THE THIRD COURIER

 With the release of THE THIRD COURIER, Accolade once again takes the computer
role-playing game in new directions. As was the case in DON'T GO ALONE (the
haunteds-house CRPG), they've tw
isted the genre ever-so-slightly, just enough to
give the standard mapping/fighting/exploring sequences a different feel. In this
instance, your alter-ego -- named Moondancer -- explores pre-1990 Berlin in
order to trace the trails of three Nato couriers, two of whom have turned up
dead and the last of whom hasn't turned up at all. Thus we have a Ludlumesque
political thriller in a modern setting: an intriguing concept! Unfortunately, a
few technical considerations mar what could have been an extremely elegant and
involving game. But despite the notable problems, there's still enough fun here
to satisfy spy-loving gamers -- particularly in light of the dearth of games
covering this subject matter. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version; Amiga
version notes follow.)

 COURIER begins with a character creation utility, but you won't employ the
typical method of generation. Instead of allocating points to various abilities,
you specify only the background information on your character: age range,
previous occupation, early environment, and several other unusually esoteric
factors. The game then generates your character's stats and any particular
abilities or handicaps. (Take "handicaps" literally here: For example, you may
be hard of hearing, which will affect how well you can ever use the "listen"
command. On the other hand, you may have the advantage, say, of acting ability.
This will make your threats more effective.) The strengths and weaknesses always
seemed well-balanced, no matter which choices are made. My overall impression is
that one character can finish the game as easily as another, the only meaningful
difference being the amount of identification you have with your alter ego.
Personality is _not_ an important factor in the game.

 Once you create your character (you may create up to four "agents" and keep a
game in progress for each of them), you're left in your apartment in East
Berlin. By using the high-tech equipment already installed there, you can learn
a few interesting facts about the Third Courier. I won't give away any of the
mystery, but I can say that this case has its twists. You then begin to explore
the streets and buildings of Berlin -- either by taxi, on foot, or through the
underground. There is a good amount of authenticity to the map (included in the
package), and enough variety in the first-person window graphics to
differentiate between buildings, parks, and the barbed-wire-topped Berlin Wall
(still intact in this game).

 One endearing feature is that hailing a cab brings up a travel window with the
names of locations you've already visited. In the beginning of the game, you
have no idea where your Mission headquarters are, for example. So you simply go
down to the street, hail a cab, and indicate Mission Support when asked where
you want to go. A minute and ten DM later, you're there. You can even instruct
the cabbie to "follow that cab!"

 You'll meet up with a large number of muggers and violent drunks, policemen and
guards, street vendors, assassins, barkeepers, and more. You'll probably spend
some time in jail for bribing the wrong individual. Some locations are actually
mazes that require mapping. This is a fairly easy (if tedious) procedure,
because there is not much to find and not much detail in the rooms and hallways.

 Clues pop up rather frequently. The majority seem to come by way of your
computer, but there is a definite, primarily linear thread of clues you'll need
to find in order to unravel the mystery. An important note: This game is on a
timer. You have seven days in which to locate the Third Courier. Thus, you'll
probably end up working nights and weekends (although you have the choice of
sleeping through the night) in order to solve the case in time. There is a
day/night cycle: The sky changes from blue to black, and certain locations close
up at night. There are also a lot more evil-types to be found at night!

 You'll need to travel between East and West Berlin during the course of the
game, which has a deleterious effect on the amount of money you're carrying.
Fortunately, you seem to have a nearly bottomless account somewhere, which you
may access if you can just crawl to the nearest cash machine.

 COURIER operates via an extensive menu system, relatively easy to use but slow
to respond. One of the major problems, technically, is the mouse interface. The
game is clearly meant to be played with a mouse, yet the implementation is poor.
The mouse (I tried with both a Microsoft Mouse and a PC Systems PC Mouse) moves
slowly and skittishly, jerking from choice to choice and giving only a marginal
sense of control. Moreover, it's extremely sensitive about where on a "choice
box" the pointer is; it sometimes takes several clicks to get the box to
respond. On the other hand, you'll never waste time trying to do things you
cannot do; choices are routinely ghosted whenever the program deems them
inappropriate to the situation.

 Another bug: The program repeatedly gave me messages about an apparently
phantom villain. I'd be discussing my tie with a bartender and suddenly, in the
message window, I'd see: "The uses his last bullet and runs away." I don't know
who was using his last bullet, but he seemed to come around frequently.

