Issue No. 5 June 1984

FEATURES

A WINNING TEAM
Crash profile on New Generation

REVIEWER’S COMPETITION
Entries from three more of the runners-up

PRINT AND PRINT
A Thermal Printer for the Spectrum

REGULARS

EDITORIAL
Comment plus Advertisers’ and Reviews Index

CRASH FORUM
Lloyd Mangram — snowed under by your letters

NEWS INPUT
A brief roundup for the month.

CRASH COURSE

PLAYING TIPS
Lloyd’s desk expands for our new section — your playing tips

THE ADVENTURE TRAIL
‘I can also see...’ Derek Brewster

RUN IT AGAIN
Fifth in our series, we look at Panics

THE TERMINAL MAN
Owing to illness of the artist TERMINAL MAN must skip a month — SORRY!

DIY

CRASH/P.S.S. QUIZ
100 readers must win Blade Alley!

ATIC ATAC — THE MAP
Get out your mapping equipment for this Ultimate competition

TAKE AIM, FIRE!
5 Stack Light Rifles and games to be won!

WIN AT THE HOBBIT
A competition with the new book from Melbourne House as a prize

CRASH QUIZ & ANSWERS

CRASH/MICROMANIA QUIZ
Can you win the new game from Micromania? 100 will!

TIME BOMBS TAKE WING
2 games from C.D.S. Microsystems are the prizes for this competition

REVIEWS

- APOLLO 11, Darkstar
- ASHES, Pulsonic
- BATTLE OF BRITAIN, Microgame Simulations
- BLADE ALLEY, PSS
- BUTTERFLY, Pulsonic
- CIRCUS, Digital Fantasia
- CLOSE-IN, Pulsonic
- CYBO-RUN, Calisto
- DEFUSION/WORMS, K-Tel
- DEVIL’S ISLAND, Gilsoft
- DISCO DAN, Gem
- DREADNOUGHTS, Lothlorien
- DUNGEON BUILDER, Dream Software
- FANTASIA DIAMOND, Hewson
- GOBSTOPPER, Calisto
- GRID PATROL, Lothlorien
- HARRY GOES HOME, Pulsonic
- HERE COMES THE SUN, Alligata
- THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE, CRL
- THE LOST GNOMES, Eric Bean
- METAGALACTIC LLAMAS, Salamander
- MISSION OMEGA, Pulsonic
- MOON BUGGY, Anirog
- MUMMY MUMMY, Lothlorien
- MUTANT ANT ATTACK, Calisto
- MYSTERY MANOR, Barmby
- OLYMPICS, CRL
- OPPOSITION, Pulsonic
- ORPHEUS, CRL
- PANDEMONIA, CRL
- PSYTRON, Beyond
- SPECTRUM SAFARI, CDS
- SUBMARINE STRIKE, Pulsonic
- TEMPLE OF VRAN, Incentive
- TITANIC, R+R
- VEGETABLE CRASH, Kuma
- WALLY KONG, Calisto
- WILFRED THE HAIRY, Microbyte
- IT’S THE WOOLUF, Crystal
- WORMS/DEFUSION, K-Tel
- WORM ATTACK, Pulsonic
- ZIG ZAG, DK’Tronics

Editor

Roger Kean

Consultant editor

Franco Frey

Production designer

David Western

Art editor

Oliver Frey

Client liaison

John Edwards

Staff Writer

Lloyd Mangram

Contributing writers

Matthew Uffindell, Chris Passey

Subscription manager

Denise Roberts

Cover by

Oliver Frey

Transcriptions

Matthew Wilson and Dave Foreman, http://www.crashonline.org.uk/

Additional review transcriptions

Chris Bourne, http://www.zxspectrumreviews.co.uk/

Ingredients of a winning team

Talented people of all ages and a variety of backgrounds seem to be drawn towards the business of producing highly imaginative micro computer games that we all enjoy so much. Michael Broomfield went to Bath to meet Malcolm Evans, former micro processor scientist, and his programming team at New Generation Software. There he discovered the ingredients required to produce a game like the company’s latest hit, Trashman.

It is astonishing how an industry as young as the Microcomputer games business is so rich in talent. But almost as surprising is the variety of talented people from all types of backgrounds and age groups. What they do share in common, however, is an all-consuming interest in microcomputers and, for those involved in programming, a desire to write games which are better and better.

This variety in talent is reflected perfectly in New Generation Software, who are lucky enough to have three exceptional programmers of totally different backgrounds with their own unique styles.

Malcolm Evans, whose latest creation is the exciting and hilarious hit game Trashman is the founder of New Generation Software. Paradoxically, perhaps. Malcolm has a background in hardware. He has a B.Sc. in electronics from Portsmouth Polytechnic, and after graduating he was employed by Marconi for 11 years on spacecraft design. But by the mid 1970s Malcolm’s career was gradually heading towards computers. After Marconi he worked for Smith’s Aviation at Basingstoke, co-ordinating research for computer-based engine control. He also wrote test programs for the hardware he designed. Then in 1979 he moved to Bristol as a microprocessor scientist with Sperry Gyroscope. Through this appointment he became familiar with the technology used in the earliest home computers.

Because of this interest in April 1981 Malcolm’s wife bought him a birthday present that was to change his life — a ZX 81, which completely hooked his imagination. By November of that year he had written his first computer game.

On the other hand, another of New Generation’s programmers, Paul Bunn, is only 16. He left school with seven O-levels and decided not to continue his studying because, as he say, ‘A-levels are boring’ and he wanted ‘to write games’.

After being given an Atari for Christmas two and a half years ago Paul has been fascinated by computers. At school he did O-level computer science — the course included both history and the theory of computer. His Atari, which Paul has always considered to be the best microcomputer on the market, was very useful in his studies. In fact it helped him complete a pontoon program and a maths education program for his project.

When he was still only 15 years old Paul replied to an advertisement in a computer magazine asking for help in writing a book on the Atari. In fact he was invited to write it all himself. The book, Making Most of Your Atari, published by Interace, included all his programs written to that date, 14 games in all in basic plus a tutorial about some of the points which had not been raised in the Atari manual. The book was very successful and with the royalties Paul was able to buy a disc drive.

Within just one month Paul wrote another book, Games for the Atari, published by Virgin. This had 21 games in basic but with machine code subroutines. The book was so successful that he was able to buy a modem, a touch tablet, an Atari 800, an SX printer and an interface module. Paul’s latest book, Getting Started on Your Atari, published by Futura, is in the shops now.

Paul joined New Generation Software after he saw an advertisement in the Bristol Evening Post. Says Paul, ‘I leapt out of the chair and dialled the number immediately because it offered everything I wanted.’

The decision by Malcolm Evans to form New Generation Software was not so spontaneous. Rather than leaping out of his chair Malcolm engaged in a slow thoughtful process which led him inevitably to the setting up of New Generation Software in the city of Bath.

Malcolm designed his first game in 3D, really just to see what his ZX 81 could do. Someone suggested that it was good enough to sell, and so by February 1982 3D Monster Maze was launched. Soon after this Sperry Gyroscope closed down in Bristol and rather than move to Bracknell Malcolm took voluntary redundancy and concentrated on computer games. From the outset New Generation and Malcolm Evans have become synonymous with 3D graphics, of which his second game, Escape, is a famed example.

New Generation staff (left to right): Paul Bunn, Rod Evans (seated), James Day and Malcolm Evans.

From now on things just kept on improving for Malcolm and New Generation Software. In June he obtained his first Spectrum, by November he had written Escape for the machine. This was followed by 3D Tunnel in February and Knot in 3D in April 1983. At about this time Malcolm was joined by his brother Rod. Rod is now the managing director of New Generation Software, thus allowing his brother to concentrate on what he is best at and enjoys — writing games. In September 1983 Corridors of Genon was released and in February of this year what is widely expected to be their best hit to date, the highly imaginative Trashman game was launched.

New Generation’s other programmer is James Day. At 19 years old this is James’s first job, and next year he is planning to go to college to read physics and electronics. Already he has developed several games.

Malcolm, James and Paul work very closely as a team meticulously considering every detail, ensuring highly finished quality graphics. Malcolm believes de-bugging is very important and ensures every sub-routine is thoroughly checked. That’s why their games are so polished. After all, the amusement in Trashman partly comes from the realism of the graphics. For example, when the Trashman develops a limp after being bitten by a dog, or when he slows down with the weight of a dustbin.

The amusing messages that come on the screen in this game show how much thought has gone into it. That’s why Malcolm believes that hardware must improve before he can develop more complex games.

The quality and finish of New Generation’s Games has so impressed one of their rivals, Quicksilva, that they have made an agreement to market all New Generation Games world-wide, for the Commodore 64.

With recognition like that New Generation’s programmers must have a shrewd idea of what makes a successful game. Malcolm says it must have ‘addictiveness and good presentation’. Paul also thinks ‘addictiveness is essential plus good graphics and sound’. He also thinks a game should be ‘something different, like Trashman’.

So that’s the team: Paul, an ambitious teenager, typical of his generation, except for his astonishing aptitude for computers. Malcolm, an electronics wizard who was lucky enough to discover he can make a business around his love of microcomputer programming, and James, soon to go to university but in the meantime an essential part of the team.

All very different, but all determined to write excellent programs.

PRINT A PRINT

If you ever wanted a permanent record of listings or screen printouts, you may have considered a low-cost printer. Up until recently your choice would have been confined to the Sinclair ZX printer. At £39.95 it certainly proves to be the cheapest on the market, but unfortunately it has also received the longest list of not too kindly and often unprintable nicknames from its harassed users. Complaints on paper running askew, feed slippage, lack of print quality due to low-grade silver paper, etc. have not endeared it even to the most ardent Sinclair fans ...

Rescue has come from DEAN Electronics, who introduced the ALPHACOM 32 printer for the ZX Spectrum (and the ZX81) in this country. This unit has been developed in the States as a sturdier alternative to the original Sinclair printer, which is not being marketed there. Anybody with a dislike to the ZX printer’s silver paper may be pleased to note that the ALPHACOM 32 uses normal white thermal paper. The result is very readable. The only problem encountered with the print quality is that photocopying is very difficult as most photocopiers are insensitive to the blue printout.

GETTING STARTED

The unit comes in a rather large polystyrene box and includes the printer with its edge socket and cable, a hefty power supply, a roll of paper and an instruction sheet. With all power plugs removed, the printer’s edge socket is connected to the Spectrum. The edge socket is a 23-way edge connector and will fit the ZX81 and Spectrum edge connection. An extension port is provided at the rear of this socket, which is suitable for the ZX81 add-ons, but not the Spectrum add-ons, since these use the 28-way edge connector. This means that the printer should be connected at the end of the line of add-ons and no problems will be encountered unless one of the add-ons does not have an extension port.

The printer receives its power from its own power source, which generates 24V AC. A line jack-plug connection is provided between the two units for powering up the printer. Once connected, pressing the ON/ADVANCE button will start up the printer ready for loading paper or printing. The ON/ADVANCE and OFF switches on the printer do not physically connect or disconnect the printer from the supply line and it is therefore necessary to disconnect the printer from the power supply with the jack-plug connectors for longer shut down periods.

LOADING PAPER

The printer uses standard thermographic printing paper of 4.25" x 1.9" diameter. The clear acrylic receptacle cover hinges open and the paper roll placed into the paper tray is fed with about six inches protruding from underneath the roll below the rubber platen while pressing the ON/ADVANCE button. The paper should feed automatically. It is best to have a clean-cut leading edge, so that the rubber platen can get a good grip. Pulling the leading edge towards the front, the cover may be closed. If ON/ADVANCE feeds the paper correctly, the printer is ready for action. The printing action may be checked with the in-built self-test mode, which prints a line of eights and a line of ones.

SILENT RUNNING

The printer operates with very little noise. Printing speed is similar to the ZX printer, possibly a fraction faster and definitely more regular, as the asthmatic ZX printer usually runs out of breath when negotiating long listings. The print quality is better than with the ZX printer. The horizontal dot positioning is far more accurate, as each thermal head only has to scan eight horizontal dots. The ZX printer on the other hand has a set of conductive styli running along the entire width of the paper and their position is monitored by a signal generated from the stylus hitting the leading edge of the paper and from an optical encoder disc, so positioning errors may occur and accumulate over the 256 dot stretch of the print run. The paper feed works well; no paper running askew or slipping to create foreshortened characters. The ON/ADVANCE and OFF facility proves useful with software, which includes unconditional print commands, as the print action can be switched manually on or off without going to the trouble of disconnecting the printer from the Spectrum.

APPLICATIONS

When buying a printer it is necessary to consider precisely what it is required to do. If you require word processing on the Spectrum, then obviously the ALPHACOM 32 is totally unsuited for this application. Nothing less than an 80 character width daisy wheel printer and a proper typewriter-style keyboard should be considered and this means running up costs of over five times the value of the ALPHACOM 32. If, on the other hand, you require a machine capable of creating program listings, or making screen copies of title pictures or technical/financial graphs then the ALPHACOM fits the bill. The listings are very legible and are a godsend for debugging long programs without TV eye strain. The screen copies are an added bonus, but it is a shame that the paper feed is just that little bit too fast and creates unnecessary white gaps between the screen plot lines and elongates the vertical dimension of the screen picture.

Many Spectrums find their way into development or test laboratories as cheap scientific calculators and a hard copy is always required. With very little extra hardware (PIO and A/D extension cards) the Spectrum can operate as an intelligent measuring device or datalogger and can even replace an expensive chart recorder.

CONCLUSION

The ALPHACOM 32 is an ideal and dependable printer for program listings screen copies and any other applications not requiring large paper format. For those people who do not want to be bothered with the unorthodox silver paper and the dodgy feed of the ZX printer, it is well worth the extra cost of the ALPHACOM 32.

Franco Frey

Crashtionnaire

As I write, the ‘Crashtionnaire’ forms are still coming in, so thank you everyone who has taken the trouble to complete and send them back to us. Some interesting results have emerged from a pre-collation done on the first 500 forms received. A full collation will be undertaken as soon as possible — it’s quite a mammoth task!

Just briefly for now, here are some answers. On reviews of software, 95.5% said they like to have some sort of rating system, 44% said they think the present system used in CRASH works excellently, and a further 52% said it works reasonably. We also asked how much reading software reviews in CRASH has affected recent games buying and 70% replied that it has. Most interestingly on the subject of CRASH reviews, we asked whether, on playing a new game, you have agreed with the review of it. 19% said, ‘always’, and 73% said, ‘Most of the time.’ Further details on the review section of the questionnaire have yet to be collated.

On the subject of including software for other computers in CRASH, the result seemed overwhelmingly against the idea. 78% said they would be irritated, 12% disturbed, and 10% were either not bothered or actually interested. We were impressed by the number of forms which added that they would stop buying CRASH if it did move on to including other machines.

Another overwhelming NO was to program listings. 96.5% replied that they did not miss them, and a similar percentage said that they did not want any space used up for listings.

We will be publishing the full results as soon as possible, but in the meantime you may be sure we are taking note of the findings! The one slightly touchy subject was The Terminal Man comic strip. This question seems to have aroused very strong partisan feelings! At the moment the split seems to be approximately 48% for it and 52% against it. What is surprising, though, is that those for it are generally VERY for it, whereas those against are VERY against! But given the figures we have seen, we feel that if almost half the readership really do like it, then four pages is well worth having, as it hardly detracts from the total amount of pages devoted to reviews and other articles, and shouldn’t really be a severe annoyance to those who do not appreciate it.

The response to this questionnaire has been most encouraging, with well over one thousand returns already. Since that one was compiled we have thought of several other interesting questions to which we would appreciate answers, so there may well be another questionnaire in the near future. You’re warned!

AMSTRAD LAUNCH

Having just said that we are taking care to bow to your recommendations regarding the inclusion of other computers in CRASH, it is worth keeping an eye on new developments. In April the Hi-Fi tower unit giants Amstrad launched their first ever computer, the Amstrad CPC 464. In keeping with Amstrad’s policy of systems, the CPC 464 comes complete with built-in datacorder and a monitor — a green screen for around £200 and a coloured one for around £300. For around another £100 more you will be able to get it with CP/M disc drive. Quite clearly the CPC 464 is aiming to bonk the QL on the head.

What’s interesting from a Spectrum owner’s point of view is that quite a bit of Spectrum software, slightly re-written, is likely to appear for the machine when it arrives in the shops later this month. At the launch in London we saw one well-known Spectrum game running on the Amstrad — Durell’s Harrier Attack. Romik also had a game there, one which was designed specifically for the machine, and so used its excellent resolution and colour capabilities rather better. It is going to be interesting to see how many Spectrum software houses turn their hands to the new Amstrad during the latter part of this year.

Meanwhile the Spectrum software goes on from strength to strength and continues to show how easily it leads all other computers when it comes to ideas and content. It isn’t often you find one magazine praising a rival publication, but congratulations to Computer & Video Games — or rather to the parent company E.M.A.P. for their excellent game Psytron, released under E.M.A.P.’s new software company, Beyond. Beyond got off to a rather soggy start with the good-looking but unplayable Space Station Zebra. Psytron, a CRASH SMASH this month, is a different kettle of alien fish altogether, and indicates that programmers are still determined to pack everything possible into the available RAM of the Spectrum.

LIVING GUIDE

Despite an assertion in last month’s issue that the Living Guide would be dealing with the arcade section this month there is no Guide in this month’s issue, for which we apologise. There are two reasons, one being that we have had to make some room to include programs for younger players in our ‘Crash Course’ section. This will be an occasional look at what might be loosely termed ‘educational software’. The second reason is that the Guide itself is in need of a revamp and some updating! This is an enormous task, as you might well appreciate. At the same time we have received literally hundreds of letters with update details on guide info and with suggestions to improve it, all of which we wish to examine carefully.

The Guide has become rapidly very big and we would like it to be helpful, informative but without becoming a bore. It needs some thought — but don’t despair, it hasn’t vanished from our pages for ever!

COMPETITIONS GALORE!!

In response to the demand for more competitions, this issue is crammed full of them! We hope you enjoy them, and the prizes too. Thanks to all the companies who have participated and made them possible.

Each month I’ll be choosing the best letter from the postbag, and, as well as publishing it, I’ll send the writer £12 worth of software of his or her choice (it can be two cassettes as long as they come within the £12). I’ve had to grovel on bended knee to the editor for this, so you’d better be grateful!

Send your letters to Lloyd Mangram, CRASH Forum. I can’t promise to print everything that comes in because space is precious (I’m told) but I’ll do my best.

It’s been very tough to choose a letter this month. I was a bit alarmed when I saw the mailbag after issue one, but this is ridiculous. I mean — like how many trees are you cutting down out there to write to me? Seriously, though, I’m overwhelmed — and so is the Ludlow Post Office! Keep your letters coming, and you don’t really have to grovel to win. But as I was saying, it’s been a tough one this month with so many excellent writers to choose from. In the end, and because he’s obviously a Lloyd Mangram champion, this offering from Ian Foster gets my vote this month (this should get you all grovelling again!).

Dear Lloyd,
Friday the 16th came and went with no sign of CRASH. There was still nothing a week later. What had happened? Had Lloyd been done in by Roger Kean because he was fed up with his persistent grovelling and because his knees were wearing out the carpet? Was Lloyd in shock after being given a pay rise (no such luck — LM)? Was Lloyd CRASH’s bank balance not able to withstand the strain of this generosity? Had Lloyd’s real identity of Lord Lucan finally been discovered? Had the CRASH team been carried off gibbering by men in white coats after spending weeks trying to get Ziggy out of Doomsday castle? In short, had CRASH crashed?

All these questions and more were answered when, on the 29th, the ‘New Look’ CRASH 3 arrived — new in the sense of the paper, which was a welcome improvement — the actual contents are still damn near perfect. Well worth the wad, I say.

Seriously though, as an old fogey of 23 who’s never been in an arcade in his life and who has only been gaming since Christmas, I would like to point out an interesting analogy between the current software scene à la Spectrum and American comics. Both industries are, at the moment, enjoying a boom period with a flood of titles every month. The problem is, in both cases, that there are a lot of quality titles coming out each month and it is all the average buyer can do to keep up with current titles. With comics, people just haven’t got enough money left for back issues, so the market is stagnant. I would say that a similar situation could arise with software. In CRASH 3, for example, there are eight new titles I would like but there is no way really I can afford that many each month, as well as collecting the 25 or so older titles from last year, or earlier this year. So if one just concentrated on getting last year’s titles, then, by the time you’ve acquired them, this year’s new titles will be last year’s old titles. (If you understand this, you know more than me!)

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not against this plethora of good games, quite the opposite, but I just wonder, with so many marvellous titles being released, whether fans will be more selective and excellent games otherwise worthy of purchase may fall by the wayside — and with them, the companies. It’s going to be an interesting year I reckon, what with Parker and Atari bringing out games at prices I believe to be prohibitive for most British gamers. Okay, so they should be of high quality, and may be the definitive Pac Man, Pole Position or whatever, but then, so are a lot of British produced games.

There seems to be a myth that American programmers produce the best games, but I reckon that ‘our boys’ can give the Yanks a run for their money any time.

Some quick points to end on. Did you catch that fuss about Ship of Doom in the Sun? Considering the age of the game, I would hardly call that a journalistic scoop. There’s too much interference already in cinema, TV and video. It would be a sad day if censorship controls reared their ugly heads in the software industry. Did I win a Doomsday Castle from one of your competitions — I received a copy the other day without a cover note and I hate mysteries?

By the way, if you’re stuck for a choice as to who to award the £12 to, then just bear in mind that should I be honoured enough to receive it, then I shall immediately investigate a ‘Give Our Lloyd a Pay Rise’ campaign with flying pickets descending in droves to besiege the CRASH offices, until Roger (He Who Must Be Obeyed) Kean relents. Just thought I’d mention it.
Ian Foster
PS. Great covers from Oli.

’Fraid that issue was a bit late, due to a change of distribution. CRASH will now be arriving on the news-stands at the end of every month. I’m sure most of the software houses think this will be an interesting year. However, Atari prices are based on programs which have largely been put together here in Britain — it’s not as though they’re importing expensively produced American programs. My personal opinion is that they’re out of their minds at that price, but a few of the British software houses seem to be upping their prices too.

Yes, you did win a copy of Doomsday Castle. The fuss in the Sun and elsewhere was daft. But journalists are noted for knowing very little about anything (apart from pubs), so you can’t blame them for thinking it was all jolly exciting stuff. As for the censorship, it looks as though it’s here really. But how it will work heaven knows! Can you imagine a board of cassette censors sitting down to play a 200 location adventure to find out what’s in it?

Thanks for the support, Ian. You see how grovelling can make you a winner in life!
LM

SOFTWARE PRAISE

Dear Mr Mangram,
You appear to have been highly praised by computer owners for your positive and outstanding attitude, but no comment has yet been passed by computer software companies. You provide just what everyone needs and the service you offer is excellent. As software is quickly dated, prompt reviews are important as a fair and unbiased way of telling the public about our products. This fairness is enhanced by the novel idea of three reviewers to one game. Your confinement to one computer and the lack of listings leaves ample space for reviews and a useful reference section.

This quantity gives plenty of choice, which means that customers really can be sure they’re getting the best. Well done!
Yours sincerely,
George Lubega

IN TOTAL SUSPENSE

Dear Crash,
I am totally impressed and dazzled with your extremely commendable effort of a magazine. There is, however, one slight snag: — why is CRASH so late in coming to our part of the world (Kent), when a larger place like London receives it earlier? We seem to be kept in the dark and total suspense for two weeks.

In issue 3 you reviewed that brilliant game Pi-Balled, but I don’t think it was given justice. 82% is quite high, but in my view not high enough.

Also I think, and so do most of my friends who buy CRASH, that advertisements are taking it over, which is a deep shame. Before I buy a game I check to see if you have reviewed it, but if CRASH is filled with advertisements not so many games can be reviewed. Calculation: nearly one-third is formed from advertisements.
Paul Granville
PS. Terminal Man is Brill!

The time of the month at which a magazine starts to appear in your newsagents depends very heavily on the wholesaler your newsagent goes through for his stock. In very big cities like London, there is an extremely efficient and fast service to the shops, not quite so fast away from the cities. CRASH usually appears three to four days ahead of the official ‘on sale’ date in London, whereas it’s common enough to find it appearing three to four days after that date in country areas. Can’t comment on Pi-Balled — as you say, 82% is quite high, very high by our standards.

As to advertising, you are right, about one-third of CRASH is taken up with ads. Most magazines have a ration of between two-thirds and one half for advertising. Alternatively, they say how many editorial pages there will be and then the rest will all be advertising, the bigger the mag gets the more ads there are in it. At CRASH we decided to be heavily editorial-based and keep the ratio, so should there be significantly more ads in future, there will also be more pages to read.
LM

MISSED OUT?

Dear Lloyd,
Why is the March issue No 2 and the April issue No 4? Have I missed out on No 3? I think CRASH is excellent and would not want to miss a copy.
Martin Jones

No you haven’t missed out, Martin, but the layout artist has — he’s missing a finger on the left hand, which must account for his strange method of adding up. The way he counts it goes: 1 — 2 — 4 — 4 — 5 — 6 etc.
LM

RECORD JET

Dear CRASH,
I know you will not believe me, but my mother can vouch for me. I have just scored 257,260 points on level 19 of Lunar Jetman. Last I saw the missile needed 26 or 27 laser hits to destroy it. Is this a record?
Vincent Wooll

Of course we believe you, Vincent. My mother vouches for me all the while ...
LM

IS THIS A RECORD?

Dear CRASH,
Nowadays praise for software houses is few and far between, but I feel I must write in total praise and admiration for Quicksilva. Not only do they produce the highest quality games for the Spectrum, but they are faithful to their public. A few months back I humbly wrote to them on such trivial matters I thought I would receive no attention. But only one week later I got a reply by first class post signed by Ms. S. Clifton, which said that the software manager was away, but as soon as he came back he would be troubled by her to pass comment on my letter. Astounded, I eagerly awaited a reply. Lo and behold a letter fully commenting on mine was sent, this time signed by the ‘big boss’ himself. After this I continued a correspondence with Ms. Clifton for four more letters, all of which she answered personally. I can’t put into writing the respect I have for Quicksilva in an age when letters are replied to with printed sheets and advertising blurbs. Congratulations to Quicksilva for remaining faithful to their customers.
Jason West
PS. In April’s issue a Mr. Higginson asked if one million plus points on Zzoom was a record. Well, Jim, it isn’t — a record is a round black thing with a hole in the middle ...

