Issue No. 11 December 1984

FEATURES

SABRE WULF COMPETITION
Some more on the runners-up

MUSIC ON THE SPECTRUM
Franco Frey composes a symphony with the MUSIC TYPEWRITER

ULTRAKIT
We take a look at Hisoft’s utility

THE LAST STARFIGHTER
We take a look at some stunning computer animations in an exciting new film for Christmas

REGULARS

EDITORIAL
And indexes

CRASH FORUM
Over-worked and under-paid, Lloyd struggles on

NEWS INPUT
A brief roundup for the month

ADVENTURE TRAIL
Derek comes out of the shadows — plus Signpost

PLAYING TIPS
And the Hall of Slime

ADVENTURES OF JETMAN
A special double helping from our moony hero

CRASH HOTLINE & ADVENTURE CHART

THE TERMINAL MAN
The Arcadians are powered up at last

DIY

THE RUNES OF ZENDOS
Hardware and software prizes from Dorcas!

THE CRASH QUIZ
with Micromart and win a game or even a flight

BEACH HEAD
Win a copy of the new US GOLD game!

REVIEWS

CRASH SMASHES
Turmoil, Sir Lancelot, Skool Daze, Starstrike, Out of the Shadows, Tir Na Nog, Dark Star

- ALL OR NOTHING, Abbex
- BATTLEZONE, Quicksilva
- BEATCHA, Romik
- BOMBSCARE, Dollar Soft
- BOUNCING BERTIE/ESKIMO CAPERS, Power Soft
- CATWALK, Power Soft
- CHINESE JUGGLER, Ocean
- DARK STAR, Design Design
- D-DAY, Games Workshop
- EDDIE KIDD JUMP CHALLENGE, Software Communications
- THE EYE OF BAIN, Artic
- GILLIGAN’S GOLD, Ocean
- THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, Thor
- KUNG-FU, Bug-Byte
- MADHATTER, Gamma
- NOAH, E.S.P.
- OUT OF THE SHADOWS, Mizar
- PI-IN-HERE, Automata
- PIROMANIA, Automata
- RETURN TO EDEN, Level 9
- SIR LANCELOT, Melbourne House
- SKOOL DAZE, Microsphere
- SPACE PROFESSOR, Front Runner
- SPECIAL DELIVERY, Creative Sparks
- STARSTRIKE, Realtime
- TILER, Interceptor
- TIR NA NOG, Gargoyle Games
- TOWER OF DESPAIR, Games Workshop
- TRAVELS WITH TRASHMAN, New Generation
- TROUBLE BREWIN’, Silversoft
- TURMOIL, Bug-Byte
- TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY, Bug-Byte
- VALKYRIE 17, Ram Jam Corporation
- WORLDS AT WAR, Esteem More Than Equal

Editor

Roger Kean

Consultant editor

Franco Frey

Production designer

David Western

Art editor

Oliver Frey

Adventure editor

Derek Brewster

Staff Writer

Lloyd Mangram

Contributing writers

Matthew Uffindell, Chris Passey

Client liaison

John Edwards

Subscription manager

Denise Roberts

Circulation manager

Tom Hamilton

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/

ROLL OVER SPECTRUM

Franco Frey

Alright, your Sinclair Spectrum is not noted to be a very good musician — how would you sound with a tiny piezo ceramic mouthpiece — but it has got an excellent memory for tunes and a finger dexterity second to none. So why not tap in on these resources and extend your musical repertoire with the Speccy...

Converting a personal computer into a practical synthesiser usually requires a large amount of hardware — from musical keyboards to countless sound generators and filters. ROMANTIC ROBOT avoids this problem by converting the Spectrum into a music typewriter. The result is a respectable storage and retrieve type melody maker not a realtime instrument. MUSIC TYPEWRITER stores up to 16 different music pieces within 254 bars, which can be edited and played with varying rhythm and tempo.

THE INSTRUMENTS

MUSIC TYPEWRITER comes complete with a manual and a keyboard overlay in a library box. The program lets you set paper and ink colours and then presents itself with the main menu. MUSIC TYPEWRITER is organised in three program pages. For each page a help menu may be called up for on screen instructions.

Page 0 contains the main menu, which also gives access to the other pages.

Page 1 provides a selection of the key and time signatures, tempo, clef and tail display of the music to be written.

Page 2 contains the catalogue of existing music pieces and provides the controls for creating, deleting, saving and loading of other music hors d’oeuvres. Throughout the program, SPACE moves the selecting cursor, ENTER executes the selected command or value, Q quits any operation and returns you to the main menu and BREAK reinitialises the program to the original colour selection.

The first excursion should lead to page 2, where the catalogue of existing music pieces will be displayed with their index number, name, number of bars and how many bars are still available. The piece to be written, edited or played is selected with NEW (for a new piece) or OLD (for an existing piece). Q brings back the main menu.

The second excursion should lead to page 1, where all the key and time parameters will have to be set up for the piece to be written, unless one operates with the default values. All the major keys are available at the touch of their key. Existing music pieces will be transposed taking care of all sharps, flats etc. Any time signature may be selected from 2/4 to 8/4 or 2/8 to 15/8. Tempo can be set anywhere between 23 and 255 of the metronome scale. Treble and bass clefs and tail direction are selected for the correct notation. Pressing Q returns you to the main menu where write mode may be selected. The music is written directly on the Spectrum keyboard. The overlay converts the Spectrum into a musical keyboard with the 3rd row from the top as white keys. The black keys, which can either be sharps or flats depending on notation can be accessed either on the 2nd row from the top (sharps) or the 4th row from the top (flats). There is just over 1 octave available at any time, but the whole range can be shifted an octave lower with caps shift & 2 or an octave higher with symbol shift & 2. The shift can be cancelled by pressing caps or symbol shift & 3. There are two clefs, the bass clef using the lower and the treble clef the upper part of the full 6 octave range. The basic note values are selected on the top row and range from a semibreve to a semiquaver (additional signs such as staccato, tenuto, dotted notes, triplets can also be selected) and apply until a new value is selected. The selected value is displayed in the top left corner of the screen. Pressing any of the music keys or PAUSE will play the note and display it simultaneously in the bar following the last entered note. Caps shift & 0 deletes the notes from right to left starting with the last written note. STEP steps you through existing notes from left to right without altering them. The program takes care of the bar lines and end line. Upon completion of the music piece the write mode is left by pressing ENTER upon completion of the last bar.

The tune may now be played by selecting PLAY from main menu, and the music parameters may be changed and experimented with. REPEAT repeats a piece N times. The range is from 1 to 255 with 255 being an endless loop.

If only certain bars of a music piece need to be altered EDIT will enable you to step through and change notes in a bar number N and onwards.

CRITICISM

MUSIC TYPEWRITER is an extremely user friendly program, which lets you get started within minutes. As the music has to be written in real notation, it is not suited for musicians who play by ear. You cannot play a melody with varying note values just by modulating the keys, so creating a rhythmical sequence will have to be worked out in the mind. MUSIC TYPEWRITER has tremendous potential as an educational program for young kids who have to come to grips with writing or reading a musical piece and have to learn the scales. Disappointingly there is only one ‘instrument’ available. It would have been nice to have a range of instruments to choose from. After all, it’s the one thing you expect from an electronic instrument. This together with the limitation of one voice only limits the pleasure of using MUSIC TYPEWRITER for anything more serious. One other drawback is the way in which the notes are displayed in playback and write/edit mode. The notes appear simultaneously when they are played or entered, but there is no forward vision. It is impossible to read (or learn to read) the notes on playback, as the preceding notes are invisible. It would have been far better to indicate the current play position by a chance of ink colour using a less solid colour for the notes still to be played. The same goes for editing or writing an old piece, where you would like to do alterations by stepping with SPACE to copy the existing notes and to overwrite a certain section with new notes. As you are not aware of the next note you end up pressing STEP (SPACE) followed by DEL. (CAPS SHIFT & 0) because of the blindness.

There is however full facility of making hard copies of your master pieces with a print command in the WRITE/EDIT mode for the current bar and in the main menu for an entire music piece. The music piece can be saved and loaded from tape by accessing page 2.

The keyboard overlay solves the problem of not having a dedicated musical keyboard and all the major commands are annotated for instant accessibility. There are a string of error reports which warn you of impending dangers and together with the HELP pages this makes for a very user friendly program.

Apart from any serious educational application MUSIC TYPEWRITER is an ideal pastime for any lingering musician. You can write the most masochist tune and see how the computer copes without any hiccups...

Program: MUSIC TYPEWRITER
Producer: Romantic Robot
Memory required: 16K
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: B. Mikolasek & V. Meier

ULTRAKIT is not the name of a new pop group, but a new utility for the Spectrum. Coming from the very much famed company HISOFT (producers of DEVPAC and PASCAL), ULTRAKIT is a boost for the Sinclair Basic and provides the user with a more sophisticated and comprehensive Basic. It provides User Defined Keys, error trapping, an alarm clock, program trace and many other extra features.

ULTRAKIT is less than 7K and sits just under the User Defined Graphics area. It can be loaded at any time before or after program development as a machine code block (a Basic loader program is provided if required) and can initially be activated with a Randomise User command. ULTRAKIT uses two types of command. One type is the Pre Defined Command (PDC). These commands are obtained by holding ENTER and pressing one of the digit keys, releasing ENTER (the message will appear) and only then releasing the digit key. This may sound difficult, but it soon becomes second nature. The other type is termed a Kit command. These are accessed using REM in immediate mode. This produces the HISOFT copyright message and the command can be typed in letter by letter. The command may be abbreviated to one letter — U for Update etc. The execution follows after pressing ENTER.

There are 11 Pre Defined commands and 23 Kit commands.

THE CLOCK

The clock is interrupt driven and will therefore work whenever the interrupt is not disabled (Microdrive, cassette handling and Lprint disable interrupts and therefore stop the clock operation momentarily). The clock time display can be turned on and off by ENTER8 and can be updated or set by use of the Kit command UPDATE.

The alarm time can also be turned on and off by ENTER9 and can be set by the Kit command WARNTIME. The alarm will run for one minute and the alarm can be switched off by ENTER0. AL in the display indicates that the alarm is set.

Obviously the clock will run even if the display is switched off.

USER DEFINED KEYS

The ten digit keys may be defined by the user to produce any string required (up to a maximum of 256 characters per key) when accessed. A vertical line at the end of the string is an implied ENTER command and will lead to the immediate execution of the string on call up of that digit number (SPACEdigit). Strings without implied ENTER will appear in the edit line on call up and can thus be used for calling up often used Kit commands with SPACEdigit. Pressing ENTER will execute these. This means that multi-statement commands may be immediately executed via the User Defined Keys. Kit commands can only be called up on the edit line, but cannot be executed directly (ENTER required). Setting up and editing the User Defined Keys is accomplished with a Kit command KEY followed by the string. The multi-statement strings allow the user to save with ULTRAKIT information either as DATA statements or as user defined functions and quickly retrieve and use after ULTRAKIT is activated again. User Defined Graphics may be saved this way and can be redefined with the press of a (user defined) key.

