First things first, Jinxter is not a classic. Before that statement starts Pens scratching onto Paper in abject horror, let me also say that it wasn't designed to be. Magnetic Scrolls have, of course, in the short time they have been with us, built a reputation for producing top quality adventures using state of the art graphics and a revolutionary Parser that lets you do just about anything you want to. Their scripts are always witty, descriptive and above all original. But they do not want just to make serious adventure software that takes months and months to finish, they also want to entertain and if that means releasing a fun game, that is easier and light hearted, then so be it.

Jinxter is fun. The puzzles, while not as hard as, say, in Infocom advanced level or a Level Nine biggie, are nevertheless brain teasing and still give a lot of satisfaction in cracking.

"The trick is to find out the route through and then start again to be able to finish."

The main features of Jinxter are that killing is a no no. You cannot be killed or injured for one thing, and if you do get stuck there is help at hand in the shape of a curious character called The Guardian, who pops up when you come to a halt and gives you a bit of advice. One word of warning though, each time you get this touch of wisdom, your luck percentage will diminish. This may not sound too bad

until you find out that the very last puzzle in the game requires you to have all your luck, so be warned. The trick is to find out the route through and then start again to be able to finish. The story of Jinxter is set in the land of Aquitania (not a million miles from Kerovnia) and describes events when Lady Luck for some reason starts to desert everyone. The cause of this is the Bracelet of Turani which up to

now carried its charms that kept the Green witches quiet and everything orderly. The Witches, having run out of Patience being Peaceful, concocted a plan to overthrow the power of the bracelet. They promised members of the Public untold riches if they would hide or conceal a charm from the bracelet. The result of all this is that the Bracelet has had all its charms stripped so its powers of luck and tranquility are fast running out.

Your task as resident hero, is to locate all the missing charms, find the bracelet, put it all back together and turn it against the Witches. Finding the charms will give you certain magical powers to use in the adventure, and they all have lovely names, for instance: Doodah makes it rain, Thingy makes the sun shine, Watchercallit makes things come back (remember the troll in Collossal Caves?) and Oojimy freezes things.

The game plays very easily, although I must start to criticise the Scrolls Parser. There are silly things like opening gates which unless they are locked should not have to be opened first before entering. It is one area where Infocom have improved, providing you are carrying the right key, the door if locked will open. Why oh why should you have to input "open door with rusty key" if you already have it? Do not expect fabbo Pawn like graphics in Jinxter, yes, they are pretty, but certainly not as effective as the great Pawn (could it be that we are getting spoilt by too much of a good thing) but great by anybody else's standards.

There is no faulting the documentation in Jinxter, along with the game disc, you get a newspaper, a Guardian memo suitably coffee stained and scribbled on, and a beer mat competition. As far as using the great Amiga to any new frontiers this release just puts it in cruise mode, but as a Piece of entertainment it is superb.

Personal rating 7