The Lost Pharaoh

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

John Gilbert 4/5

Publisher: Talent Price: £14.95 Armed with your rusty blunderbuss and protected by a pith helmet you step into the cool, sandstone shade of the tomb. It's dark inside, but light enough for you to see the snakes that hiss for a taste of your blood and the scorpions that flick their barbed tails in the air, probing for a feel of your flesh. The corridors and caverns of the lost pharoah's tomb are dotted with recesses where its guardians slip and slither. Your endless supply of shot will kill them but, get too close and the monsters will take one of your five lives. Clamber through the wide exits in the passage walls to get from one part of the tomb to another. You're on a hunt for the keys that unlock sealed entrances. One of those entrances unlocks the Pharoah's treasure room, but you'll have to find all the keys which are stored in alcoves in the walls. The plot's well-worn, but the action is fast enough to take your mind off the game's failings. If Talent is willing to treat Lost Pharoah as a bit of innocent fun then so must we - despite the extravagant price. Lost Pharoah may be old-straw-hat by Spectrum standards, but on the QL its like a refreshing breath of foul air.