Logical. (computer game) (Software Review) (Evaluation)
by Autumn Miller

It would challenge Mr. Spock. It could test Mother Teresa's patience. It could be the leading cause of mouse abuse.

It is Logical, an arcade game with a deceptively simple premise. The action takes place in a mechanical ant farm that contains tunnels with four-pod wheels blocking every intersection. You coax and force little colored balls into matching groups to explode the pods. If you blow up all the pods before the hourglass drains, you receive a password to the next level.

While you methodically sort balls, Logical fiendishly floods more balls into the bottleneck entries, fatally clogging initial pods, Color-stoppers block conflicting hues. Color-changers tint others into conformity. Direction-switchers repel everything. Spock's favorites--the teleporters--transport balls into the nether regions.

One minute mistake or brief pause for panic has lethal results. Logical can be quite unforgiving. Close doesn't count, even if one failure uses more energy than ten wins.

If you don't have a darn good mouse, don't bother with the frustration. Beyond the rudimentary levels, winning is improbable for the mouseless. The crisp, vibrant graphics with four choices of marbled backgrounds encourage staring at the screen for hours. I couldn't get the monochrome option to work on the mono screen I tried, although it did work on color screens. Odd. Sound cards are supported but not essential. Logical creates wonderfully interesting sound effects and tunes for the PC speaker, including a little "Nyeah, nyeah, nyeah" ditty to accompany the frequent YOU FAILED screens.

Masters of all 99 hair-tearing designs crafted by Logical's German programming wizards are rewarded with the final password. It provides the key to the secret development tools allowing victims to design their own torture chambers. Logical s the perfect game for masochists, in more ways than one.

Infinite possibilities await the easily addicted. When my mouse hand became a cramped contortion. I still found myself playing Logical in my dreams at night. IBM PC or compatible 512K RAM, EGA or VGA, 5 1/2-inch floppy drive joystick and mouse optional supports Ad Lib--$30 RAINBOW ARTS SoftGold GmbH Daimlerstrasse 10 Kaarst, Germany 4044 49-2131-66020 Circle Reader Service Number 359