Reviews, ZX Spectrum »

As ‘Diarmid’, the Fenian Hero, you were to be betrothed to the fair and lithesome Grainne. Unfortunately, the evil Black MacMorna has captured her and imprisoned her in the Castle Of The Mists. It’s up to you to rescue her.

You will find yourself journeying across the Lost Lands taking in the wondrous sights (all described nicely by Dennis) and meeting all manner of creatures. Dennis seems to prefer encounters with animals in his games than with people, though beware for all animals are not as they appear.

Later on you take to the high seas where it is a good idea to be a bit of a Horatio Hornblower and come dashing to the rescue. There are a lot of tricky puzzles between here and the citadel of Black MacMorna and many of them have a magical solution. The atmosphere is brilliant and great care seems to have been taken in producing a believable world to roam in.

Part two sees you teaming up with Bran, a large dog that will perform certain tasks for you. Controlled in the usual way (Say to Bran “xxx”) Bran will be helpful on more than one occasion. Part two requires the password you obtained at the end of the first bit (thankfully there’s no horrible saving of tape data needed). This section is more of a traditional explore section though there’s enough twists and turns to keep you more than busy if you want to rescue Grainne.

Presentation is quite good with a nice use of text colours though I still think the screen presentation could have been a bit tidier… merely my own view.

I didn’t really like Dennis’s ‘Fisher King’ but I think this was because I niggle-picked a lot and didn’t really get far into the game. However, I liked DIARMID and recommend it worth buying if you like descriptive, atmospheric, almost period adventures.

Written by Dennis Francombe and published by Zenobi Software. Reviewed by Gareth on Sam 512K. This review originally appeared in issue 12 of the Sam Adventure Club magazine.