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The hero is back! We were first introduced to the 7-characters high Cuchulainn the great in Tir Nag Nog, now he returns in this epic game, Dun Darach. This time there is a very subtle difference between Cuchulainn as seen in Tir Na Nog and Cuchulainn in Dun Darach, he is alive! No he hasn't been reincarnated for reuniting the Seal Of Calum, this adventure is set in the early years before Tir Na Nog.

Following a bloody and pointless battle against the Conachta, In which the Amhair, a prince of the Conachta, had been killed, Cuchulainn the Great was returning home with his faithful charioteer, Loeg.

Towards the end of the second day they stopped at a wayside inn, leaving the chariot beside a strange horse drawn carriage. While they waited for food they were approached by Skar, a strikingly beautiful girl. She told them that she was the owner of the strange chariot and that she required assistance to mend a broken axle. Loeg, unsurprisingly, leapt to assist her and left the inn with Skar.

After a while Cuchulainn ventured outside, but to his astonishment there was no sign of either Loeg or Skar. Instead one of the proud horses that pulled the chariot lay slain. Of the Oak carriage, there was only a cloud of disappearing dust and on the wind a hint of ghostly girlish laughter.

Skar was, it seemed, a Sorceress and ally of the Connachtmen, and she had seized Loeg in retribution for the Princeling's death, and had taken him, body and soul, to the secret city of Dun Darach....

So the scene is set and you as Cuchulainn must seek out the whereabouts and rescue Loeg from Skar. On the way to achieving this you must complete several sub quests such as finding a particular gift for someone in return for another object which will prove useful in your quest.

The city of Dun Darach is split into several parts which all have their own characteristics, the pleasure area has gambling houses and the finance area has banks. Within each area the streets all have their own names and all the doors are numbered, which makes mapping and navigation easier. Doors can be entered by standing in front of them and pressing enter, the scene then cuts to the interior of the room. The reverse is true should you wish to exit a room.

The main difference between Tir Na Nog and Dun Darach is interaction. In Tir Na Nog you rarely needed to interact with the other characters, but interaction plays an important part in Dun Darach. There are two basic forms of interaction - trading with shopkeepers and brokers, and trying to prize bits of information out of the main characters.

Trading with shopkeepers is very simple. On entering a shop a message is displayed at the top of the screen which tells you what goods the shopkeeper sells or buys and at what price. If you are buying something then you pick up the object and offer the shopkeeper money. If you have enough money then the shopkeeper says 'thank you' and the goods are yours. If, on the other hand, you don't have enough money you can always try stealing the goods. This is done by picking up the object and walking out of the shop with it. Some of the more expensive goods, like the thieves' licence cannot be stolen and if you try to steal them the door locks until you have either paid for the goods or put them back.

Sometimes you are in the position where you have some goods which another shopkeeper wishes to purchase. Just offer the shopkeeper the goods and he will give you money in return. Of course instead of buying and selling at a profit you could always steal some goods and sell them to another shopkeeper for huge profit. Should Ryde, a sort of local bobby, catch you in possession of some stolen goods then all your money, unless you have banked some of it, and all the possessions you are carrying will be taken.

Communicating with the characters that roam the streets is slightly harder. First of all you must find out what each character wants, which sends you on a sub-quest to find the object. Once found you you can offer the object to a character who may give you something

ANYONE who has done some hitch-hiking or long distance travelling will know how it feels to arrive somewhere new and foreign - tired, broke, edgy and with nowhere to stay. It is always unsettling and frustrating not to know, the local customs or how the natives will react to your outlandish behaviour and dress. It is ten times worse if you have no idea how you can raise some cash to survive a little bit longer.

If you have never experienced this first-hand you can still get a strong flavour of being on the road from Dun Darach - more a prequel than a sequel to Gargoyle's stunning Tir Na Nog.

Cuchulainn, Irish myth-hero, remains the central character in the new game. This time it is not the sidhe-ridden afterworld he strides through but a city of living men, more medieval than mystic with its winding, maze-like streets and busy, preoccupied citizens.
Sinclair User Classic
After a hard day's fighting against his traditional enemies, the men of Connacht, Cuchulainn and his charioteer Loeg stop at a wayside inn for the heroic equivalent of a long cool pint of JC.

As they wait for their drinks in comes a very beautiful woman, asking if one of them will help her with the broken axle of her carriage. Loeg is severely smitten and leaps to her assistance.

When Cuchulainn comes out to watch he finds that one of his chariot-horses has been slaughtered and his charioteer kidnapped. Further enquiries reveal that Loeg has been abducted by Skar, a good-looking but entirely evil sorceress whose base is the Secret City of Dun Darach.

Dun Darach uses the same outstanding graphic format as its predecessor and is effectively a controllable animated cartoon. Cuchulainn and the scene around him can be viewed from different angles and he can be moved left and right through the streets. He can enter houses, examine their interiors and collect objects. All actions are carried out by single key presses, with no text input.
Mead Square
The upper part of the screen shows the action with the remainder of the screen containing the compass indicator, list of possessions and the name of the quarter of the town you are moving through. Make no mistake, the city is large and bafflingly complex - although the streets are named, a map is essential.

You will find tradesmen of all kinds, private houses, temples, banks, gambling hells, police-like yeomen, pickpockets and honest citizens though there don't seem to be too many of those. It is possible to get a job or make money by stealing your self - that is difficult as the yoemen are vigilant and you will need to find an Arthur Daley figure to fence the goods before you get caught.

Gargoyle admits its debt to the works of fantasy writers like Fritz Lieber and Michael Moorcock. The company has created a city which is alive and fascinatingly complex and you will find it all too easy to neglect your true quest in favour of exploring and hustling.

The game is less abstract than Tir Na Nog - though there are plenty of enigmas to solve - and identification with Cuchulainn is easy as you wander the sleazy pleasure quarter of Iomain or the warrens of the Dispossessed.

I enjoyed every compulsive minute of Dun Darach. It is definitely not a rehash of a successful format, though it has the same technical excellence and careful programming. If anything it is a lot more interesting and eventful than the earlier game, with equally superb graphics. Get it as soon as you can and let me know quickly where I can sell a fat black pearl or stash some stolen gold bars. Absolutely recommended.

Publisher Gargoyle Games
Memory 48K
Price £9.95
*****

Richard Price