JONES IN THE FAST LANE

 JONES IN THE FAST LANE is a computerized boardgame from Sierra On-Line. Unlike
previous boardgames, JONES lets you set your own goals and gives you much more
control over the play of the game. While JONES does depend somewhat on chance,
there are no dice to throw and no cards to draw. Instead, you choose where you
want to go and what you want to do, limited only by the amount of "time" left
for each turn. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version.)

 Each of the players (there's a maximum of four) starts out with a low-rent
apartment and $200. Of course, everyone must quickly find a job (at the
employment office) in order to keep up with the other players. If, for some
unknown reason, there are no openings for entry-level positions, you can fall so
far behind that it's nearly impossible to catch up. Unfortunately, this happens
much too often, so a good portion of the game depends on the first week of play.
After finding work, players can then go to their jobs, the local university, or
to any of the stores. Travelling from location to location runs the clock at the
bottom of the screen forward, as does working and studying. Once all of the time
has ticked away, that player's turn is over. (You're still allowed to shop at
your current location after time is up.) Players continue with the game until
someone reaches his or her pre-set goals of money, happiness, education, and
career. Naturally, the higher the goals, the longer the game will last. Each
player may also stipulate that different goals serve as a handicap when
competing against newcomers.

 Of course, as in real life, the economy of JONES's world changes from turn to
turn. Prices and wages fluctuate, and there is the occasional period of
inflation or recession. Players may also lose their jobs or receive pay cuts.
The game offers an investment broker (located inside the bank) for people who
want to make a few dollars or keep up with inflation, and a lottery for the
desperate or greedy. If players find themselves in sticky situations, the ever
convenient "distant relative" is always there to bail them out. Players also
have to buy their game egos new clothes, in case the old ones wear out or a new
job requires a better image. And, of course, everyone has to eat and pay rent.

 Regardless of the goals set, there's still a basic pattern to the game: Get a
job, work, go to school, get a promotion, work some more, buy a few luxury
items, etc. Still, depending on the players' goals and the economic conditions
in the town, they might win with a job at Monolith burgers and a trade school
degree -- or they might need to set their standards a bit higher. As long as the
goals are different, each game is fairly unique.

 Still, when people start playing the longest game possible, there is little
variance in what's needed to win. Unfortunately, this is JONES's biggest flaw:
The game can become predictable. Even the variable economy doesn't help enough:
Inflation slows down gameplay, but it doesn't affect the basic goals. Players
should definitely avoid setting goals at the highest level, and they should try
to alter the main goal from game to game. However, the four goals are fairly
interrelated: It takes a good education to get a good job; you need a good job
to make enough money; you need money to buy luxury items to make you happy; and
so on. This equation forces the game further into the same monotonous patterns,
since it effectively limits you in the number of possible settings.

 Otherwise, JONES is impressive. The various characters add spice with their
(usually) humorous remarks, and the mouse-controlled interface is quite nice.
For the most part, gameplay is smooth. However, in an effort to make the game
totally mouse-driven, Sierra introduced an annoying flaw: In the investment
broker's office, you have to click once on "buy" or "sell" for every stock or
other item you want to trade. If you decide to buy into penny stocks, you
usually end up spending a long time clicking on the appropriate box. There is no
way to speed up this process, and the only solution is to generally stick with
high-priced investments. Jones, the computer-controlled player, does not seem to
realize how frustrating this problem can be, and often spends minutes trading in
penny stocks. At times, I felt like resetting the computer just to get out of
the game. Fortunately, Jones rarely buys into stocks.

 JONES comes in two versions for the IBM: a 16-color EGA edition (on low-density
5-1/4" disks), and a 256-color VGA/MCGA edition (on a single high-density 5-1/4"
disk). Both also include low-density 3-1/2" diskettes in the same package. As
with most other recent Sierra games, JONES supports the AdLib, Soundblaster,
Roland MT-32 (or LAPC-1 card), and IBM or Tandy internal speakers. JONES also
features digitized and animated characters (usually photographs of real people).
Both the graphics and sound meet Sierra's impressive standards. The only copy
protection in JONES is one of those little messages about how copying software
hurts legitimate users. If you're someone who can be put on a guilt trip fairly
easily, the protection is impossible to break. Otherwise, there is none.

 JONES IN THE FAST LANE is innovative in the strategy it injects into a
boardgame. Because the computer is not a very exciting opponent (although at the
highest level it is a tough one), JONES is better suited for human vs. human
interaction. Not many people have a chance to play "party" games very often; for
them, JONES will most likely remain different and interesting. But it is not the
kind of game I'd recommend loading whenever a friend comes over to look at your
computer. As long as you don't play the game too frequently, JONES should prove
entertaining for a good while. However, if you expect to get hundreds of hours
of enjoyment from this game, you probably should look elsewhere.

 JONES IN THE FAST LANE is published and distributed by Sierra On-Line.