Derek Bewster’s Adventure Trail

A very hectic time it has been getting this issue of The Trail out, but I think I’ve just about made it. Next month is the full-blown editorial which regulars will know comes along every bumper Christmas issue and I’m busy working on some of the ideas now. By the deadline I will have some words that reflect on the state of microcomputer games and how it relates to the broader picture.

This month I’ve reviewed Twice Shy, a Mosaic game based on a book by Dick Francis, which, for a change, I have received before everyone else has even previewed it! The Bimbles are really a set of derivative Bombles, I mean Wombles, Demon of Darkness is quite a tough adventure which likes to fool around with the location descriptions, and Prehistoric Adventure is one of the best packaged adventures I have ever seen for a game which at the time of writing is still mail-order only. It comes complete with a superb poster showing all those strange dinosaurs that walked the lands over 150 million years ago. I hope I’ve got these details correct as I’m writing this just after I’ve sent the whole works back to CRASH head office for screen shots, so I’m pulling all this information from memory, which is fickle at the best of times...

Also this month is a mention for two fanzines (as they call themselves), for adventure enthusiasts. One, THE QUESTLINE CHRONICLES, is basically a review magazine, while ADVENTURE CONTACT is more a forum aimed at improving adventure writing skills, a cause of which I wholeheartedly approve! I was most impressed with the standards of both, and perhaps one day I will get around to a proper survey of this whole underground world of publishing.