Thank you for putting us straight, Jason, Mr Higginson — now you know.
LM

IS THIS A BLACK ROUND THING WITH A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE?

Dear CRASH and readers,
In the third issue a Mr Holman stated he had got on to level 13 of Lunar Jetman. This is nothing! My friend knows of a boy who has got on to level 20. The aliens are overwhelmingly terrible.

Kids at our school have got on to level 32 on Chuckie Egg. Another person got 93 cups on Tranz-Am and did over half a million miles! Another person has completed 75%* of Jet Set Willy. We keep asking him for the secrets but he never tells us. I would be pleased to hear of other hi-scores.
Kukee Khan
PS (*approximately).
PPS. I think your mag is brill.

Good grief! Who are all these people you know? As for Tranz-Am, it might be interesting for readers to know just how many major services did the vehicle require to do that distance?
LM

PHEENIX SOUND

Dear Editor,
I would like to correct your review of Pheenix in the Living Guide of the April issue. For people who get bored with listening to the music you can stop it and the scrolling stars and get straight on to the game by pressing the fire button or SPACE. This should make the game less annoying and more addictive.

Your magazine is brill fantastic, just more than words can say. Keep it up. I would be grateful if you could review Space Station Zebra, Mugsy and Psytron as none of the local computer shops have these games.
Simon Webb

Thanks for the tip on Pheenix. Space Station Zebra got done last issue, Psytron’s CRASH SMASH this one, and Mugsy isn’t released at the time of writing — next month with luck.
LM

CHEQUERED CRASH

Dear CRASH,
On the subject of reviews, I would like to complain about the negative attitude shown by your reviewer of Chequered Flag (May issue). It is obvious that he/she was playing the game on his/her own as he/she wrote, ‘There is no competition spirit in it.’ The whole point of Chequered Flag is to beat the fastest lap time, ie, race against time. The excitement of the game can be increased if several friends come along and have a competition. The Overall percentage should have been far higher than 71%. Also, your reviewer failed to notice that the game can be played with a joystick. It can be played with any joystick so long as the interface is Sinclair ZX 2. The rest of your reviews were excellent and, I am glad to say, a joy to read. Keep up the superb work!
Richard C. Leslie

You’re quite right of course, he/she, she/he and he/she were playing on their (non-discriminatory) him/her-selves, which may account for the medium high satisfaction rate afforded. For myself, I think Chequered Flag is pretty good, but as I have absolutely no friends, I’m obviously missing out on the competitive fun side of the game. Must try and meet people more.
LM

ATIC ATAC-ERS

Dear CRASH,
On reading the April issue I saw the first of what will be many letters on Atic Atac. Stuart Mitchell wrote that he thinks he may be one of the first people to crack this game. Well, Stuart, at 72% your score is still a little low. I have reached 99% on five occasions. If CRASH or anyone else can tell me how to get the extra one per cent I’ll be an extremely happy Atic attacker.
J. Marsay

A mysterious fellow who calls himself ‘Eye of the Night’ claims, in our new Playing Tips section, that the percentage has nothing to do with the score in Atic Atac. And this makes sense; the percentage indicates the number of rooms entered during playing the game. You may well argue that to get through successfully with the least possible percentage actually indicates a better result than a higher percentage. As to that extra one percent — there’s obviously a room and a half you haven’t visited each time — or 99% is top marks.
LM

WHICH SPECTRUM?

Dear CRASH,
Your magazine is wonderful, sensational, etc...

Could you tell me, please, how can you tell if your Spectrum is an issue 1, 2 or 3? I think it has something to do with the colour of the sticker on the back.

I have a blue sticker.
Mark Simmons

Mark, it has little if anything to do with the colour of the sticker. It depends rather largely on when your Spectrum was bought. What is important is the serial number of your model. Any serial number before DOI 136480 or before 001 354000 is an issue 2 Spectrum. Anything after either of these numbers is an issue 3. In general, the differences aren’t important, except in that issue 3 Spectrums read the keys in a different way, which makes some games programmed on or for a series 2 a little odd to control on a series 3. Most software houses have now taken these differences into account.
LM

YOUNG REVIEWERS

Dear CRASH,
I would like to ask why don’t you have a young person reviewing some of the games features in your magazine? This would help readers because they would have an idea what different age groups thought of a game. A game may interest a child more than an adult and therefore they will have a different opinion.

I saw a TV programme where a 13-year-old boy in America worked for a computer magazine. Every so often they sent him some programs. He would review them at home and then tell the editor what he thought of them. Why don’t you at CRASH try the idea?

It might help younger readers who are buying games.
Simon Beards

As a matter of fact we have quite a few young reviewers, Simon. Our two principal in-house arcade reviewers are 17 and 19 years old, but we also send games out to three other youngsters aged 12 to 15, and they tell us what they think of them.
LM

TOO SLOW

Dear CRASH,
I must complain about how slowly you review games. I think it was in February you stated that you could not review Atic Atac because you didn’t have a copy. I had a copy in November. And in the April edition you gave a preview of Jet Set Willy and I got my copy four or five weeks ago and I had found all 60 rooms within 24 hours, so you can’t make the excuse that you need to review it fully later. Why do you take so long? Apart from that, how come Zaxxan got more than 30%?

Also, Mr Wimpy, Hunchback, Atic Atac and Punchy do not work with the Currah Microspeech. I thoroughly enjoy your magazine.
Mark Powell

Mark’s letter was much longer and included many items about playing Jet Set Willy, most of which are covered in our Playing Tips section later on in this issue. As to the question of why so long over the reviews — well... firstly, I would say CRASH can claim to be about the first with most games reviews. Obviously some mags do get a review out before either because they are weekly or because they come on sale the week before CRASH, but in the main most of them don’t review a fraction of the games we do. The February issue, which stated that a full review of Atic Atac would follow, was on sale on January 13th. It went to the printers on December 19th (Christmas makes a hole in the schedules), its layout was being completed around about December 2nd to 5th, which means that the reviews had to be written by about November 20th, approximately the time Atic Atac was released for sale.

The preview pictures of Jet Set Willy were taken from a pre-production copy of Matthew Smith’s and not from a sale copy which we could review. CRASH collected its mail order copies the day after Software Projects took delivery of the first copies, at which point it was reviewed for the last issue.

What you are not taking into account is that if a brand new game arrives at our offices a few days after an issue has finished writing, it won’t appear as a review for almost five to six weeks. I might point out that some magazines were still reviewing Terror Daktil 4D as a new game in November last year, when the game came out in early August (I think).

As to the games you list not working with Microspeech, I don’t think anyone in this magazine has ever said they do. Punchy certainly has speech on it, but that’s built into the program. Glad you like the mag though!

DON’T LOOK IN THE BEANO

Dear Lloyd,
Congratulations and many thanks to you and your colleagues for finally filling the yawning gap in computer magazines. I unfortunately missed the first issue but found the second and third in W.H. Smiths. The difference in quality of paper and colour is probably the biggest improvement you could have made on issue 2, and it is good to see you putting effort into the magazine’s appearance as well as its contents. However, issue 3 does appear to be a bit disordered, but perhaps that’s because of the additional articles. Maybe you should try to set the news, editorial and letters in a closer section, and keep the regular features in the same place each issue. It’s a small point, but with so many different parts it isn’t easy to keep track of where you’ve read, etc.

If R.S. Hammond looks to the Beano for comic strips, then he’s looking in the wrong place! Keep the Terminal Man, it suits the magazine well, as long as it doesn’t get too silly (“loathing and blood lust!?”). As a comics collector of many years I can assure you Terminal Man is well written and drawn.

Talking about drawing, one thing did annoy me in issue 2, namely the top cartoon on page 53 (and 65)! Is this stupid sexism really necessary? Obviously most of your readers are young males (including me) but this particular type of drawing keeps vicious circles going round and round. Again, it’s a small point, but it is all the more noticeable because of the quality of the rest of the magazine. Life imitates art!

Which only leaves me to mention the reviews themselves ... Excellent! Witty and clear, they are enjoyable and informative to read. Please don’t ever be afraid of slamming a bad program. Pour encourager les autres, I think. Keep the three personal comments and the rating system. Again, the effort put into this shows clearly. It is good that you aren’t just regurgitating the cassette inlay (and that it comes under criticism too).

Keep articles on programmers and software houses coming, but try not to succumb to their hype.
Eye of Night

I must say (well, I’m paid to say things like this) that issue 3 (the one that was called 4 in error) was rather jolly looking. It’s considered normal, or aesthetic, or something anyway, to divide a magazine up into clearly defined sections so that everyone always knows where everything is. Of course, to a large degree that happens with CRASH as well. But as reviews are our main staple, it was thought it would be boring to have a lump of them with other, smaller, lumps either side or something like that. So an early decision was made to muddle it all up. And that muddle — er, decision — is still operating now. When I put your point about ‘disorderliness’ to the CRASH art department I was told that if I cared to have a go laying out the magazine they would be only too happy to let me, but my desk is only three foot by two... It seems that something called ‘pagination’ makes life difficult, that and the fact that every advertiser wants to be on a right-hand page, facing editorial and within the first 10 pages. Life just isn’t easy, is it?
LM

STEERING OFF THE ROAD

Dear CRASH
I am writing to tell you and warn others of a bogus software company that is ripping off loads of people! The company, called Spirit Software, placed an advertisement in Personal Computer Games magazine in their February and March issues. Finding this to be an interesting idea and a good version of Atari’s Pole Position game, I decided to send off for it. After four weeks were up I received a letter stating how sorry they were because they had received faulty steering wheel mouldings from their supplier and the game would be delayed until 12th March.

Fair enough, I thought, but three weeks later nothing had arrived. I phoned up the company to enquire but I was greeted with an answering machine and that was that. A week later I phoned PCG and was fobbed off with the excuse that Spirit Software are a bogus company and many people had phoned them to complain. They said it wasn’t PGS’s fault and nothing could be done. They know about the answering machine and they think the owner has disappeared!

£9 of my hard-earned cash was wasted and nothing can be done. All I can do now is never trust mail order again unless it is a well-known company. Can he be traced and brought to justice?
JU. Johnson

From a review point of view, we also contacted Spirit Software, and we too received the reply that faulty mouldings had caused a delay in the game and steering wheel. As a magazine, it is a little difficult to be sure that a customer who wishes to advertise is bona fide, or that he won’t go bust next week. There is a customer protection scheme for mail order companies, or those offering sale by mail order, but sadly, it isn’t usually enforced by magazines, and often it’s difficult to do so. As to bringing the owner of Spirit Software to justice, the answer is technically ‘probably’, practically ‘hardly likely’. People like Spirit Software are frankly a pain in the *** as all they do is give British software innovation a bad name. We would be very interested to hear from any other readers who have sent money to Spirit Software for their Formula One and Steering Wheel.
LM

A BIT OF BOVVER

Dear CRASH,
I would just like to talk about a bug I found in Artic’s Bear Bovver. I haven’t yet seen anyone mention it as Bear Bovver seems to have a reputation for being an almost impossible game with the characters so big.

The bug occurs in sheet five. You can’t die — the other bears just walk straight through you. Bear Bovver has around eight to 10 sheets (I wasn’t really counting). Now for all you eager Bear Bovver fans who are just aching and dying to know the identity of the star guest after Jetman, who appears in sheet three — well sorry, but there isn’t one. It just goes through the sheets and back round again. What a disappointment to such a great game — or is it that I’ve got a dud tape? Will someone out there tell me please, has someone seen the next guest star? I’ve got to know.

Also, come on CRASH, let’s have some reviews on Moon Buggy by Anirog, Moon Alert by Ocean and Troop-a-Truck by Rabbit. This, to my mind, is about the best game in the arcades and I need to play it at home, but which one is best? Let’s have more competitions too!
Michael C. Shepherd

Okay, Bovverites, let’s here it for Michael. Moon Buggy, by Visions, was reviewed last issue, Anirog’s version this month. Moon Alert hasn’t been seen yet, and Rabbit’s Troop-a-Truck is fab on the Commodore but not yet ready for the Spectrum, David Lewis of Rabbit tells me it shouldn’t be long now, and they are trying to cram in as much detail as possible. Pity they won’t be able to get the same great sound track going though.
LM

GARBLED MESSAGE

Dear CRASH,
Congratulations on your excellent magazine — it’s easily the best buy for Spectrum games players. However, I would like to see more adventures reviewed, and if possible a feature on Digital Fantasia.

Oliver Frey’s illustrations are fantastic, especially the Kong pictures in the March issue. I am pleased that you have plenty of competitions each month, lacking from many magazines, and that the prizes are very attractive.

In reply to Steve Turner’s inquiry as to which games we would like to see in future, I think complex artificial intelligence programs — particularly adventures — show the way forward. Perhaps Melbourne House will continue their progress in this field, starting with Sherlock Holmes.

I would like to inform Chris Passey, a reviewer of Missile Command games in the Run It Again feature (April), that the ‘garbled mess of large print’, which appears after about 6 levels of Anirog’s excellent Missile Defence, is in fact your present score, which appears at the top of the screen when you beat the hi-score. Despite his mistake, I wholly agree with his review, it is one of my favourite games. Incidentally, after level 8 there is a bug because all subsequent attack waves are called level 9. I have reached level 19 (I counted them) with a score of 3,622 — it is so incredibly fast that each wave lasts only a few seconds.
Iain Templeton

As you will have noticed by now, Iain, CRASH is including more adventure reviews as we go along. We’ll look into the Digital Fantasia feature idea. Chris Passey has just left the office with a red face (he puts it down to the effort of climbing the stairs).
LM

NEWS INPUT

Tayo Olowu and Paul Voysey, authors of Psytron. Paul claims to have survived for 20 minutes on level 6 of the game. He says he could have carried on but the phone rang — oh yeah?

GOING BEYOND

With the launch of Psytron, Beyond Software and the game’s two young programmers have been thrust into the limelight.

The two names behind Psytron are Paul Voysey and Tayo Olowu. They both graduated from an engineering course last summer and opted not to get involved in the engineering industry. Instead they went out and bought a Spectrum. Two weeks later they had taught themselves machine code and then spent almost seven months producing Psytron.

Paul is a voluble person with fairly strong opinions about the way magazines in general review games and present screen pictures. Tayo is Nigerian, and in discussion at the Psytron launch I discovered we had been neighbours (though separated by some years), living almost next door to each other in Lagos.

Paul and Tayo work very evenly on a game, intermingling their individual methods of assembly so that, as Paul claimed, it should be very difficult to disassemble their code, because they each have their own routines that get hopelessly mixed together. He pointed out that a clever disassembler can spot the way a programmer tends to work, say Matthew Smith, and it makes detection work easier, whereas with Psytron two different thinking processes have gone into the program and seeing where one trail of thought starts and another leaves off is not so simple.

Psytron is an enormous program which uses every bit of the Spectrum’s RAM, but both programmers are now at work on something which promises to be even more special. It’s code named Psi Warrior for the moment, and Beyond hope to have it ready for the autumn.

Going Beyond the adventure is Mike Singleton, author of The Lords of Midnight.

THE EPIC GAME

Although it wasn’t entirely ready for the launch, Beyond’s new adventure game, The Lords of Midnight, was featured with several screens working. Beyond claim that this is the world’s first Epic game, which allows the player to blaze a heroic path through a story background, drawing the scenery and characters every step of the way.

This is possible through a technique called landscaping. It means that every time you leave a location and return to it from a new direction, it will be drawn again with a different background. Every time you move forward, so the landscape changes, distant features coming nearer and revealing new detail. Beyond claim that there are 32,000 views to be seen in The Lords of Midnight!

You take the part of Lord Luxor the Moonprince, guiding his compatriots and gathering armies to defeat the evil Witchking Doomdark. As Luxor splits his forces, so you are able to see through the eyes of each character. The game is extremely complex and what it allows you to do and the ways in which it can be played. Fortunately it is accompanied by a 32-page booklet which sets the scene and describes the game in detail.

Author of The Lords of Midnight is Mike Singleton, who started inventing games as a youngster. While working as an English teacher on Merseyside, he produced a computer moderate game called Star Lord which is played by hundreds of people every week, sending in their order for the game to Mike’s house to be processed on his Pet. The Lords of Midnight is the result of months of hard work, and he has planned two sequels, Doomdark’s Revenge and The Eye of the Moon, which should be available in the autumn.

DORIC CHANGES NAME

Close observers of our last issue may have noticed the half-page advertisement for The Oracle’s Cave, the animated graphics adventure from Doric, and seen that Doric have now become DORCAS Software. Chris Dorrell says ‘We decided to change our name to avoid confusion with another software house at the business end of the market and with the Oric micro.’

The name Dorcas is derived from DORell Computer Adventure Software, and reaffirms the company’s intention of producing adventure games. The latest release from Dorcas continues the text/graphic approach which was used so well in The Oracle’s Cave. The new game due soon is called The Runes of Zendos and will consist of 12 separate but closely linked adventures, each with monster animation, problem solving, sound effects, sentence input, performance evaluation and microdrive facilities. It will run on the 48K Spectrum.

Routiers Chef Ian Hoare prepares to serve up a Surprise de Spectrum a la ZX Grecque. Is that a Spectrum manual tucked in among the cookbooks?

LE CHEF de BUG-BYTE

Liverpool-based software house Bug-Byte have taken to the kitchen for their latest release.

Ian Hoare, chef to British Routiers, has produced a world first in the home computer software market.

He explains: ‘Last October an old friend asked me for the recipe of a dish which has always been a favourite with guests at lunches which I have cooked for Routiers. As a joke, I tried to put the recipe into the computer.

‘One thing led to another, and before I quite knew what had happened to me, I found that I had an appointment with the marketing manager of a major software company to show him an outline for a computerised cooker “book.”

‘I gave enough of a demonstration to be offered a contract for the finished product. Now, some four months later, I have managed to complete the “cook-book,” which runs on a Spectrum and which contains over 80 of my most popular recipes.’

More than just a cookery book, perhaps, one-third of the program is taken up with a comprehensive index. You can tell the computer that you have some pork, in the fridge, and it will make a selection of suitable recipes. It will also list recipes by category such as Starters and Desserts. It will select recipes according to such criteria as price, time taken in cooking and preparation, simplicity and country of origin.

To round off the index, Ian has put on another ‘hat’ — that of wine consultant — and has suggested wines to accompany the dishes he has invited you to cook.

In the recipes themselves, Ian has again found a use for the particular strengths of computers. All the recipes are displayed in either Imperial or Metric measurements and for any number of people (up to 200). He has brought his practical expertise to bear highlighting any tricky sections and explaining how he deals with them.

‘I was amazed to discover,’ he says, ‘that this is the first time anything like this has been done. It seems to me to be so obvious, with computers being found more and more in the home, uses should extend beyond games programs and home budget accounting, excellent though these are.’

Tony Baden, director of Bug-Byte, first saw the program at the Christmas Computer Fair at Wembley. He was so impressed that he offered Ian Hoare a contract on the spot.

The Cookbook consists of a special two-cassette pack, one for the index and the other for the recipes. Available from all good software outlets at £9.50.

W.H. SMITH EXPAND COMPUTER SHOPS

W.H. Smith’s retail shops will open at least 11 more Computer Shops and extend at least 26 existing Computer Know-how departments by the beginning of September. The company already has 33 Computer Shops in W.H. Smith stores, plus two Computer Shops at Heathrow airport, as reported in our March issue, and more than 220 Computer Know-how departments.

The well-designed compact Computer Shops offer customers a place where they can sit at console units and use complete systems, which include the Acorn Electron, Acorn BBC Model B machine, the Apple, Commodore 64, Sinclair’s ZX81 and the Spectrum. Computer Know-how departments (according to their size) also have a similar range of systems.

Computer Shops and the Computer Know-how departments also offer a comprehensive range of software (including education programs and games), as well as other computer peripherals, and also W.H. Smith’s own-brand Computer Program Data recorder. This machine is called the CPD-B300. It costs £39.95 and is specifically designed for use with personal computers.

Customers can also make full use of the computer staff’s expertise at W.H. Smith. ‘We want people to be able to try out hardware for themselves and have the opportunity to discuss and compare the various computer specifications and software packages with our specially trained staff,’ said Mr John Rowland, Merchandise Controller for personal computers at W.H. Smith.

W.H. Smith is planning a series of computer exhibition evenings (run by W.H. Smith’s computer staff). The aim of these evenings is to demonstrate the specific use of computers and peripherals, as well as to encourage people to try out the hardware and software by using the W.H. Smith staff’s expertise. Often attending the evenings are software suppliers and hardware manufacturers. In addition there is a great deal of literature available for people to take away with them.

W.H. Smith have 355 retail shops. By the beginning of September 1984 nearly 50 of these will have Computer Shops and more than 220 will have Computer Know-how departments.

New Computer Shops will be opened at Bolton, Chester, Coventry, Derby, Lewisham, Oxford, Preston, Southend, Sunderland. Watford and York.

Extensions to Computer Know-how departments will be at Basildon, Bedford, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bradford (Kirkgate), Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Colchester, Crawley, Guildford, Hanley, Harlow, High Wycombe, llford, Luton, Peterborough, Putney, Nottingham (Victoria), Richmond, Slough, Solihull, Stockport, Sutton, Swindon, Woolwich and Worthing.

Computer evenings planned for the future will be at Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Kingston, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London (Holborn Circus and Brent Cross), Nottingham (Listergate), Reading, Southampton and Swansea.

SPECTRUM CONNECTION

DK’Tronics have announced the launch of the DK’Tronics Spectrum Owners’ Club. The club indicates an enduring faith in the ZX Spectrum computer. To launch the club, DK’Tronics are running a fabulous prize draw, details of which may be found in this issue as well as other magazines. The first prize will be a Sinclair QL computer. The second prize is £100 with follow-up prizes of £50 and £25. There will of course be free membership to the Spectrum Owners’ Club. The draw for the prizes will be made on 1st August at the CRASH magazine offices in Ludlow.
CRASH MOVES

After reporting on the above item, it might be as well to tell everyone that CRASH is moving approximately 300 yards — to new offices in the very centre of Ludlow (appropriately above the Victoria Wine shop!). The move has been occasioned by CRASH’s rapid growth, which has demanded much more space. It will also enable peripheral activities to be expanded like the Hotline and Helpline as well as the planned launch of some new titles.

The move will not alter the use of the PO Box 10 address used for general correspondence with us. Nor will the Hotline phone number and the general number be changed. There will, however, be an additional editorial phone number which will appear in the next issue and this will replace the current 4801 number. Got it?

SHERLOCK DELAYED

Sad news for adventure fans panting for Melbourne House’s new game Sherlock Holmes. Its release has been put back to September. It was first hoped to have it out immediately after Christmas, then it was put back a month, and then to late spring. Paul Byrnes of Melbourne House (London) tells us that the programming team are still slaving away because the complexity of the program has made it difficult to cram it into the memory of a 48K Spectrum.

Still, Sherlock Holmes will obviously make a smashing Christmas present for the end of this end, and the amount of work that has gone into making it possible should ensure that it is a fabulous game too.

HURG COMPETITION EXTENDED

Melbourne House have announced that the closing date for their HURG competition has now been extended until 30th June. This gives even more Spectrum owners the opportunity to win the prize of £3,000 for the best game design using HURG (High Level, User Friendly, Real Time Games Designer).

Entering the competition is easy, as no programming knowledge is required to create games with HURG. Details of entry to the competition are enclosed with every HURG package (£14.95), so if you haven’t got round to it yet — there’s one more month to go!

HEWSON CONSULTANTS GO FRENCH

Hewson Consultant’s trilogy of 3D Seiddab games are to be supplied to over 300 outlets throughout France. The trilogy, 3D Space Wars, 3D Seiddab Attack and last month’s CRASH SMASH 3D Lunattack, were written by Steve Turner for the Spectrum and have now been converted for the Dragon by Andrew Braybrook to fulfill the French contract.

At the same time, Hewson’s new adventure game, Fantasia Diamond (a CRASH SMASH for this month), has been entered in for a French adventure games competition. When first approached, Andrew Hewson was faintly bemused by the notion of an English written game being seen in France. The competition organisers, however, felt that this was a negligible drawback. But Andrew says that if it does well in the competition then they will get to work on translating the database of the name into French — no easy task! At least Nord and Sud needn’t be a bother — the initial letters are the same!

Out on the sandy wastes, a furious Tank Duel is taking place.

REAL TIME

At April’s ZX Microfair (Ally Pally, London) a new software house demonstrated their first-ever game on the CRASH stand. We first met Andrew Onions, one of the duo who make up Real Time, because his parents live only a few doors away from the CRASH offices. The second member of Real Time is Ian Oliver. Both are studying in Leeds. The game is code-named Tank Duel, and it continues where Artic’s 3D Combat Zone and Crystal’s Rommel’s Revenge left off. After some preliminary opinions grabbed from reviewers locally, Tank Duel was pronounced the best version of the arcade favourite ‘Battle Zone’ yet. Plans have yet to be finalised regarding marketing and sale of the program, but the expected price is between £4.95 and £5.50.

Chris Clark (ex-Artic), who saw the game at the Microfair, gave his opinion that it was okay but old hat now. Perhaps that’s a touch of professional sour grapes because of 3D Combat Zone. Tank Duel is only the third program of its kind for the Spectrum and is certainly the fastest and busiest version, with plenty of colour and very fast-moving 3D graphics. The game features several different types of tank as well as flyby saucers and bikers, detailed solid landscapes and sound. Keep your eyes peeled for further developments.
TRACK BALLS SOON

Software house Micromania have announced that they will have Track Balls for the Spectrum soon. The ergonomic ‘joystick’ controller, which resembles the top of a sphere sticking out of a box, is almost essential for playing fast games like ‘Missile Defence’, where a firing sight has to be moved at speed and with accuracy. Existing (and somewhat rare) track balls tend to be very expensive, but Micromania are expecting to sell theirs for around £14. They are being imported from America and should be on sale in a few weeks. We’ve been promised one as soon as they arrive, and will be reviewing it as fast as we can.

