CRASH GARRETT 

 CRASH GARRETT is an illustrated, animated adventure from Patrick
Dublanchet and Infogrames. Made in France and available through the
Antic Catalog, CRASH offers excellent graphics, animation, and sound
effects, fully-realized characters, wild sight-gags, keyboard
control, a save-game option, and a most wonderful sense of humor. 
The Atari ST version is the basis of this review. 

 Not only is CRASH GARRETT flawlessly designed, great fun to watch, 
and a pleasure to play, it is the coolest game in the world. 

 The setting of CRASH is pre-World War II America, circa 1938. The
plot concerns sinister Nazis, tattooed Arabs, beautiful women, "Hot
from Hollywood" columnist Cynthia Sleeze, and a lurid plan to create
Hitler's master race. 

 Tough and bumbling, Crash is a formerly shady character (bootleg
liquor, smuggled guns, and gang wars) gone straight. He's a
combination of Indiana Jones and George (of "George of the Jungle" 
fame), with a variety of facial expressions and verbal wisecracks. 
These days, with friend Grease Flanagan, Crash runs an air-taxi
business based in Hollywood. 

 While snooping into the suicide of film star Lana Torride, Cynthia
and Crash stumble into a nest of Nazis, led by the repulsive Baron
Engel Von Krul and the sadistic Gestapo officer Helga. This
fanatical group plans to kidnap beautiful women -- Lana Torride, for
example -- and use them to create for "der Fuhrer" the blue-eyed, 
blonde-haired master race. Your goal as Crash Garrett is to foil the
plot and save the world. 

 The Atari ST screen displays a low-res picture of the current
location. Medium-res pictures of the characters overlay the location
shot. Text in cartoon balloons allows the characters to converse, 
crack jokes, and threaten each other. The pictures slide around the
screen as the characters pace, as they enter or leave a room, as
they stagger from too much booze, as they dodge bullets. "BAM!," 
"POW!," and "ARGGHH!" appear when guns are shot, when fists
connect, and when pain becomes too much to bear. 

 Crash suffers from a lingering problem that has plagued him since
he recovered from a coma: He needs someone to tell him what to do. 
He'll look at you and ask: "Now what?" or "What next? You'll enter a
command in the message area at the bottom of the screen; on its
acceptance, a new scene will unfold through dialogue and action. 
When the scene is complete, Crash will again turn to you for help. 

 Crash has eight reservoirs of power for use in tense moments; these
are invoked with the "$" rather than the usual "Return" key that
validates a command. He can also carry as many as eight of the
objects that can be found during the game. 

 Like most adventure games, CRASH is controlled from the keyboard, 
through which commands are entered. If Crash doesn't understand, or
if he cannot perform the requested action, he'll let you know with a
change of both facial and verbal expressions. 

 Games in progress can be saved on the program disk (this is not
recommended), or on a formatted disk. The game package is in
French, comes with two mini-floppy disks, and doesn't support
monochrome monitors or a second disk drive. (Antic now has a store
in CompuServe's Electronic Mall, via which CRASH can be ordered.) 

 Because of its cinematic design, CRASH GARRETT is one of the
easiest games to play. The command processor might seem limited in
its vocabulary, but it isn't: Precise wording, as opposed to
convoluted syntax, works well. What's more, editing features, 
command shortcuts, and picture manipulation are completely
unnecessary: The niftiest parts of CRASH are in the game, not the
interface. I can't recall a game of this nature integrating
pictures, text, and screen action in so smooth and entertaining a
fashion. 

 Dialogue is humorous, spiced with sophomoric jokes, wise-guy
remarks, and lewd innuendos; the general story text is literate, and
advances the plot admirably. Dialogue and picture movement form
silly sight gags. Fists slide out of slots on the screen and connect
with jaws. Slaps, gunshots, and propeller noises are heard. The
characters are so real and the dialogue is so realistic, you can all
but hear the emotions in their voices. 

 The title screen features a 1930s big-band instrumental that is so
accurate digitally, it might have been lifted directly from a
scratchy 78 R.P.M. record. 

 CRASH GARRETT is the coolest game in the world. 

 CRASH GARRETT is published by Infogrames and distributed by ANTIC. 

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253