PROGRAM TRACING

TRACE is activated by the Kit command TRACE and requires 3 parameters, the trace-on line, the trace-off line and the initial speed of tracing (0 to 6 and > 127 for single stepping). This enables only certain program sections of interest to run under trace. On a GOTO or RUN in the edit line followed by ENTER the program will be executed one statement at a time at a reduced speed and the current line and statement will be printed inverse in the top right screen. The execution speed may be changed by pressing one of the digit keys 1 to 6 and 0 (1 full speed, 0 1.5 second delay) or by pressing Symbol Shift to enter the single step mode. In single step mode the current variables may be monitored (V), the current line (L) or next line (N) may be listed, or the screen cleared (C). Pressing SYMBOL SHIFT executes the next statement, pressing one of the digit keys returns to normal trace. Trace mode inactivates the toolkit and on completion toolkit has to be reactivated with SYMBOL SHIFT and SPACE. Microdrive commands inactivate TRACE.

FIND AND SUBSTITUTE

These two Kit commands can be used to search for and replace occurrences of strings.

The FIND string and the SUBSTITUTE string can be put into the respective buffers by the use of the PUT Kit command.

The search can be started at a specified line number N. It will displace the line in which it occurs and pinpoint with a flashing cursor the exact position of the string.

A minus sign in front of the start search line number will cause a search through the whole program starting with the start line and will list all occurrences in the form line:statement. SUBSTITUTE operates in a similar fashion, but will either substitute and display the line in which it occurs or with a minus sign replace all occurrences automatically.

SUBSTITUTE may be used to substitute a variable for an explicit number which appears frequently in the program. With inclusion of a statement Let val=n at the beginning of a program.

PROGRAM COMPACTION ROUTINES

Among the Pre Defined commands there are 4 program compaction routines, which will reduce the amount of programming space required at the cost of making the program totally unintelligible. CRUNCH1 will convert all numbers to a dummy 0 (ASCII representation of the number set to 0). The real value is unrecoverable.

CRUNCH2 converts 0 to NOT PI, 1 to SGN PI, 3 to INT PI, and all other numbers to their VAL equivalent. The program will however run slower.

REMKILL deletes all REM statements, control codes and unnecessary spaces. Machine code routines within REM statements may be protected by placing an asterisk as the first REM character.

PACKER will compress the program into as few statements as possible (127 statements per line as a maximum), avoiding however tagging lines onto a preceding line including REM, STOP, IF, GOTO, RUN or RETURN. To compress your program into a minimum possible space, REMKILL followed by a RENUMBER, then PACKER and finally one of the CRUNCHes will do the trick. This should only be done after the program has been fully debugged and saved in its normal expansive form.

INTERESTING FEATURES

Other interesting Pre Defined commands are MAP which displays a memory map of the Spectrum and L-CASE and U-CASE which convert all variables to lower or upper case.

The following Kit commands are also available: BREAK can be set to break program execution and resume at a given line number.

COPY copies a block of lines indicated by start and end of block line number to a destination line number. These lines will be renumbered in 1’s starting from destination1. Only the line numbers will be renumbered and not GOTO’s etc. These must be changed by hand.

DELETE deletes a block of lines.

EDIT will bring down a specific line for editing.

GRAB deletes part of the toolkit to gain programming space. There are three levels.

HIDE inactivates temporarily the toolkit and increases the execution speed.

INFORM displays the current default values for the command parameters.

JOIN joins two program lines if the number of statements does not exceed 127.

LOSE-KIT inactivates the toolkit permanently.

MOVE copies similar to COPY but then deletes the original block.

NUMBER renumbers the program from a start line to the end with a chosen start line and increment. All GOTO, GOSUB, LIST, LLIST, RESTORE, RUN and LINE statements are adjusted accordingly and a report is given on all lines containing these expressions.

ON-ERROR equivalent to BREAK, except that all errors are trapped with the exception of 0:OK, 9:STOP STATEMENT, 14:BREAK CONT repeats, and 21:BREAK INTO PROGRAM.

QSEPARATOR specifies the character used to separate the two parameter strings.

RAMREL will change RAMTOP without CLEARing variables. The parameter is a relative move from existing RAMTOP.

CONCLUSION

HISOFT are providing with ULTRAKIT a professional tool without any unnecessary frills. The most powerful facilities are the TRACE, ON-ERROR, MAP, USER DEFINED KEYS, FIND/SUBSTITUTE and the compaction routines.

All the other Basic extensions such as RENUMBER, JOIN, MOVE, COPY and DELETE complement this package.

The two command modes Kit and Pre Defined are easy to get used to and provide a very fast and efficient way of accessing all the available facilities.

Some trouble was experienced with the single step TRACE mode, as it appeared to skip several statements at a time when SYMBOL SHIFT was pressed.

The manual provided with the cassette explains in detail the use of the keyboard, the accessing of the Kit and Pre Defined commands, the alarm clock, find and substitute program tracing and the user defined keys. There is a complete index of the Kit and of the Pre Defined commands. A chapter is dedicated to the customising of the toolkit. Microdrive owners may save the ULTRAKIT on microdrive with the instructions supplied. Several poke addresses are provided to facilitate customisation of the various displays and printouts.

ULTRAKIT is a must for any serious Basic programmer, as it improves and compliments the Sinclair Basic in the editing and debugging area, which makes life a lot easier when creating extensive Basic programs.

Franco Frey

Program:

ULTRAKIT

Producer:

Hisoft

Memory required:

48K

Price:

£9.45

THINKING AHEAD

AS I WRITE THIS, we are plunged in the gloom of a rainy mid-October day, but thinking ahead to the pleasures of Christmas, wondering whether it is going to be a boomer or a bummer for everyone involved in the business of computer games. The point I’m making about having to think ahead, is that it is one thing the software industry at large doesn’t seem to do very effectively. In almost all other areas of sales, it is accepted that you must have product ready for review (whether by magazines or chain store buyers) months and months in advance. For example let’s assume that CRASH wanted to sell a 1985 calendar through the larger shops. It would have had to be printed and delivered to the shops by August 1984, which would mean commencing design work on it in June at the latest. But it would have had to be negotiated (which requires a fully printed dummy) before Christmas 1983 to ensure good sales back up. Which means if we want to do a 1986 calendar, we would have to be ‘selling’ it to the shops’ buyers as an idea NOW.

Yet software houses, desperately keen to make a good thing of the Christmas period, all go and release games at the same time, and only one or two months, at the most, before Christmas. They all expect — or certainly hope — to get them reviewed well in time to entice customers to buy them. Now if 50 software houses each release an average of 3 games in October and November, there is no way it is possible to get all 150 reviewed before Christmas and indeed, with shop shelf space at a premium, it is unlikely that all of them will even get into the shops in the first place unless they have concluded negotiations way ahead of time.

It’s natural that everyone should want to release games at the same time before Christmas but it is a pity that they all assume magazines will get them reviewed in time. A little forward planning (that favourite phrase of strategy game players) would result in games being ready for preview from mid-summer on, thus ensuring a reasonable amount of time for reviewers to get to grips with them all.

ON THE INCREASE

CARRYING ON from the above piece, Christmas may be the boom time, but summer is the slump time, not only in the computer field, but generally. Magazines, especially, tend to drop in sales throughout the summer months. But I am pleased to be able to say that this has not happened with CRASH. In fact, recent figures have shown that CRASH is one of very few magazines (of all types) that has actually increased its sales over the summer and we are now well ahead of many in the field.

SPECTRUM

I’VE NEVER thought of myself as a prophet, so I was taken by surprise as much as everyone else when Sinclair Research released information about the new ZX Spectrum (and the machine at the same time!) only a few days after the last issue went to press containing an editorial which suggested that Sinclair should do something to upgrade the Spectrum. However, if it was prophesy, then it was inefficient prophesy, because Sinclair have really done nothing to upgrade the Spectrum beyond giving it a professional typewriter style keyboard, thus confirming their attitude to the machine that they do not see it as a games machine. Nothing has been done about the sound or colour attribute problems associated with the video display.

Whilst a more solid keyboard is to be appreciated, it is worth noting that you are effectively paying £50 for it — £5 more than, say, the DK’Tronics keyboard, which is also microdrive compatible. It’s true that Sinclair are giving away a little over £50 worth of software with the new computer, but they are doing the same with the old version. Fortunately, this lack of change also means that they have done little to upset the market balance for manufacturers of Spectrum peripherals (except Keyboard manufacturers), many of which have helped to make the Spectrum the best-selling machine in Britain.

It seems to me to be an oddly half-hearted decision rather like a car manufacturer who decides to give a model a new lease of life by putting it inside a restyled body shell. So it seems that the Spectrum owner is still to be denied the true delights of white noise explosions — the one real step forward that could have been made easily enough and at reasonable cost — in exchange for the clatter of hard keys. For myself — I’d kinda got used to the satisfyingly ‘squelchy’ feel of the old membrane keys...

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

AND GETTING RIGHT TO CHRISTMAS, our next issue (on sale December 13) is called the Christmas Special. As I’ve said before, it is effectively the January issue but on sale well in time for Christmas, and should fill in a few of those more boring moments during the holiday period. I’ve lost count of the prize value offered in numerous competitions! The CRASH reviewing team is getting together next week to put together two articles, one looking back over the year, and the other looking forward to what we might expect next year. Additionally, there is another article about CRASH itself. We have received several letters enquiring about how CRASH is put together each month, and there seems to be a general interest in the subject. Lots of readers may assume magazines sort of ‘happen’, without realising how much effort is needed, and people to make it just ‘happen’. This article will ‘blow the lid off’ and reveal the inside story! And of course there will be reviews, the grand slam Valley of Slime, POKEs Corner, and many other tit bits.

SOFTWARE PIRATES

IT ISN’T THE FIRST TIME that magazines have taken the attitude that if software houses want the public to cease pirating software, then they must put their own house in order first. I’m not sure I go along entirely with the argument that this includes versions of versions of well known games. After all, if we really stuck strictly to the definition of ‘originality’, then (in writing) most novels would never have been written. There are only a few ideas in the world — the trick is to rehash them in new ways and relate the idea differently to life. So with computer games; just because one version of a game is original, it doesn’t mean it can’t be bettered. And where do you draw the line between what is a ‘copy’ and what is something different that has nevertheless used elements of a well known game type?

Where I do feel some software houses have been in a dodgy area is when they do use copyrighted material illegally. It isn’t a Spectrum game, but Mastertronic have been forced to withdraw their game Chiller because it used the music Thriller by Michael Jackson as backing. This was done without first obtaining a licence from Rocksoft, the sole exclusive agent for the original publisher of the song. As a result of legal proceedings, Mastertronic have been forced to withdraw the game and make what is described as a ‘substantial’ out of court settlement.

It is all too easy in a world where two wrongs are thought to make a right, to see that games buyers are going to argue that if they can try it on — so can we.

N·E·W·S   I·N·P·U·T

A close up of the keyboard — as you can see, some things have moved about...

SPECTRUM PLUS

On October 15th Sinclair Research released information about its new computer, The ZX Spectrum. Essentially the same as the existing Spectrum, the new 48K model has been placed inside a truncated QL body and therefore offers a full professional keyboard. The Spectrum is fully compatible with existing Spectrum software and peripherals (although manufacturers of add-on keyboards may be less than enthusiastic about this).

The hard plastic keys include a space bar and 17 keys in addition to those available on the existing model. These enable many functions to be performed with a single key stroke. The keyboard may also be tilted, using retractable feet built into the underside of the case. There is also a reset button to clear the computer without that irritating plug pulling we’re all so familiar with.

The Spectrum retails at £179.95 and includes six applications program worth over £50 — these are Scrabble, Make a Chip, Chequered Flag, Chess, VU-3D and Tasword 2.

The new computer is said to be already on sale at some branches of WH Smith and Dixons.