TLL FOR VORTEX

Having completed the draw of correct entries to the Vortex Competition on the CRASH stands at the Eleventh ZX Microfair at London’s Alexandra Palace on 28th April, Luke Andrews of Vortex told us about their new release, called TLL. The initials stand for Tornado Low Level. You must fly your Tornado jet fighter against enemy positions. The graphics are a continuation of those seen in Android 2, and are claimed to be detailed and in 3D. The game will provide one landing strip, flights at very low level over varying terrain including the sea, with the aircraft being guided by use of its shadow on the ground. There will be 42 screens of landscape and a wrap around map area and long-range radar which warns of landscape changes and enemy positions. TLL should be available very soon, price £5.95, for the 48K Spectrum.

Above, The Book of Shadows, and, below, two of the superb illustrations by Emmanuel for the book.

THE BOOK OF SHADOWS

Fans awaiting the new Carnell megadventure The Wrath of Magra, will be pleased to hear that it is now imminent. Difficulties with fitting everything into the memory space and organising the competition which Carnell are running have caused the recent delays. Magra consists of three 48K programs in one package and requires the full assistance of a marvellously illustrated book to play it. The book, The Book of Shadows, runs to 158 pages and contains 51 black and white drawings. It details the history of ‘The Third Continent’ upon which Black Crystal and Volcanic Dungeon were also based, in novel form. It is followed by pages and pages listing the enchanted beasts and objects which will be useful in the adventure, plus a recipe book of magic potions and spells and the times to prepare and use them.

The Wrath of Magra promises to be an all-encompassing affair, the sort of classic adventure which will require retreating from the world for several months! On top of that, The Book of Shadows should provide several more hours entertainment for the ardent adventure fan.

Armed with little more than a trusty spade, nimble fingers and wilting joystick, our two arcade playing reviewers, CHRIS PASSEY and MATTHEW UFFINDELL, enter the dusty platforms in search of monsters ...

‘Panic’ games involve climbing ladders to various levels within the screen, digging holes in the floors and letting the monsters fall into them. When you trap a monster in this manner, there is usually a short time in which to reach it, bang it on the head so that it falls through to its death, filling in the hole as it goes. Failure to kill it in time will result in the beast escaping and becoming a super monster. The more super a monster becomes, the more holes it must fall through in one go, which means digging holes in a vertical line. You have an ever-diminishing supply of oxygen, so speed is important. This selection contains some close copies and some slight variations on the theme.

Sheer Panic

Visions

This is a reasonable version of ‘Panic’. It contains the features such as the limited oxygen supply and the increasing strength of any monster that is not buried in time when in a hole. The graphics are quite good with character movement being used but working quite well. Colour content is about right but I think the sound is limited. The major drawback to this version is the key layout, the top row being used in a straight line (6 to 9). Digging and filling is done with the up/down keys, which does reduce the number needed to play the game. On the subject of control I found it one of the worst games for moving off ladders on to levels. All in all, a decent and fairly addictive game, especially when played with a Kempston.
CP

This version has four well drawn platforms, connected with varying lengths of ladders. All movement is by blocks — although this doesn’t spoil the playability of the game. The monsters have a low intelligence level so you don’t have to wait around for a monster to fall into a quickly dug hole — good! Your man is nicely animated and moves quickly. Different coloured monsters, as usual have to be knocked down on equivalent number of platforms before they are killed. Sound and colour are put to good use and it’s well worth considering. There is, however, an oddity involved. The game is the same as Microgen’s Panic.
MU

Panic

Mikrogen

All my comments on Sheer Panic by Visions apply to Mikrogen’s Panic, because unless I’m grossly mistaken this is the self same program. Well, there are a few little differences and one big one. The big difference is that this version offers the player user definable keys. The small ones are a few peripheral frills like text characters. In all other respects it is identical. How come?
CP

One thing became instantly apparent when reviewing this version — it’s an exact copy of Sheer Panic. Or is it the other way round? As far as I am aware this Mikrogen version has been on the market for much longer. Keyboard layout is different, and a few other frills have been left out, but the sound, graphics and content are the same. Who copied who?
MU

Monsters in Hell

Softek

Monsters in Hell is a slight variation with you having to destroy demons and vampires using the same digging techniques. A problem I found was that once dug, holes could not be filled in, hence one can become trapped above the flames of hell. The oxygen has been replaced by holy power, and this can be replenished by picking up a cross. Despite these changes it is still a ‘Panic’. It isn’t a very good one either. The graphics are rather small and jerky, and generally everything is second rate. I didn’t find it very playable or addictive. The controls are okay, having a “dig” key.
CP

This game has wandered off the ‘Panic’ theme to some degree. You play the part of a small, jerk-moving man who is equipped with a pick for digging holes. Six platforms give the game quite a height and these are connected by various lengths of thin ladders. Monsters (vampire types) are tiny, but they do home in on you very quickly — good job you’ve got nine lives! There is no monster bashing in this game (boring) the monsters being killed merely by their falling through a hole (or holes) in the platform — although this doesn’t always kill them.... The game is easy to play and gives the impression of being out of date (it is one of the earliest), with its small, jerky character graphics. There is also a lack of sound and not much use of colour. One thing is the keys, which have good positions and good response. Overall, not recommended.
MU

Digger Dan

Ocean

This is a rather good version, containing large, colourful graphics with reasonable movement. The control is also good, although there is no joystick option. It is easy to get on and off the ladders which is a help. I think this is better than the Visions/Mikrogen version. It features oxygen and four monster types, and separate keys for dig and fill, which are well laid out. Digger Dan is enjoyable and addictive, and one of the best ‘panics’ here.
CP

This version has now been available for quite a while, yet it shows hardly any signs of age. The game takes place on five very solid looking platforms connected by several well-drawn ladders. It starts off as the simplest of the bunch but gets progressively more difficult by adding one monster for every two screens completed — unique. The monsters are well drawn and move smoothly, although they are not at all intelligent. Your man is nicely animated and moves with reasonable speed. The keyboard positions could have been better, but nothing too much to complain about. It is slightly lacking in the sound department, but colour has been well used. Good.
MU

Super Digger

Abacus

This is the only game here that is written in BASIC. The key layout is poor (cursors). Digging is achieved by using the down key and the up key is used for jumping holes and monsters (as well as climbing ladders). You die if you fall into one of your own holes. Colour and graphics are limited due to the BASIC language used. Hence movement is jerky and the characters are small. Five ‘mazes’ and three speeds are provided, but the game is very unplayable and not addictive at all. I liked the jumping idea which is innovative, and overall I think Abacus may have been able to produce a better game in machine code.
CP

The first thing you notice about this game is the offer of five different mazes and three speeds. Although there is a choice of speeds, the game runs slowly even on the fastest one. Screen layout is almost primitive by today’s standards with uninteresting platforms and no frills. Ladders, monsters and your man are not very detailed, and move by block. Once a hole is dug, you can’t fill it in (like Monsters in Hell), but you can jump over it (unlike Monsters in Hell). The screen is quite a bore because nothing much happens. Not a very good game at all and cursor key layout makes things worse.
MU

Mummy Mummy

MC Lothlorien

This is another of the ‘Panic’ variation games which involves you in trying to return to your disturbed rest in a pyramid. Ghouls and nasties try to stop you doing so. Control is okay and includes ZX and cursor joystick options. The graphics are not bad, large but a bit on the jerky side. The oxygen supply is also included in the game. A problem is that you can’t jump down your own holes and live. Mummy Mummy is an average sort of game — all right, but inferior to some of the more classic ones and not particularly addictive.
CP

I get the feeling that the search for originality in the ‘Panic’ framework has gone too far in Mummy Mummy and obscured with complicated ‘gizmos’ what might have been a very good version. The large graphics are fair in their movement, but the overall implementation is confusing and the monsters often do some very odd things — like jamming up! It is also quite slow. Playability is lowered by the fact that at certain times you can dig a hole and then all the monsters will line up to drop sedately into it, giving you time, after bonking one through, to dig the next ready for another monster. I didn’t like this one at all.
MU

Pandemonia

CRL

This game gives a wide choice of keys and joystick options. It is a slight variation on the original ‘Panic’ with you having to open doors and get up to the top of a skyscraper. The graphics are excellent, the best of the bunch in fact. But the game lacked playability, and it is certainly the hardest game of the lot. Hardness is not a bad thing, but I really found it difficult to get anywhere. A sort of strategy is required before ‘opening’ a door. The oxygen feature is also included. A reasonable game that would be far better if it were just a little easier.
CP

Pandemonia is quite unlike all other ‘Panic’ games due to all the features which have been added. For instance, the entire game takes place in the CRL skyscraper, object being to get to the top and destroy the alien HQ. Some of the ladders, which connect five platform levels, have doors placed above them. Opening one reveals a hungry looking monster. Several different screens adds variety to the game. Your characteristic man moves and digs very well and he is controlled by a responsive, well laid out keyboard. The monsters are also drawn very nicely with three or more different types on screen at once — luck has it that they are not too intelligent. The ladders are large and easy to move up or down. Colour and sound has been put to good use. Overall the best ‘Panic’ here where forward thinking is essential and this game should take some time to master.
MU

Sam Spade

Silversoft

In my opinion, this was the best game. It was ‘just’ better than Ocean’s. The key layout was all right with one key for dig and fill. The graphics are very good, being large, smooth and reasonably coloured, although there are a few attribute problems as monsters climb the ladders, but this was nothing to complain about. The sound is not very good probably the best on this comparison (all the games are poor and limited on the sound front). Sam Spade is very playable and addictive with three types of monster and a fixed amount of oxygen available. I like this one most of all out of the selection.
CP

Silversoft have produced a fairly standard ‘Panic’ that has five platforms and a ‘set’ laddery layout (no random positioning). You take the place of a well-detailed and drawn man who moves smoothly and quickly. The same applies to the monsters, and the three different types (each stronger and more intelligent than the previous) keep you very active, especially when trying to dig holes for the strongest ones which need to fall through three platforms... Good, fast digging action and colourful noisy, unintelligent monsters with the added bonus of responsive and well laid out keys make this an enjoyable game to play.
MU

Spectral Panic

Hewson Consultants

(We only have one reviewer on this as Chris Passey was unable to see the game at the time.)

Five platforms, skinny ladders and poorly drawn moving characters make this game a bore to look at. But the key positions make it a tangle to play. They are placed in a joystick-like cross with dig and fill way over on the other side of the board — out of reach — just impossible. One screen gives the game poor playability. Knocking a monster through one of the platforms only causes another to appear at the bottom of the screen. Use of colour, sound and graphics is very poor and it is a badly thought out game. Some of Hewson’s recent games have been very sophisticated and playable, so all I can say about this one is that if it helped them get going (it is quite old now) and up to where they are now, then that’s the best thing about it.
MU

Panic games comparison table

Use of Computer CP/MU, Graphics CP/MU, Playability CP/MU, Addictive Qualities CP/MU, Value for Money CP/MU, Overall, Memory, Retail price

SAM SPADE Silversoft

89/86, 80/82, 86/84, 85/82, 88/80, 85, 16, 5.95

DIGGER DAN Ocean

80/79, 80/76, 72/74, 80/80, 75/75, 77, 16, 5.90

PANDEMONIA CRL

90/90, 70/85, 55/86, 50/89, 60/88, 71, 48, 5.95

PANIC Mikrogen

65/59, 80/78, 70/70, 73/75, 65/69, 70, 16, 5.95

SHEER PANIC Visions

65/59, 50/62, 68/70, 70/75, 62/88, 64, 16, 5.95

MUMMY MUMMY Lothlorien

67/55, 61/58, 41/30, 40/25, 50/43, 47, 48, 5.95

MONSTERS IN HELL Softek

40/42, 60/55, 37/35, 32/28, 42/36, 41, 16, 5.95

SUPER DIGGER Abacus

30/34, 33/39, 25/30, 20/25, 22/26, 29, 16, 5.95

SPECTRAL PANIC Hewson

--/20, --/15, --/20, --/15, --/10, 16, 16, 5.95

CRASH Course

Roger Kean ponders upon the problems of educational software.

Educational software poses something of a problem, especially for a magazine like CRASH. We are supposed to be a lively games software review publication which means that the majority of readers for whom we cater are most likely to be those with a contempt for teaching software. The situation is even worse if a lot of the reviewed software is primarily aimed at infants. In talking to a well-versed games player of some 15 years, I asked him what he thought of ‘educational’ software. He said, ‘Rubbish’ very firmly, and added that it was probably okay for kids.

Perhaps the taint of school hangs too much around the term ‘educational software’ for a games addict to take it seriously at all. As long as this attitude persists it remains difficult for CRASH to deal sensibly with teaching software.

A similar problem, I suspect, faces the software companies themselves. There was a feeling abroad at the end of last year that 1984 was going to be the year for educational games and that we were facing a boom in sales. True enough, there has been a flood of product, with many of the established publishers like Heinemann, Longmans and Penguin rushing programs out. It might be thought that as the school standard, the BBC model B computer has been a favourite, but the Spectrum is probably better catered for. It remains to be seen, however, whether the enthusiasm of the publishers will be matched in sales by the public. As with a magazine which isn’t sure how to cope with the often opposed demands of its readers, so the software houses haven’t discovered how best to market educational software.

The managing director of a leading games software house once told me that it might be possible to ‘sell’ educational games to the school-age people it was intended for, on the angle that they could persuade their parents to buy a home computer because there would be lots of learning programs available. Then as soon as it was installed it would only be a matter of time before its young owner could switch to the far more important matters at hand — arcade games!

Of course, one way to get around this lack of appreciation from the intended market is to ensure that the learning end of the game is well sweetened. Quite a lot of Spectrum software turns out to contain really very good games, in some cases games well able to hold their own with their less learned arcade brethren. Heinemann’s Ballooning is a really tough and interesting simulation, Longman’s Robot Runner is a reasonably difficult arcade game and Sinclair Macmillan’s Magnets makes a fine and deceptively hard board game. I think any of these, and others besides, would actually sell quite well if they were to be repackaged and have the faint odour of school dinners flushed away by being turned into straightforward computer games.

Mind you, this begins to echo those older arguments that champions in the cause of computer games have put forward that any computer game is actually teaching the player any number of skills during play. They are just not always obvious, but they are there. So, turning the coin over, you are left wondering whether, in the search for sweetening learning with excitement, software houses have actually left much teaching value in the games.

Another factor that confuses the issue of educational software is the attitude of schools. When the computer first arrived in the classrooms it was largely used to perpetuate its own position: ie, it was used largely to teach people how to use computers and to understand the processes of programming. Today, and with the advent of much cheaper machines leading to more classroom availability, one would hope the computer is used as a tool for teaching all kinds of skills of which computer programming is only one. But do British schools or educational authorities have a coherent policy of software buying? I suspect not in general. In any case, there are serious indications that schools, who happily buy thousands of copies of a particular textbook, prefer to buy one or two copies of a piece of software and then make back-up copies for the classrooms. This situation is worsened by the self-evident fact that there is not a computer per pupil, and therefore hardly a need for thousands of units of a program.

Furthermore, the cost of educational computer software is very high. On the Spectrum it is certainly cheaper than say for the BBC, but still runs out at between £8 and £10. If this puts schools off, it must certainly put off parents too. As Spectrums are more commonly found in the home than in the school, software houses have had to tailor their products to suit parental guidance, especially with programs intended for infants. This is all very well, but for the parent who wants to purchase, for instance, all six of the Mr. T series from Good Housekeeping, it represents an outlay of almost £60, which seems quite a lot to pay for the privilege of offering parental guidance.

So what does it all add up to? A confused market, potentially a huge one, but one that falls between the needs and desires of children, parents and school teachers. It isn’t all gloomy of course — the very fact of the computer and the availability of excellent software will eventually establish some stability. There are already signs of this stability with some software houses reporting regular and substantial sales of their programs through schools within a local area authority. But nevertheless, it is likely to be a period of struggle for many companies who have entered the field, and I rather doubt whether the people who are supposed to be learning while they are playing will ever fully appreciate the programs as learning vehicles.

Meanwhile, we will continue to keep an eye on the situation and review educational games on a regular basis under the heading of CRASH COURSE.

BALLOONING

Producer: Heinemann
Author: Five Ways Software Ltd
Price: £9.95

This is a simulation game in the Heinemann educational series of games. Yet it actually rides up into the airy atmosphere of a game playable as a game and not as a learning vehicle.

If the price seems a little steep it may be because of the packaging, which comes in the form of an A4 sized book within a plastic holder. The 18-page colour book contains a fair amount of information relating to lighter-than-air balloon history, and is illustrated with drawings, monochrome and colour photographs relating to diverse subjects such as the Hindenburg disaster and why it happened, the use of balloons today in advertising and how to plan a hot air balloon flight.

Thus also plenty of detail on how to use the program and what to accomplish with it. The game contains a training mode to familiarise the player with controlling the balloon’s flight, a test phase, which demands certain tasks to be completed, and a live mission phase, where the player must land, collect items or people and fly them to destinations at specific distances.

There are four balloons to choose from, but their only distinction is the colour of the envelope. Next the level must be selected — training, test, live mission and, finally, the rank of the player (difficulty level), cadet, officer, ace. The screen display is oddly reminiscent of Phipps Associates’ The Forest. A blue ground supports a drawn line describing the rise and fall of the ground. Trees, bushes and buildings are nicely drawn in. The balloon should land on flat spots. Initially it must be lifted and flown a short distance before landing to collect a mission.

The missions vary, but taking a doctor to an injured farmer is not uncommon. Getting the best man to a wedding on time is another.

Flying the balloon is surprisingly tricky as a task intended for children, and is what makes this a serious contender in the adult games market. Four semi-dial instruments at the base of the screen indicate rate of climb or descent, balloon envelope temperature, altitude and fuel remaining for the mission. The balloon ‘moves’ by virtue of the scrolling landscape below, and controlling it is done by lighting the burner, or opening the vent at the top of the envelope to let hot air out. Careful control of these two opposing forces is essential to land safely.

On the two higher levels there are a number of hazards which may be encountered like turbulence on landing, instrument failure or the vent being jammed. The program also allows for changes in wind direction (a symbol for a windsock is shown at the top of the screen) which may force you to change heights. Going much above 1,000 will take you out of sight of the ground.

CRITICISM

‘Ballooning is a fascinating and compelling game, with the added advantage of colourful and interesting back-up information provided in the package. The result is a pretty tough simulation which should keep a wide range of players happy for hours. I liked it very much.’

‘This game is a simulation on ballooning even though it is aimed at the educational market. Once I started playing it became difficult to leave it alone. The essential R.O.C., display temperature of balloon, altitude and fuel gauges are very accurately and well drawn at the bottom of the screen. Flying is great fun over the rugged terrain, as are the tasks to be completed. All the graphics are smoothly moved at a fairly slow, realistic pace. In fact I found this game as much fun to play as Psion’s Flight Simulation.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1=burner on, 2=burner off, 3=vent open, 4=vent closed, 5 to see your task, 6 returns to instrument
Use of colour: good
Graphics: smooth, detailed, very good
Sound: none
Skill levels: 3
Features: excellent packaging with colour book included
General Rating: A good educational program, which rises to the levels of a compelling game in its own right.

Use of Computer

70%

Graphics

76%

Playability

78%

Getting Started

86%

Addictive Qualities

77%

Value For Money

70%

Overall

76%

CAESAR THE CAT

Producer: Novotrade Rt.
Author: Andromeda Software
Price: £6.95

Caesar the Cat is a game designed with younger players in mind, but its graphics, content and playability lift it into the realm of original arcade games probably worth anyone having a look at. The larder comes with four shelves, well stocked with items of food and a few jars.

Caesar must prowl the shelves and catch the mice which are constantly nibbling away at the food. He can walk either way along any of the shelves as well as jump up or down. But knocking over a jar will cost a 1,000 points, and the red jar will end the game. However, Caesar may walk behind them without any harm, it’s only if he jumps up or down where a jar stands, or when he’s right beside one that the trouble happens.

Catching mice is not an easy task as they refuse to stay on the same shelf as Caesar, so the cat has to act in a cunning way. If he gets hold of a mouse, a door out of the larder opens. It may be at the end of any of the shelves. The object is to carry the mouse out and then return for the rest. There are three kinds of mice: black ones that earn 300 points, blue ones worth 500 points and red ones each worth 700 points. There are 10 of each kind and when you have caught the 10 an alarm clock rings and the blues appear, followed by the reds. As the game progresses the mice move quicker, nibble faster and it all gets harder.

Other problems are that Caesar must not be allowed to sit down or your score goes down rapidly to zero. The cat is also docked points for banging his head on walls or ceilings.

CRITICISM

‘This game contains some good, large graphics, the cat is well animated when considering its size. I personally found the game a little aimless after catching a few mice, but with its colourful graphics it should appear to the younger players, say 10 and under.’

‘First seen on the Commodore 64, this Spectrum version has translated very faithfully. In fact, in common with some other games which are available on both machines, I found the graphics here clearer than in the 64 version. Caesar is excellently animated and characterful — so are the mice with their little tongues busily at work on the disappearing food. For kids it should come as a thrill to discover how to catch the tricky mice — it may even come as a surprise to adults! For the arcade player it is certainly worth half an hour’s attention.’

‘Caesar’s played out against ever-decreasing points so sitting down on the job is not allowed. It’s a totally original idea that is quite easy to play but where some skill is needed. Very detailed graphics of food and a realistically animated cat (you) make this an enjoyable game to play. Very good use of colour and sound — ideal for the younger player — or perhaps even older?’

COMMENTS

Control keys: good positions, A/S left/right, P/L up/down
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: very good, large, well animated and detailed
Sounds: good tunes, less during the game itself
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
General Rating: Good value and addictive for younger players.

Use of Computer

70%

Graphics

75%

Playability

68%

Getting Started

75%

Addictive Qualities

72%

Value For Money

68%

Overall

71%

MAGNETS

Producer: Macmillan Software Ltd/Sinclair Research Ltd
Author: Five Ways Software Ltd
Price: £9.95

Magnets is part of the Science Horizons Series of software, and is educationally aimed to give an understanding of the polarity of magnets. This might sound like a rather dry subject, but the model has been simplified so that the attraction force operates only in two dimensions, and the scenario has been provided as a draughts board game.

The result is an entertaining game of strategy. It is played on a 12 by 12 square grid between two players or one against the computer. Each player has five supermagnets, one on the board at a time and 10 pawn magnets with a force value of one. The supermagnets are lettered A to E and each has an increasing power.

Each player’s pawn magnets may be used to attract or repel the opponent’s. A player may also combine his own magnets by lining them up so that their values are added together, and sucking up an opponent’s pawn magnets will result in their value being added to the winner’s pawn magnet. A further 25 pawns are stored in a bank and may be brought out on to the board at will.

To win you must either conquer all your opponent’s supermagnets, or remove all your opponent’s pawn magnets from the board.

CRITICISM

‘Magnets is a game of very simple graphics and with a rather simplistic attitude towards the way they work. It’s rather doubtful that anyone will really come away knowing much more about them beyond the fact that like poles repel and unalike poles attract and that a stronger magnet is capable of exerting a greater force over a weaker one. However, what does have to be said is that the resulting game is curiously satisfying, involving quite a lot of skill in the manoeuvering of pieces to gain the upper hand. The game comes complete with detailed playing and objective instructions.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Y/N up down, G/J left/right, C to rotate, SPACE to move cursor
Use of colour: very simple, red, green, white and black
Graphics: just grid and colour blocks
General Rating: Of probably dubious educational value but certainly a game worth playing.

MUSICMASTER

Producer: Sinclair Research Ltd
Author: Incognito Software
Price: £9.95

It’s unlikely that the sound output of the Spectrum will ever rival that of the London Symphony Orchestra or that a budding Beethoven will claim his Spectrum taught him what he knew. Mind you, unless you significantly amplify the sound output for this Sinclair program, you might think you are simulating Beethoven’s inability to hear what he was playing because of his deafness!

Musicmaster is a rather jolly tutorial program which allows you to create tunes and play them. The program can hardly be claimed as a utility, and it probably fails to be educational in a detailed manner. There are two modes available — stave or keyboard. Stave mode provides a range of two octaves upwards from A below middle C and uses the alphabet keys a to g and A to G. The notes may be prefaced by pressing keys S (sharp), L (flat) or N (natural). Keyboard mode allows the two top rows of the keyboard to be used as a keyboard instrument with 10 white notes and 7 black notes from middle C upwards. There is an overlay supplied for the keys to help you play.

The main menu allows you to select Notes On Music, a sub-menu with five sections offers reasonably detailed notes on music and writing it as it applies to this program. Note pitch, duration are covered, rests — the space allowed between notes; key and time signatures.

Tune creation may be done in either stave or keyboard mode. In either case the notes played are shown on screen and heard. Before a tune can be written you must enter the time signature and whether sharps and flats are to be used. At this stage a knowledge of music would be useful but it isn’t essential. At any stage, pressing K will end the tune and it may be played back at varying speeds up to 200 crotchets per minute. Tunes may be saved.

CRITICISM

‘The main drawback with any music program for the Spectrum is the Spectrum itself. Its sound limitations really make it little more than a toy when it comes to music. Obviously with one one channel it isn’t possible to make up really interesting sounds and one is restricted to the familiar beep with different durations. That said, it is possible to write neat tunes with this program and the Notes section does help to make it a valuable early learning aid (not necessarily for children either).’

‘Being in BASIC there are aspects which are slow. Some of the graphics take their time to build up, and you can get stuck for ages in the notes section on duration. I wouldn’t think this is intended as a serious music learning program, although it could be useful for back up purposes in learning. I was surprised to see that in Keyboard mode you can delete the last note written, but apparently you can’t do so in Stave mode.’

