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Up to date I have seen quite a few text/graphics adventures. A lot of these come in the form of an adventure game with pictures added as a sideline. Ice Palace is rather a game which uses text to help the graphics along.

The main playing screen contains a palace made up of many hexagonal rooms built on ice. You may rotate the rooms to place the exits where you need them and then move around to explore the palace. The controls are quite complex and require a good joystick.

The second screen will let you select one of a series of functions available. These might be: examining where you are, getting/dropping objects, asking for help, etc. There is quite a long list of them, all of which may be selected using the joystick.

Ice Palace is a real-time game; when you are using the text screen there will still be things happing on the graphics screen. If you are in danger when you can't see the playing area then thankfully a warning indicates this to you.

The graphics are very good - the text layout is very neat and pleasant to read. The instructions are quite clear; they are all supplied on the cassette inlay card and are useful for reference purposes. My overall opinion of the game is quite high. It does take quite a long time to learn how to play but the end results make it worthwhile.

K.I.