ACTIVISION CLUB

Membership clubs of software houses appear to be all the rage lately, and one of the latest is that of Activision. When you join the Activision Software Club you go on the mailing list for their Club News a full colour quarterly publication which gives you an update on all forthcoming Activision releases as well as tips and views from other members. Activision say that they run large-scale competitions for members as well as a worldwide pen-pal service for those who would like to communicate with home computer buffs from other countries.

On top of all this the Activision Software Club offers a Performance Award Scheme, which gives everyone who owns Activision software a chance to win performance prizes, badges or certificates by sending in a photograph of their on-screen hi-score. Perpetual hi-scorers are awarded ‘hi-score’ tee-shirts and real champs may receive a ‘Champ’ sweatshirt.

Activision’s Software Club has been going now for over two years and Activision claim many thousands of members from several countries and over a number of computers. It is hoped that owners with systems for which they have recently started to manufacture software will join their club and swell the numbers further.

NEW LOOK FOR SINCLAIR PROGRAMS

Sinclair Programs, the listings magazine recently taken over by EMAP Business and Computer Publications (publishers of Computer & Video Games) has announced a complete revamp. After a short statement aimed to prove how popular the title has been, the announcement goes on to say how it’s all going to be changed to make it visually and editorially more exciting — even a new logo will be used on the cover. Contents will include programming tips, ‘in depth’ software reviews, adventure reviews, a problems page, news, competitions and ‘lots more’. What happened to all those listings that made it ‘popular’ in the first place?...

THE LAST WORD

Using an appropriate Greek pun, the last word in software is claimed to be Omega Software. Omega is the umbrella name for a group of well known software houses, one of which prefers to remain anonymous which includes Anirog, CRL and Silversoft. The aim of Omega is to put out budget software at £1.99, many games of which would have been released in earlier times at far higher prices. For the Spectrum, these include Copter, Handy Andy, Chamber of Horrors, Pool and Corruption.

Nigel Searle (right) presents the Cambridge Award Trophy and £2000 cheque to John Sherry for his winning game, The Prince.

CAMBRIDGE AWARDS

Nigel Searle, the Managing Director of Sinclair Research, presented the prizes to the winners and runners-up of the 1984 Cambridge Awards at London’s Ritz Hotel on October 4th. He praised the role of the software houses in the development of the home computer industry when he presented the £2000 cheque and trophy to John Sherry of Keele, Staffs, this year’s winner. John’s game, called The Prince, was developed from Machiavelli’s book of the same name. Machiavelli was the Italian Renaissance politician whose devious tactics gave rise to a whole new way of political thinking. The Prince is described as the first interactive, role playing adventure game for four players and creates a medieval world of intrigue in which a truly machiavellian mind is required to succeed.

LIGHTNING

Oasis Software whose graphics designing utility White Lightning has proved so popular, has released the program on Microdrive. Essentially the same version as the original cassette version, the source can be compiled from microdrive, freeing much more space for sprite storage and making a more rapid development cycle possible. Anyone with the cassette version who would like to upgrade may return their cassette to Oasis and a cheque for £5.

There are also two official White Lightning User Groups which offer help, advice and exchange information via newsletters.

THE SANDMAN

Star Dreams have announced a forthcoming adventure release which they claim is the most bizarre and fascinating adventure program ever produced. Entitled The Sandman Cometh, it breaks away entirely from the traditional subjects of adventure games. Say Star Dreams, ‘There has long been a feeling in the software press that adventure games have tended to be very repetitive in their choice of material. The Sandman Cometh is a major departure in the kind of thinking behind games writing. The adventure represents a series of dream sequences, each with its own set of logical problems in an otherwise illogical scenario.’

The program was devised and created by the person who wrote the new Stranglers pop group’s adventure Aural Quest. It contains over one hundred locations each with its own fast drawing picture which remains on screen during play. The game is packaged as a parody of a motion picture, coming in a video style case, complete with a comprehensive illustrated booklet. This theme is carried on into the program with film style credits and opening; even the loading screen being a tongue in cheek representation of the Board of Censors’ authorisation certificate.

The Sandman Cometh retails at £10.95 and is available now.

MEGA-MOVES

Imagine’s games and name (The Name of The Game?) have been booted about a bit recently with news that Sinclair Research have optioned the ‘mega’ game Bandersnatch to be released on the QL sometime in Spring. Royalties from the sale of the game will go straight to the liquidator of Imagine Ltd. to help pay back some of the astronomical debts incurred by the company before it went broke.

On top of that, Ocean Software Ltd. has purchased a major portion of Imagine’s assets including the name, logo and trading style. Some completed programs and software development equipment are also incorporated in the deal.

David Ward of Ocean says that they now have the sole rights to the Imagine name and are considering a relaunch of the label. All of which seems to leave Beau Jolly, who had originally invested money in Imagine to purchase the marketing rights to existing titles as well as options (they thought) on the megagames, rather out in the cold.

Ocean have re-employed eight of the ex-Imagine programming team on a contract basis. They are working in Liverpool on the development of a number of program concepts including a new animated strategy adventure, due for release by Ocean at the end of November. This comes at a time when Ocean’s best known Spectrum programmer, Christian Urquhart, has left the company.

NEW BOARD GAME

The first in a series of unique computer assisted board games was launched at Websters Software’s Christmas Product Presentation, held at their head-quarters in Guildford on October 19th.

The new game, entitled ATRAM (Advanced Tactical Reconnaissance and Attack Mission) heralds a breakthrough in the computer games market, say Websters. Its creator, Miles Bozeat of P.D. Visual Marketing says that he believes his product fills the gap between established family board games and computer adventure games. ‘The players’ skill determines the outcome, as they simultaneously plan the attack on their opponents’ forces. The operations are carried out on the board, while the computer acts as a database helping to assess and plan tactical-manoeuvres.’

A ‘Cribbage’ style board was used to record weapon fuel and deployment status of the aircraft in play. But when the Spectrum appeared, the penny dropped, and the family computer was enrolled. In early 1984 Tony Morris, a computer expert, and Chris Barrell, a marketing professional, were recruited to develop the concept fully. The result is ATRAM for the 48K Spectrum and which retails at £19.95 and includes the board, all the playing pieces and the database cassette.

ATRAM has taken a long while to appear in its finished form, having been first conceived before the advent of home computers. ‘Over several years,’ says Miles, ‘the game was brought out and played with enthusiasm amongst family and friends, all the time refining and developing the most important balance so as not to allow an unfair advantage to either side.’

AN ALTERNATIVE TO WAR?

Just too late to be fully reviewed in this issue, comes a new game from Arcade Software, which is described as an alternative to the Third World War. Instead of fighting global war, the protagonists gather on a special sports field built on the moon. This is the Therbo field, from which the game takes its name. Therbo (thermal ballistic object) is the equivalent to a football or cricket ball, and is the object with which the two opposing sides play, trying to gain control of it to score goals.

The player is up against the computer, each taking a ‘home run’ at goal along what might best be described as an electron accelerator. Missiles, fuel collection and trying to knock the opponent’s therbo off course, while he tries to knock it back on course, all play a part in this unusual game. Full review next month.

NEW STUDIO

Melbourne House are to create a new software studio in the UK, to be called Studio B. Two full time programmers have been employed by Melbourne House for the new studio. Their brief, says Paula Byrne, Publicity Manager for Melbourne House, is to develop high quality, innovative software, in keeping with the standards expected by people who buy Melbourne House games and utilities. The number of programmers employed by Studio B is expected to increase to at least nine by June.

Projects co-ordinator for Studio B will be Alan Giles, who has already written two books for Melbourne House, the Spectrum Micronet book and Quick QL Machine Language. The second programmer to join Studio B is Stephen Cargill, a school leaver who has just finished his A levels. Stephen has written Melbourne House’s latest release, Sir Lancelot.

Another item from Melbourne House is a new book called Learning with Adventure Programs written by Ms Rosetta McLeod. The book is designed to show how computers can help children to take an interest in the areas of reading, comprehension and logic. The book describes four computer games in detail, The Hobbit, Valhalla, The Quill, and Snowball. In the case of Valhalla Ms McLeod has taken the CRASH review of the game as part of the general theme.

IT’S A SWITCH ON

If it bugs you having to reset or switch on and off your Spectrum by removing the power plug, TEC offers an intriguing looking device which turns out to be a simple on/off switch. The shape of the unit is curious to say the least. In fact, after a short thinking session (not something often done here in the CRASH editorial offices for lack of volunteers) somebody just took the thing and plugged it into the Spectrum power socket, leaving a Toblerone shaped top towering above the Spectrum profile. This action provided a full frontal view of a rocker switch and somebody had the bright idea (it can only have been a disinterested CRASH visitor) of connecting the power lead to the free female socket at the rear before rocking the switch. The Spectrum came to life but it soon became apparent that the switch was not the only thing a’rocking. A Velcro pad is fixed to the underside of the Toblerone and once the protective backing is removed, the rocker assembly gets stuck in position. Whether anybody is prepared to spend £4.95 in protection money for the old abused power plug or just stick to eating the delicious but expensive Toblerone chocolate is to be seen.

GAMES COMPILATION

The music industry has for years made old hits into new ones by releasing compilation albums of the charted songs from the previous year. Now the same thing is happening with computer games. Computer Records has just released Select 1, a single tape featuring no less than 12 hit games including favourites like Hunchback and Mr Wimpy from Ocean, Timegate and Meteor Storm from Quicksilva, Pool and Spectres from Bug-Byte, and for adventurers, Application’s Denis Through the Drinking Glass.

Select 1 is being marketed in conjunction with Telestar Records and the tape is being backed by a half million pound TV advertising campaign.

IMAGINE — THE INSIDE STORY!

The story of Imagine has yet to be told in full, but there are indications that ‘Dallas’ and ‘Dynasty’ have nothing over ‘Imagine’ — except perhaps Joan Collins. For anyone with an interest in computer games and especially Imagine, what happened, how it happened and what exactly are the ‘mega-games’, don’t miss the special programme on BBC2 on the 13th December at 8pm. Under the series heading ‘Commercial Breaks’, Paul Anderson and his team, who have been filming Imagine since early this year, will reveal the secrets. He will also be talking to CRASH about what it was like to be working with the giant Liverpool company through its collapse and what happened afterwards. We’ll be bringing you the story in the Christmas Special which comes out on the same day as the BBC2 programme.

NEW BUDGET RANGE

With the backing of a major European Company, Micro Mart Software has released a range of Spectrum software at a price of £1.99 per tape. The first software house to publish educational software at budget prices. The two educational programs are World Flags and Junior Maths Pack. The other games are the adventure Golden Hawk and Gambler. These are in addition to their higher priced games Strike Attack 2 and Sub Hunter.

Software Projects have also gone in to the budget software market, releasing six titles for the Spectrum at £2.99 each under the name of Software Supersavers. These include the titles Freex, Moonlighter, Ziggurat, Loony Lander, Fred’s Fan Factory and Shuttle Shock. Software Projects say that these game are not rehashes of old games as some budget software can be, but totally original games developed by Software Supersavers themselves. Reviews will follow in the next issue.

Sandy White and Angela are presented with the Gold Cassette by Anne Nightingale for the outstanding performance of ANT ATTACK.

GOLDEN ANTS!

Sandy White, whose most recent game is Zombie Zombie released through Quicksilva, has been awarded a Gold Cassette in recognition of the outstanding performance of Ant Attack. The award was presented by Radio One’s deejay Anne Nightingale.

