YOU ARE Alaric Blackmoon, a penniless ex-mercenary who has decided to settle down and live the rest of his life in peace. Unfortunately the marauding forces of the Xixon feel differently and you feel duty bound to try and stop them by retrieving the magical artefact known as the Axe of Kolt. The axe will, according to legend, drive back the accursed Xixon and make the world a peaceful place to settle down in again. Inspired mainly by Andre Norton's Witch World and Star of Danger by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Axe of Kolt was recently awarded the title of 'Best 8-bit text only adventure game' in the Adventure Probe awards. PAWed, the pedigree of Axe is superb - written by Larry Horsfield, the author of Magnetic Moon (reviewed AA72), with conversion and playtesting from two honorary Balrogs - Ken Bond and Lorna Patterson. Be warned though - Axe is no walkover, as it comes in four parts - that's over 200K of code! The game isn't easy either so be prepared for many sleepless nights trying to solve it. Only a couple of niggles - Axe is a little too difficult in places and can be frustrating (luckily Larry operates a telephone helpline) and the screen clears before describing a location (this is a minor niggle on the Balg's behalf - I prefer the screen not to clear). Overall a good game, although the Balg didn't enjoy it as much as Magnetic Moon (I preferred the science fiction scenario). AA | 