‘Musicmaster may be a way of learning about music, or a way of teaching people about music BUT being written in BASIC it is impossible to get any beats and tempos going realistically. It’s odd that Sinclair have released something that is written in BASIC when they could have done a program in machine code and included far more features like synthesis.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: all by on-screen prompts
Use of colour: simple. But clear
Graphics: stave and note representation works very well
Sound: rather depends on you
General Rating: Within its BASIC limitations and that of the Spectrum itself, this turns out to be an interesting program that should provide fun and entertainment — but it has got its limitations.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

68%

Playability

72%

Getting Started

78%

Value For Money

60%

Overall

67%

PUNCTUATION PETE

Producer: Heinemann
Author: Five Ways Software Ltd
Price: £9.95

This package contains two games, Punctuation Pete and Wordfinder. Wordfinder provides three separate smaller programs, the first being the wordfinder itself, a sort of mini-Thesaurus with about 1,000 words in it. The theme is travel and the screen presents you with a list of words related to various forms of travel. From this list it is possible to investigate similar words, find similar words and make connections between words. The wordfinder is then incorporated in the following two games, Anagrams and Hangman. Anagrams mixes up the letters of the words in wordfinder and asks you to unscramble them. It is possible to interrupt, go to the wordfinder and search for the word if you get stuck. Amazingly, even the most obvious of words can cause confusion. What would you make of C-C-L-E-Y? It took ages to discover CYCLE. Hangman is a guessing game where you must create the chosen word from nothing, with the computer placing correctly guessed letters in the right place, or drawing one more line of a hanged man for incorrect ones. This guides children to the use of vowels as major building blocks. It is possible to give up and see the correct answer.

Punctuation Pete presents the problem of punctuating quite long pieces of prose. Seven lines are displayed on screen, usually a very short story. Punctuation Pete can be made to walk along the lines, and by using the punctuation keys of the Spectrum, the correct punctuation may be added where it should be. On the higher of the three skill levels, this will include quotes for speech with all the attendant problems of whether full stops or commas come before or after the quotes. When a piece is completed, Pete will return to the top of the screen and point out any mistakes, which may then be corrected. Afterwards, he will return to the top and check every line, jumping for joy if everything is correct.

The game contains many neat touches; Pete is very well animated for instance. It is essential to change lower case letters into capitals where required, and when this operation is carried out, Pete gives the offending letter a casual kick with his foot to alter it.

CRITICISM

‘Wordfinder presents some tough problems and looks like being a real aid to learning the meaning and association of certain types of word. Punctuation Pete is just marvellous. The polish on this piece of software is evident, and the animation of Pete himself should delight younger children, and amuse adults. In fact the exercises provided should prove valuable to adults as well, and this is not a patronising game at all. The back-up booklet provided in with the package contains 18 pages devoted to the history of writing, comments on writing stories, place names, playing with words, code breaking and the simple background to printing. Despite its rather high price, Punctuation Pete is a worthy game with probably more usefulness as a learning aid than many so-called educational games.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: punctuation keys, well described in book
Use of colour: simple
Graphics: very good
Sound: none
General Rating: A little pricey, but an excellent program.

SPELLBOUND BESIEGED

Producer: Sulis Software Ltd
Price: £8.65

This package comes with two cassettes in a plastic videostyle box. The games within are one of a series of four spelling programs under the Spellbound heading. Besieged has as its graphical theme that of a castle being attacked by the Infidel. You must get a Crusader to cross the moat and relieve the castle. This can only be done by building a bridge, the stones of which are made up by correctly spelling words. On the back of the box it suggests the age group for these games as being 15 to adult, and certainly the words encompassed in these two programs are not simple ones.

Each has three difficulty levels, easy to difficult. On the two easy levels you are given a clue and below it 12 jumbled letters from which the word must be made up. On the harder level you are not given any letters to use. A correct entry results in the broken span of the bridge above being repaired by one block containing the entered letter. If the entire word is correctly spelt then the bridge is fully formed and the crusader can cross into the castle. When 10 are successfully over the Infidel are beaten. Any incorrect entry results in the letter appearing as a building block against the castle walls and an Infidel leaps up on to it. With three incorrect entries the building blocks reach the top of the castle wall and the game is lost.

That’s basically all there is to the game. The reason, presumably, for having two cassettes in the package (they are both the same) is to incorporate a sufficiently large vocabulary of words to make it worth while.

CRITICISM

‘The graphics work very neatly with visuals complementing the game idea in a suitable fashion. Input and response time is quite fast, so there’s no hanging about. The words to be spelt and the clues given make for an entertaining as well as educational program which should prove valuable as a home teaching and revision aid. It should also make for a family quiz evening game. The use of clues adds a crossword problem solving element to the straightforward problems of spelling correctly some quite hard words. Clues like ‘distinct separate’ turn out to be the word ‘discrete’. And this points up another aspect of Besieged: that of forcing the player to recognise the vagaries of English spelling. Discrete and discreet, principle and principal are examples of the sort of thing we all stumble over, and this program makes the most of them.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: alphabet keys
Responses: fast
Use of colour: simple and effective
Graphics: good
Sound: useful beeps
Features: two cassettes in one box
General Rating: For advanced and not so advanced spellers, but it does require some knowledge of words.

TIME TRAVELLER

Producer: Sulis Software Ltd
Price: £8.65

It is the year 1507 BC and you are lost in a great forest of oaks. It is getting dark, and as you try to reach the Time Gate wolves are gathering to attack you. Can you reach the gate in time?

So starts Time Traveller, a genial history question and answer game from Sulis. Aimed at 7-year-olds and upwards, it combines some straightforward with some quite specialised questions on five periods of history. These are the Bronze Age, the Roman age, the Eleventh Century, the Sixteenth Century and the Nineteenth Century. The game takes the form of transporting the player to the next period up. On arrival there is a time gate question to be answered along the lines of, ‘What do you associate with this period?’ You are then presented with an option of three typical answers, one of which is correct.

After the first question there is a small arcade sequence based on a maze game format, but which takes place in some appropriate location, such as a cathedral in the eleventh century where you are chased by priests, or a Victorian sewer, chased by rats and germs. When this is completed there are three questions asked of you before you leave the age. This is presented in the same way as the time gate question at the start.

Eventually you are transported to the twentieth century, where you are told that the people there are fussy and won’t let you in unless your score is high enough. If this is the case then you must choose an age to return to where more questions will be asked of you.

This is repeated until you have scored enough points to make it to the modern age.

CRITICISM

‘History is so often a boring subject for children so anything which is designed to add an element of competition and gameplay is to be considered welcome. The combination of arcade games (which get faster when and if you have to return to them a second or third time) and questions is likely to appeal, whilst imparting knowledge of an age at the same time. The questions are asked and answered in a way which shows the player what is correct. Some of the questions are quite general (where was the Boer War fought?) others are designed to sort out common confusions (in the 19th century were terrace houses, villas or brick-built houses typical of the age?). The result is a very good learning game, with a surprising amount of questions stored away in its memory banks. As the questions are picked at random, there is the chance of being asked the same ones twice in a particular age, but this is no serious drawback since it reinforces the correct answer and gives the player a feeling of accomplishment in remembering. The graphics throughout are snappy and appropriate, although fairly small moving characters are used. They are jerky too, but this doesn’t really detract from the overall idea. Perhaps the only quibble one might have with questions like the ones used here are that they sometimes tend to channel thinking too much. For instance, asked whether forts or factories would be typical of the Roman era. It would be obvious to answer forts — yet factories were something the Romans had as well. Nevertheless, a program like this is not really designed for specialist learning and it represents a fairly sound concept. Perhaps the price is set too high for schools use though.’

This month programmer and adventurer Derek Brewster launches properly into his quest for the perfect adventure. It’s going to be a long trail, but in its course there will be many gems to uncover and doubtless many less than useful objects too.

Although this issue of CRASH has a few adventure games which are included although not reviewed by Derek, we will be incorporating most reviewed adventures in future within the Adventure Trail. Letters which have been pouring in from frustrated, bewildered and stuck adventurers are being sorted out even now, and hopefully Derek will be able to cope with some of them in time for the next month’s issue.

Derek has also devised his own rating system for reviewed adventure games, which he feels is more suitable — it is explained below.

This month: Fantasia Diamond — a new offering from Hewson Consultants; Here Comes The Sun (Alligata); Temple Of Vran — the second in the Incentive Ket Trilogy; Incredible Adventure from CRL; a murder inquiry called Mystery Manor from Bamby; and The Lost Gnomes from Eric Bean Adventures.

THE SEARCH FOR REALISM

PUSH, PULL, EXAMINE, HIT, GET, MOVE... STATUE — it often ends up with you entering expletives. If your input is designed simply to match the words in the computer’s memory, is this what adventuring is all about? What you need, surely, is a sense of reality in the otherwise fabulous world of the adventure. When engrossed in a good adventure you are aware of the computer as an aid only. It is a good sign when the program responds to as much of the input as possible.

It is infuriating when attacking and leaving a character for dead he returns fit and active enough to give you considerable problems only a few frames later. Never mind, he’s carrying some food this time and it’ll be worth it— but on examining the dead body you discover no food. Where has it gone?

The way in which a landscape is mapped out is a moot point. Many well-known adventures have vast regions where it is impossible to chart your progress (or retreat). Although this may add atmosphere in a misty swamp or the (unfortunately) ubiquitous maze, in the long run it makes you acutely aware of the data in the computer — as would a seemingly random selection ruin the storyline behind a set of holiday snaps.

A realistic combat scenario is important to any adventure — assuming the adventure is sophisticated enough to support one. A small defenceless creature should be easily dealt with without much loss of face whereas a warrior may well force upon you an early exit from the game.

Something that becomes clear after much adventuring is the absurdly linear and singular pre-eminence of the route you must take. An example is when you have some food, say gooseberries, incapable of eating since they can only be eaten by their rightful consumnant. Strange gooseberries!

EXAMINE, SEARCH and LOOK are becoming popular in adventuring since they allow you to take a more active role. I can only encourage such developments since the more active the part you play the more likely you are to become enveloped within the adventure. Isn’t this what the whole thing’s about?

Two adventures stand out above all others this month — Temple of Vran, which features a good combat scenario, and Fantasia Diamond, a superb graphic adventure with a very intelligent and friendly vocabulary.

ADVENTURE TRAIL REVIEW RATINGS

The kind of headings used for ratings in the rest of CRASH are not entirely suitable for adventures. You may feel that the headings listed below require some additions — we would be interested to hear your views.

DIFFICULTY: The likely level of difficulty experienced by an average adventurer.

ATMOSPHERE: This rating reflects the quality of location descriptions and graphics, and how credibly the characters you meet behave.

VOCABULARY: Here we are looking for completeness of vocabulary and the friendliness of its response. A program should contain in its vocabulary all objects which are described in its locations, and all obvious words associated with these objects. If a tree appears in a location then the vocabulary should contain the word ‘tree’ as well as the associated world ‘climb’, otherwise the rating will suffer.

LOGIC: This rating reflects the logic of the problems encountered in an adventure and whether or not you are likely to be killed without warning or chance of escape. Chopping down a tree to cross the forest river is very logical — throwing a rope into a boat which is described in no location description is certainly not logical.

DEBUGGING: This indicates the level of crashproofing and debugging of the program. A program should not be crashed simply by making an incorrect entry or by pressing an unfortunate combination of keys (including BREAK!). This rating will also suffer from bugs within the program and spelling errors.

OVERALL VALUE: A general rating based on price and the other ratings BUT NOT AN AVERAGE OF THE OTHER RATING FIGURES as is the case in all other CRASH reviews.

FANTASIA DIAMOND

Producer: Hewson Consultants
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £7.95
Author: K.W. Topley

Fantasia Diamond, a family heirloom and the largest diamond known to man, has been stolen and removed to a fortress across the river. Boris the master spy, who made his way to the fortress to recapture the diamond, has been imprisoned by the faithful guardian who patrols the rooms and corridors for intruders. On your journey you are likely to meet elves, pixies, gnomes and the decidedly unfriendly woodcutter.

Your mission is to enter the fortress, recover the diamond and rescue Boris. But once you find the diamond the game is not over — you must still get back home, and this can be the most difficult part.

On loading you notice a very attractive loading screen, followed by some pleasing graphical representations of the first few frames of the adventure.

The screen that confronts you is very reminiscent of that used in The Hobbit. The screen is divided into two areas. The upper area shows the action taking place and the pictures of some of the scenes from the adventure. The lower area is used for your input and error messages.

This screen presentation is adequate but it can be difficult to keep your place on the upper scrolling portion as it receives fresh information. Using different colours for the objects, characters, etc. would help but it may have been better to clear the screen as you enter new locations.

When you start the adventure you are weak but you can build up your strength by eating and drinking. You should feed regularly otherwise you may become critically weak. Your strength determines how many objects you can carry and if you become too weak you won’t be able to pick up the lightest of objects — including food.

The characters that inhabit the adventure lead independent lives with friends more or less sticking by you. During play you become aware of the real time element to the game. Every character takes action every 15 seconds whether or not you yourself do anything. However, if you feel like a breather all action stops when you start to type and doesn’t proceed until you ENTER.

To make movement in the four main directions easier use has been made of the cursor keys, which is very useful for a quick early foray when the early part of the adventure can be mapped out; NE, SW, etc. can also be entered in the usual way.

The vocabulary used in the adventure is a very strong point — it is both large and user-friendly. Intelligent responses are the order of the day — not just the ubiquitous — ‘You Can’t’. Leaving behind the Verb/Noun restrictions of many adventures, the game allows much more complex inter-actions and requires the adventurer to be specific, eg UNLOCK DOOR WITH KEY. Quite complex sentences can be used with each command starting with a verb, eg OPEN THE DOOR AND GO EAST. The vocabulary is varied enough to allow three keys which must be matched to three doors. Similarly with the three books. Another useful feature is that the computer can remember the last verb you used so you can GET KEY (ENTER) — WINE (ENTER), which saves time.

The game uses a powerful LOOK command, eg LOOK AT THE CHEST is distinguishable from LOOK INTO THE CHEST and you can even look across into different scenes with LOOK THROUGH THE WOODEN DOOR or LOOK INTO THE SMALL CAVE. This gives you a chance of avoiding unfriendly characters and so marks an excellent and very useful advance which other aspiring authors would do well to note.

Further examples of the breadth of dialect are seen with FOLLOW ROBOT and SAY TO ELF GET KEY. If you needed to be persistent with this last request CAPS SHIFT and 9 will repeat the commands on the last line you entered — a nice touch and a sign of a highly polished piece of software.

The abbreviations are very helpful — often the first or first two letters are adequate.

Fantasia Diamond is a long adventure with many interesting and logical problems to solve. Highly recommended.

Difficulty

7

Atmosphere

9

Vocabulary

9

Logic

8

Debugging

10

Overall value

10

HERE COMES THE SUN

Producer: Alligata Software Ltd
Author: C.M. Wright, M.D. Russell
Price: £7.95

A massive space station is on collision course with the sun and it’s your unenviable task to prevent a solar explosion turning the universe into a black pudding (all right, it didn’t actually say that but you know how it gets after reading so many cassette covers).

Playing Here Comes The Sun you get the impression of an adequate but unpolished piece of software. I’ll show you what I mean.

The program spends one minute loading a screen which is left there for only 12 seconds before being deleted. This is replaced by a list of the vocabulary — useful, but should it be placed on a loading screen which is lost when the game starts? On the loading screen vocabulary is mis-spelt and this is a foretaste of things to come. If you’re struggling with the word LASER that’s because the computer has been programmed to expect LAZER.

Although the space station appears large there are no location descriptions, more location statements really. Many locations are repeated and so some loss of atmosphere is inevitable. The half dozen or so graphic descriptions add little to the adventure.

You can be randomly killed for no apparent reason in locations where you have previously been safe. I’m no great fan of the random element — at best it’s irritating, at worst it can dissuade you from playing again.

Once you’ve settled into the run of things you come to the exertion area to be confronted with a primitive arcade ski slope game no better than the type found in program listings of what seems like eons ago.

However, not all is gloom. The adventure is interspersed with a thousand funny ways of dying. Oh, well...

Difficulty

5/10

Atmosphere

4/10

Vocabulary

4/10

Logic

3/10

Debugging

5/10

Overall Value

5/10

THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE

Producer: CRL Group PLC
Author: Antony Trenker
Price: £5.95

As a knight of the Fire you must find the Magical Globe which is protected by an evil Lord Nadish and the imprisoned souls of the Minotaurs, Serpents, Trolls and Skeletons.

So goes the blurb on the cassette cover but really this game is far more mundane. You are a small square block and you walk into crosses. In the bottom two lines it tells you what you have walked into.

A castle and its grounds are mapped out over a large number of screens, each screen showing a corner of the castle. There is no on-screen scrolling — when you leave a section a new map is drawn. You move your block around with the cursor keys but your progress is hampered every 22 paces (when running) while the beasts’ positions are updated. If this wasn’t bad enough the program insists on flipping you back to walking when interruptions occur even more frequently.

A status report along the side of the screen informs you of your wealth, stamina, food, water, rating and map numbers. Unfortunately this is only updated when you leave the screen, which can lead to a situation where you are chopped down in your prime when all seemed well. Your wealth is amassed by seeking out crosses whereupon a report will tell you that you have a dull jettstone or a brilliant bauble along with the usual gold, rubies, emeralds, etc.

Pressing 0 will fire one arrow in the direction you last moved. But this game is no video nasty — the beasts you must kill are represented by arrow and spade shapes which are in no way intimidating and will not approach to fight.

Given time, and patience, you proceed through the castle to the main part of the game. As if in a sleep (as if?) you come over all funny — it’s an aura and it signifies the presence of a soul nearby. When you’ve captured the four souls you can confront the Evil Lord.

Incredible Adventure is far removed from what many would call a traditional adventure in that much of the movement is achieved simply with the cursor keys as opposed to movement achieved through solving problems. The game is debugged but remains unpolished.

Well, there’s too much software and too little time so I think I’ll wrap this little piece up. This adventure is incredible but for all the wrong reasons. This game is cheaper than sleeping pills... but certainly not as addictive. Computer Rentals market this tape and I would suggest you rent before buying.

Difficulty

4/10

Atmosphere

2/10

Vocabulary

N/A

Logic

2/10

Debugging

8/10

Overall Value

2/10

THE LOST GNOMES

Producer: Eric Bean Adventures
Author: Carl K. Bozicek
Price: £5.95

The Lost Gnomes, by Eric Bean Adventures is another in the long line of text-only adventures written with the aid of Gilsoft’s Quill.

You take the part of the wily gnome Eric Bean (makes a change from Brawny Barbarian) master adventurer and potential hero. Returning home to the valley of the gnomes, you find the place strangely deserted apart from the curious Snort. But this companion is no animated character — he can neither move or talk. Where have all the gnomes gone? Have they returned gnome or are things much more sinister? I’ve a sneeking suspicion that those goblins in Murgar Mountains are not totally innocent. Your first task is to find the elusive ferret who may hold the key to the quest. This in itself is not easy as the valley above ground consists of over 30 locations and the ferret is hidden within a maze. A tricky problem when you are equipped with only a torch.

The normal abbreviations for directions are accepted and the response is instantaneous. Talking about speed, the save facility is the fastest I’ve seen, taking only a few seconds. This was very convenient as I regularly ended up on the sharp end of a goblin knife. Entry is restricted to verb/noun, not necessarily bad in itself but unfortunately the vocabulary also proved rather limited.

Neither of the verbs EXAMINE or SEARCH are accepted, which is a shame since they help to create atmosphere. I would have liked to have checked out the waterfall, cave drawings or the shell-like rock but sadly that was not to be. I think it’s fair to say that these verbs make or break adventures because without them the game becomes no more than a problem solving exercise.

The Lost Gnomes is not a bad adventure, but it’s nothing special. I look forward to seeing further Eric Bean Adventures with much improved vocabulary.

Difficulty

8/10

Atmosphere

6/10

Vocabulary

5/10

Logic

7/10

Debugging

10/10

Overall Value

6/10

MYSTERY MANOR

Producer: Bamby Software
Author: D.S. Kelly
Price: £6.50

As Inspector Solvitt you are called in to investigate the murder of Lord Smedley, who is found dead in the master bedroom of Mystery Manor. Moving your user-defined character around the Cluedo-style map of the manor you gather clues but have limited time to find the murderer. Your score depends upon how quickly you can find the murderer and the weapon used.

There are only nine possible assassins and five weapons. A typical game would have you visit just three or four of the 13 rooms that comprise the house and it is often possible to guess the killer after just one room. In one game, ‘You learn that Lord Smedley has used his influence on Prof. Hall to prevent his marrying’ in the WC (where else?) and that ‘The kinder boxes around the manor are empty due to a total absence of chopped logs’ in the pool room. It is with genuine surprise you learn that your first accusation (Prof. Hall with an axe) is correct.

On playing the game for any length of time, clues and their solutions become very familiar. However, the fact that this game is far too easy is not its sole shortcoming.

The game makes use of the cursors keys — a poor choice, but not so critical as this is no fast-moving arcade game. Throughout the game you are pursued by the homicidal nut but it is so easy to escape his deathly clutches that in dull moments it is amusing to reverse roles and chase your assailant. If you tire of being told that you have just entered a room when it is patently clear that you’ve just left then you can forget about the entrances to the rooms altogether and simply walk through the walls.

Towards the end it is ridiculously easy to crash the game when making your accusations. If you can avoid falling out of the program then you can impress friends if you note that a p will always give you the correct murderer and w the correct weapon.

This game is unlikely to offer more than 15 minutes entertainment even to the most undemanding. The structure of its programming, the ineffective key response, poor sound and the all too obvious absence of methodical debugging conspire to produce software no better than most could achieve given a wet weekend.

Difficulty

1/10

Atmosphere

2/10

Vocabulary

N/A

Logic

10/10

Debugging

5/10

Overall Value

1/10

THE TEMPLE OF VRAN

Producer: Incentive Software Ltd
Author: Richard A. McCormack
Price: £5.50

Temple of Vran is the second part of the Ket Trilogy from Incentive Software. Your mission in this part of the trilogy is to enter the temple and once there to put an end to all of its evil occupants.

You start the adventure with a sword, some armour, a ring and, of course, Edgar, your friendly assassin bug, who can be trusted to sink his poison fangs into your neck should you decide to shirk your quest. This is a classic style text-only adventure with a large number of locations and many problems to solve which could take weeks to complete.

Your travels will take you across the plains of Ket, into the depths of the Wart’s Lair and ever forward in time to the years 1940 and 2300 before returning for your final confrontation in the Temple of Vran.

There is a good number of useful (and not so useful) objects scattered around. Care must be taken not to waste useful objects or leave them in another time zone.

The locations are lucidly described and are consistent in creating an exciting and credible atmosphere. Input consists of Verb/Noun couplings which is adequate although limiting when communicating with other characters. The vocabulary is quite flexible but there are a few annoying omissions and the use of the verb ‘examine’ is confined to those occasions when you are actually carrying an object.

Combat is much more sophisticated than in most other adventures, giving your statistics for Prowess, Energy and Luck. Prowess is your skill in combat. Energy indicates your state of health and Luck your fortune in combat. The tussles take place in rounds in which either you or your opponent is hit. If you are struck you are given the option of running or continuing to fight. Running can often prove to be the most dangerous as you can be struck from behind. All this adds up to make a more interesting game charged with atmosphere.

One small bug I encountered occurred during one moment of gratuitous violence. I was involved in a fracas with a mouse in the same location as an elephant. To my horror the combat status appeared with the mouse having an energy of 20 compared to my meagre 10.

In the ensuing battle, which lasted nearly 20 rounds, I was knocked over and kicked several times and brought to the verge of death. Quite a blow to one’s delusions of heroism.

Overall an excellent game which can be heartily recommended, particularly for novice adventurers as the problems are not too difficult.

Difficulty

7/10

Atmosphere

7/10

Vocabulary

7/10

Logic

7/10

Debugging

6/10

Overall Value

8/10

APOLLO 11

Producer: Darkstar
Author: Ian Rich
Price: £1.99

This program is simple to describe. Basically you must land your Apollo 11 mission craft on the surface of the moon. The game is more a simulation than an action game, and although it may be simple to describe it isn’t too easy to handle.

The screen shows space, and below it the surface of the moon, with large mountains and flat sections. Obviously you must get the lander down on the surface in one piece and on a flat bit. Below the display area is the instrumentation. This includes vertical and horizontal speed, rotation speed and angle of attack.

Each instrument has a red/green indicator and a landing may be made safely if they are all green, which means you are within tolerable limits. If you are landing, at a certain point the screen cuts to a much bigger close-up of craft and intended landing zone, for fine control of the landing jets. The simulation has an active, but low gravity effect.

Movement of the lander is by rotation using side jets and then thrusting with the main engine. Any eye must be kept on the critical fuel level which reduces each time the thrusters are used.

CRITICISM

‘This is a Lunar Lander game where you control a spacecraft and try to land it successfully. The hazards are the mountains of the moon. It is quite a good version of the arcade game although nowhere near as thrilling. Once the craft has been successfully landed there seems to be no point in carrying on. Graphics are drawn quite well, but then, only the spacecraft and landscape move. This is the first game I have seen written in Pascal. Overall, not very addictive.’

‘Apollo 11 is the thinking man’s Lunar Lander (its author is a BSc). It’s a fairly slow game but is still difficult (very), and I found it challenging. Landing the Apollo 11 is a difficult and precise task. The game certainly has addictive appeal for me.’

‘Apollo 11 has curious and very interesting graphics, right from the title screen through, and the explosions, particularly, are well worth seeing. The game has an appeal which lies in the difficulty of landing the craft. Precise thinking is needed and careful timing. Nevertheless, this could hardly be called a thrilling game, and I wouldn’t even begin to know whether to recommend it or not. Probably for the more serious minded.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P rotate left/right, CAPS=thrust
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: good, simple and responsive
Use of colour: average
Graphics: average to good, unusual in design
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1
General Rating: Mixed feelings overall from average to good!

Use of Computer

73%

Graphics

70%

Playability

70%

Getting Started

69%

Addictive Qualities

68%

Value For Money

68%

Overall

70%

THE ASHES

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: C.J. Dunn
Price: £2.99

The last of the Pulsonic collection is a sports simulation based on England’s noble game of cricket. One thing to be said for these eight games is that they have spread the subject matter pretty wide. It’s as if some marketing person has carefully thought out a strategy for saturating the Spectrum market and yet knew almost nothing about it. Over half the job of a marketing company in computer games is to ensure a reasonable level of quality control and Pulsonic (Warwick Leisure) have failed miserably in this aspect.