Ant Attack has now topped the 50,000 mark in sales and is said to be rapidly heading for the hundred. Gold Cassettes are only awarded when sales exceed 50,000. Previous to this the only other Gold Cassette presented in the industry was for Time Gate written by John Hollis.

SUPERMUTT

Our review of Silversoft’s new game Supermutt (November Issue) was done from a preview copy and since then there have been a number of changes. One CRASH reviewer noted that he was a bit disappointed with the end — now Supermutt has to fly the rescued Pup back to HQ to complete the game. Another important change can be found in any of the rooms. In the preview copy the code letters flitted across the screen. Now there is a button in the centre of the room which must be reached and pressed before the code letter will even appear. If you hit an un-needed code letter or the button after having pressed it once, then you will be killed. These alterations have made Supermutt more of a challenge than it was when first reviewed.

HIGHWAY CODE

The Highway Code is to appear on computer. C.R.L. has produced a program containing over a hundred questions, all of which can be found within the book produced by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. The user is given a percentage rating from whichever test he or she chooses, either the 25 question test or the ten question test. There are a number of graphics which represent road signs and traffic situations included.

The Highway Code has received official approval from the Automobile Association for the Spectrum (48K) and Commodore versions, and all copies of the program will carry A.A. Approved stickers.

YOU’VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD

If you glance through the marks for this month’s reviews you will notice one 9 is awarded and all the rest have 8 marks as an Overall Value. This, I think you will agree, is an exceptionally high standard, and is remarkable in that every game reviewed here could be recommended without hesitation, as each has some quality that makes it stand out from the crowd. Clearly the microcomputer software market is seasonal to some extent (ie. the run up to Christmas represents a huge sales potential) but perhaps in the case of the adventure market, where the games take a very considerable time to develop, it is even more so.

So, have I gone soft with seasonal spirit this month? No, I think not, for these games really are good.

What this all adds up to is that if you know anyone who packed away their Spectrums over the summer then you should now tell them to extract it from its box and fill its place with a cushion of straw and a tortoise, because, when it comes to Spectrum Software, you’ve never had it so good.

THE EYE OF BAIN

Producer: Artic Computing Ltd
Author: Simon Wadsworth
Price: £6.95

Artic Computing are the most experienced adventurers in the microcomputer business and produce some of the most popular adventure games. Eye of Bain is Adventure F in their famous series and it says much of their lasting appeal when adventure mailbags still contain a great proportion of queries solely concerned with their games. Eye of Bain breaks from the text-only tradition of the earlier members of the series with full screen, colourful graphics at every location. These are simple so as not to hold up the proceedings, and further, are only switched on when desired with L for LOOK and cancelled with ENTER. Artic adventures take so long to play there is little time left to actually write the review.

You find yourself in a hut with no obvious release from your predicament but plenty around to keep you thinking. This first problem strikes me as very Artic, either you solve the puzzle fairly quickly or you just give in — you don’t even need the computer once you have digested the problem, as it is easily remembered, haunting you until it is solved. I suppose the idea is that one day you are sitting on the 25 bus and leap to your feet shouting, Eureka! I’ve got it! The annoying thing is — when you get home and load up — you haven’t! You’ll kick yourself when you do arrive at the solution as it requires no lateral thinking or intense brainstorming.

The vocabulary is verb/noun except for DRINK WATER which is not accepted while DRINK alone is. Strange. The input routine is as sure as it could possibly be and this programming competence adds tremendously to the slick professional feel of the game.

Another feature which is indicative of Artic’s vast experience is the invaluable GET ALL which smartly wraps up the first scene. GO or ENTER HOLE can be used to leave the hut but strangely GO HOLE won’t take you back — GO HUT does. Shortly after, you enter the crossroads where it’s best to be compassionate to the chap you find there. In return he says ‘The blade and the hilt together do make, the downfall of the really big snake.’ Utter gibberish presently, this will no doubt make some sense later on.

How to get free from your shackles is the first pressing problem after the hut. Very soon you run into the shapeless beast guarding a hole down a well, an ape up a tree whose usefulness is only realised later on, a pile of wood which, again, appears useless at first and, a very common problem in adventures, how to cross the desert without being fried to a fritter. One aspect that struck me as strange is the way in which the dense undergrowth at the well turned up nothing on examination. Is this a deliberate contrivance?

The Eye of Bain has a style and charm familiar to the thousands whose introductions to adventures was by playing the famous A-D Series. This latest addition, F, also displays fine graphics, making it a super adventure to play but, coming from Artic, difficult to play well.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: contains many ingenious and logical problems like all Artic games
Graphics: full screen on every location and quite good too
Presentation: average
Input facility: instantaneous
Response: limited to verb/noun
General Rating: Good value.

Atmosphere

8/10

Vocabulary

7/10

Logic

8/10

Debugging

10/10

Overall Value

8/10

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

Producer: Mizar Computing
Retail price: £5.95
Author: RM Walker & RMR Woodward

If you are intelligent and into fantasy games (and I think the two go together no matter what some might say) then you’ll like this one.

Out of the Shadows is a game that follows in the footsteps of such notables as Black Crystal and Crusoe but like so many games reviewed this month, jumps straight to the top of the pile — for my money it is the best arcade-adventure yet. Like a pop record that grows on you, the game becomes more compelling the longer you play it. It lures you deep into a fantasy world of monsters, magic and mayhem requiring a subtle blend of technical skill and out and out battle bravado. Many have vowed to bring Dungeons and Dragons scenarios to the computer screen but surely it is to this game that fantasy devotees should now turn their attention. Here is yet another game where you are left asking yourself, how did they get it all in there?

Mizar tell me the game combines the real-time action of arcade with the freedom of exploration of adventure, and I can add, it’s an exceedingly complex yet always fascinating little masterpiece of programming. Impressive figures are fired out like computer share prices on the stock exchange. 30 commands, 500 locations, 14 different types of monster, 50 different types of object and, if a human hero is too corny for you, how about an elf or a dwarf? A unique feature of the game is the way the ground about you is illuminated by the flame from your torch or lantern, which is essential below ground or after dark. As you move around, shadows sweep across the floor in a very realistic fashion.

Themes are developed to the full in this game. When in the dungeon you must keep an eye on the level of the oil in your lantern and check how many torches you have left in case you need them. You soon discover that a lantern casts a larger light than a torch, and stand bewildered, both by your predicament and by the fine attention to detail on the part of the programmers as your last torch gradually goes out, the lighted area diminishing as the darkness closes in around you. You think you catch sight of a creature’s head popping out from around a corner and in this way you soon learn to tread carefully about shadows where monsters, who rather deviously can see in the dark, creep up on you. They are so eager to clap their teeth on you that a little squeak can sometimes betray their presence giving you just enough time for an about turn.

So what exactly does play entail?

Firstly you choose your race elf, human or dwarf. An elf is more dextrous than a human but is less strong and has fewer hit points. However, as you might expect, he wields greater spell power. A dwarf is less dextrous, is stronger, has more hit points but less spell power. After giving your character a suitably long name, you can decide upon which of the six quests you will undertake. The same quest can be attempted by different players in competition where how long the game takes each player, and how many times it’s been saved, will be the deciding factors. The permutations are extensive since on completing one quest a character, now a hero, can attempt a new quest, so you set off on a new scenario but take along the same character with his hard won possessions.

Once you have decided on your character, dungeon and quest, your character’s name is displayed above a screen which first looks quite plain, that is until you do something. A small part of the screen is illuminated on the left-hand side; this is your home from where you begin your quest and to where you must return with the object of the quest. At the centre is a special place, the central healing cross, to which you may go at any time to heal your wounds. Out of your home and into the forests your main concerns are the collecting of treasures and the slaying of monsters. Possessions such as torches and copper coins are soon amassed by opening or literally attacking the various crates and jars. These valuables and commodities can then be taken to the shop for the buying and selling of provisions, including food. Later on, when using magic, you will need the food to counteract the drain imposed by the energy-sapping spells you cast. Destroying any foes that cross your path is character building; the experience points you gain lead to increased strength, dexterity and life force, while an award of a thousand points raises your character to a new experience level. A higher level brings with it more powerful adversaries as the player delves deeper below. However, matters are complicated by the burden of ever-increasing treasures which weigh you down and make you short of breath during combat, and also, the realisation that natural healing occurs faster nearer the surface. During heavy fighting your eyes wander up to three lines indicating your Life, Energy and Breath. On the right-hand side of the screen the commentary of events scrolls upwards giving you information on what treasures you have found or how a battle is going. As you go down into deeper levels it scrolls more frantically as on every dark corner lie three or even four monsters.

INFO and LIST, which can be summoned up onto the right-hand side, are of particular interest. Checking INFO regularly gives you updates on Experience, Strength, Dexterity, Hit points, Burden, Oil and Torch Time, Injuries (e.g. Left Arm), Rooms, Treasures and Saves. LIST tells you how many of each item you have (e.g. spells, daggers, shields, torches, magic rings, ointments, etc.). The two commands that are in constant use are GO and ATTACK.

GO (or G space) E, W, SE, SW etc. moves you along the map until you cease pressing ENTER. If you now chose to attack this would be towards the last specified direction. Once devices like these are mastered the game verily flies along. Hence G space N moves you north, ENTER moves you north again while an A now would see you attacking to the north. Your chance of hitting or dodging a monster depends upon both its dexterity and yours, and the amount of damage you can inflict depends on your strength. A good tactic is to position yourself so only one monster can attack you at a time as, if given the chance, they will descend upon you from all possible directions. The maximum amount of damage you can sustain is called your hit points.

What makes the attack routine so impressive is its amazing realism. A monster once beaten off, will avoid you should you cross its path again, for example, a rat on seeing its mate slain will often run off and in its panic, fall down a hole. Even after playing a game for some time a new feature will crop up, like the time a fracas with a dragon saw my lantern knocked over plunging me into darkness. Super stuff.

As you become more adept at fighting monsters and collecting treasure you become more concerned with the quest itself which entails travelling downwards from the surface by way of stairs (which in the latter stages are always populated by monsters) or down holes where a shield might protect you from the fall. This downward progression is most reminiscent of D&D. Monsters become faster, more devious, more aggressive and inflict greater damage the lower you descend. This is reflected in the type of creatures you meet, which are of an increasingly exotic variety; rats give way to vicious skeletons followed by pernicious trolls, dragons and demons. The search for ever more precious treasures and fantastic magic keeps you forging on while rising up the experience levels gives immense satisfaction.

Out of the Shadows is an immeasurably complex game which takes some time to get to know. I wholeheartedly recommend any arcade-adventure or fantasy fans to spend some time with this game as they will be rewarded with many happy hours play.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: easy to play but will take months to complete
Graphics: good, original lighting concept
Presentation: very good
Input facility: arcade response
Response: good
Special features:
General rating: excellent

Atmosphere

9

Vocabulary

8

Logic

8

Debugging

10

Overall value

9

RETURN TO EDEN

Producer: Level 9 Computing Ltd
Price: £9.95

The Silicon Dream Trilogy consists of Snowball, Return to Eden and the yet to be released The Worm in Paradise. This, the second adventure in the trilogy, starts where Snowball left off, and has been written using Level 9’s ever increasing library of compression techniques to give a full-bodied, more complete narrative with about 250 locations and 240 pictures. As with Artic, Level 9 have deemed that all truly commercial adventures must accommodate graphics from now on, and I am pleased to report that in this particular case the graphics, far from being a distraction, actually add to the quality and flavour of the game. The locations are exotic and the scenes psychedelic.