 You can't save more than one game per agent, unless you resort to trickery with
the DOS files by copying the whole game -- or at least the character-related
files -- to another directory. Thus you may find, as I did, that exploring the
map, discovering all the points of interest, and mapping the mazes is best done
as one character, while actually solving the mystery is best done later as
another character (or the same character recreated). In other words, since time
ticks by whether you're moving or not, create a character _just_ for the
purposes of mapping. That way, you won't have to worry about the clock; you may
return later with your "real" agent and have him/her (you may specify your
gender) go directly to the hot spots.

 THE THIRD COURIER comes to the MS-DOS user on three 5-1/4" disks; a 3-1/4"
version is available by mail for an extra fee. Alternatively, because the game
is not disk-protected, you can copy the files yourself if you have access to
both drive formats. There is off-disk protection in the form of a "passcoder."
You have to enter the passcode only once per play session, even if you die and
start a new character or restore a game. There is also an extensive manual
filled with important information, but I recommend you play the game a bit first
before trying to absorb the information contained therein.

 The game has a real high-tech look to it, the graphics are clean and pleasing,
and the text is a little dotty but quite readable. Your basic stats, a compass
rose for use with the mouse, and basic encounter commands are always visible;
all other actions, inventory, and location menus are hidden in pull-down menus.
A first-person view window is always present as well, similar to games such as
BARD'S TALE. The program supports the IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2 models 25, 30, 50, &
60; the Tandy 1000 series, 2000, & 4000; EGA, CGA, MCGA/VGA (both in 16 colors),
and Tandy 16-color. The EGA and CGA versions require 384K, and the
VGA/MCGA/Tandy modes require 512K.

 As in many other CRPGs, it's difficult to get your beginning character strong
enough to withstand the first few encounters, unless you choose to _run_ from
those encounters -- but if you do, you'll run halfway across the city and appear
elsewhere at random. Because of this, and because of the relentlessly exhausting
mouse problem, I cannot recommend the game wholeheartedly. But spy fans will
find an unusual and interesting challenge in THE THIRD COURIER, and it's
definitely worthy of consideration by those who prefer games in a contemporary
setting instead of a dragon-infested fantasyland.

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 I really wanted to like THE THIRD COURIER: The idea's fresh; the manual comes
packed with all sorts of useful information for gameplay; the beginning has the
nice "high-tech spy" kind of feel Josh mentions above. But the design of the
interface itself, along with the design of the graphics and sound, is just a
little too primitive for my tastes.

 I can't say whether this is the result of the quality of the conversion, or
just inherent in the design itself, but the artistry present in the graphics
animation window is rudimentary, at best. I've seen work by high-school
sophomores that's more professional-looking.

 The animation is okay, but in some cases rather sexist. Granted, the secretary
at HQ is supposed to be empty-headed (a rather tired stereotype itself), but
having her standing there doing breast calisthenics while she's talking to you
is a bit much. Other women represented in the game display the same tendency. To
be fair, the designers should have had the organ-grinder scratching his crotch,
at least.

 Along with this, the "bums" that show up regularly onscreen have a rather
unfortunate tendency to look more like rabbis than anything else; I suspect
there are more street people than killer rabbis left in West Germany at this
point, and rabbis don't usually carry hidden knives, anti-Semitic fantasies
notwithstanding. I'm sure this was just accidental, but it's an unpleasant
accident, considering the setting of the game.

 One last problem I had with the graphics was the incredible sameness of the
buildings represented. One runs into brick walls all too easily when first
starting up any tough CRPG (and THE THIRD COURIER _is_ tough to start);
excessive visual reminders of that fact become downright irritating.

 The copy-protection scheme used for THE THIRD COURIER is right up there on my
teeth-gnashing list with Spectrum Holobyte's FALCON -- the sliding
code-bar/matching letters design is clever, but all too often it takes a lot of
squinting to determine which particular squiggle onscreen you're looking at.

 Finally, the mouse control, while not quite as bad as that described in the IBM
version, still requires a bit of "hunting" when trying to find the right point
to click on when accessing menu options. The extra bit of attention this demands
-- minimal as it is -- becomes a real distraction during gameplay.

 The game comes on two copyable disks, and includes complete instructions for
installation on a hard drive. Users will need at least 1MB of RAM to run THE
THIRD COURIER from a hard drive, but it will play in 512K on floppy systems. It
is completely controlled with the mouse, and will run on A1000s, A500s, and
A2000s.

 If you can live with the frustrations and annoyances, THE THIRD COURIER _is_ a
challenging CRPG with a new theme, but there are many better designs out there
for Amiga CRPG fans.

 THE THIRD COURIER is published and distributed by Accolade.

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