Ashes, however, isn’t too bad at all, so it comes as no surprise to see a copyright warning from C.C.S. (Cases Computer Simulations) when loading is complete. Nevertheless, this must be one of their earlier programs either not marketed by themselves, or now forgotten and reawakened by Pulsonic.

There are 10 venues at which to play Test matches, five in England and five in Australia. Each pitch has its own characteristics and suits different types of play. The teams are made up of six Batsmen, one all-rounder, a wicket-keeper and tour bowlers. Three types of bowling are permitted: fast, seam/swing and spin. Teams may be named as you wish, although the computer holds names of teams already — famous ones.

The toss takes the form of alternating the names ENGLAND and AUSTRALIA on screen and stopping at random. Winner of the toss may then elect to bat or bowl first.

Field placement is done by showing the outline on black and the possible positions in purple. There are more than you have in your team of course, the idea being to say yes or no to each in turn until all 11 team members are where you would ideally like them.

The field then turns green and ready for play. For each over a bowler must be selected (players 8 to 11). A ball is specified by its line and length (as shown in the inlay card) and entered as a two-digit number. The batsman has seven types of stroke from defensive through to off-drive. A stroke is played by pressing the appropriate key for the type of play desired while the ball is bowled. The path of the ball from bowler to batsman is shown so that the batsman has a few seconds to decide what shot to play, and then the path of the ball after batting is also shown.

A captain may declare if he wishes. Weather may interrupt play, and rain is likely to alter the characteristics of the pitch.

CRITICISM

‘Ashes is a reasonable simulation given the limitations of the computer. The graphics are very small little stickmen on a green background, and there is no animation of any kind. The bowler is seen as an alternating L-shaped block, which does give the suggestion of running up I suppose. But everything happens fairly fast and it maintained my interest for a while. In the main it suffers from the usual limitations of armchair sport, plus a little bit more since it does look rather an old-fashioned program now.’

‘Not a bad cricket game, using the names of real persons and places. It took me a while to realise that the batting keys had to be pressed. Not pressing a key after a ball has been bowled means the stroke was not taken. I was waiting for a screen prompt. I bowled England out in two overs, leaving Knott not out! After I got the game sorted out I found it not too bad. I’m sure that cricket fanatics will enjoy it, but it’s debatable whether the average Spectrum owner will (if there is such a thing as an average Spectrum owner)!’

‘Sports simulations tend to leave me a bit cold, and one on cricket is certain to! If there had been some real action it might have been more fun. As it is this game boils down to learning the reactions of bowler and batsman and then pressing the ENTER key endlessly.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: mostly the numerics
Keyboard play: reasonable
Use of colour: simple, but reasonable
Graphics: small, simple and unanimated
Sound: poor
General Rating: Rather an odd-ball simulation, but for those who enjoy cricket it may prove to be fun.

Use of Computer

50%

Graphics

52%

Playability

50%

Getting Started

45%

Addictive Qualities

40%

Value For Money

58%

Overall

49%

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Producer: Microgame Simulations
Author: Robert Erskine

Nine German bomber squadrons with fighter escorts (raider 1 to raider 9) are flying by various routes to one of three possible targets. As commander of 9 RAF squadrons your mission is to intercept the enemy before they reach their target. The last known positions of the enemy are plotted on the map, plus the present positions of your own.

Enemy squadron routes and the target are chosen randomly at the start of each game. You can scramble your squadrons to intercept the enemy along their estimated routes. If one of your squadrons comes within one square of an enemy flight, it will lock on an attack. Each squadron can be reinforced by having another within one square of the attacking squadron. Running low on fuel, squadrons will automatically return to base and are out of action until they are ON STANDBY again. If a fighter squadron has a chance encounter with a raider it will attack on its own initiative. The Germans have up to 55 planes each including escorts. British flights have 10 planes each.

The screen shows a map of the South East of England with the edge of London in the top left corner, going right round the Kent coast to just beyond Hastings. Your nine fighter bases are marked as black squares with yellow figures.

They are situated approximately in the positions of Folkestone, Dover, Ramsgate, Sheerness, Chatham, Maidstone, and three clustered to the south of London. Squadrons in flight are shown as rectangles with squadron number and aircraft symbol in blue for the RAF and red for the Germans. A squadron in combat flashes inversely.

The top left side of the screen are divided into grid co-ordinates A to T vertically and A to Z through to e horizontally. The player may press command keys to scramble a squadron, change its course, send one on a preset patrol, return it to base, report its status, check the instructions or quit the game. A message strip at the base informs on enemy squadron dispositions as soon as they are known.

Here also you can use the commands, being prompted as to squadron number and desired direction of movement. Pressing X gives a tally to date of destroyed aircraft on both sides.

Variable difficulty levels may be set by altering the number of bombers required to reach their target before the game is lost. This may be only one, or up to the total number allowed. The program has 100 as normal.

CRITICISM

‘A slight problem in getting started is that the instructions are only on screen (apart from the command keys which are shown on the inlay) with a scroll? at the bottom of each page. Following normal hit any-key procedure will cause a break into BASIC, they don’t tell you until the end of the instructions that breaking into the program can be overcome by entering RETURN or GOTO LOOP. GOTO 1 will also do. I found the game somewhat uninspiring to be honest. The idea of remote command of fighting units is interesting, and must be a bit what it was like to be in control actually during the Battle of Britain, stuck away in the command centres, but as a game it is naturally much less fun that actually taking part in the combat — and that’s the problem. It’s all a bit cold.’

‘Battle of Britain is a strategy game with spatial problems. As you can only estimate the route the enemy are taking, to intercept them it is important to use your squadrons wisely in saturating the airspace in front of the approaching bombers to find them. I found it became quite absorbing for a while, but the inherent lack of action in the game means that it palls after a bit.’

‘The graphics are very simple, and so is what you have to do, which makes Battle of Britain a bit short on addictivity and playability. I’m sure a lot more elements could have been added to make it more interesting. It could also have been a bit faster but the BASIC makes everything quite slow, with enemy known positions being updated only at long intervals. This might appeal to some wargamers, but I would have thought it lacked complexity, and its very nature will mean it won’t appeal to arcade players at all.’

COMMENTS

Use of colour: adequate for the purpose
Graphics: very simple symbols and map outline
Sound: on or off, just beeps
Skill levels: very variable
General Rating: A rather simple strategy wargame lacking in action.

Use of Computer

56%

Graphics

43%

Playability

53%

Getting Started

45%

Addictive Qualities

34%

Value For Money

46%

Overall

46%

BLADE ALLEY

Producer: P.S.S.
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £5.95
Language: Machine code

The first screen of Blade Alley.

Blade Alley is a 3D shoot ’em up with six screens which uses quite simple graphic devices to create the sense of high-speed movement through trenches, over desert plains and so on. The object of the game is to climb aboard your ion driven interceptor and then shoot out of the sky a variety of enemy craft, saucers, tie fighters and space hoppers as well as asteroids.

The 3D effect is created in three different ways. First of all, enemy craft grow bigger as they approach going through what looks like six frames of increasing size, the second device is that everything casts a shadow on the ground, which also grows bigger with approach, as well as defining the apparent height of the craft above the ground. The third method is that the landscape is created with alternate bars of flashing red and mauve, which give the impression of movement.

In all the screens, your craft is seen at the foreground, facing out into the screen. Movement is in eight directions with fire possible while moving. In the first screen you plunge into the trench and are assaulted by tie fighters and saucers. The second is fought out over a plain with hoppers and saucers. The third represents your craft flying between two layers of some giant space station. In the fourth you are over a plain with mountains in the background with all four hazards. The fifth screen takes place in outer space without shadows to help you judge height, and the sixth is in a bottomless trench, again without the help of shadows. Moving from screen to screen is accomplished by shooting down the indicated number of saucers, the indication appearing at the bottom of the screen.

CRITICISM

‘Blade Alley is a convincing 3D action game which takes some of the themes of Zaxxon like the shadow on the ground which gives you an idea of height. Depth is also enhanced by you seemingly being placed on a hill over which the approaching enemy craft appear as they hurtle towards you. The aliens are varied and with a fair amount of detail. The game is playable, quite hard, especially as being a realistic 3D it’s difficult to judge the height of enemy craft. The explosions are fairly realistic although not very detailed and they are short lived. The hoppers cope with their bouncing action exceptionally well, and I like the way they are animated. Blade Alley is fun to play — I think the scenery could be improved upon instead of just having the changing colours of the ground, and this would add to the fun. Otherwise it’s quite an addictive game with a fair amount of action.’

‘Blade Alley is a fantastic 3D arcade type game. In my opinion, this is the best ever game from P.S.S., and definitely one of the best arcade games I have seen over the past few months. Shooting down the attackers involves getting your ship at the same height as them, and this is achieved by gauging the distance between yourself and your shadow on the ground, relative to the attackers. The space hoppers are excellent and the graphics generally are very clever with just the right amount of colour usage to create pseudo scenery like the walls and plains. Very addictive and fun to play.’

‘The title screen during loading is a very accurate representation of the inlay cover and in many respects the actual game doesn’t disappoint either. I thought the effect of ‘your’ forward movement was only half successful, and the main feeling is that you are stationary in a trench with the enemy dashing up on you. My other niggle is that once into the demo, you can’t break out, and each screen is demoed until the fighter is hit by an enemy or an asteroid, which can sometimes take quite a while. But in playing, Blade Alley is action packed and fun. A lot of its involvement is due to the difficulty of learning the knack in judging correct height to hit the enemy, and I think most players are going to find it very addictive.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: top row=up, third row=down, Q to T=left, Y to P= right, bottom row=fire
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive, and reasonably laid out
Use of colour: good
Graphics: very good, with effective 3D on several levels
Sound: continuous, good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
Screens: 6
Features: Currah Microspeech compatible
General rating: a good to excellent game with plenty of arcade appeal, and a game which should prove addictive.

Use of computer

82%

Graphics

87%

Playability

86%

Getting started

81%

Addictive qualities

89%

Value for money

86%

Overall

85%

BUTTERFLY

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: Hugh Davis
Price: £2.99

Butterfly shows a simple looking window with one vertical and one horizontal dividing it up into four panes. Curtains hang on either side, and the sill contains an electric wire. You are a spider who must eat at least twelve butterfiles per minute and watch out for the purple spider eater that lives in the curtains. There are usually two butterflies visible at any one time. That’s it!

CRITICISM

‘The moving around to eat butterflies is very, very jerky — real basic BASIC. The game itself is poor. To be honest, the less said about this one the better!’

‘I have seen some of these Pulsonic games on sale in Woolworth’s, and having now actually played five of them, I have come to the conclusion that they must have been specially designed to sell in such places, in the hope that lots of people, perhaps new to the Spectrum will think them amazing value. You’re warned! This one certainly is utter rubbish.’

‘In fact this could have been a reasonable but simple game. Catching 12 butterflies in a minute is a hard task, not because a high degree of skill is required, but because an inordinate amount of luck is needed! The graphics don’t even rate a primitive award. Sorry, a waste of time.’

COMMENTS

Control Keys: Q/A up/down, N/M left/right
Joystick: None
Keyboard Play: unresponsive and slow
Use of colour: fair to average
Graphics: very poor
Sound: very poor, just a few beeps
Lives: 1
General Rating: Rubbish.

Use of Computer

28%

Graphics

15%

Playability

10%

Getting Started

40%

Addictive Qualities

1%

Value For Money

10%

Overall

17%

CIRCUS

Producer: Digital Fantasia
Author: Brian Howarth
Price: £9.95

Circus is another in the Digital Fantasia series of graphics and text adventures by Brian Howarth.

In this jolly sounding story you are a motorist whose car is stranded in the middle of nowhere having run out of petrol.

What else can you do but get your empty petrol can from the boot and set off in search of the juice of life? Darkness is settling about you when you stumble across an unexpected sight in a deserted valley — a Circus. The music and laughter emanating from it suggest a performance in full swing. Despite the strangeness of the situation, you are obviously in luck — petrol cannot be far away. More fool you!

As you open the gate in the outer fence around the Circus all sounds abruptly cease — and all that’s left is an eerily deserted tent in the middle of nowhere. As it says in the intro, a long, long night is ahead of you. Will you survive and get the petrol, will you get to the bottom of the Circus’s secrets and escape.... ?

CRITICISM

‘Another typical Digital Fantasia adventure with lots to do and pick up. And picking up things in the right order is essential if you are going to get anywhere at all. I really thought my wits were being tested to the extreme with this one. The usefulness of some of the objects littered about did not become clear until it was really too late to do anything about remedying the situation. Stumbling around for too long in the tent caused my trusty flashlight to go on the blink — further stumblings caused me to die... But I’ll try again with the helpful advice sheet you may send for. Maybe I’ll get further — although Brian Howarth is a devious helper.’

‘Circus is quite intriguing, but I felt it lacked a little excitement and overall the Circus tent has very few locations to explore, unless hidden places went unnoticed. Word recognition is a little on the meagre side, and the graphics may look cute but don’t add anything — which is probably why they can be switched off. Altogether, just a little pricey for what you get.’

‘A fast, fun adventure this — I managed to get into the tent, swam with friendly sealions, tried unsuccessfully to wake a sleeping tiger and after a lot of exploring made an explosive flying escape from the otherwise closed tent and reached my car with the necessary petrol — only to find that I couldn’t drive off and leave the Spirits behind to languish. I must have missed a plot twist somewhere! But I couldn’t get back into the tent and that was that. Great fun!’

COMMENTS

Use of colour: simple and effective
Graphics: average, may be switched off to speed up adventure
Sound: nothing to speak of
General Rating: An above average lively adventure with cunning plot but a bit pricey.

Use of Computer

80%

Graphics

50%

Playability

73%

Getting Started

65%

Addictive Qualities

62%

Value For Money

65%

Overall

66%

CLOSE-IN

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: Ofer Ben-Ami, Shelly Ben-Ami
Price: £2.99

This offering is a throwback to the ‘Tron’ style light cycle grid game where you must force your opponent’s light trail off the screen. If either trail hits another, its own or the edge of the screen the other player wins. The game may be played against another human or against the spectrum itself. There are 10 speeds and the computer may be made to be intelligent in a ratio of 0 to 9.

One element which distinguishes this from other similar games is the hyperspace facility. When the key is pressed, play is frozen for a second and then your trail starts off somewhere else on the screen.

CRITICISM

‘Pulsonic really seem to have got themselves in a tangle. With the few really playable games in this collection, there always seems to be something to ruin them. What programmer in their right mind would provide such a fistful of badly laid out keys as these to play such a fast game? Eight keys! Each ‘go’ auto-starts after a few seconds unless you kick it off yourself, and if you’re playing the computer you are at a serious disadvantage with eight keys to use. Concentrating on only the four main directions is no good, since the computer uses all eight directions quite happily. It also keeps on hyperspacing. There are much better, more playable versions than this one around.’

‘The graphics are very simple, as usual in this sort of game, but I thought that having a very thin red line and blue line on stark white was poor planning and hard on the eyes. There are also some colour problems even with this simple arrangement. Not only do the lines cloud the black edge, but they will also turn each other into blue or red depending on how you seem to hit. This becomes very confusing. When that’s all said, the game is quite impossible to play with the key arrangement given and no joystick will cope.’

‘I’m sometimes driven to wondering whether some games programmers ever play the things themselves, or just sit around having “good” ideas for games. If the programmers of this one had tried it out they might have concluded that it was a bit hard to play. It’s a fairly typical version of the “Tron” style game. The addition of the hyperspace facility is useful for getting out of tight spots occasionally. But I didn’t like the keys at all. The price of £2.99 is not really tempting at all — I would prefer to pay more and get a better program.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: E/X up/down, S/D left/right, W/R up-left/up-right, Z/C left-down, right-down, A= hyperspace (keys for left player only)
Joystick: you must be joking!
Keyboard play: responsive but almost impossible to use sensibly
Use of colour: extremely limited
Graphics: very simple
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 10 speeds, 10 levels of computer intelligence and five different mazes, some with extra hazards
Features: 1 or 2 player games or one v the computer
General Rating: A game which ought to be reasonable and has scope for addictivity, totally ruined by thoughtless key layout.

Use of Computer

5%

Graphics

30%

Playability

35%

Getting Started

48%

Addictive Qualities

35%

Value For Money

35%

Overall

31%

CYBO-RUN

Producer: Calisto
Author: Walltone Software (Andrew Taylor)
Price: £5.95

Cybo-Run is a ‘Berserk’ game in traditional style, that is, a series of rooms with randomly generated walls to make them into very simple mazes. The rooms are infested with robots which shoot at you, and your job is to rove around, clearing all the rooms of the robots.

One alteration on the theme, is the time bomb which flies into the room and chases you all over the place. The only way to avoid the bomb is to leave the room and enter another. Here, you appear in the centre of the room, not in the doorway, and of course it is full of a fresh complement of robots.

CRITICISM

‘Cybo-Run is quite primitive looking as Spectrum games go today, and the ‘Berserk’ type game was played out some time ago. The robots are very thick, moving blindly about despite the head scanners they have. Their shooting, too, is blind, although they have the advantage of eight-directional firing, where you can only move and fire in four. Moving from screen to screen, the robots change colour but their intelligence doesn’t seem to improve. All in all a clean cut version of an out-of-date game, which has the inherent addictivness of the type but adds nothing new.’

‘This is about the best ‘Berserk’ type game I’ve seen for the Spectrum. The robots are quite unintelligent and haven’t a clue where you are — they just move and shoot. Because of the block movement, I found my man difficult to move about the screen. The time bomb is a very good idea — it speeds you up! Colour and sound have been well used and the game is fairly good if you like this type. Pity about the cursor key controls.’

‘This was a fairly typical ‘Berserk’ game with small and simple graphics and on the whole, not very memorable. The character block movement is not very smooth, and it’s irritating that you can’t move and fire at the same time. The walls, of course, are electrified.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors and 0 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: quite responsive (more difficult with joystick), although the cursors are a bad choice
Use of colour: uninteresting
Graphics: small, block movement, uninteresting
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
General Rating: Fair.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

50%

Playability

60%

Getting Started

68%

Addictive Qualities

58%

Value For Money

55%

Overall

58%

DEFUSION/WORMS

Producer: K-Tel Productions
Price: £6.95

Defusion is the ‘Gridtrap’ game of moving over squares to defuse time-bombs, collecting flags and avoiding the skulls and rampant boots. As you move the squares stepped on are deleted, making it harder for you to move about, and making it impossible for the boots to move around as well. Squares may be scrolled left or right where they exist to make movement freely available again. The screen wraps around left/right and up/down.

The boots are quite intelligent, and will start homing in on you soon after the commencement of each game. Flags collected give bonus points, skulls and boots kill, the time bombs have a time limit which starts ticking away as soon as they appear. When one has been defused by running over it, another appears somewhere else on the screen. An un-defused bomb explodes colourfully all over the screen.

Worms is a snake-in-the-garden game where you must avoid hitting your own tail, rocks, edges of the garden and reversing on your track. What makes this version rather more interesting than most is that it has seven different screens on the same theme. This worm, too, starts at a point and continues growing until it fills the screen. In the first screen there are no hazards but the worm sometimes grows a black segment over which you may cross its body, and then a bluebottle lands on a segment and this may be eaten to get to the next screen. Screen two is more traditional, eat the flowers and avoid the rocks.

Screen three is a maze where you must get through, eating all the flowers on the way. Screen four is a tunnel — don’t hit the sides: five has an elusive blue flower and rocks. Screen six you must guide the worm downwards through an upward scrolling passageway, and in the final screen it’s the bottomless pit.

CRITICISM

‘When you start, only the worm’s head is visible, turning through four directions until you press a direction key. Worms has quite a lively selection of games within the theme. Defusion is a simple looking version of the ‘Gridtrap’ game. Neither game has particularly good graphics, they are simple and not very detailed. The keys are sensibly placed but the responses are not wonderful, especially in Worms, which is written in BASIC. I think this tape is better than any of the first K-Tel releases, but there’s certainly nothing new here.’

‘I can only comment on screen one of Worms and this was pretty boring and out of date. It was also hard because of the terrible response to the control keys. Before I could become proficient enough to get to another level, Worms made me squirm! Defusion was slightly better, more imagination has been used with the graphics, although they were not very strong. I can’t really see K-Tel getting anywhere in the software business unless they realise that TV ads and flashy covers do not make a good game. Good games sell themselves! And I’m surprised to see Home Computing Weekly giving it five stars and calling it professional programming.’

‘Defusion is a rather aggressive ‘Chuckman’ style game. It is quite a playable game although the choice of screen colours could have been much better. Keyboard response is not over-reactive but the keys have been placed quite well. Worms is quite a simple game to play and is not very fast at all. The reaction of the key responses don’t match up to my own at all! A point that must be made, is that on screen 6 where you are descending to the secret depths of the earth, attempting to avoid the walls and rocks on the way is made very difficult because rocks nearly always block the passage. Definitely a better double-sider than the earlier K-Tel releases, but certainly no more than an average buy.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: A/Z up/down, N/M left/right and J/K scroll left/right (Defusion)
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: not very responsive
Use of colour: poor
Graphics: average
Sound: average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 1 (Defusion) 7 (Worms)
General Rating: Both games together represent a reasonable value for money, but neither is original, or exceptionally implemented.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

41%

Playability

55%

Getting Started

69%

Addictive Qualities

50%

Value For Money

42%

Overall

52%

DEVIL’S ISLAND

Producer: Gilsoft International
Author: Colin Smith
Price: £5.95

“I am in a grim prison cell. A barred window is to the NORTH and a rusting but strong cell door is to the EAST.” Thus starts Devil’s Island, a Quill-written text adventure from Gilsoft’s Gold Collection. That’s about all the plot explanation you’ll get despite the references on the first intro screen that full instructions are on the cassette inlay. But where? That minor quibble apart, the adventure is a regular Quill one, with instant text response and straightforward, clear and interesting descriptions.

Starting off in a cell on Devil’s Island makes your aim quite clear — escape. For those who know it not, Devil’s Island is the infamous French prison island set in the tropics. The heavily guarded prison was surrounded by dense, killing jungle, unfriendly natives — just the sort of place invented especially for adventure games.

CRITICISM

‘Starting this game is a bit like waking in the morning and finding that the nightmare isn’t over — you really are a wretched captive. But this prison reminds me more of Patrick McGoohan’s ‘The Prisoner’ series. It all seems set up to let you escape a little bit. I thought eating a tasty pie was a good thing (in adventure terms — keeps your stamina up and so on) but little did I realise that it would make me too fat to squeeze through the... Colin Smith has a nasty sense of humour and must be the sort of person who enjoys pulling flies’ wings off before eating his breakfast. Great stuff.’

‘An exceedingly well-plotted adventure this, with well-planted red herrings to keep you running around in circles for ages — well not really, because you quickly get shot by the trigger-happy guards. Once I got the hang of it, though, I neatly disposed of my guards and escaped into the jungle in a super smooth Mission Impossible way. But that was just the beginning, and I’m still on this rotten jungle island.’

‘One of those games that goes to prove you don’t need pictures to liven up adventures. The text is alive enough to flash up pictures in your mind’s eye anyway. A classic escape game (I didn’t make it — not yet anyway) but I shall try many times more. It’s nice to see that relatively simple games like this, without artificial intelligence or elaborate Inglish or interactive characters who wander in and out of their own accord, can still be so engrossing. I should think this would be a good adventure even for beginners as long as they can get past hurdles like waste chutes, iron bars and searchlights. Keep trying — there are ways and means ...’

COMMENTS

Responses: instant
General Rating: Very good, lengthy, well-plotted adventure at a good price.

Use of Computer

80%

Graphics

-

Playability

85%

Getting Started

55%

Addictive Qualities

87%

Value For Money

79%

Overall

77%

DISCO DAN

Producer: Gem Software
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £4.95
Language: Machine code

Arriving by teleport, Disco Dan prepares to get down and boogie...

Disco Dan might be described as a ‘Q-Bert’ style game with a few differences, which makes playing it quite a change from others of a similar ilk. For a start off, it is a two-screen game. The scenario makes you wonder what the title has to do with the game since it says you are Dan, sent into reactors in space which have gone unstable. In the first screen you must dance your way along a 3D corridor, avoiding hazards to reach the reactor room. Once there the ‘Q-Bert’ bit takes over. The reference to disco only bears examination in that the roundels which must be jumped on look like pools of coloured disco lights. Still, who cares? The game is fun.

In screen 1 the 3D corridor is effected by rectangles of mauve moving outwards from the dark centre. Disco Dan stands at the bottom of the screen and may move left or right to dodge the various hazards like potholes, which drain his energy, mutant pacmen which swerve after him and kill, and dotted force lines, which also kill. These last two hazards can be jumped. Energy loss is shown as a falling multi-coloured bar at the base of the display area. Surviving the corridor for a sufficiently long time results in reaching the core of the reactor and the screen cuts to a new scene.

Here there are five rows of staggered roundels (seen in perspective) with five roundels in each row. These represent the unstable rods of fuel. They have eight states before they explode, designated by colour and a number. Safe is green (0), and then variously cyan, blue, mauve, yellow, white and red (6). When a red 6 starts flashing it is about to explode and the flashing 6 vanishes when the rod has gone. Disco Dan is lowered into the reactor on a tractor beam and he must then jump about from disc to disc, changing their colours with each jump. The aim is to get them all to green, in which state they remain stable. Unfortunately all the discs (unless they’re green) are quite rapidly changing upwards. If Dan lands on an exploded disc it drains energy. There are vagrant atoms jumping about as well, and these speed up the change of colours, as well as draining energy from Dan on contact. Later screens increase the number of atoms and bring Ron the Rapacious Robot into play as well — a real killer!

What makes this screen different from ‘Q-Bert’ games is not only the difficulty of keeping a check on 25 discs through seven stages of colour deterioration, but also the fact that Dan can jump up, down (diagonally) but also left and right along a line. This is done by rotating left/right and jumping.