If Level 9 have a boffin image they’ve done themselves no harm with their latest technological breakthrough, the type-ahead. This idea allows you to carry on typing commands even when the program isn’t ready for them, so you can type a whole series of short instructions and then watch as the program carries them out. Recent notoriety and fame have not ruined a cottage industry; Level 9 still provide clue sheet forms with each ‘Welcome to Eden’ booklet. Snowball 9 carries two million sleeping colonists to Eden, the only habitable planet in the Eriadni A binary starsystem.

Eden’s plant life is legendary and was probably seeded by long-vanished aliens. City building on the planet at first went well but problems developed as the myriad plants and cunning creatures adapted to fight back. Robots have been making all important decisions since the late 2100s and run the colonisation program. Within a wall built to protect the city, the robots work ceaselessly to perfect the environment for its fragile and vulnerable human colonists. The city still looks new but impressions are misleading; its foundations are broken by a million root cracks and vermin infest the lower levels. What may be worse, the robot army has been fighting too long.

You play Kim Kimberley who has just saved the interstellar transport, Snowball 9, from disaster. Unfortunately the control room vidcoms show how you enter and hurl a bomb engulfing the room in flames. The resulting trial finds you guilty and you are summarily sentenced to death. The waldroids close in and, rather than stay to argue your case, you think it wiser to flee in the stratoglider lifeboat to become the first human to land on the planet Eden. Crewed by people who think you are a murderer, Snowball 9 orbits far above you. But alas, the interstellar transport itself is in danger, as it has entered orbit off schedule and, due to damage, ignores all attempts at radio contact. The robots on the planet below, unable to chance a hostile presence in orbit, are wary...

Playing the game is made all the easier by Level 9’s type-ahead, sure-footed input and friendly vocabulary, including WEAR which has you wearing clothing without first having to GET it, an A(GAIN) command which repeats the last entry, and another innovation — IT to mean the previous specified object, eg. LIGHT LAMP, then MINE IT. The redefined character set gives a futuristic flavour (as does, of course, the myriad technological artifacts — vidcoms, tradclads, skyhooks) but it can be difficult to read when more than one Level 9 fanatic crowds around a small TV screen. Could this be the beginning of the monitor boom? I won’t say too much concerning the plot itself having given away too much of Snowball in the CRASH July issue, well worth checking up if you’re interested in how the trilogy began (and for some appallingly heavy-handed clues). Let me just say this of the game, it isn’t just the graphics which are peculiar and psychedelic.

Return to Eden is a very worthy successor to the highly acclaimed Snowball. Far from being just another follow up, it is a new and exciting program in its own right and has many features which keep Level 9 at the top of intelligent science fiction computer exploration.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: very difficult
Graphics: most locations and very good
Presentation: quite good, but a little cramped
Input facility: good, even with graphics
Response: good
Special features: type-ahead
General Rating: Very good.

Atmosphere

9/10

Vocabulary

8/10

Logic

7/10

Debugging

9/10

Overall Value

8/10

THE TOWER OF DESPAIR

Producer: Games Workshop
Author: Steve Williams, Jamie Thomson, Russell Clarke, Mike McKeown
Price: £7.95

Games Workshop have evolved from a long history in role-playing games, with milestones such as the Fighting Fantasy Books and The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, but have waited until now to release computer games as a software house in their own right. All the authors contribute to White Dwarf magazine and one might expect their experience among the plethora of Dungeons and Dragons offshoots to add that little extra something to the adventuring world, and in many ways this is indeed the case. Should you locate it in your computer shop you will find the case lavishly illustrated with the magical and the mystical. An adventure guide accompanies the two cassettes and contains the history and map of the realm of Aelandor, and vital clues actually within the pictures of the guide, a most welcome advance to adventuring. The now familiar outline of the whys and wherefores that supply much substance for reviews naturally enough adorns the packaging here, but unlike many such narratives those for this game are more lucid and, what is more, reading it actually adds to the game giving information which is of some use in your quest. In short, it has been intelligently thought out so as to be consistent with the theme as a whole.

Malnor, Demonlord of Darkness, inhabits the Tower of Despair, amongst the Mountains of Undying Solitude, gathering evil forces about him by way of the Ring of Skulls, a wicked potent amulet. Legions of orc and demonkin await his command to infest the realm of Aelandor. You are the Warrior-Mage of Castle Argent, Keeper of the Silver Gauntlet and Wielder of Flamebolt, the Staff of Lightning Bolts. One summer morning, as you quietly work within Castle Argent, your Saying Sphere brings you baleful news. Malnor is powerful again, so you must seek Ellwood in the Eastern Wilderness to retrieve the Golden Gauntlet.

You set off from the inner sanctum of Castle Argent, a place of contemplation and preparation. Only after going east and then back again are you told of the two visible items; the Silver Gauntlet and the Lightning Staff which, as you should now be aware, are very necessary for your mission. Equally important are the items to be found in the chest in the main hallway. ‘Inside are; A long, fine coil of rope. A leather canteen of water. A pack of dried field rations. An oil lantern.’ Alas, you must GET every item individually as there is no equivalent GET EVERYTHING. Your progress at this point is aided by a neat little map in the booklet which soon has you out through the east gate with your mount Fiannabad amongst the familiar rolling downs of your native countryside. You hear the distant sound of flapping wings and you would be wise to hurry on your way lest you fall foul of the winged hordes that will certainly descend should you falter. You will know when you are safe as you will sense ‘A supernatural howl of anger emanating from many leagues further east. Then you feel a momentous shaking through the ground. Malnor is incensed by your escape from his agents!’

Any difficulties you may encounter at this stage may be related either to the vocabulary, which uses the construction ENTER (DOOR) frequently, or to the unfamiliar terminology of the fantasy world where you must LOOK into orbs and to use a staff you must have its name. You will feel no doubt, like myself, feel hunger in the ancient wood of Aesweald where you eat, otherwise each step will take you further towards starvation, death and a new game. If you are proceeding well you move north to meet some superbly crafted atmospheric descriptions. ‘You are in a small glade, the vale of Tranquil Enlightenment. There is a sense of enchantment in the air. At the centre stands a white stone statue at whose base lies a pile of ashes’.

The spell of the program is cast not only with the well constructed, lengthy descriptions but also in their presentation; the character set is wonderfully redesigned in the old world writing with ornate letters or symbols marking the beginning of each location description. This fine artistic talent also adorns the booklet where highly detailed and imaginative drawing in the style of White Dwarf is brought to bear on the project, giving the whole a classy, well-polished feel. These drawings not only add immensely to the pleasure derived from the game but are also a necessary part of it as within them lie clues to your progress. Perhaps the inability to examine or make use of all the objects in the drawings, just those that prove useful in some way, is more a reflection on the limits inherent in any computer adventure rather than a lack of insight on the part of the authors. An example is a picture in the booklet which you need once you’ve successfully negotiated the Door of Destiny. You see an innkeeper, and a ranger with a pouch full of arrows tied to his back but it is only the barrels in the corner that lead you deeper into the plot — the arrows cannot be collected.

The Door of Destiny is one of three such doors you meet once you’ve solved the problems at the white stone statue; the other two are Hope and Despair. On exploring these three I at first thought their names ironic because I despaired in Hope and was cheered in Despair, but once all the permutations became clear I found them apt enough.

The EXAMINE command is used often and its ramifications give rise to lengthy discourse. Through the Door of Destiny, and onto the inn, you find the body of the ranger is lying across the remains of the bar. ‘His back is broken, and eyes stare out lifelessly from a face stricken with terror. From a chain around his neck hangs a delicately wrought silver locket.’ A further EXAMINE leads you on even deeper into the plot. ‘Opening the locket you find an inscription written in the Old High Script, known in these days to but a few. The words inside are Peel Bark.’ For a Quilled game this adventure has some remarkably good, non-standard features.

The Tower of Despair is a Quilled text-only adventure. Were it not for the commendable acknowledgement on the packaging it would be almost impossible to prove that it had made use of the Quill. As such it is the best Quilled adventure I have yet seen, combining all the Quill’s advantages with a startlingly original and fresh approach. Fantasy fans will love this game.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: moderate
Graphics: none
Presentation: very good
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: very fast
Special Features: pictures in a book
General Rating: Superb atmosphere.

Atmosphere

9/10

Vocabulary

8/10

Logic

8/10

Debugging

8/10

Overall Value

8/10

TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY

Producer: Bug-Byte Software Ltd
Author: Trevor Hall
Price: £7.95

Twin Kingdom Valley was launched almost a year ago on the BBC/Electron and Commodore computers and became a best seller. Hence it is not surprising Bug-Byte should attempt a conversion to the Spectrum. but ‘conversion to the Spectrum was considered impossible’ due to its ‘more restricted graphical capabilities’. It is in the graphics department where this otherwise excellent adventure disappoints, but the only reason I can forward is poor artistic design within the limitations imposed by the microcomputer. The Spectrum adventure market is now quite sophisticated and shows few signs of these ‘restricted graphical capabilities’ — far from it. In every other respect Twin Kingdom Valley is a very good adventure, especially for the novice.

The name of the program is unusual and you would be right to think it had some story behind it. It is not a valley you might have seen on one of those terrible Sunday afternoon films, no, it is a mythical place where two kings live. Since monarchy generally like it their own way, these two royals hate each other. As you roam the valley other creatures will live their lives perfectly naturally, only stopping a while to attack the occasional explorer — that’s you. You play a typical adventurous and greedy human and your aim is to finish the game with as much wealth as possible. The gossip circulating around the valley is supplied to you at the touch of a button at the beginning.

Twin Kingdom Valley is one of many valleys surrounding the vast lake of Watersmeet said to have mystical properties derived from the many witches’ potions spilled into its rivers and streams down the ages. It is said a wise man may look upon the secret of life located nearby (at No. 42?). You have rented a small hut from the innkeeper of The Sword Inn where your ill gotten gains may be stashed. Your strength will fall if stabbed or clubbed too often by the assorted belligerent creatures, but you will gradually recover if you can find a quiet patch. The authors reckon you’ll find some of the clues in the pictures. I hope this doesn’t entail scurrying around for books on Picasso and Cubism because, man! are some of these pics groovy (can anyone tell me what on earth the picture of the bar represents? But keep it sober, man).

The game has many features which give some indication of its high class pedigree. The first is a choice between six options to control how the game runs for you. These range from Draw picture if room unvisited, give long description to Don’t draw picture, give short description. The option can be changed to suit during play by simply typing OPTION. The next feature to impress is the use of view directions where you are told the direction in which you are looking out from a location and can actually see your progress towards castles, inns, caves, and waterfalls. Also, a list of verbs is provided and a refinement allows the speed of printing to be controlled via *TEXT. These features do not necessarily make a better adventure but they certainly show a willingness to please and is a sign that someone cares about craftmanship of the program — always a good sign.

You begin on a road by a wooden cabin. The hut fills the view to the north and so NORTH takes you inside. A deep solid beep accompanies each input but you must be careful with that confounded auto-repeat which, although being worse than useless, seemingly gets everywhere. This first location is a veritable store of goodies and it’s good to see an adventure which presents the explorer with a few easy first steps to ease him into the swing of things. You are even given a fnendly companion — an elf — who may beat you to some of the goodies if you’re slow off the mark but will kindly give them over if you ask him politely.

