Nocturne is awkward but interesting Quill'd adventures have become commonplace at the budget end of the market It looks as though we might be in for a flood of GAC'd games too. The second to reach our office was Nocturne (following The Beerhunter), in the Alpha-Omega range, running on the Amstrad 464 and 664. Incidentally. there's no credit given to Incentive's GAC. Getting started was a little difficult, since the documentation is unhelpful, to say the least. You awake on board an alien spaceship having been kidnapped by extra-terrestrial zookeepers. Your task is to get back to earth. The first location is a featureless cell containing you and a locked door. How to open the door? Well, obviously, you BASH WALL No, the combined brains of Popular couldn't solve that one. We had to phone Alpha for help. You'll waste a lot of time trying to guess the program's unusual vocabulary but there are more reasonable puzzles to be solved. What, if anything, can be done with the bodies in suspended animation? Will the gorilla prove at all helpful? On balance, Nocturne is a reasonable adventure but with some idiosyncracies that mar the game. It's nowhere near the standard of Infocom or Level 9, and even at £4.95 is a little overpriced - £2.99 is nearer the mark. Peter Worlock , PopularComputingWeekly860731 |