Surviving the reactor core means Dan must run along another corridor and on to a second reactor. The elements in the game speed up and the hazards multiply.

Hopping from rod to rod is a frenzied business, especially with two vagrant atoms changing all the colours back again — two sixes are about to start flashing.

CRITICISM

‘The first screen is relatively simple to get through, although on the higher levels you are jumping about all over the place to avoid the pacmen. But the second screen is quite hard and requires good co-ordination because the rotation aspect of control is tricky. It’s also important to keep the red discs from exploding since you can quite easily get trapped in a corner, surrounded by reds and unable to get at any of the other discs. I thought the graphics were rather good, the sound is excellent, especially the tune, and the game is a tough, addictive one to play.’

‘The first screen seems pretty easy at first, just jumping over obstacles as they come towards you. But as the game progresses it gets harder and there are more pacmen, which are the most difficult objects to avoid as they swerve towards you. The second screen is a very high speed and updated ‘Q-Bert’ type game. I like the idea of the atoms changing the colours of your reactor discs, and the whole thing is against the clock. What confuses the whole issue, though, is the way you rotate to face the way you want to jump — not that I’m complaining about this point, it’s what makes the game different and tough. Your man is very nicely drawn and moves quickly and smoothly. Atoms and droids are also drawn exceptionally well. You are provided with a weapon to fire at them. This doesn’t seem so important on early screen, but when the discs fill up with atoms and droids, it becomes essential to keep them at bay. They aren’t killed off, merely incapacitated for a moment. A good game and at its price, great value.’

‘Sound, tunes, use of colour and graphics are very good throughout this highly playable game. I like the way the discs are numbered, as well as coloured, in the second part of the game. Because of its speed, this ‘Q-Bert’ish variation is very panicky in playing. There are some very neat graphical touches like the way your man is teleported on to a disc and off, and this may happen anywhere when he has completed his task. This game has a marvellous demo mode, one which actually wants to win and plays cleverly. Not only does this give you a perfect insight into how to play, but it’s also fun to watch. Excellent value.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Bottom row=fire, P=jump, Q/W rotate left/right
Joystick: Kempston, AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: very responsive, although tricky to get the hang of the rotation
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good to very good
Sound: continuous, good
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 5
Screens: 2
General rating: Different, difficult, good addictivity and very good value

Use of computer

78%

Graphics

81%

Playability

84%

Getting started

90%

Addictive qualities

86%

Value for money

90%

Overall

85%

DREADNOUGHTS

Producer: MC Lothlorien Ltd
Author: M.J. Dora
Price: £5.95

It is a winter’s day in late 1914; the ‘Great War’ is four months old, and in the North Sea two battle fleets are set on a collision course. The composition of the fleets is identical: four battle cruisers, four light cruisers and 12 destroyers. With six hours of daylight remaining, the two commanders sight each other’s smoke. The battle is about to commence.

This the latest in the Lothlorian Warmaster series of battle strategy games, and their first sea-based one. The game is played between two people, and like the time-honoured Battleships game played on paper, each player should have private and secret access to his information, which is done via a secret three-letter code inputted at the start. The game is played out in 24 moves, a move simulating 15 minutes of real time, and on four levels, representing the number of enemy Dreadnoughts which must be destroyed to win. There are three phases to play. First each player in turn goes through his Decision Phase and then there is an Action Execution phase.

Accessed by the player code, a menu of options is presented which allows the player to list the names and defence strengths of each unit, view the situation (a graphic report of your positions), see the combat reports of each unit, change course and heading for each unit, allocate gunnery targets, set up torpedoes and secondary batteries, a key for all actions completed (end of phase) and a report on visibility. Changing course and speed is done with cursor keys 6 and 7.

The combat reports enable you to see what damage has happened after the action phase, and what your ships under fire are observing of the enemy’s position. Gunnery results are affected by factors like range to target, whether the gunners are under fire themselves, and the number of other units firing at you. Lothlorien claim the performance of the ships is based on the original vessels.

The screen display is largely text menus, but in viewing the situation or in action phase once the combatants are entangled, the units are represented by character blocks with the unit number in them, and a tiny symbolic representation of the unit itself. The blocks are coloured Green for the British and Yellow for the German fleet. Behind each unit a short black line represents the ‘wake’ and so gives an indication of heading and speed.

CRITICISM

‘This strategy simulation is really an extended computer version of Battleships except that there are a number of elements to be taken into account, such as the performance of the various units, their strengths and armament. This means you must use each type of ship to its best advantage. The Battleships element is that of player secrecy, each seeing only his own information, so you’re never sure quite how the other player is handling his forces. This is, to my thinking, the weakest point about Dreadnoughts, the fact that the two players involved in the game are out of action, so to speak, for quite long periods of time during moves. Otherwise, this Lothlorien game is one of the simpler ones in the playing, and so quite enjoyable.’

‘I’m sure strategy fans will like Dreadnoughts as it is the most user-friendly game of its kind I have seen from Lothlorien. The option menus are never blocked, each option may be returned to as often as you like so that decisions may be amended before handing over play to your opponent. My only niggle is that the graphics take a while to generate on the screen, so if you want to flick between changing course or selecting targets and the situation view, it does get a bit tedious.’

‘The eight-page instructions that come with the cassette are very good and will help you get the most from this war game. As always though the graphics leave a lot to be desired and are simple character blocks. There is no real movement or sense of action involved, which means the game is really only suited to those who enjoy this type of game, one where thinking is more important than doing. It seems odd to me that you can claim the performance of the units in the game are exactly based on the real thing when you’re talking about little computer blocks and massive ships.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: on-screen prompts
Keyboard play: fairly responsive
Use of colour: average
Graphics: poor in action, but well laid out text, etc
Sound: very little
Skill levels: 4
General Rating: A good game for strategy fans, some very good points and some not so good,with slow action phases. Overall though good value for those who like the type.

Use of Computer

72%

Graphics

52%

Playability

52%

Getting Started

78%

Addictive Qualities

56%

Value For Money

66%

Overall

65%

MERLIN’S RECIPE BOOK

To create a Dungeons and Dragons game can be as much fun as to actually play it. With programs such as THE QUILL by Gilsoft or DUNGEON BUILDER by Dream Software, very little programming knowledge is required. Let there be warning however that a logical and skilful mind is essential, as even the most simple detail of the program requires careful planning, if our hero, the player, is to stand a chance against the pitfalls and Dragons of the adventure. If you have a preference for graphical adventures, the Dungeon Builder is your comrade in arms. Discover the secret weapons at the reach of your fingertips...

The curious cassette box hides a 100-page manual containing hidden secrets and instructions and a single cassette loaded with the latest dungeon construction gear and dragon breeding equipment. The cassette also stores an hors d’example adventure to whet your appetite and to get you started on the right track...

The manual reads like Merlin’s recipe book, advising you of the eight powerful menus at your disposal and introduces you to every single command feature with an example, which gradually allows you to build up a simple doorless two-chamber horror quickie to the most sophisticated multi-level dungeon mansion with all mods and cons such as self-locking doors and cliffs, trap doors and spiral staircases, secret passages and spacewarps, wall-to-wall treasures and blood curdling monsters...

The central playing ground is the Main Display Screen displaying a portion of a 40 x 40 cell map. Each cell is octagonal and represents a room with eight walls. A cursor pinpoints the editing location and the co-ordinates of every cell are displayed. In the upper right-hand corner is the memory gauge, indicating the amount of free bytes left. Below appear the various menus with command selections.

Upon selecting CREATE from the Outer Menu, all cells are restored with all walls intact and all objects destroyed. The basis of the system is to modify or knock out the walls of the cells, to create descriptions and if required screen pictures for the cells, create objects, etc. The player, all living beings, treasures, stairs, doors, keys, etc, are all treated as objects and must therefore be created individually. To any object is allocated a name, a score, a weight, a (starting) position, commands from the verblist to which it reacts and descriptions, when encountered in a room.

Several action commands may be allocated to one object, for example ‘Open door’ or ‘Close door’ and depending on the command taken, one of the following actions may be taken:

- SAY Prints a message, ie ‘The door is locked’
- DIE Object is killed
- MOVE Moves the object to a new position (Any, Carried, Here, Select)
- STATUS Changes the status of the object (ie from closed to open)
- JUMP Causes player to move to a position specified.

For each status a different description of the object may be given. Each command recognised by an object increases the Verb List. Each command can be made dependent on a given condition and the action is to be specified.

This sounds all very complicated, but in fact is made very easy by the automatic prompting of the program. Depending on the previous action a new menu is displayed and makes sure that no logical errors occur.

Basically the creation may be subdivided into the following main activities:

- Create and modify the individual cells (Description, Screen Picture, Score, knock down or modify walls, etc.)
- Create and modify objects (Name, Description, Score, Commands, Position, Weight).

The commands recognised by the objects make up the Verb List. Since the command processor checks on the status of the object and various commands can be allocated to one object, multiple actions are made possible.

The cell walls are double-sided and may be broken through on one side only for access in one direction only. Conditional movement through a wall of the cell is possible, where the command processor makes the movement conditional to the status of an object, an open or closed door.

A wall of a cell may be made to react to the approach of the player, the action involving Say, Die, Move, Status or Jump. With Jump a spacewarp effect can be achieved, whereby the player will leave the room and appear at any given position on the map. Say will allow a message to appear when the wall is approached. For multi-level adventures it is necessary to create pseudo objects. These start with a dot and are therefore not printed on an Inventory or an entry into a room.

Stairs may be created as a pseudo object, which recognises up and down commands and acts accordingly. When in the middle of a cell, the menu asks for a description or picture. Selecting picture will activate the Picture Creator.

The facility includes apart from the usual paper and ink colour selection the drawing of lines and the painting of solid triangles. The cursor is controlled by the cursor keys (Caps shift for eight pixels per key-stroke). Once completed the resulting picture will be displayed whenever the room is entered.

The unfinished program may be saved to cassette and reloaded. An excellent facility is provided for saving the completed adventure game in machine code, so that it can be loaded and played independently of Dungeon Builder.

In conclusion, the DUNGEON BUILDER is an excellent Graphic Adventure games creator, which simplifies the generation of even the most elaborate adventure and thus provides a possibility for the less experienced programmer to create an adventure masterpiece.

GOBSTOPPER

Producer: Calisto
Author: Andrew Taylor
Price: £5.95

Meet a new hero — Spodgo, who resembles a cross between a green snowflake and a Splat. Spodgo has three different screens to survive in this very original arcade game. In the first, you must shoot up the blue coloured gobstoppers, whilst avoiding the uncommonly intelligent mutant toffees and a purple snake.

Spodgo fires in the direction of movement, a sort of unbent paper clip, which kills the gobstoppers. The toffees cannot be destroyed, and all four gang up to chase you round the screen.

Surviving this stage moves Spodgo on to a screen across which three trains move from left to right, one above the other, the middle one being the shorter but faster. A blue path zig zags down the screen blocked by opening and closing gates. The object is to guide Spodgo from the top right to the bottom right of the screen, avoiding the gates, and dodging across the railway tracks between trains.

The third screen Sam the demented ice-cream salesman hurls endless supplies of ice-cream cones across the grass at you, and they must be dodged.

CRITICISM

‘Gobstopper is a good game. My main criticism is that your hero does not move very quickly, and as the screen is very crowded because of the large graphics, it means hit and run tactics have to be used. Generally the graphics are good but jerky, although the trains move very smoothly. I found the game mildly addictive with joystick play. The keyboard play is terrible.’

‘Gobstopper has nice large graphics, well drawn details as well. The gobstoppers’ mouths all move up and down as they float about, the trains are very big and detailed, a pity the wheels don’t revolve though. There are nice touches like the cartoon-style strip at the start of the game, and the explosion when you lose a life has a little “pop” written in its centre. Nevertheless, I thought overall it looked a bit childish and is probably intended for younger children despite its difficulty. It is quite hard to play, but once mastered, there is insufficient scope to really be addictive.’

‘I have never seen a game quite like this — it is totally unique. I found the first screen very active, quite hard, but pitched about right so you can get on to the second after a few minutes’ practice. I like the idea of firing paper clips at chewing mouths while being attacked by frenzied toffees. The trains are drawn nicely, but move fairly slowly and make the screen too easy. The third screen is very difficult — almost impossible. The graphics are large, colourful and move very well. Great sound. I quite enjoy this game, but I think the addictive qualities will wear off after a few hours play.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors and 0 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: responsive, pity about the cursors though
Use of colour: good
Graphics: very good but a bit jerky
Sound: excellent
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 3
General Rating: Good.

Use of Computer

52%

Graphics

68%

Playability

70%

Getting Started

68%

Addictive Qualities

67%

Value For Money

69%

Overall

66%

GRID PATROL

Producer: MC Lothlorien Ltd
Author: Simon Cobb
Price: £5.95

The cassette inlay wastes little space in setting up a scenario for this ultra-fast grid game beyond telling you to avoid the devastating fire from the tanks. Quite right too.

The game takes the basic form of Transversion, but unlike that game instead of static pods to destroy there are a few aliens on the grid which keep moving about. Around all four edges of the grid there are tanks which can move up and down or left and right to fire inwards along the grid lines. This means that your man must constantly face fire from four different directions, with the tanks constantly homing in to fire along the line he is on. He is equipped with a laser that fires in eight directions, with which he must destroy the wandering aliens on the grid. Bumping onto one will result in loss of life.

Each screen cleared moves you on to a more difficult one with more aliens, and they move about more wildly.

CRITICISM

‘There have been a few attempts to take the crown away from Ocean’s Transversion, but this is the first one I have played which has actually managed to add to that game. It must be one of the fastest grid games ever, and certainly aims to rank with Jeff Minter’s. Yes, the idea’s ever so simple, but the addition of laser fire for your man is clever. Not only must you concentrate on trying to line up a shot on a moving alien, but you have literally half a second (on the slowest of three speeds) to do it before the tanks get you. It requires manic concentration and a bottle of headache pills. Great!’

‘I don’t think this is as good as Transversion. It has poor movement responses and it’s hard to see the screen in colour. Things just don’t seem right. It is very hard to move, avoid and shoot at your attackers. I also discovered that if you die when you reappear (in the middle) by an alien, you die immediately before realising it! It means having your finger on a move key before you reappear. Until I realised what was happening I was dying left, right and centre. Not struck on this version.’

‘The game that starts on level 1 — impossible! Level 3 is simply impossibler! Grid Patrol is very fast — like in you need eight eyes fast, two for the joystick, two for the enemy, two for lining up shots, and two for keeping on the tanks. Graphics are small, but quite colourful and easily seen. The sound is fairly good, but you don’t really need it because you’re concentrating on other things. I became so thrilled with this game that I broke a joystick (which is to be docked out of my CRASH expenses next month)! Very fast and quite addictive.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, SYM SHIFT to fire (it does mention user-definable keys on the inlay but there don’t seem to be any)
Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: average
Graphics: small, fast, generally reasonable
Sound: good
Skill levels: 3 speeds
Lives: 5
Screens: 8
General Rating: Simple grid game for those who like a fast arcade game.

Use of Computer

60%

Graphics

55%

Playability

59%

Getting Started

56%

Addictive Qualities

61%

Value For Money

60%

Overall

59%

HARRY GOES HOME

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: Andrew Bond
Price: £2.99

Harry Goes Home is a poor man’s version of Ian Andrew’s game Mined-Out. Mined-Out, however, was a very clever game. Harry Goes Home is less so. The object is to get Harry to his front door safely. He must cross a blank screen sowed with hidden mines, collecting his doorkey on the way. If he does get home, the next screen has more mines.

CRITICISM

‘Mined-Out used a mine proximity indicator system which turned that game into one of clear and logical thinking, and then added many other complexities. In this one you also have an indicator at the top of the screen which tells whether there is a mine (or more) beside you. In this sense Harry is a copy of Mined-Out. But not in the graphics, which are small, undetailed, jerky and very slow because of the BASIC.’

‘This game is the sort of thing one would have expected in the very earliest days of the Spectrum — or even the ZX81 come to that. It might do for the younger player, but no one else will be very interested. Quite honestly I’m surprised this game requires 48K. The game is a good idea, but that’s not the programmers, and the implementation is far, far below the standard we expect today.’

‘A good spatial and early logic game for 4 for 8 year olds. For anyone else — rubbish. The colours are pretty dreadful too.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors
Joystick: Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: slow
Use of colour: very poor
Graphics: very poor
Sound: Very poor
Skill levels: more mines on subsequent screen
General Rating: Poor value.

Use of Computer

35%

Playability

30%

Getting Started

35%

Addictive Qualities

40%

Value For Money

28%

Overall

32%

IT’S THE WOOLUF!

Producer: Crystal Computing
Author: Martin Bullar
Price: £6.50

Some time back Virgin Games released a game called Sheepwalk in which you had to guide Rex the sheepdog around and herd the sheep into a pen, avoiding various hazards and farm crops which the sheep ate. It wasn’t a very good game with slow BASIC programming and unconvincing animals. It’s the Wooluf! is a very similar idea, and somewhat better looking.

The screen is dissected by a river towards the bottom with a bridge crossing to the top two- thirds. At the start of each game the 10 sheep are ‘floating’ about on the bottom right-hand corner. First they must be herded along to the left and over the bridge. Being sheep and somewhat brainless, they will fall into the river and drown if you’re not careful. Once over the bridge, your dog must get them safely into the pen at the top right. The landscape in the top section is heavily wooded and the sheep wandering into the trees tend to get stuck or lost. The other problem is that the woods are prowled by a red wolf who eats sheep.

Each sheep safely herded into the pen is returned to the game for the next ‘life’. After four goes, all the sheep are returned for the next stage, but trees appear below the river and attract the wolf, and everything starts moving faster too. Although the sheep drown, your sheep dog is a better swimmer, and he can be moved around the screen very fast as well. Unfortunately there’s nothing he can do to frighten off the wolf, so it’s as well to keep the sheep out of the trees where they are most vulnerable. When a sheep falls into water a big SPLASH flashes across the screen, and between games the Wooluf winks salaciously at you.

CRITICISM

‘This sheepherding game is a lot better than the Virgin one of last year in several ways. The graphics look better and the game moves much faster. The sheep resemble summer clouds on legs and your dog at least looks like a dog, although the speed at which he can zoom about the screen seems a little unrealistic! Unfortunately, I was convinced at first that the wooluf was really a brown cow — until it ate a sheep. The woolly jumpers in this game are reasonable in their movements and prove easier to herd than in Sheepwalk. But at the end of the day this isn’t a really exciting game, and to be honest, I was surprised that Crystal should have brought it out. I’ve come to think of them as rather more sophisticated than this game.’

‘After the sophistication of games and programming that Crystal have become known for, it seems very odd to me that they should have released a game like this, nevertheless, it is a change from the usual shoot ’em up, and it is quite ‘friendly’ . The sheep react very sheepishly, as you would expect, the dog (probably a collie) is obviously extremely fit and looks as though he’s being supercharged. The wooluf is twice the size of the dog, which is unrealistic, and looks more like a Hereford cow. It’s easier to try and get one sheep at a time over the bridge and up to the pen, but if you get it stuck in the trees, you may just as well say Baa Baa to it! The colours tend to overwrite each other, for example, if you take the dog into the river he turns green and the surrounding river turns black. I think this is likely to appeal more to the younger player, although it is quite hard and is reasonably playable.’

‘The graphics are all rather small, but quite detailed, overall it looks a bit primitive. The game will get boring very quickly, despite the increases in playing speed, because there isn’t really much to do. I thought this was a poor offering from Crystal.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: N/M up/down, Z/X left/right
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: responsive, but oddly laid out keys in a straight line
Use of colour: average
Sound: average
Skill levels: progressive difficulty (speed and extra trees)
Lives: 10 sheep
General Rating: May appeal to younger players, a bit lacking in content and not very addictive.

Use of Computer

48%

Graphics

55%

Playability

54%

Getting Started

60%

Addictive Qualities

48%

Value For Money

45%

Overall

44%

META-GALACTIC LLAMAS BATTLE AT THE EDGE OF TIME

Producer: Salamander Software
Author: concept by Jeff Minter, translation by Chris Clark
Price: £6.95

The large cassette box carries an attractive picture of a very determined looking Llama, spitting venom at an exploding arachnid. Thus the strange animal vision of Jeff Minter, who brought us Mutant Camels, trundles inexorably onward in this new Spectrum version. The inlay contains long detailed descriptions of how Metabeasts, mentally and physically enhanced animals, have come into being. This appears to have been as a result of the abortive attack on Earth when agents of Zzyax mutated camels into awesome war machines. Now Earth have turned the tables by developing super Llamas. The drama unfolds on the Earth outpost of OP/37 — the station set at the edge of time.

It is now under attack by Zzyaxian Cyborg Arachnid Mutants, which descend on to the outpost on strong strands of web. The Llama guarding the outpost is only equipped with its laser spitting capability and an experimental Planer Field Generator.

The screen is quite simple, a green base line along which the Llama can run in either direction, wrapping round if necessary, and at the top is a dotted red line, the Planer Field Generator. The Llama fires his laser diagonally upwards, the blasts ricocheting off the screen sides and off the underside of the field force. This may be lowered or raised to alter the ricochet period.

Arachnids can be shot while they are descending, and so may their web strands. The arachnids that land on the surface immediately change into disgusting Weeviloids, which resemble snakes. These will crawl along the ground at a pretty fast rate to get the Llama.

CRITICISM

‘When I first saw the cassette of Meta-Galactic Llamas, I thought it was going to be a first-rate shoot ’em up along the lines of Mutant Camels, but I was wrong. The graphics are small and very undetailed, and the screen looks unattractive although the colours (used fairly well) are bright. Shooting the spiders has to be very accurate, though quite often your laser spit shoots straight through them. The option of user definable keys is very good and the responses are excellent. The idea of the game, however, is rather primitive although original. This is a well-packed game, but certainly not one I would buy.’

‘I was really disappointed with this game. One has come to expect things of the great Jeff Minter, and perhaps it isn’t fair to compare anything on the Spectrum with similar games on the Commodore, but I really would have thought the graphics could have been much better than they are here. They’re small and there is no real animation with even the wriggling snakes looking primitive. It spoils what is otherwise a fast game with the potential to be enjoyable. But the real trouble with it is that nothing much happens beyond shooting dangling spiders and wriggling snakes. When you’ve done this for a short while it begins to get boring.’

‘Meta-Galactic Llamas is fast and quite enjoyable for a while until you get the hang of hitting things on the ground by using the ricochet effect. I thought I “died” unfairly on a number of occasions when I hadn’t actually been touched by anything. There are a lot of skill levels, but they only cause the spiders to appear more frequently, and on the higher ones it is unplayably difficult. The sound, too, is somewhat poorer than it need have been. The result, as far as I am concerned, is an original idea which just hasn’t gone far enough, and which has sub-standard graphics by today’s expectations.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/W left/right, O/K up/down, SPACE or CAPS SHIFT to fire. Keys are user-definable as well.
Joystick: almost any via UDK
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: small, undetailed, overall below average
Skill levels: 99, of which the first 32 are selectable
Lives: 3
General Rating: A fast game, but lacking enough content to be more than average.

Use of Computer

78%

Graphics

51%

Playability

52%

Getting Started

63%

Addictive Qualities

43%

Value For Money

37%

Overall

54%

MISSION OMEGA

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: Ofer Ben-Ami, Shelly Ben-Ami
Price: £2.99

Mission Omega is a bomb-the-city-flat game. Romik did a version for the Spectrum almost two years ago, which was very good. In this version there are several speed selections and you can alter the difficulty by increasing the number of ‘enemy aircrafts’, number of meteors or the height of the buildings between 0 and 9.

You are flying an aircraft which drops bombs and fires missiles. On each pass the plane gets lower, so the only way to survive is to raze the city’s skyscrapers. Meteors and aircraft are the other hazards. You can only have one bomb dropping at a time and one missile in the air at a time.

CRITICISM

‘This is the old bomb dropping game — there were games of this type about for other computers over two years ago. That’s a long time in this business. Why bring out more now? Even at £2.99 it’s poor value — probably not even worth the waste of cassette tape.’

‘I think this is the best of the Pulsonic games I have seen. The game itself is pretty old, and the graphics of this one are jerky and not very well defined, but the game type is quite enjoyable, and this version manages to be quite hard to get through. The various difficulty options make it reasonably interesting. With this game I think I would generally recommend it as reasonable value for money, and a reasonably playable game too.’

‘Mission Omega plays quite well and may appeal to some players who haven’t seen any other version. But I think it is outdated. On top of that, compared to Spectrum games these days, this is pretty simple in graphics and sound. At £2.99, however, it does represent fairly good value, although I would rather pay twice as much and have something like Atic Atac.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: M for missiles, B for bombs
Joystick: none needed
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: average
Graphics: fair, but jerky
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 10 speeds and three variables with 10 options
Lives: 1
Features: 1 or 2 players
General Rating: Felt to be one of the best of a rather poor offering.

Use of Computer

60%

Graphics

55%

Playability

53%

Getting Started

58%

Addictive Qualities

45%

Value For Money

50%

Overall

54%

MOONBUGGY

Producer: Anirog Software
Author: Michael Fox
Price: £5.95

You are the commander of the moonbase defences, out on routine patrol duty in your ATMB (All Terrain Moon Buggy). This amazing vehicle is capable of jumping over holes and craters in the ground and it is fitted with forward and upward firing laser missiles. The moon base outer defences have been penetrated by alien attack forces and that routine patrol is about to become a nightmare!

The aliens use low-level attack from saucers which drop bombs. Apart from probably hitting you, these also make more craters in your path. Surface attack comes from tanks which fire missiles, and land mines which must be jumped. In addition, there are giant boulders, too big to jump over, which must be blasted away. As well as jumping, your moon buggy can accelerate and decelerate. Speed is needed to get over some of the bigger or double craters.

In ‘Penetrator’ style, the ground and background landscape scrolls from right to left to create the movement. Accelerating the moon buggy causes it move farther towards the right of the screen. The ground will change colour as you progress.