Being one who can smell a rancid beer pot at thirty hydrometers, I made my way east to The Sword Inn to quaff a beer in palatial surroundings. I was a little surprised to see the ‘Work Ethic’ currently sweeping the nation (well, Surbiton) making a stand in the computer games world — a fraternity more renowned for growing hair and peripherals (after typesetting, this will no doubt read ‘growing hair on peripherals’). But there was evidence — as I sat refreshed after downing a pitcher of ale I happened to check my score (still 0) but what is this? My strength is reduced from 190 to 160. Fiendish!

Your pilgrimage to the Inn is made that bit lighter by some strange and certainly colourful graphics of the inn which grow in perspective as you approach, rather like the famous scenes in Lords of Midnight. Most of your early game will be spent finding the weapons to ward off Trolls and Gorillas who lunge at you with broad swords and wooden clubs. These assailants apart, its a simple enough matter to wander around a great many locations although of course you’ll often get the feeling you’re too far down the line with not enough weapons or gadgets to support you. The graphics, should you choose an option with them, are not too slow and it is clear when the program is ready to proceed as the picture becomes sharp and clear.

Twin Kingdom Valley is an adventure import from the BBC/Electron and Commodore computers and like all conversions has some peculiarities in style, in this case — the graphics. On its own merits, the Spectrum version is very responsive and friendly and has many superb qualities. Well worth exploring by any adventurer.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: hard to say. This is a long and involved game but probably not too difficult
Graphics: full screen graphics in 150 locations although many are repeated
Presentation: excellent
Input facility: very good
Response: interactive characters acting somewhat like those in Valhalla
Special features: Currah Microspeech
General Rating: Very good.

Atmosphere

9/10

Vocabulary

7/10

Logic

7/10

Debugging

7/10

Overall Value

8/10

VALKYRIE 17

Producer: The RamJam Corporation
Author: Tony Barber
Price: £9.99

I often choose to begin a review with a few lines telling you what I know about the company and the game in question. Due to a predilection for untidiness I have misplaced the literature concerning this game. What I do know of the company is contentious. They were suspected of shady dealings and political intrigue in South America and, becoming unstuck when the country’s ruling junta came to a sticky end exposing what lay behind a thick skein of secrecy, were heavily implicated in a honeycomb of leaky, transparent coverups, diplomatic raspberries, power-besotted gooseberries and giving a whole polysaccharide of embezzled condiments to the ruling party, The Preservatives.

So much for the artificial flavouring, let’s add some colour (or never mind the company, what about the game)? If I said I once knew a posh chap whose name was Valkyrie, then surely you would fear the worst — that this review will amount to no more than the sort of journalistic licence flaunted in the name of Colour Supplement entertainment. No, instead to that tardis-like tome, the Collins English Dictionary —

VALKYRIE, Walkyrie or Valkyr, n. Norse myth, any of the beautiful maidens who serve Odin and ride over the battlefields to claim the dead heroes by him or Tyr and take them to Valhalla.

Nothing of interest here...... I wonder if it’s the seventeen?

If you’re wondering what all the verbiage is, it’s what I wrote while waiting for this game to load again. I wanted to know what happens if you say YES twice in succession to the question, ‘For our records, please indicate if this is a pirate copy: Ans Y or N.’, which appears on a blank screen once the game has loaded. You might wonder why I did not answer NO, after all, it is quite a legal and respectable review copy. Ah yes, but you see, as a reviewer I must explore every avenue for the prosaic, and occasionally the unexpected, as in this case. So much for my whimsical aberration, let’s get down to this review and join me as I discover the game from scratch (because of the aforementioned predilection).

‘You are in the bar of the Glitz Hotel. It’s dimly lit and smoky. There is an attractive girl at the bar.’ So begins Valkyrie 17, and a reasonably pleasant introduction it is too. Heading east I enter the ladies powder room and rather than do the honourable thing and turn right back, I stay just long enough to see the shower ‘might be refreshing after a strenuous morning spent skiing.’ Skiing eh — umm?

To the north and east I find some snowshoes in the broom cupboard. Skiing; snowshoes? I suppose I must be in a skiing resort. At the entrance to the hotel the Manager won’t let me leave until I’ve paid up, so I turn back towards the reception desk where the telephone never stops ringing — obviously a peculiar hotel. On one occasion I answer the phone to learn ‘The Red Kipper flies at midnight’. I can only assume the bad line distorted the call from a local takeaway trying to entice customers away from the dubious hotel service — ‘The Red Kipper fries till midnight’.

At reception I try to PAY BILL but I am unfamiliar with the currency (199 Grotniks?) and have long since dispensed with credit cards having lost all in a game of Snap. So what am I to do? Stuck in a hotel where the ‘chambermaid appears and asks politely if you’ve been standing in a broom cupboard. She dusts you down and leaves’. So what if I had been standing in a broom cupboard? I wonder if I could slip out but no, the manager will not let me leave until I’ve paid the bill. In my fury I attack him; ‘in a blur of motion he dispatches a single blow to your solar plexus. As you fall, you notice he is wearing a black belt’.

Colourful, relatively easy, and very witty, Valkyrie 17 is a joy to play and features many good quality graphics. Its striking quality is the amazing depth of the humorous replies to whatever input you might come up with. The input routine is very certain and sure, and different tones of beeps draw your attention to when the program is ready for your input, or to an item present or a comment made. The layout of the screen is very attractive with a small 17 adjacent to your last input. During input type is spaced out for emphasis and condenses to normal spacing once entered. I didn’t want to run through this game in detail as I so often do, otherwise, when you come to play it, you would meet a string of jokes you’ve heard before, and many are far too good to ruin. If you are one of the many who like their adventures served up with some humour, then this is one for you.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: quite easy
Graphics: on about half the locations, quite good
Presentation: very good
Input facility: good, limited to verb/noun
Response: a touch sluggish
Special features: random element, events can change
General Rating: Very humorous adventure.

Atmosphere

8/10

Vocabulary

8/10

Logic

8/10

Debugging

10/10

Overall Value

8/10

ALL OR NOTHING

Producer: Abbex Electronics
Author: Paul Reynolds
Price: £6.95

All or Nothing is the first game from Abbex since Krakatoa, which was a CRASH smash in the Spring. To describe all the playing instructions for this game would take an age as it is somewhat complicated. However, the basic objective is to parachute into an armed camp and more or less destroy it, and in the process find some secret files. Although All or Nothing is basically an arcade game which uses isometric perspective graphics rather similar to those in Ant Attack, there are also some elements of strategy and adventure.

On screen, the playing area shows a part of the enemy camp with its high wire fences around the perimeter. Directing ‘you’ causes the screen to scroll to follow the action. As in Ant Attack there are four camera views for when you get hidden behind a building, but this function is automatically activated if you do disappear from view. Inside the perimeter there are several buildings, some of which are warehouses, some are offices. The camp is patrolled by lots of guards and guard dogs. The guards are armed and shoot to kill. Below the playing area is the score line, time and six graphics depicting objects which may be collected or used. Movement around the camp is by means of a left and right rotation with a forward movement, which leaves fire and back on a joystick free for select and use (an object).

Of the objects, the transmitter may be used to request more time to complete the mission; your watch (which you lost just before landing on your parachute) must be found, and using it will indicate the amount of time left; boxes of ammo allow you to shoot at the guards with your gun; explosives have a time delay fuse and can be useful for creating diversions; money may be used to bribe the guards; gas cannisters may be used for knocking guards out. Disabled guards may be searched and may be found to have useful objects on them, like ID cards, which will give you a time of Immunity. But most things you will need can be found within the warehouses.

Before you can search any of the warehouses you must first discover the office and break the code on the safe (within 30 seconds). This will result in giving you a key to a specific warehouse which you must discover. In this first warehouse you will find the key to another, and so on. Also inside there are various of the useful objects. You can only collect objects that you do not possess or are low on.

At any time (after entering the main office) you may leave the site via the Matter Transmitter. The overall object is to collect the secret industrial files and make good your escape.

CRITICISM

‘A variation on the Ant Attack idea with more content seems like a good idea. Here there are several tasks etc. which make the game last a little longer. The graphics are represented in good 3D, but as in Ant Attack, controlling the man is a little less satisfactory. Overall, a pretty good game which takes time to get into. Quite a few nice touches too, like the bouncing END titles to a game.’

‘All or Nothing is a very good game with very good graphics. It is also an interesting game and true to life, as the guards do not often see you if you are lurking behind a building and they come rushing after you if you make a loud noise (like shooting a gun or using the gas). The safe combination is a hard one to crack, but once you do it is all plain sailing. It’s a pity that the playing area is so small, only 10 buildings in all, and the sound isn’t as good as the graphics. Otherwise, an interesting and playable game.’

‘I liked Krakatoa very much, and was therefore looking forward to this one. And at the start it doesn’t disappoint either, with the effective 3D graphics and a level of control that has avoided the pitfalls of Ant Attack. There also seems a lot to do, but once you really get into it, All or Nothing reveals that it isn’t as hot as it first seems. In the end all you are doing is running around, avoiding the guards and trying to collect objects from different buildings. The result, for me at any rate, is a very playable game which does require skill, but one that lacks something in the long term appeal. Good, but not great.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: user definable — a graphic of the Spectrum shows you the keys you may not select
Joystick: almost any via UDK
Keyboard play: responsive, although control takes some getting used to
Use of colour: average
Graphics: neat 3D although rather jerky scrolling
Sound: average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1 with percentage of damage
Screens: continuous scrolling
Special features: Currah Microspeech compatible
General Rating: Generally good, not perhaps as addictive as expected, but certainly has lots of content.

Use of Computer

67%

Graphics

76%

Playability

71%

Getting Started

79%

Addictive Qualities

66%

Value For Money

70%

Overall

72%

BATTLE ZONE

Producer: Quicksilva Ltd
Author: Bill Witts
Price: £6.95

‘The Official Atari approved version of the popular arcade game. Insist on the original version, accept no substitutes,’ shouts the inlay of Battlezone. Very little other detail is given on the inlay (although the loading screen helpfully informs you that instructions and keyboard controls will be given immediately after the auto-run demo). What has happened to the justly famed Quicksilva absurd scenario? Is this lack an indication that Atari didn’t approve or a case that under their new masters (ASP) Quicksilva have taken a turn for the serious? In any event it seems a shame, and an indication of Atarian sluggishness, that one of their most popular arcade games should be converted to a home micro in time to be at the tail end of a whole series of similar games.

Battlezone surely requires no introduction (serious one that is). The Spectrum version comes complete with tanks, flying saucers and missiles and uses the keyboard to simulate caterpillar track movement, which is to say that the two top quarters control forward movement on left and right tracks, while the two bottom quarters control reverse movement on left and right tracks. This means that you can move forward or backward in a straight line, turn slowly or spin faster on the spot by using opposed quarters diagonally. The screen display shows a mountainous backdrop (including an unanimated volcano) with a few objects here and there which may be used as shields. Above the viewscreen is the radar, an indication of enemy to the left or right, whether the enemy is in range, and the score lines.

CRITICISM

‘Atari have let QS do this official version. It’s a good version, but there are already good versions available. I feel all Battlezone fans will have already got a good version of this; and as this is no better, there is hardly any need to get it. On the other hand, if you haven’t got one yet, then you couldn’t go far wrong here. I found this version to be rather playable.’

‘Finally an Atari game for the Spectrum, but it’s only Atari approved, not Atari made. The graphics are up to the arcade original standard, and the colours are the same — so making it a little dull to look at. The game features some nice touches like when the credits appear at the beginning of the game. This is a good ‘Battlezone’ game but I still feel Realtime’s Tank Duel is better, containing better colour and detailed backgrounds which this game lacks — and this one’s more expensive too. Overall — good, and the real McCoy.’

