As the unexpected mania for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has been spawning new game shows on television, Sierra's release of Mad Gab seems particularly well timed. You may have seen the Mad Gab board game from Patch Products on which this computer game is based. But this computer game was designed to feel like a television show, even including glimpses backstage, and once the game gets rolling you'll find yourself immersed in the game show experience.

The concept behind Mad Gab is easy to learn but challenging to play. The variations on this theme may seem intimidating at first, but they are instantly grasped as you encounter them-have no fear. Your job in Mad Gab is to translate sound-alike phrases. For example, when given "Ewe Her Soap Rave", you'll need to come up with the phrase "You were so brave." Or, "Achy Ella Meant" becomes "a key element."

Translating nonsense phrases, in Mad Gab.

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The variety of word clues depends on the chosen game. In round 1, you might try "Pick & Click", where the solution's words can be chosen (in order!) from an array of similar words. Or "In Reverse," you will be choosing words to turn a sensible phrase into its sound-alike nonsense match. In round 2, some clues may even be graphical. In round 3, the Speed Round, you'll need to answer as many Mad Gab puzzles as you can within the time allotted. The first few times here may feel a little panicky, but that's part of the fun.

How do you turn something like "Fade Ed Voter Graph" into "faded photograph"? It helps to say the nonsense phrase out loud, repeatedly. And slur your words a bit. Mad Gab is, in a way, sort of the vocal equivalent of those images that require you to hold your eyeballs semi-crossed, and it you may feel just as silly as that when other people are watching you play.

Speaking of other people, Mad Gab is a game for three players. One or two players can be simulated by the program, or you can have multiple people at the keyboard. Or, try your luck with finding opponents on the Internet. In Rounds 1 and 3 you'll be taking turns, but in Round 2 you'll be competitively buzzing in on separate keys. You and any fellow players shouldn't run short on material, as Mad Gab features 1,500 devious puzzles.

The multimedia effects can be toned down, which was useful on one test system that refused to display the backstage animations faster than two crawling frames per second. The volume levels of sound effects, music and voices can be adjusted independently.

If you like computer games that play like a TV quiz show, you may be a fan of the You Don't Know Jack series (also from Sierra). Mad Gab is almost in a separate category, lacking all the outrageous humor and wickedness of You Don't Know Jack's announcer and commercials. But get yourself involved in a multi-player game of Mad Gab, and you'll generate your own laughs. It's pretty fun, if you don't mind blabbing to yourself like a lunatic while you're playing a computer game. Grade: B.

Mad Gab will sound about right if your PC meets the following minimum requirements: Pentium 90, 24 MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM drive, 2 MB SVGA DirectX compatible video card, 16 bit and 800x600 screen resolution, DirectX compatible sound card, DirectX version 5, and 230 MB hard drive space. Recommended: Pentium II, 32 MB RAM, 32X CD-ROM drive, DirectX version 6, and 300 MB hard drive space. "It's Not What You SAY, It's What You HEAR!"

Mad Gab
[street: $29]
Sierra Attractions/Havas/Perpetual Motion Enterprises, Inc.
ESRB rating: Everyone ("E")

Indiana Jones, in our continuing adventures with him, has not lost his penchant for discovering things that would best be classified as, um, supernatural. Here's an example.

Indy's swimming efforts are interrupted by a waterfall.

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Deep in the mountains of Tian Shen, right across the border from Kazakstan, we helped Indy work his sweaty noggin off, trying to re-activate a machine below ground that would enable us to puzzle over the ticking clock-like mechanism within an abandoned monastery, then restoring a magical plant to life so that we could get a helping hand from a mysterious (or mystical?) maiden. For all that effort, we were "rewarded" with a harrowing visit from a gigantic creature that appeared to be made of ice. Indy did the running, Randy and Chris took care of the screaming.

A few levels later during a visit to Palawan, we found ourselves trapped within a cavern of bubbling, popping lava, leaping across rocks in a desperate attempt to unlock all the cavern's secrets. So, you tell us now, who do we encounter in this lovely environment? Oh yeah baby, Ice Critter's one and only brother, a big snarling Lava Guy. Indy didn't really know what to do, but together we figured out a solution that seemed invisible to us.

Needless to say, we're still having a great time with this wild game. It is indeed flawed, but it's also got a heart. It's fun, though Indy might disagree because he stands in front of us when we go adventurin'. Well, us keyboard pounders (a.k.a. non-whip wielders) are the ones having all the emotional reactions.

Indy doesn't even listen to our complaints about long load times for each level. But we've noticed he's not hanging around for the "level loading" progress bar, cleverly disguised each time as a line traveling across a map. We can't complain, as Indy reliably shows up whenever we arrive at a new location. Frankly, he seems more rested than we do.

Randy has had the toughest time with the sound levels in a few places. Unfortunately, the sounds effects and voices don't have separate volume controls, so after hours of river rafting we were feeling a bit pounded by the white-ish noise of the rapids, or the grinding noise of the aforementioned clock machinery was also tiresome. In pleasant contrast, the game has a light touch with the music, playing it now and again when it is appropriate.

Chris' top complaint is Indy's speed of movement. It's one of those things that isn't really painfully sauntering, but should be tuned up a bit-but darn, it's always in your face. Indy's walking can be turned to running with a press of the Shift key, but when it comes to climbing ladders, he's just... slow. Maybe deadly spiders are behind you, maybe you've climbed this particular ladder a dozen times already, but the urge is just to get on with it!

Indy's got a nice view from the depths of this watery cavern.

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Indy himself seems to be most concerned with his auto-aiming skills. He'll often point at the closest target, which doesn't sound so bad. But picture yourself hoping to take out a bad guy with a rifle, and instead your aim shifts to a nearby explosive drum. Indy's done some unwitting damage like this, more than once, but we forgive him every time.

Speaking of Indy's annoyances, he gets after us for whispering about Lara Croft behind his back. Clearly, his current game is mining the same vein as her Tomb Raider series. But, he curtly pointed out, her games were obviously derivative of his films. And, he shakes that amazing whip at us-can she use this? Do her games have as much story? Does she write clever little chalk markings on cavern walls? He's got a point (or two).

Now Indy is beckoning to the two of us.