CRITICISM

‘This is a better version than the Visions one, in as much as it follows the arcade original rather better. Keeping an eye on the ground ahead, missiles from in front and above and trying to fire your own missiles can become quite frantic at times. The game is completed after four sectors have been crossed and the base reached. The graphics are quite good with nice detail on the buggy, like the bouncing wheels on their suspension and the way they all fly off if you’re hit or drop into a crater. Reasonably addictive and playable.’

‘Scrolling landscapes and different types of alien that never appear in the same order each time all make for a very playable game. The acceleration and deceleration tend to be slowish in response, although this does make you think ahead. Jumping the buggy is sometimes a bit delayed if you have just fired a missile, and this can cause considerable panic. There are no explosions in the game, hit aliens just disappear into thin air. Moving mountains in the background add a bit of realism, although I found they tended to obscure the low flying aliens a bit. After 10-15 minutes playing my wrist gave up on the joystick due to the stresses of this fast action game — GOOD!’

‘Moonbuggy is quite a good game, but not as good as versions I have seen for other computers (notably Rabbit’s Troopa Truck). The colour and graphics are good and the game challenging to play (don’t use the keyboard!). I thought it was generally a “quite” game which lacked some detail to make it better. For instance, the buggy could have bounced a bit on landing. But I liked the way the wheels fly off when it crashes.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Cursor keys and 0 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: poor positions but responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good — fast, detailed and smooth
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1 but it gets more frantic as you go on
Lives: 5
General Rating: Good value and reasonably addictive, very playable.

Use of Computer

65%

Graphics

77%

Playability

75%

Getting Started

72%

Addictive Qualities

75%

Value For Money

73%

Overall

73%

MUMMY! MUMMY!

Producer: MC Lothlorien Ltd
Author: Dave Stevens
Price: £5.95

The cassette inlay has a fairly lengthy explanation of what the game is about, which is just as well, as it isn’t very self evident. What is, however, is that this is a ‘Panic’ game of platforms, ladders, monsters and hole digging with some very different variations on the theme. The basic story line is that you are Disoranic, a distant cousin of old Nefertiti, woken up from peaceful pyramidal slumberings by the ghost of Mad Clive, an archaeologist. None of this has much to do with playing the game, but it sets the scene for the antics to come.

To get yourself peacefully reburied again, you must find and read 25 magic cartouches (no, we didn’t know what they were either). In this task you are hindered by three types of monster and the ghost of Mad Clive. The first screen shows the pyramid with seven floor levels. You start at the top and can dig holes and build ladders down. Several monsters infest the lower levels. The idea is to entice the monsters to attack you and then dig a hole and bury them. When they’re all gone, you get properly inside the pyramid with the whole screen taken up with the seven platform levels, connected with ladders in various positions.

New ladders cannot be added. At the base level is a cartouche (still don’t know), which must be read before killing off all the monsters in the traditional ‘Panic’ method. After five cartouches (no, sorry) the door to your sarcophagus is revealed. You may then continue on reading cartouches (ah — just got it — dictionary says: scroll ornament, an oval ring containing hieroglyphic names and titles of Egyptian kings, etc. Phew!) or read the door’s inscription to pass through when all the monsters are killed. Got that?

Digging holes too close to other holes may result in rockfalls, plunging you through or trapping you. You cannot fall through a hole as in most ‘Panic’ games, except in the first screen.

CRITICISM

‘It’s quite clear that this is a ‘Panic’ game of a sort, but despite the instructions and game objectives being stated on the inlay card, I couldn’t make head or tail of it. A lot of strange things seem to happen, perhaps not surprising inside an ancient pyramid, but confusing in a game. As a ‘Panic’ it seems pretty easy to kill off the monsters. One thing that puzzled me is that on the first screen I failed to kill off all the monsters before the oxygen ran out (why would a long dead Egyptian king require oxygen?) and yet I still progressed on to the next screen. One reason why I couldn’t kill them all off was because having just built a ladder, one monster climbed immediately up it and then proceeded to hover on the top of the ladder with obviously no intention of moving further. The ‘Panic’ elements are all fairly good, but the attempts to make it ever so different have made it a bit unplayable too.’

‘This is a “Panic” game in which you must become a mummy! I found this game had large but rather flickery graphics. It was fun to play but seemed to lack something. There were half a dozen keys required to control things, and this removed some of the fun. Nevertheless, this was a “Panic” game which grew on me with the playing.’

‘Even after playing the game for half an hour I was still unsure as to what I was really supposed to be doing — everything was so unclear. This wasn’t helped by some funny things occurring, like the moment when I dug a hole in a spot and apparently ‘jammed’ the monsters up. One on a ladder and one just the other side of the hole, merely moved a character square forwards and then backwards, and continued doing that with the rest of them following suit until the oxygen ran out. The graphics are nice and large. The keys didn’t always respond when pressed. It has some good tunes, which tend to drive you up the wall!’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, I/P left/right, dig D or O, Read cartouche D, O or R, build a ladder D or O, Fill hole F, 1 or SPACE
Joystick: Sinclair ZX 2, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: difficult with so many, and not always responsive
Use of colour: above average
Graphics: quite good, large although flickery, but nice animation detail
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
General Rating: Average if you can understand it.

Use of Computer

60%

Graphics

66%

Playability

55%

Getting Started

50%

Addictive Qualities

46%

Value For Money

55%

Overall

55%

MUTANT ANT ATTACK

Producer: Calisto
Author: S. Allaway
Price: £5.95

Your miniaturised laser tank is under attack from marauding ants which have mutated into a super-species. Your mission is to destroy them, wave after wave as they relentlessly march towards you bent on your total destruction. So says the inlay. It’s a little misleading as it conjures up the idea of animated ants homing in on your tank, which isn’t quite what happens.

Mutant Ant Attack is actually a grid game played out on a screen which wraps around both vertically and horizontally. Your tank and the mutant ants all move along the green lines of the grid. Should you fire, the missile travels off the screen and re-enters on the same line from behind. It’s therefore essential to get off that line as fast as possible after firing if you don’t want to blow yourself up.

The ants are character blocks with detail in them. They form up in lines and march about, the line gradually breaking up into clumps of individuals. The ants don’t actually make a beeline (sorry) for you and content themselves with marching around, performing neat military manoeuvres along the grids.

CRITICISM

‘Ant Attack looks very simple at first glance, and indeed the graphics are nothing very special, being small one character sized blocks. But the beauty of the game lies in its simplicity as a grid game. You can fire continuously in any of the four directions, and your worst enemy is usually yourself! Dodging your own missiles as well as the ants becomes very exciting. That’s just about all there is to the game, but I thought it was enough, and made for a highly addictive game. A (good) frustrating point is that a line of ants changes direction if one gets hit, which means your strategies, carefully planned, can all go awry. I liked it a lot.’

‘This game bears no resemblance to the Ant Attack of Quicksilva! This grid game would be a good one indeed if it weren’t for the fact that the game control is terrible — spoils it, but it is still rather addictive.’

‘Mutant Ant Attack is incredibly simple. It’s also mindblowing, headaching, maddening, addictive and wonderful! It’s certainly the first game to get my brain in a mental twist. Co-ordination and lightning thinking will enable you to play this game, and in this connection a better keyboard layout would have made the game better. Best used with a joystick. You can have 10 shots on the screen at any one time and going in any of the four directions. The eleventh clears the first. The shots will also destroy each other, but it doesn’t get you out of trouble because everything moves too fast! The graphics are not big or very detailed, but good enough to make for an enjoyable game. Mind-boggling.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors and 0 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: very responsive, the cursors make life hard though
Use of colour: adequate, and bright
Graphics: small, simple but fine in context
Sound: very good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
General Rating: A good, original games and very addictive.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

55%

Playability

82%

Getting Started

76%

Addictive Qualities

83%

Value For Money

74%

Overall

71%

OLYMPICS

Producer: CRL Group PLC
Author: Matthew Bradshaw
Price: £5.95

In Olympics year, we have already had the subversive, underground version of the noble event from Automata. Now C.R.L. give us the official one! — Olympics is a two-sided game. Side one contains eight events which take place inside the stadium. They are the 100m sprint, 200m, Javelin, 110m Hurdles, Long Jump, Shot Put, 800m and Discus. Side two contains events that take place outside the stadium and are: Cycling, Swimming, Canoeing, Rowing, Yachting and the Marathon, seen in sections between each event.

The computer holds four teams: Great Britain, USA, USSR and the Rest of the World, although these may be customised. In each case, you control the British team, always at the top of the screen. The events are run across the screen and are completed when the winner reaches the right hand side. At the same time, the background is made to scroll slowly, thus apparently extending the length of the race. Your man has 9 units of energy and pressing SPACE causes him to accelerate and the energy to drop accordingly. Each track is lined on each side with spectators, trees, buildings or the background of the stadium.

Results (ie medals) can be re-entered on the second side of the program from side one to keep continuity.

CRITICISM

‘This must be the most relaxing game I have ever played! And saying this, there is no real point to the game — it’s almost as if the computer could play on its own — you only have to keep on pressing that dreadful ENTER each time a team member has had his go. Once the game has been played you will probably never want to play it again. The graphics are moved by block, are small and undetailed and I cannot recommend this game.’

‘On the face of it, a program containing 14 different races of competitions sounds like fun, but the trouble is they are all really alike. This isn’t a game in the normal computer sense of the word at all, because the computer does everything really, leaving you only to judge when to use up that quotient of energy. The races tend to be very long winded as well, especially as you are basically sitting back and watching, and on side two, constantly returning to the Marathon, which must take three minutes to get from side of the screen to the other, becomes very irritating. The graphics are small and jerky and on the whole it all seems rather pointless.’

COMMENTS

Control Keys: ENTER & SPACE
Joystick: None
Keyboard play: hardly relevant
Use of colour: average
Graphics: small, block, generally fair
Sound: very poor
Skill levels: none
Screens: 14 events
General Rating: Poor to average once the novelty value has gone.

Use of Computer

58%

Graphics

46%

Playability

55%

Getting Started

61%

Addictive Qualities

13%

Value For Money

35%

Overall

45%

OPPOSITION

Producer: Pulsonic
Price: £2.99

Opposition is a board game that may be played between two people or one against the computer. It is one of those sort of games at which computers tend to excel. The screen is divided into a board of 40 squares, five high and eight long. Each vertical base is a ‘goal’ line and vice versa. Each corner square is a ‘goal post’, so the defensible area is only three squares. Each player takes a turn consisting of a one-square move diagonally or up and down by entering the co-ordinates N, NE, S, SW, etc. You may not move on to an adjacent square to one already occupied by your opponent. As it says in the instructions, if attacking, the computer always wins. But you do have a chance to beat if if you are attacking. The second game is played out on a larger board of 70 squares with seven of them occupied by obstacles. Played in the same way the Spectrum, however, defends and only on the back two files. With this game it is possible to type in CHEAT and the Spectrum will make a silly move — you don’t get your score if you cheat though. Game three is the same with more obstacles.

CRITICISM

‘Opposition is quite a clever board game, but it’s been designed so that the computer is pretty much unbeatable. This being the case you must either cheat constantly (which robs the fun) or give up on it quite quickly. It’s better to play a human opponent with the same fallibilities as yourself! The graphics are not very wonderful at all, but that’s hardly a drawback in a game of this type.’

‘Played against another human, I found this game to be not bad, but not too good either. The graphics are poor. Not much lasting appeal,’

‘After giving you the instructions the final command is ‘Put on CAPS LOCK now.’ I know this is a simple game and in BASIC but surely the programmer can do better than this? As to the game itself, it’s a simple and quite clever idea, made totally unplayable by the parameters for programming it. In which case, I don’t think there was much point doing it in the first place. The computer will always win.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: compass point abbreviations
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: limited
Graphics: very poor
Sound: very poor
Skill levels: 3
Features: one player v computer or two players against each other
General Rating: Simple in concept, too hard in play.

Use of Computer

48%

Graphics

15%

Playability

20%

Getting Started

45%

Addictive Qualities

18%

Value For Money

20%

Overall

28%

ORPHEUS

Producer: Visions Software Factory
Price: £5.95

The instructions on this game contained on the screen are written in a specially designed character set. It seems odd that programmers can go to the trouble of doing this and then say a ‘missile flys’ at you and that it is ‘indestructable’. No one is perfect, and typographical mistakes can occur and fail to be spotted, but there should be no excuse for such poor spelling in a game intro.

As for the intro, it describes Orpheus as being a task to deliver a secret document to headquarters by way of an enemy occupied tunnel. The enemy will send Tai fighters at you, which by some odd freak of nature are alternately destructible and indestructable. There are land-based objects like Quarsar silos (remember those?), fuel dumps and etcs. (whatever they are).

The screen view is looking down the length of the tunnel which is represented by two converging lines and a ragged tunnelish line which zooms out in four frames to convey movement. The various land-based objects (etcs. must be the purple pyramids) grow bigger as you fly over them. After a while the fighters come out and then a real protagonist with heat seeking missiles.

CRITICISM

‘I can’t understand how on earth C.R.L. can keep going up and down like this! Orpheus is simply terrible! It’s unplayable and silly. Describing it as being in 3D is like trying to describe a slide show as Star Wars. The graphics are pre-Spectrum, jerky, undetailed and the game is played on the most bizarre and difficult layout I have ever come across. With both bombs and laser fire, it seems pointless saying it can be played on cursor joysticks or interfaces. My programmable interface left me with a strange problem — dropping a bomb resulted in the fighter plunging to the base of the cavern and exploding. Awful.’

‘What on earth are Qasar Silos? Reading the blurb on the inlay, it says, “Unbelievable 3D Arcade Action...” Well, I could just about see the 3D effect — but where’s the arcade action? Judging the fighter’s position relative to the cavern walls, floor or ceiling is impossible. Bombing causes problems with AGF or Protek interfaces as the fighter has to be moved downwards to enable the bombs to be released — great, just crash into ground installations and you might score some points. The graphics are very jerky and slow down by almost half when the laser or bombs are used. Also, as there is no time/fuel limit, you can leave your fighter hanging in space and go off for tea. A very uninteresting and unplayable game.’

‘After reading what it has to say on the cover of this game, I thought Orpheus was going to be a mega brill shoot ’em up game (all in one breath too). I was wrong! The graphics and the game are far below average. Shooting things seemed to be difficult. Getting killed was equally difficult unless I ran into the cave walls (which is easy enough as there is no graphic indication of where they are). I was disappointed with the game — there should be (probably is) a law against misleading cassette cover blurbs!’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Get this — T=up, B=down, F=left, H=right, 5=bomb, U=fire laser. Despite cursor key joystick selection the cursors don’t work as a key layout.
Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: virtually impossible
Use of colour: fair
Graphics: extremely poor
Sound: fair
Skill levels:
Lives: 3
General Rating: Below average, not really worth the money.

Use of Computer

35%

Graphics

30%

Playability

44%

Getting Started

48%

Addictive Qualities

32%

Value For Money

28%

Overall

36%

PANDEMONIA

Producer: CRL Group PLC
Author: Paul Simmons
Price: £5.95

It is the year 2000 and the world has been overcome by a bunch of out-of-town aliens who have set up their HQ on top of the CRL skyscraper (bit of wishful thinking here). Your task is to climb the skyscraper (inside — this isn’t a Kong game!) and destroy their heavily fortified base atop it.

The CRL skyscraper is shown with an arrow pointing out where you are at present. As soon as the game proper starts you realise that what we have here is a ‘Panic’ game where holes must be dug for monsters to fall into and where they can be banged on the head and sent to their death. Depending on the type of monster you must shove them through one, two or even three floors.

What makes this game different from most ‘Panic’ types, is that most of the ladders have a door at their top, and, while shut, these doors keep the monsters at bay or trapped between two levels of the six on each screen. Opening a door will reveal a monster ready to pounce down the ladder on to you. This means a strategy for killing them off has to be worked out before a door is opened.

Subsequent screens are varied, with ladder positions changing and the numbers of monsters increasing, their speed as well. More of them become white and then purple.. Your man can dig holes and fill them, he may also jump down one level through a hole.

CRITICISM

‘This is definitely a ‘Panic’ game, but with so many frills added that it becomes much more than a ‘Panic’ game, requiring forward planning to get through a screen. I notice that there is just enough oxygen to get through a screen, which makes timing exceptionally important. Screen layout is very clear with large smooth moving characters. I like the way CRL have set the action inside a skyscraper where you must clear all the floors of aliens, as it does give you an incentive to get to the top. The various elements of this game combine to make it one of the most difficult ‘Panics’ ever. Colour and sound have been well used and it is a hard, addictive game to play.’

‘One of the best “Panic” games for the Spectrum as far as the graphics go. They are large and well animated, fast moving and fun. However, I found the game too difficult to make it very addictive, even when a strategy for opening a door has been worked out.’

‘Looking at all the floors of the CRL skyscraper is a bit daunting, especially when you then encounter the ground floor with all its ladders and doors. This is an extremely fast ‘Panic’ game which demands quick and accurate reactions if you’re to survive very long. The keys have been well laid out and used, only four being required as dig and fill are also the up and down keys. This is just as well with the speed needed. Good graphics and sound all added up to an addictive game as far as I was concerned and definitely one of the better “Panic” games around.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z-V left, B-M right, second row for up and third row for down, also fill and dig respectively. The cursors may also be used
Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: responsive and good key positions
Use of colour: good
Sound: good
Skill levels: 1 but progressive difficulty
Lives: 4
General Rating: A good, hard ‘Panic’ with frills, addictive if you can cope with the speed and good value.

Use of Computer

83%

Graphics

79%

Playability

72%

Getting Started

70%

Addictive Qualities

78%

Value For Money

74%

Overall

76%

PSYTRON

Producer: Beyond
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Tayo Olowu and Paul Voysey

The panoramic scenery of Betula 5.

After a less than auspicious start with Space Station Zebra (reviewed last month) Beyond Software (part of the EMAP group who also own Computer & Video Games magazine) have really launched themselves with this colossal arcade strategy game. ‘A program which makes other programmers gasp,’ it says on the excellent packaging — and perhaps it will.

Psytron comes in a large box containing the cassette, a competition entry form (more later) and a very detailed 20-page booklet explaining how the game is played, and what Psytron is. It looks rather daunting but is essential reading. However it can be read in stages until all the six levels of the game have been absorbed. Psytron is not a game for a few moments play — it will take ages.

The action all takes place on a huge base on the planet of Betula 5. The planet’s atmosphere is not compatible with humanity, so the base is sealed within its own life support system. The base has an inner ring from which radiate the various surface installations. These are the medical centre, freezetime generator, oxygen unit, docking bay and teleport centre, recycling unit, pleasure dome, crew quarters, fuel dump, power plant, matter disruptor and the food store. The game provides 10 screens which are views of the base, seen from the centre and all the way round.

The Psytron is in sole charge of Betula 5, and as the Psytron, you will have to undertake everything to protect the base. Shooting aliens out of the skies and dealing with the remote droids they drop which run around the inner ring to blow up the vital airlocks make up the arcade component, but repairing facilities and deciding what installations to sacrifice at critical moments makes up the strategy element.

Psytron is a game of six levels of progressive difficulty which have been designed to take you into the game step by step, piling more and more responsibility on your shoulders. Each level must be mastered before the next is attempted. The computer looks at your last five scores and calculates an average — if it’s over the passmark then you can move on to the next level. The computer keeps a service record of your achievement which may be saved and reloaded after game load. This is all important because the service record is used in compiling your overall score for the final level. Beyond are running a competition with a prize of a QL computer for the winner. If someone conquers the game completely, then they will win, but it is considered almost impossible to survive for an hour on level 6, which is really required to get the special code. The competition closes on November 30, and if not already won, the prize will go to the highest scorer at that time.

The screen display is split, with a little over half the top being the monitor views of the base (10 in all). These views are drawn in detailed black line and cross hatching with a yellow strip for the ground and a pale blue for the sky. It all looks like a comic drawing. Below is the white and black ringway with airlock access. In this ringway enemy droids are dropped and they can be seen running along to their randomly selected detonation points. Below is the screen report which details what section of the base you are seeing, and updates damage and status reports. Other info provided includes fuel levels, percentage of damage, crew status and time.

At the bottom right-hand corner is a 3D view of the ringway looking along it. This will show a droid on the run. Your pursuit droid also shows up on the ringway and may be guided to chase the enemy droid until it comes into view on the 3D panel. It must be destroyed by fire before it reaches its destination.

Meanwhile, overhead enemy saucers are constantly attacking the base from all directions, dropping bombs which explode colourfully. A gun sight is provided. The enemy saucers are animated in 3D as well.

Describing this game in a review would take pages, and there is a great deal more to playing it than we, have said here — after all, it takes 20 pages for the producers to describe it!

CRITICISM

‘Psytron is a fantastic arcade type strategy game. The graphics are very good, with alien ships in the sky above the excellent views of your base. Challenging, addictive and difficult are words which sum up this game. In fact, the word game is almost an insult to this Beyond scenario. As there are several tasks to be done in maintaining the base, learned at the various levels, Psytron has plenty of lasting appeal! Don’t let the useful booklet put you off, you can load and play Psytron straight away although the advice it contains is more essential on the higher levels. Side B of the cassette has a glimpse of their next big game, the adventure Lord of Midnight.’

‘The rapid access to any of the 10 screens, combined with the natural change of views if your gunsight leaves the screen, makes for a very exciting background against which to play this furious and tiring game. The graphics are superb, oddly not very colourful, but the way they have been done is very convincing. At this stage of reviewing the game it is impossible to say what the higher levels are like — it will be some time before I ever get up there! But if the three I have so far seen are anything to go by, it’s a great game all the way and very addictive as well.’

‘This game builds up your skill qualities until you are ready for the grand finale — a very good idea. The graphics move about realistically and in full perspective, the 10 segments of the space station are all very well drawn. The upward scrolling information on the Screen Report is great, as you can see what damage is occurring while you’re fighting off the alien saucers. Colour and sound have been used well, although there isn’t a great deal of colour in the game itself. Your last five scores are taken and averaged for promotion, which is a marvellous idea, although it can be disheartening if one of them happens to be very high. Psytron is fantastic fun to play and the difficulty of each level and the fact that there are six levels means that it is going to take a long time to master, making it dangerously addictive. Definitely a thousand percent better than Space Station Zebra, and overall breathtaking and overwhelming.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: (droid) Q=forward, A=turn around, M to fire (Skywatch) Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, M to fire, N=fast scan, S=skywatch mode, D=droid mode
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: original and very well used
Graphics: excellent
Sound: well used
Skill levels: 6
Lives: 1
Screens: 10
General rating: well planned, designed and implemented very addictive and overall excellent value for money. Highly recommended.

Use of computer

85%

Graphics

93%

Playability

88%

Getting started

98%

Addictive qualities

91%

Value for money

88%

Overall

91%

SPECTRUM SAFARI

Producer: A.J. Rushton
Author: A.J. Rushton
Price: £5.95

Spectrum Safari isn’t exactly a new game. Its author, A.J. Rushton, originally marketed it under his own name when it was released last summer, but now it has been repackaged by CDS and given a new lease of life and better marketing, which is good, because this original and entertaining game deserves it.

The basic aim is to escape from a tropical island with as many of your exploring party alive as possible. Besides yourself, there are two others in the party. The centre of the island is a large swamp surrounded by six native villages.

Your party starts off in the north-west, and the only boat to use for your escape is in the south-east. Movement is accomplished by entering in the direction you wish to travel.

You need plenty of food as each man eats one pack per move. To get more food the villages may be visited where the villagers will offer to bargain for food (watch your money supply) and you can add to your team or replace lost members by bartering for one of the villagers. Pitching a bid too low may upset them and they won’t deal with you. This is sad because, once visited, a village can’t be returned to again.

The major problem to be encountered on your safari is the island’s wildlife. Almost every move made will result in your party stumbling upon some creature or other. Some of these are virtually university educated and ask mathematical quizzes of you. Some demand that you tell them their name. Others ask memory questions, but some are downright mean and force you into an arcade sequence. Should you fail the test, one of your party is killed off (hence the value of buying more men from the villages as these represent your lives!). On the other hand, a correctly answered test will give you 500 more ‘Rubloons’ of money for bartering with. Running out of food will also kill off a member of your team, the boat may only be bought at one village, which you must reach, and to succeed in escaping you must have sufficient food with you.

CRITICISM

‘I played Spectrum Safari some time back and remembered enjoying it. So it was nice to get to review it again. Time hasn’t dimmed its appeal either. What’s nice about this madcap game is that it keeps you on your toes and it’s very playable by a family along the lines of those TV family quiz games. To avoid being mangled by a mad marmoset, for instance, you must add up three blocks of them and give the correct answer in a few seconds. It’s not easy, and a quick eye is needed. The little arcade sequences, like getting through the maze of cruel crocodiles, are nicely done, although naturally the graphics are quite simple. Original, enjoyable and quite addictive as well.’

‘This game is totally original and combines some strategy elements with quizzes and arcade pieces. I would call it a lighthearted rather than deadly serious game, but there’s enough in it to keep you going for some time, and it gets to be pretty maddening! Some things first time round are literally killing. The lion who wants you to repeat his name after flashing it on the screen for what looks like a quarter of a second just makes you laugh. You do get better though.’

‘A graphics adventure that combines “soft” arcade with adventure elements and is very interactive with the player. It’s fun.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: vary from sequence to sequence but prompted on screen
Use of colour: good
Graphics: varied, amusing although a bit small. The hi-res drawings work well
Sound: mostly beeps
Skill levels: 3
Lives: three to start, then depends on your bartering skills
General Rating: Unusual, entertaining and good value.

Use of Computer

65%

Graphics

50%

Playability

68%

Getting Started

68%

Addictive Qualities

69%

Value For Money

69%

Overall

65%

SUBMARINE STRIKE

Producer: Pulsonic
Price: £2.99

Warwick Leisure under the marketing name of Pulsonic, have launched a range of new games for various computers (eight for the Spectrum) at an extraordinary low price — £2.99. At that sort of price one would expect that the collection would contain nothing very new, and on the whole this is the case, with a few reasonable games and some very poor ones. The question remains to be asked, despite the low cost, are the games worth it?