‘Wire frame graphic games either turn you on, or they don’t. There aren’t all too many variations on the theme and there have been quite a few already on the Spectrum, so it seems odd to me that Quicksilva should have chosen to release this, the officially approved version of Battlezone, right now. As a game on its own merits it is a good one. I like the fact that the tanks etc. appear as soon as you have destroyed the previous one — there’s none of that hanging around waiting for another target. The game also builds up nicely with the first few tanks being easy to hit, but they get cleverer and nastier as time goes by. The graphics are neat, if uninteresting looking, and they move smoothly enough, though not always fast enough for my taste. Yes, it’s a good version but its Official stamp from Atari doesn’t do anything special for it.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: left track: 1-5 & Q-T forward — A-G & CAPS-V reverse. Right track: 6-9 & Y-P forward — J-ENTER & B-SPACE reverse, with zero to fire
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: layout works well, positive
Use of Colour: just green and purple
Graphics: quite good line graphics, reasonably smooth
Sound: continuous, above average
Skill levels: 1 with some progressive difficulty
Lives: 3
Screens:
Special features:
General Rating: Good, although a little pricey considering there are other versions which are as good.

Use of Computer

76%

Graphics

77%

Playability

72%

Getting Started

78%

Addictive Qualities

70%

Value For Money

70%

Overall

74%

BEATCHA!

Producer: Romik Software
Author: Jon A. Smith
Price: £5.95

The struggle to put a sensible story line to arcade type games goes on — Beatcha certainly has pushed the limits in the sense that you won’t get any idea of what the game looks like from either the title, inlay card or loading screen, with its similar look to that of Skool Daze. According to the scenario Beatcha is set in Quange Hill Comprehensive school on Sirius B. Putting it on an alien planet allows poetic licence in the look of the pupils and teachers!

The objective of the game is to negotiate the maze of crazy classrooms and collect all the keys so you can get out of the front door. This is Romik’s first game for the Spectrum for a year, and to celebrate the fact, they are giving you 26 lives in this game, one for each letter of the alphabet. And you’ll need them!!

Each screen represents corridors and classrooms, actually quite simple mazes made from character blocks in various diagonal shapes. Teachers come in blue, red and white, some slow, some very fast. If you get hit, you leave a skull behind which blocks your progress next life, or kills if you hit it. Collecting keys arms your stun gun, which can be used to momentarily stun the teachers.

Access from screen to screen is via small doors, which may lead you to a totally different screen, or just to the next door one.

CRITICISM

‘Beatcha is a collect and avoid game. The graphics are simple and small but quick. This game is not bad, but I found that after getting quite a few keys I soon became bored. Beatcha is in the average league.’

‘I think this game should have been brought out at least a year ago, at least then it may have stood a chance selling. As it is the concept, graphics and playability seems to be outdated. After collecting several screens of keys (or attempting to) I soon became very bored and tired, uninterested in fact. The game in many parts was much too difficult even on the easy level — on the difficult level it became stupidly fast and impossible to play. Colour has been used quite well, but the graphics are small, undetailed and move by the block — uninspiring. The actual object of the game is not stated very clearly. Whatever happened to the ‘mouth-watering’ inlays we used to have? I don’t really think this is a game worth even considering unless you’re into unexciting, brainless games.’

‘Beatcha looks very old fashioned once loaded, although the title screen promises much new looking fun. Just another boring old maze game — well not quite boring, perhaps. Ludicrously fast would be a better description, and somewhat confusing. Okay, so collecting keys to get out isn’t confusing, neither is avoiding nasties, whether they be Sirius B teachers or aliens, but some of the things that happen and aren’t explained, are very odd. After such a long time when I thought Romik had gone for ever, here they are, back again — what a pity it couldn’t have been a more inspiring game.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z/X left/right, L/M up/down, M to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair
Keyboard play: sensible positions, but not as responsive as they should be
Use of colour: quite good and varied
Graphics: small, undetailed, rather jerky block movement
Sound: quite strident effects
Skill levels: 3 — dunces. Swots and big ’eds
Lives: 26
Screens: unknown but several
Special features:
General Rating: Poor and confusing.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

45%

Playability

27%

Getting Started

42%

Addictive Qualities

26%

Value For Money

39%

Overall

39%

BOMBSCARE

Producer: Dollarsoft
Author: Richard Stevenson, Philip Durbidge, Marco Duroe
Price: £5.95

Guide Boris, the bomb disposal expert, around many of the world’s greatest Cities. Collect detonators planted by the evil Cyril Saboteur and save the world from its impending doom — it says on the inlay. The detonators are obviously rather big ones, judging from the lively loading screen, which shows a city under the pall of what must be an atomic explosion. The on-screen instructions make all clear as the text scrolls upwards — they’re nuclear detonators.

Bombscare is basically a platform game with each screen set around a famous monument such as the Sphinx and Great Pyramid on screen one. On the several platform are purple detonators which may be collected by walking over them. When one goes red, it is about to explode, so it makes sense to try and get those first, as you’re not allowed much time. Control is with a left/right and jump key but there are ropes on some screens to be climbed and descended.

CRITICISM

‘Bombscare is quite a good little platform game. The graphics etc. are not up to the standards of MM but nonetheless they are above average, if somewhat simple. The game is fairly difficult and mildly addictive. I would like a sound on/off control as this begins to get on one’s nerves after a while — also the inter-screen/game pause is too long. Overall, well above average.’

‘This is a novel platform game because you can see famous sites around the world as you battle to save them from Cyril Saboteur. The graphics are fine and the sounds are alright. The game itself is quite fun to play and very frustrating, almost to the point of despair — that’s the only thing that marred an otherwise good game. It’s just a bit too hard to start off with. So, quite a good platform game with some nice graphics, and what makes it even better is that CRASH (in logo form) is the Hall of Fame Slime — or was this just bribery in the pre-production copy!?’

‘This must be one of the most difficult platform games I’ve played for months, so much so that it seems to me that this will definitely spoil the playability of the game. Colour hasn’t been really well used in this game, and everything seemed to be a little bit too small. Sound is well used, but does drive you up the wall and does delay play between lives and screens. Generally, an over-finicky game as far as controlling your character goes.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P left/right, Q/A climb/descend rope, SYM SHIFT to jump
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: responsive but finicky
Use of colour: average although not much
Graphics: some nice drawings of famous sites, playing graphics on the small side
Sound: nice tune and spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: several
General Rating: Above average, mildly addictive, though difficult.

Use of Computer

58%

Graphics

62%

Playability

59%

Getting Started

59%

Addictive Qualities

60%

Value For Money

63%

Overall

60%

BOUNCING BERTY & ESKIMO CAPERS

Producer: Powersoftware
Author: Ian Richards
Price: £3.50

Bouncing Berty is a ‘Q-Bert’ type game while Eskimo Capers is a ‘Pengo’ type game. The two come together on this budget-priced cassette. Neither game type needs much explanation. Bouncing Berty has the familiar seven-tier pyramid structure with one ball hazard on the first screens, but these increase as you progress, two balls, then the balls and a snake and so on. The other feature is the discs on either side of the tower onto which Berty can jump to escape to the top of the screen again.

Eskimo Capers has a rather small maze with the traditional blue ice blocks which can be burned away or fired in the direction of travel to squash any of the four bugs that might be in the way. There are also three red blocks which can be moved but not destroyed.

There are four bugs on screen at one time but to get to the next screen, eight in all must be killed off, and these are shown at the base of the playing area.

CRITICISM

‘Eskimo Capers is a ‘Pengo’ type game, and not a very good version at that. Characters are tiny, just one character block, undetailed and insignificant. I think we passed this programming stage about ten centuries ago. The game itself is not overplayable for the simple reason that there are quite a few monsters to kill — 12 in all, counting the four already on screen at the start. This is quite easy until you are about to freeze the last one or two, because these whizz around the maze at an incredible speed, not giving you any chance to kill them whatsoever. Bouncing Berty is a fair version of ‘Q-Bert’ with quite a good 3D block effect. This game is exceptionally fast, too fast for me anyway, with three nasties out to get you it’s almost unplayable at this stage. Taking into account the fact that more nasties will probably appear on later screens, the complement of difficulty and playability is totally ruined. Generally not really worth the money — probably better to to spend more money on two separate games of better quality.’

‘Bouncing Berty is not particularly good — the graphics are simple and overall the game is rather unaddictive. Eskimo Capers is a poor ‘Pengo’ with tiny, jerky graphics. Not much else to say really.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: B. B. uses Q/A and P/L, E. C. uses an odd combination of ‘shifted’ cursors, actually the sinclair keys but used as cursors so 6/9 is left/right 7/8 is up/down with zero to fire
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: not very responsive
Use of colour: fair
Graphics: small, jerky and uninteresting, although in B. B. the pyramid works quite well
Sound: poor
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 1
General Rating: Generally poor to below average.

Use of Computer

45%

Graphics

36%

Playability

28%

Getting Started

25%

Addictive Qualities

15%

Value For Money

47%

Overall

33%

CATWALK

Producer: Powersoftware
Author: Paul Barsby
Price: £5.95

Catwalk makes a nice change from the usual run of violent computer games, because here you play a night-prowling cat, whose harmless interests include pouncing on — and eating small mice and birds — well it’s nature anyway! Suitably, you have nine lives and nine screens of varied action to get through, munching on fur and feathers all the way. There is a very good demo which shows you all the screens, taking you from home, through a building site, the graveyard, to eventually end up in a missile silo, of all places. In each of these different locations there are either birds or mice or both to be eaten, and all the screen must be cleared before progressing to the next. There are also hazards like night prowlers, witches, ghosts, moggy bashers and the like.

On the fourth screen the pace changes as the fauna vanish, but in the factory there is a large pile of cat food tins to be reached. Each screen has its own graphics to identify it, and in some respects, each screen makes for a different game.

CRITICISM

‘Catwalk is a fairly original game that is quite challenging. The graphics are quite good, but not very colourful. Overall the game is good fun to play with 9 screens of feline frolics.’

‘This game seems to be quite simple at first, and I seemed to play through the first four screens without any trouble whatsoever. But on the fourth screen I got stuck and there was no way I could work my way round it — it needed a little bit more time spent playing on the game, and obviously this does mean there is more difficulty than first appears. The graphics are fairly small in some cases, and quite large in others, but never a balanced combination. Moving jerkily, there were tragic attribute problems. This can be quite serious, depending on the state of your mind, and whether you like purple red cats from time to time. A quite cheerful demo comes with the game which takes you all the way through, which aids you in explaining how the game is played. Overall, an original game, but although saying this, I don’t think it will appeal.’

‘Catwalk has some very nice touches in the graphics. Your feline hero is quite nicely drawn and pounces with appropriate ferocity. I liked the touch in the first screen, outside the slumbering houses, where numerous objects are hurled at you from the windows — pity there’s no howling on the sound track. The sound isn’t too bad, with a few tunes in between screens and a rendering of ‘Three Blind Mice’ at the start. Each screen is given a title in the now time-honoured Jet Set Willy tradition, but Catwalk doesn’t really come up to the standard of that game at all. Nevertheless, original, playable but not over addictive.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: user definable, but seem a little unreliable in selection
Joystick: Kempston, but others through UDK
Keyboard play: fairly responsive
Use of colour: fair to average
Graphics: variable, generally quite good and detailed
Sound: good tunes, some spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 9
Screens: 9
Special features:
General Rating: Average

Use of Computer

71%

Graphics

70%

Playability

64%

Getting Started

70%

Addictive Qualities

45%

Value For Money

56%

Overall

63%

THE CHINESE JUGGLER

Producer: Ocean Software Ltd
Author: Sandor Kertesz, Jeno Haberland, Gyorgy Apor, Oszkar Balazs, F. David Thorpe
Price: £5.90

Chinese Juggler is one of those games that has been translated from the original Commodore version, and done very well. As a game its success lies in the manic panic it inspires as you try to keep all the plates spinning at once — or is this getting ahead too fast? The object of the juggler is to set eight plates spinning on top of eight poles and keep them spinning. This isn’t so very easy as each plate has to be set in motion one at a time, so by the time you have got five or so going, you are too busy keeping up the spin pace of the first ones to have time to get the remaining plates up and going.

