INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE

The legend of the Holy Grail has been resurrected by LucasFilm with the release of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In this film, Indiana Jones travels to Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Middle East, racing the Nazis to find the lost chalice of the Last Supper.

In the computer version of this adventure, you must find the Grail by thinking and acting like Indy. In fact, every time you act like Indy, you earn I.Q. (Indy Quotient) points. Don't think that you can locate the Grail easily just because you've seen the movie; this game is sophisticated, and there's more than one trail to the Grail. At times, you can follow the same route that Indy did. At other times, you'll be in unfamiliar places and have to make decisions about things that you didn't see in the movie.

There are three accessories necessary for finding the Grail. One is Henry Jones' diary. Henry, Indy's father, spent most of his life hunting for the Grail, and his diary is packed with clues to guide you on your journey. However, you must find it before you can use it.

There are critical moments when you must correctly translate inscriptions to continue the game. You are given a four-page translation table to help. Also, to help you get the game started painlessly, you're given a 16-page, easy-to-understand instruction manual that contains numerous hints for helping you in your quest.

LucasFilm did a great job putting this game together. The graphics are superb even on a CGA monitor, and the sound is good even when coming out of a 49-cent speaker. You hear Indy's wet shoes squishing, doors slamming, and water gushing from a fountain when he stops for a drink.

One outstanding feature of this game is the inclusion of action elements. For example, when Indy and his father escape Germany in a biplane, you actually fly the plane much like you would in a flight simulation, and whenever Indy gets into a fight with an enemy, you control his punches.

Great attention is given to detail. When I "looked" at a bulletin board in a hallway, I was surprised to read such messages as FOR SALE: 6000 RATS, 500 SNAKES. CALL S. SPIELBERG. And I received a verbal slap in the face when I typed turn on too near a member of the opposite sex. There's also wonderful dialogue between the characters and you.

If you're used to adventure games that require a lot of typing, you'll enjoy selecting verbs and nouns with your keyboard, joystick, or mouse. The ability to save your game to disk is also crucial because you won't get through this game in one sitting.

Indiana Jones supports EGA, VGA, CGA, MCGA, and Tandy 16-color graphics. The game package contains a $20 rebate coupon for an Ad lib Music Synthesizer Card which gives you better sound in Indiana Jones and other software. Because of frequent disk accesses and occasional swaps, you'll want to run the game on a hard drive.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the best of the quests, and it would have kept even Don Quixote glued to his computer in La Mancha. Of course, it's hard to run an AT on windmill power.

DAN WEAVER