places described in the location text. This 
can also reveal hidden objects.                                 
                                                                
There are few 'sudden-death' locations, but there are very few  
clues to their existence, so it is a case of finding and        
avoiding them.                                                  
                                                                
I have few complaints about this adventure. There is a rather   
long pause on the title screen than cannot be avoided, and there
is a complete lack of help within the game. Other than that,    
this is an enjoyable, if difficult, journey into the lands of   
Ygor. Overall, the Ag'Kwo is much harder than the Naru. For     
experienced adventurers only.