‘Les Manley’: Elvis It’s Not

Poor guy. He’s such a loser. His job is boring. His boss is nasty. His love life is non-existent.

But opportunity knocks. Fame and fortune are just a contest away. Prove the King is still alive, and collect the $1-million prize. Can the lovely Stella be far behind?

Welcome to “Les Manley in Search for the King.” Tacky but timely.

Les works for a television station WILL in the ghetto of New York. In an effort to boost sagging revenues, Les’ sleazoid boss decides to cash in on a national pastime. Is the King alive or dead? Of course there is no question--the superstar can’t possibly be found, and nobody could ever claim the money.

But no one let’s our hound dog Les in on the scheme, so he collects a few necessities and heads off on his quest. He goes to Las Vegas and a place that bears a striking resemblance to Graceland.

(Those with suspicious minds should note that the striking but unlicensed similarities between the King and Elvis are obligingly disclaimed in the manual: “ ‘Les Manley in Search for the King’ is a work of fiction. Any similarities of characters in the game to persons living or dead is either coincidental, or unintended.” Return to sender.)

The setup for this game is very easy. And, for newcomers to adventure-style computer games, the manual provides an especially clear explanation of how to play. It also sets up a good walk-through to get you started. Included are several nice features in the command word processor providing some handy communication shortcuts. But even experienced players are likely to run into problems moving Les across the screen.

Anyway, so Les is now on the road. What’s he doing out there? Since it is buried in a trivial piece of advertising included in the game package, it’s probably OK to mention an essential secret: Les must “do a stint as a King impersonator.”

The difficulty in digging out that vital bit of information shows how the designers of the game have confused obscurity with intricacy. A good adventure game, like a good mystery, should lead its player/reader on a merry chase. Key word: lead . Even if clues lead to the wrong conclusions or destinations, throw up smoke screens or implicate the wrong person, they should at least be there. The “King” tends to leave out lots of clues, leaving you irritated and frustrated rather than intrigued.

The “King’s” publisher (Accolade), however, doesn’t just leave you all shook up. The company provides at least three different sources for hints to help you help Les accomplish his goal. A clue book is available from software dealers, and Accolade has both a 900 number (users are charged by the minute) and an electronic bulletin board for players with a modem. We’d love to hear from someone who got Les and his diminutive good luck charm Helmut to Las Vegas without using one of the hint sources.

“Les Manley in Search for the King” is published by Accolade of San Jose. Supports: IBM PC, XT, AT, 100% compatibles and Tandy 1000 series, 3000 and 4000. (Amiga Computer release announced for September.) 5 1/4-inch and 3 1/2-inch disks included. Monitors: VGA, EGA, CGA, MCGA or Tandy 16 color. Requires: 640K. Recommended: 8 MHZ or faster and a hard disk. Optional: Mouse. Off-disk copy protection. List price: $59.95.