'The Wheel of Fortune' has the honour of being the first ever text adventure I played as a boy. As such, it set the bar extremely high in terms of quality, and set me off on my never-ending love for text games.
Starting up - as I believe all of Epic's game in the series do - with a wonderfully rousing and lengthy rendition of of Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave overture, the game whisks you off to a traditional ye olde, folk tale-like world where you will encounter everything from thieving beggars to dragons to, quite literally, a bull in a farm shop.
Of note about the game is that it has graphics (whereas so many of it's contemporaries on the Beeb didn't). Blocky, basic and in good old Mode 7, and with none of the characters you encounter ever appearing in the image, but with a simplistic charm that adds no end to the whole experience, and to my young self really sparked my imagination no end. I remember when, years later via emulation, I was finally able to play the rest of Epic's (still decent) adventures and was disappointed that those others are text only. (In fact, Beeb versions of text games being cut short of graphics when other systems had them, would long become a gripe of mine).
One of the most striking things about 'Wheel of Fortune' is it's characters who, far from being stuck in one location and spouting the odd pre-set dialogue that is so common in text adventures, the ones here actually move around the world, have their own motives, and might act as both a help or a hindrance to you. Working out who will be where and when, and what they will/won't do plays a key factor at several points during the game.
One of the far better (or even 'best') parsers I've found on the BBC - the programme can understand quite long chains of commands (a welcome break from having to put every single command in one at a time), and the 'C' option to 'Continuously' walk in one direction until you no longer can, is also welcome when you know where you want to get to in a hurry.
Obviously I have a strong sense of nostalgia for this old text adventure, but even when playing that first time all those years ago, it was the atmosphere of the magical, Ye Olde world that pulled me in so much.
There are other text adventures with far stronger atmosphere, but this one for what it is, does it well.
There aren't too many sudden and harsh "learn from your mistakes" sudden deaths seen in so many other adventures, though are one or two fatal moments just to keep you on your toes. In this sense, it is a good text adventure to challenge both younger or first-time text gamers.
The game is gently challenging, but in a way that makes you want to keep on trying and not simply give up. It's generally not too difficult to get an idea of what you need to do and how, but is challenging enough to keep you coming back for more.
Particularly regarding the wandering beggar and policeman encountered early on in the adventure, there is room for both experiment and mischief making. The sequence of events you must instigate regarding these two characters alone is in some regards slightly complex, yet is eventually solved through basic deduction and is nothing too taxing (I have no problem with this at about eight years old).
The gameplay itself is really good fun, and the adventure doesn't really dip too much at any point. When finding the missing Wheel of Fortune (which actually happens relatively early on in the game), upon spinning it, it opens up another, connecting part to the magical world you are in (you have to gather treasures and spin the wheel again several times before finally completing the game) and adding a sense of accomplishment each time, again making this a great 'first-time' game for new vintage adventures.
I shall never forget the excitement when [mild spoilers ahead] after trying to climb down the well and finding that it's rope couldn't support me, I eventually managed to acquire a bucket to sit in and got the beggar to wind me down in it, on to the next stage of the game!
Eventually, I did complete 'Wheel of Fortune' game right through, though just being a few points short of the full score after failing to secure one of the treasures needed (which I've long since rectified when playing on BeebEm). For a first text adventure to play, I was truly spoilt by the standard, and as a young boy it opened up my imagination no end.
The adventure has a whimsical charm and, even beyond the nostalgia of being the first text adventure I ever played, I truly regard it as one as the very best text adventures ever released for the Beeb. Curiously, it doesn't seem to be one of the widely recognised adventures within the BBC fan community, but those that have played it generally seem to rate it highly. I certainly do and always regretted that, whilst text adventures on the BBC were plentiful, more of this style and calibre didn't really appear very much.
Whether it's one you haven't played or as a decent jumping on point for classic text adventures, if you've never played 'Wheel of Fortune' and are a fan of the genre then I can highly recommend it. 10/10