Gwendoline

Your Sinclair

Max Phillips

FAX BOX Title: Gwendoline Publisher: Labochrome Price: £18 Reviewer: Max Phillips Labochrome sounds like the sort of murky colour film you end up buying on Sunday afternoons from village stores in far-away lands. The sort you discover you can't get processed once you get back home. What it actually is is one of Belgium's finest QL software houses. The first of its two games is a 38-screen platform and ladders extravaganza with the strange name of Gwendoline. You potter round a haunted castle, looking for your incarcerated loved-one and the means to free her. The energy of each of your six lives ticks aWay on screen - and diminishes even faster if you bump into any nasties. You can, however, top it up by pouncing on the apples, tankards of beer, Sunday roasts and so on that appear magically around the place. However, be warned that some of the food is a little intoxicating. It temporarily reverses left and right when you're walking but not when you're jumping - fiendishly confusing! You also have to get used to being able to go up but not down ladders - curious people these Labochrome lot. Gwendoline is a jolly little romp - nice chunky graphics and easy to play, if a little timid on the sound. If you're desperate for some games stuff, and you've the money to prove it, it's well worth a try. As a special offer, you can get both Gwendoline and Baron Rouge for £30 (ouch!), including postage and instructions in English. Send a Eurocheque to Labochrome at [redacted] (or see its ads in YS). And I thought all the French on the screen was part of the game...