Submarine Strike is a sort of simplified version of Hunter-Killer (Protek). You are the captain of a submarine with a mission to destroy as many enemy ships as possible with 10 torpedoes. The enemy has to get ships from Base A to Base B, which show up on the centrally placed radar. A map facility shows the total playing area and relates to the radar’s more limited view. Hazards include reconnaissance planes which must be destroyed, enemy air attack, land-based guns, suffocation if submerged too long, running aground in shallows, and sea attack if your torpedoes miss their target. The screens include the map, control room with scanning radar of the immediate area, speed indication, depth, course, torpedo supply, on-board computer warning, air-raid warning and air-raid over indicator, then there is a periscope view for attacking shipping and also for shooting down aircraft.

Controlling the sub is quite simple with self-evident keys described in the inlay card. Messages are given you by the computer along the lines of, enemy shipping movements, imminent aircraft attack and damage reports. The mission is terminated if an enemy ship reaches base, you run out of air or fuel, run aground, use up all torpedoes, or if you are spotted by reconnaissance planes.

CRITICISM

‘Of the Pulsonic games, this was about the best one, I thought. Although it couldn’t be described as a highly technical simulation, it certainly manages to be fun to play. The radar screen is actually quite effective, with the scanning line rotating round, and recreating the image each time. The depth indicator is rather primitive, merely a sub shape on top of or under the blue water, with a graphic representation of the sea bed. I think this one is worth the price, although it’ll never replace Hunter-Killer for the real simulation addict.’

‘I found this game quite good. It has reasonable graphics and control is not too bad either. Generally, even at £2.99 Pulsonic games seem to be poor value. This is due to the fact that they use so much BASIC and many of them are very dated. However, this one is probably just worth the asking price.’

‘The graphics work quite well, especially the radar, and things happen quite quickly. It’s easy to get killed off, especially when twice in a row you are spotted by reconnaissance planes. There is a chance to shoot them down but your gunners seem to take ages to reload after a shot. Plotting your way round the largish area of sea and islands can be enjoyable if you like simulations. This is a fairly simple one, but I would think it worth it despite the BASIC programming.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: M=map, I=computer, C=change course, S=speed, D=dive, U=surface, P=pan periscope, F=fire, R=reload
Use of colour: average
Graphics: reasonable, good radar
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 1
General Rating: Average.

Use of Computer

50%

Graphics

52%

Playability

45%

Getting Started

43%

Addictive Qualities

45%

Value For Money

60%

Overall

49%

TASWORD 2

Producer: Tasman Software
Author: Steven Wetherill
Price: £13.90

Steven Wetherill, one of our reviewers’ competition runners up, takes a look at Tasword Two, the Word Processor.

Have you ever tried to write a letter, or prepare an article using your Spectrum? If so, you’ll know the sort of problems you come up against: ‘How do I enter text?’, ‘How do I format the text?’, ‘How do I get a decent printout?, etc, etc. Well, you will be pleased to know that this amazing utility solves all of the above problems, and does much, much more besides.

What it does, basically, is to turn your Spectrum into a very sophisticated form of electronic typewriter. Central to the program is an ingenious routine that display 64 characters per line on screen, totally legibly, and which also allows you to dump 64 cpl to the ZX printer. After using the program for a while and then going back to BASIC for some reason, the normal Spectrum characters seem absolutely GROSS!

My particular copy came in a plastic presentation case, but I have seen it supplied in a cardboard box. The instructions are very explicit, and take you step by step through the various stages to get you started off. Supplied with TASWORD is a demonstration text file, and it is suggested that you practise the various commands and functions on this. Once you have become accustomed to the various modes of operation you are ready to start word processing.

TASWORD operates on a text file which contains whatever you type in from the keyboard. This text file can be up to 320 lines long. The TV display is a window which shows you 22 lines of the text file. Certain control keys are used to manipulate the text file: one of the shift keys must be pressed to obtain a control key action. A very useful control key is EDIT (CAPS SHIFTed 1), which displays a ‘help page’ on the screen. The help page gives a brief description of each control key action. While the help page is showing, a further extended mode help page can be obtained by holding down both shift keys: to perform certain operations you have to put TASWORD into extended mode by pressing both shift keys simultaneously. The extended mode help page shows the effect of each key whilst in this mode.

There really are too many commands available than there is room here to go into fully, but briefly:

NORMAL MODE

Commands include: CAPS LOCK, CURSOR TO WORD LEFT/RIGHT, MOVELINE LEFT/RIGHT, CENTRE LINE, INSERT/DELETE LINE/CHARACTER, GOTO START/END OF TEXT, LOAD/SAVE/PRINT TEXT, REFORM TO END OF PARA., SCROLL UP DOWN, and START OF NEXT LINE.

Most of the above are self-explanatory, but CENTRE LINE and REFORM are two of the most useful: CENTRE LINE will centre titles and headings automatically; REFORM will reform the text from the line containing the cursor to the end of the paragraph so that text in which you have made insertions or deletions is tidied up.

EXTENDED MODE

FAST SCROLL UP/DOWN, CHANGE TEXT WINDOW, CLEAR TEXT FILE, FIND/REPLACE TEXT, INSERT MODE ON/OFF, RIGHT JUSTIFY ON/OFF, WORD WRAP ON/OFF, JUSTIFY/UNJUSTIFY LINE, SET/RESET LEFT/RIGHT MARGINS; plus commands to set start/finish markers for block MOVE and COPY.

TASWORD is compatible with both the ZX printer and, via a suitable interface, full size printers. Different printers use different printer control codes (for such things as carriage return, etc), and they use them in different ways. In TASWORD the Spectrum block graphics characters are not sent to full size printers, but are interpreted as a sequence of printer control characters. You can, for example, define a particular graphic character to be the sequence of codes that your printer uses for ‘form feed’ (move to top of next page).

Then you can simply type this character into your text when printing is required on a new page. TASWORD comes with the graphic characters defined for the Epson FX-80 printers, to define your own you simply use the ‘define graphics/printer’ option. Information is supplied for using TASWORD with a wide variety of printer interfaces.

If your last word on a text line does not quite fit, then TASWORD ‘word-wraps’; this means that the whole word is moved on to the next line. As well as word-wrapping, TASWORD will justify the line that has just been finished: the words in the line are spaced out by inserting spaces between them so as to dispose of ragged right-hand margins. Both these features can be turned off by the user, but are very useful in most circumstances.

You can SAVE any text that you have typed as a text file. Choosing the SAVE text file option results in TASWORD asking for a file name, then saving your text tile. When it has finished it asks you if you wish to verify. To LOAD a text file from tape you simply select the LOAD text file option.

TASWORD also has a MERGE option, but this should more accurately be called append, as the merged file is placed into the text buffer after any existing text.

IN USE

Armed with TASWORD TWO plus a decent printer, you can do almost any small word processing task that you care to mention. The control key system takes very little getting used to, and with the help pages only a keystroke away, you can soon dispense with the manual. The on-screen 64 cpl can be dumped straight on to the ZX printer, and although this is hardly letter perfect, it is legible. The program is fast to respond, the only possible exception being the find/replace commands, which were slightly tardy. Included with the package is a leaflet with Microdrive modifications to the program. I have not been able to test this, but obviously the speed improvement on SAVE and LOAD should be very useful.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall then, an excellent program which shows just what the Spectrum is capable of doing. If you have been looking for a word processor, then look no further.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Normal and Extended command modes; help page
Features: 21-page booklet; tutorial text file; 64 cpl both on-screen and ZX printer
Generally: Excellent

TITANIC

Producer: R&R Software Ltd
Author: Paul Hill
Price: £7.95

There have been recent programs out which have combined arcade with adventure games, ones like Phoenix’s Dodge City, where you must complete the arcade game in order to play the adventure; and of course there have been arcade adventures like Atic Atac. Adventures tend to have a strategical element in them, but R&R are probably the first software house to come up with a multi-stage game which is both strategy and adventure in the accepted sense.

The game is split into three stages. The first is also the shortest and involves trying to raise sufficient finance to mount a search to locate the wreck of the famous Titanic ocean liner which sank on its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912, after striking an iceberg. The scenario suggests that a fabulous fortune in gold went down with the ship, and that’s what you’re out to recover. Initially you are presented with a menu of 15 institutions whom you may approach for finance, and the idea is to get the best deal you can. Each contract, if accepted, restricts you to finance from that institution only. The initial sum of money is given as an advance, with further sums to be awarded if you discover a wreck.

Having selected a backer and signed the contract by entering your name, it is time to spend the money on essentials. A NASA Satellite Photo (infra red) shows all large objects below the surface; you need food and supplies at a cost per day; you need teams of expert divers; and you need repair kits (quite a few actually), Once you have spent your allocation you may put to sea.

Stage two presents a map of the North Atlantic with coloured blocks representing events. You only get this if you have purchased a NASA photograph, as the blocks are large objects below the surface of the sea. These may be the sites of wrecks or icebergs..

Hitting an iceberg may result in sinking, but strikes can as often be repaired if you have sufficient kits. If a wreck is reported your financial backers will probably give you another advance and you have the option of ignoring the siting or sending a team of divers down. Once they dive, the message screen reports on their progress — it’s dark down there — is the wreck the Titanic — or will they be killed? Your backers are understandably disinclined to come up with a further advance on sitting a second wreck, if you’ve already lost one team of divers!

Discovering the site of the Titanic’s last resting position switches you into stage three, the exploration. You are only able to explore one level at a time, and there are three. A simple 3D line drawing above the text shows the location. Commands do not have to be entered. The possible directions and location description are all combined. Pressing the desired direction key causes an instant response and carrying out of the command. Ideal locations to find are the service rooms on each deck, as these have deck plans of the ship. With something like 170 locations per deck, the plan is a valuable help. There are several types of hazard down there, and losing a team of divers can be catastrophic if you only have one left and not enough money to get back for another team.

CRITICISM

‘With 17 located possible sites (courtesy of NASA) and most of them being icebergs or lethal World War 2 wrecks, finding the last resting place of the Titanic can be very frustrating indeed, and take some time and several goes. Each time you try the blocks change place and what they represent is randomly selected, so experience is only gained in how to use your money for buying supplies, etc. I found the most useful items were the expensive repair kits — hit an iceberg without one and that’s that. The adventure, when finally reached, is quite straight forward, and I missed some atmospheric descriptions. On the other hand it makes up for it by the enormous number of locations to be searched, and there is still the strategy element in using your diving teams to their best advantage. Mine got crushed by a collapsing deck — they were only my fifteenth team...’

‘It’s nice to see R&R Software as a possible institution to approach for money! My first go at the game they offered the biggest sum of money on the board in return for buying all their games for the next five years! Second try, and they just said, “Sorry!” No reflection, I hope, on my skill as a marine salvage expert! Stage 1 does require a bit of careful planning and thinking, in spending your advance money. A NASA photo is essential, but leaves insufficient funds to easily purchase both enough diving teams and the essential repair kits — in this game the North Atlantic looks like a Scotch on the rocks, full of ice cubes! The adventure part is fun, although for a long time it seems like you are just going round in circles, and unless you come across a deck plan, it’s sensible to keep a drawn map going. R&R say that anyone finding the gold should donate some to their programmers’ retirement fund. The song on the reverse side of the tape is very good. I thought Titanic was quite an interesting combination of games.’

‘The graphics are all very clear and well laid out, with instant response times on the adventure. The graphics are quickly built up, most being outline drawings. It’s fun to play, but I felt the adventure hadn’t got quite enough going for it to be totally compulsive, and it turns more into a watery exploration without the relief of interesting location descriptions. This one’s quite a good family game.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors or N/S/W/E move the ship
Joystick: Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: responsive and simple with on-screen prompt. The ship moves slowly, but this avoids over-reacting
Use of colour: sensible, well used
Graphics: good text panels, generally good
Sound: not much, but try the rock single on the reverse!
Skill levels: 1
Features: good song by Rare Breed on tape, Currah compatible
General Rating: Entertaining, reasonably involving adventure and good for simple strategy gamers.

Use of Computer

78%

Graphics

76%

Playability

69%

Getting Started

72%

Addictive Qualities

73%

Value For Money

72%

Overall

73%

VEGETABLE CRASH

Producer: Kuma Computers Ltd
Author: Hudson Soft
Price: £6.95

Vegetable Crash has a rather novel scenario — vegetables at war. Actually it is a legumiary Galaxian game with various vegetables dive bombing your laser base instead of the usual aliens. Hudsonsoft is a Japanese company with whom Kuma have a licence to retail their products here in the UK. The game follows fairly conventional ‘Galaxian’ themes, with the vegetable gathering in serried ranks at the top of the screen. The veg include tomatoes, carrots, potatoes (or perhaps they’re aubergines), all of which fire explosive seeds downwards at you.

Some of them become so enraged that they turn over and go into a dive bombing routine — Kamikaze Karrots are a truly terrifying thing!

Your laser base may move to the left or right and there is continuous fire although only one missile is allowed on the screen at a time. In keeping with the culinary theme of the game, your missiles are actually small forks.

CRITICISM

‘You certainly won’t get into a stew with this game! Vegetable Crash follows a rather sedate path, hardly a frenzied shoot ’em up, nevertheless it has a charm of its own and is helped by the accuracy of the graphics — there’s none of that ‘but I hit it!’ with this game. The vegetables are really well done, with detail of faces clearly visible, mouths opening and closing, and the way they turn on to their tummies like fighter planes works very well. I thought the game was a little too easy to be a real shoot ’em up classic, but it is enjoyable to play.’

‘The formations and game layout is extremely similar to “Galaxians”. I liked the fact that the veg is all two-coloured — a rarity in Spectrum games. The graphics are quite good but a little jerky — the use of two colours makes up for this though, or possibly causes it. The game’s main drawback is that it’s just a shoot ’em up with a new type of nasty. It is fairly easy to play and by the fourth sheet it gets a bit repetitive. The swooping tomatoes, etc, do tend to make the game more varied, but it’s still basically a bit dated in design. Saying that, I would personally buy it, because in all I like it except for the price, which is a bit steep for what it is.’

‘The game gets off to a good start with keys positioned very well for either left- or right-handed players (it’s not a two-player game). The graphics are very well drawn and realistic in comparison to the original vegetable. A neat effect is created with the continuously scrolling, multi-coloured star background, and also by the way the attacking vegetables turn nose down to dive on you. The game’s speed isn’t terribly fast, especially for a “Galaxian” format game. Vegetable Crash is quite playable but tends to lose its addictive qualities after half an hour’s play.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: A/D left/right and CAPS to fire (left side of keyboard), or J/L and SPACE (right side of keyboard)
Joystick: doesn’t really need one
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: good, decent detail, reasonably smooth and medium fast
Sound: typical ‘Galaxian’ sound
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
General Rating: An oddball version of an old game, well implemented but perhaps a bit slow and repetitive for the experienced shoot ’em up addict.

Use of Computer

73%

Graphics

64%

Playability

69%

Getting Started

64%

Addictive Qualities

60%

Value For Money

49%

Overall

63%

WALLY KONG

Producer: Walltone Software
Author: Michael I. Barnard
Price: £5.95

The Wally of Kong probably refers to the way your man leaps about like a wallaby in this version of the venerable platform game with four screens. On each screen there are generally five platforms each connected with various ladders. The features include lifts, moving platforms, barrels, fireballs and bonus objects.

The object of the game is quite traditional, climb to the top of each screen and rescue the maiden from Kong’s clutches. This is done against the clock. Ends of platforms are dangerous in as much as you can fall to your death from them! The game claims to have an amazing 200 skill (speed) levels, but since the slowest and fastest have about the same relationship that you would expect from a game with 9 levels, this seems rather pointless.

CRITICISM

‘Wally Kong is a fairly typical ‘Kong’ game and not bad either. The graphics and movement are both reasonable, and the man jumps very well. I liked this version but I still feel that the Ocean Kong is the best. This version tends to lack sound.’

‘I didn’t quite know what to make of the graphics in this game. They are clear and bright and reasonably detailed, and yet they still manage to look quite primitive. Your man leaps with gusto, but not while he’s moving forward, which is silly. He can’t jump near a ladder either, so it’s important to time the run up to a ladder rather well. There are other oddities too. If you have the forward key pressed when a life starts, your man is invisible! But he still dies when a barrel rolls over where he ought to be. The second screen is pathetically simple, while the third with its two lifts is almost impossible because of their speed. It has good points, but it fails to be a very good or playable version.’

‘The four screens are fairly copied from the original arcade version, first two screens being easy to clear, while the third is incredibly difficult due to the extreme speed of the lifts. Most of the characters are small and fairly primitive in their drawing. Not the best Kong around. Unlike the other Calisto games I’ve seen, this one offers a second keyboard option as well as the ‘cursers’ as they refer to them on the menu — I’m sure the spelling is intended!’

COMMENTS

Control keys: curs(e)rs and 0 to fire or Q/Z up/down, U/I left/right and P to jump
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: good responses, pity man won’t jump while any other key is depressed
Use of colour: good
Graphics: average to good
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 200
Lives: 200
Screen: 4
General Rating: Above average ‘Kong’, despite some programming oddities.

Use of Computer

64%

Graphics

57%

Playability

62%

Getting Started

74%

Addictive Qualities

60%

Value For Money

59%

Overall

63%

WILFRED THE HAIRY, OLAF THE HUNGRY!

Producer: Microbyte
Price: £5.50

It is the age of the Vikings and you are Olaf (in blue), pitting your wits against Wilfred (in red), alias your Spectrum, in this game of ancient strategy. The basic object of the game is to conquer the known world, which includes North and South America, Africa, Europe and most of Asia. Your castle and home is situated somewhere on the site of where Winnipeg will one day be built, and the awful Wilfred has his sited somewhere to the north of Lake Victoria in Africa. Continents are entered and left via ports marked as green spots and conquering is accomplished by placing appropriately coloured flags in columns and rows throughout the country.

Plagues of rats and fleas are a problem for Wilfred and he often has to return home to delouse. Both sides have an ammo allocation which is depleted whenever one of the enemy’s flags is replaced by one of your own. This is also replenished by returning home. It is not possible to enter a continent totally conquered by Wilfred if his ammo level is above 40. Occasionally enemy shipping approaches your sailing ship and a small area at the bottom left of the screen clears to reform as a view of the sea, crenellated walls and a cannon.

The enemy ships appear on the horizon and must be fired at by moving the cannon left and right and pressing key Z.

Movement is via the cursor keys, each army taking turns. A message screen at the bottom informs you of Wilfred’s seemingly endless misfortunes, a lot of which have to do with the widely spread Wangu tribe of head hunters.

CRITICISM

‘The inlay describes this as a game of High Resolution Action Graphics. If only that were true it might have just overcome the silliness of the program. Because you input the direction of travel, up, down, left, right and nothing else, there’s very little to do in this game. Then the moves are all very slow. And the game never wants to end. Even if you sit still and let Wilfred slowly turn the world red, it doesn’t end the game when he succeeds. Other funny things happen — if Wilfred crosses your actual position, you turn red as well, at least until you make a move. Half an hour’s play should convince anyone that they have successfully wasted their money.’

‘The graphics hardly live up to the inlay’s claim — blocky white suggestions of the continents on a blue background, red and blue flags, men and castles and green character blocks for entry/exit points. It all looks very primitive and there seems to be little point to the game anyway. The Wangu tribe are all over the place, so I suppose they are the real winners, having already conquered the world!’

‘The game is not only hard to get into, but there isn’t anything to see. It’s full of things that happen beyond your control. Only the occasional attack on your sailing ship by enemy ships has anything like an action feel, but the cannon balls leave trails of uncleared pixels behind them. The instructions and graphics let this game down, but its main problem is the program itself. After playing for three quarters of an hour without any apparent ending in sight, Wilfred (at the time visiting my American home) suddenly began creating whole new chunks of land in a straight line downwards, joining the eastern seaboard of America from Florida to Brazil. Laying flags behind him, he swathed down through the South Atlantic, hit the message line and crashed with the report, ‘50% Out of Screen, 148:1’. Farewell Wilfred.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors during main game, 6/7 left/right and Z to fire for the sea going cannon
Joystick: AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: very unresponsive
Use of colour: poor
Graphics: poor
Sound: very poor
Skill levels: none
General Rating: A waste of time and money, and a bugged program.

Use of Computer

33%

Graphics

15%

Playability

10%

Getting Started

25%

Addictive Qualities

5%

Value For Money

10%

Overall

16%

WORM ATTACK

Producer: Pulsonic
Author: P. Makinson, John K. Wilson
Price: £2.99

This is a ‘Bozy Boa cum Snake’ game, where you are the snake in a garden. The object is to wander round, eating the fruit in the garden but avoiding the rocks. With each screen cleared you get longer. Hitting a rock, the edge of the garden or reversing direction on yourself, or hitting your own tail means a loss of life.

CRITICISM

‘This is a very out-of-date game now, and most of the existing versions are much better done. The graphics are extremely simple, the fruit being white crosses, the rocks are dark blobs and the snake is a series of blue circles with dots in them and a drawn head. Including the green background, this means only four colours have been used. The BASIC makes everything quite slow.’

‘A snake, eating and getting longer game. Not an unreasonable version but the graphics are not exactly what I would call stunning. Cursor keys for control are poor too. This is a not very inspiring version of a game that is practically an antique now.’

‘The game idea (very old now) is quite playable, and I have played versions which, because of their graphics, have been very addictive. This one has no graphics to speak of, and so despite the low price is hardly worth it, unless it’s to introduce a very young player to the computer.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors
Joystick: Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: reasonably responsive
Use of colour: very poor
Graphics: very poor
Sound: poor, just a few beeps
Skill levels: you get longer with each completed screen
Lives: 5
General Rating: Despite the price, hardly worth anyone’s while.

Use of Computer

32%

Graphics

38%

Playability

35%

Getting Started

60%

Addictive Qualities

38%

Value For Money

48%

Overall

42%

ZIG ZAG

Producer: DK Tronics
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: E. Hickman

Zig Zag is one of those games that provides you with some pretty sophisticated equipment, namely a Vectrakker DKT Mk II prototype fitted out with the latest in Navtraq series MD12 guidance system, electron pulse interrogator, residual plasma drive monitor, sector entry code display and junction indicators. Junction indicators?

The screen shows the control console of your Vectrakker with the sector entry code in a panel to the lower left, energy drain in a similar panel to the right, score bonus in between and the junction indicators and sector map in a long panel at the top. In between is the view through the windscreen.

The object of the game is to traverse the mazelike corridors of each of six sectors, pursue the inhabitants called Scarabaqs until you trap them in a dead end. When the Interrogator is fired at them, they give up part of a code for entry to the next sector. A second burst will kill them, which saves you chasing the same Scarabaq again, but drains energy. The sector is very simple, merely a square of corridors with a long dead end. On either side there are short dead ends along every corridor. It takes one Scarabaq to get the code to enter sector two.

Sector two is far more complex, and each subsequent sector after that gets more complicated. In sector two you must interrogate two Scarabaqs, in sector three, three and so on. As you progress through a sector, turning this way and that, a map builds up on the screen above, with a cursor dot showing your position. The SED panel flashes red when a Scarabaq is near, and is reported verbally if you are using the Currah microspeech. Once spotted, the Scarabaq runs away from you turning corners and then waiting. The idea is to learn the sector layout and disrupt the Scarabaq’s normal retreat method to finally trap it in a short dead end when it may be ‘interrogated’. Should you select the incorrect dead end, the beast will escape and have to be chased all over again.

While this is going on, be on the watch out for hoverdroids, which flash out from a junction and fire at you, draining energy. They can be destroyed by firing the interrogator at them.

The view of the corridors of the maze is in striking three dimensions. Bonus scores for each sector drop with movement/time, but much more quickly while stationary.

‘Ve haff vays und meanz!’ A poor little Scarabaq is cornered and put under interrogation...

CRITICISM

‘In my opinion, Zig Zag has been worked on more for its 3D graphics (and good they are!) than its game playability. I did enjoy moving around after the victims and zapping them (or interrogating them), but they seemed rather scarce. The graphics are very impressive, with fast, smooth scrolling 3D corridors, but I found the striped verticals tended to make my eyes work overtime. Generally, the game was reasonable with fast movement and good graphics. I thought they could have made it a little more exciting though.’

‘Zig Zag is an unusual game. The quality of the graphics is very high which helps to make it fun to play. The corridors are described as a series of vertical black stripes ending in perspective cut off which accurately forms walls, corridor floor and the suggestion of corridors leading off to the left and right. When you turn a corner, everything scrolls round giving a very real impression of turning a corner. The Scarabaqs are also excellently done, with large 3D graphics, pounding feet, armoured backs, squealing around tight comers, and almost irresistible when cornered, with their large saucer eyes and gaping, chattering mouths. Seems a shame to shoot them! I wouldn’t say that this is a difficult game, rather more an involved and long one. It’s also a tiring one, but in a satisfying way. Highly playable, quite addictive, although I don’t know how long its attraction will really last, and in my opinion among the finest games DK Tronics have produced.’

‘The 3D effect in this game is quite fantastic, it all moves very smoothly. Chasing a Scarabaq can become extremely tiring due to the fact that the maze is made up of stripes, I don’t think this detracts from the game though. One of the most useful features is the map which is drawn as you explore a new sector, so you can retrace your footsteps. Monsters scurry very quickly through the maze trying to avoid you and take ages to catch — they are very well drawn. Other than chasing the Scarabaqs, there isn’t a lot else going on in the game but still, it remains really quite addictive to play. Sound and colour are well used and the Currah microspeech enhances the sound considerably. By the time you finish this game you feel physically as though you have run right through the maze...’

COMMENTS

Control keys: A=forward, Z=fire O/P left-right turn, or Sinclair keys, 6/7 left/right, 9=forward and 0 to fire
Joystick: Sinclair ZX 2, Kempston, DK Tronics interface
Keyboard play: highly responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent 3D effect, generally of a high standard
Sound: excellent
Skill levels: each sector is harder
Lives: depends on bonus or energy drain
Screens: continuously scrolling
Features: Currah Microspeech compatible
General rating: very unusual, addictive and good value.

Use of computer

85%

Graphics

88%

Playability

85%

Getting started

83%

Addictive qualities

83%

Value for money

84%

Overall

85%