The screen shows the Juggler’s stage and the eight poles waiting. At the front of the stage are four small chinese pagodas on which the coloured plates appear. The juggler can be directed around the playing area to collect a plate and then back to a pole to set the plate spinning. Returning to the same pole and using the activate button will cause the slowing plate to speed up again. Of course, if you don’t get to a slowing plate in time, it will eventually fall off.

On the first screen all you have to do is get all eight poles filled with plates of any colour. But on subsequent screens there are further complications, such as setting a plate of specific colour spinning, the colour determined by the border colour. If no plate of the required colour is available, then you must throw the plate in the air and catch it again. This will alter the plate’s colour — though it might not be the right one.

CRITICISM

‘At first glimpse I expected this game to be a ten minute gimmick. To say the least, I was wrong. Chinese Juggler is fun and addictive, also requiring strategy to keep the plates spinning. After a while the frustration, music and the Chinese shuffle send you into a hypnotic state of addiction (meant in the nicest possible way)! Very good indeed, but not quite mega- league.’

‘First of all this was out for the Commodore 64 with its tremendous sound, and I was eager to see the Spectrum version. The Spectrum version seemed to be an exact copy, even down to the same tunes — but saying this the game wasn’t even half the fun to play I think sound must have been a major feature of its ‘parent’. It just seems to lack the manic drive of the original. Colour has been used well and the graphics are very good, and despite what I have said about the sound, it must be said that they have done very well considering the Spectrum’s limitations. Overall a very playable game but one that will probably lack the addictive qualities of a good selling game.’

‘Chinese Juggler is less a game and more of a party piece. Its furious pace, helped by the incessant, crazy music, is just the sort of thing for several people to get into hysterics over. Whether it has the appeal overall to last as a single player game, I’m not so sure. It’s highly original, amusing and playable but perhaps that’s not quite enough to make it a monster hit.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: B — SPACE for actions on the plate, Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, D/E dis/enable music
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive, sensible positions
Use of colour: good
Graphics: very good, nice animation especially on plates
Sound: excellent tune
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 1
Screens: 10
General Rating: An original game which should appeal widely.

Use of Computer

74%

Graphics

79%

Playability

84%

Getting Started

73%

Addictive Qualities

79%

Value For Money

82%

Overall

79%

DARK STAR

Producer: Design Design
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £7.50
Language: machine code
Author: Simon Bratell

It’s taken quite a while between previewing Dark Star and reviewing it. Much of this has had to do with the fact that programmer Simon Bratell kept fiddling with the game, making it faster and faster until now it must surely win the accolade as the fastest Spectrum graphics ever. It would be a mistake to assume that this wire frame game is a copy of the popular arcade machine game ‘Star Wars’, because although it resembles it in some respects, it differs a lot in many important ways and, in any case, it was designed long before ‘Star Wars’ appeared in the arcades.

Passing a planet at Hyper-speed!

Anyway, onto the game. The Dark Star galaxy is divided into a 16 by 16 grid of sectors in the galactic plain. All the spurious blurb which gets you going is very detailed and well worth avoiding, best to dive in through the fabled front end which has been user defined out of existence! Selecting ‘instructions’ on screen is much better — it says, ‘Fly around the universe. If it moves shoot it. If it doesn’t shoot it anyway. If it’s square fly through it!’

Keys for control are left, right, up, down, accelerate, decelerate and fire, any of which may be used on any key or all the same one if you like. Anyway, onto the game. There is a sort of adventurish and strategy overtone to Dark Star in as much as you are trying to clear the place of alien forces. The action takes place over three different areas, deepest space, hyperspace (accessed through Warp Gates, which are rotating yellow squares) and on the surface of numerous planets. When the planets in a sector of space have been cleared of aliens, using a Warp Gate will take you into another sector.

In space alien fighters will swoop on you, firing bolts of plasma and they do this by prediction, so it’s best to avoid flying straight for too long. Your firing is done by directing the cross wire cursor at targets. Shield energy may be increased by flying through rotating blue squares (energy concentrations). The Warp Gates have four opening and shutting sections which allow you to hyperspace North, South, East or West. Whilst in hyperspace you must travel along through a series of squares. The tunnel winds about in a lively fashion and breaking through its walls puts a heavy load on your shields.

Planetfall is achieved by flying straight at one. The surface has towers occupied by the enemy which fire at you. Shooting at the towers will cause them to collapse. A map display of the galaxy indicates your position and shows where the forces are concentrated as lightly, well and heavily defended, with a further designation of ‘military centre’. A similar display can be used on the surface of a planet. This shows bases, fuel dumps, space ports and so on. Your craft cannot leave the surface of a planet until all the enemy bases have been destroyed.

Dark Star is far too complicated for a mere collator of reviews to explain, something which was fully intended by its designer, so it is best to try it out for yourself! Its much vaunted features include the universe, stopwatch mode, 2 million way movement, full screen playing area (with graphics in the border area), and its makers say it does not include Materialisations, Sprites (naturally), Unused RAM (who needs it) Stupid Scenario (there is a bit about the Evil Lord’s tyrannical empire however), and no Magic Rings (wot no rings!). The other thing is this amazing front end which defines the meaning of ‘user’ and allows customisation of the game. For his endeavours in the field of advancing home computer games, programmer Simon Bratell has insisted that CRASH give Dark Star 100 for the Use of Computer rating...

CRITICISM

‘When I first saw Dark Star I thought it was a boring old copy of ‘Star Wars’ because at first glance it looks like it, but how could I be so wrong? Your task, to go round the universe and blast everything into nothingness, is almost impossible as there can be up to 204 planets with 5 bases on each. All the games I have seen from Crystal (Design Design) have had quite useful front ends, but this takes the biscuit, and makes it into a playable game even when you’re useless at it. I hope this works out as a CRASH smash, because it deserves it just for the front end alone and the amusing, ever changing hi-score tables. A word of warning, I found the hyper load made it difficult to load, but perseverance is worth it.’

‘Dark Star has, to say the least, stunningly fast and smooth 3D vector graphics. They are not super detailed but the rest makes up for it. The game is fairly difficult to play at first, taking quite a bit of time to master. Dark Star will be the sort of game that grows on you as time goes by.’

‘After numerous attempts, numerous tape decks, I managed to get Dark Star loaded, though the way I did it was unethical. Well, onto the game; it’s certainly the best and certainly the fastest 3D shoot em up game I’ve ever played to date (note the ‘to date’). This game is very user friendly (pity the same can’t be said about the author — he will know who I am!) offering truly user definable keys — you can program one key to do everything, although not much will happen if you do this. You can define whether you want nasty and horrible aliens with deadly weapons, or nice ones that can’t kill you off, and what type of format you want the screen to take. Dark Star has many amusing touches like the hall of fame — most times you load it, there are different ‘names’ (one time had bits of songs in it, another had references from Monty Python films). All in all Dark Star is a very good game with some nice effects. Incidentally there is another game on the cassette, but you need a code word to get at it, and no one’s saying what it is (yes — the first reviewer proof game). Signed, Yours, the ’orrible little reviewer (I hope you’re satisfied with this review).’

COMMENTS

Control keys: user definable to the Nth degree
Joystick: Kempston, Fuller, Protek, AGF, Sinclair 2, Para-Systems
Keyboard play: exceptionally responsive, good positions through UDK
Use of colour: above average, good for wire frame and a welcome addition to this type of game
Graphics: breathtakingly fast though not very detailed
Sound: very good
Skill levels: definable through front end
Lives: only 1
Screens: 2
Special features: flexible front end, and second program included
General rating: excellent shoot em up, certainly the fastest.

Use of computer

100%

Graphics

88%

Playability

86%

Getting started

89%

Addictive qualities

85%

Value for money

87%

Overall

89%

D-DAY

Producer: Games Workshop
Author: Dagenham Design Cell
Price: £7.95

Games Workshop have long been in the business of seeing games across a wide range of interests. Now they have gone into software production with the aid, in this case of ‘Demented Den, The Major, Macabre Mick and Einstein’ and the corporate members of Dagenham Design Cell.

D-Day is a sophisticated wargame set in the Second World War for two players. It contains four scenarios, each accessed via its own loader. These are The Landing, The Breakout, Road to Arnhem, Arnhem Landing. The loader asks to play, and then loads the appropriate Deployment program. In this stage the two players (Germans and Allies) deploy their forces’ start positions on a map. The screen has two windows, map on the left, units and numbers to be on the right. A cursor selects the unit, while a set of cursor keys then move two white arrows over the map terrain to where you want the unit placed. When all the units have deployed, the second player deploys his or hers, and then the main program for the selected scenario is loaded.

In play, the same screen layout is used, with messages and prompts appearing in the right window, units being moved by selection and the cursor system. The map of each scenario is quite large, the window only displays a small area, with the map scrolling over the total area as the cursor is moved. The map contains several terrain features such as, trees, rough ground, sea or lakes, grass, roads, buildings, sand, marshes, hedges and bridges over rivers. Logically, units may only be deployed or moved into terrain that is suitable, and the program takes account of movement speed depending on the terrain.

To win a scenario, you must defeat the enemy’s forces. There are three values related to destruction — Attack, Defence and Range. These three affect how effective a shot on the opponent will be and can result in four states — Undamaged, Damaged, Wreck or Destroyed. The distinction between wreck and destroyed is that a wreck, though out of the action, is not removed and so prevents another unit from occupying the square, whereas destroyed objects vanish altogether.

In firing, logic is employed. A unit may fire if nothing blocks its way like towns, trees or hedges, and if it is within range of the target. If all the parameters are met, then the cursor is placed over the firing unit and confirmed, before moving the cursor to the unit being fired upon. The graphics actually show the attack and resulting explosion. The damage report is then displayed. Howitzers and mortars are allowed to fire on targets even if terrain intrudes, because of the high trajectory of shot.

Since ships are very important in landings and on rivers, lakes etc, there is a large section devoted to them in the manual. As they make a large difference to the outcome of any game, it is worth reading this section carefully. The four scenarios each have different conditions for winning and varying amounts and types of units.

CRITICISM

‘When I first saw the graphics of this game after loading the deployment part of the program, I immediately thought of Stonkers, the Imagine wargame, because the graphics are not dissimilar, bright, sharp and quite large. I’ve seen plenty of wargames, and usually everything is small, cramped, indistinct and a pain on the eye. Not so with D-Day. For once the graphic characters actually resemble recognisable things. The system of selection by cursor is very good and speeds the game up, especially as the cursor can itself be made to move at a faster speed — none of that entering all the grid references. Deployment takes quite a while, as is often the case in wargames, but it isn’t just a boring prelude to playing the game — the positioning of troops and units is critical. But there is a useful auto-deployment mode. In general, the only drawback to D-Day that I can see yet is its two-player status which makes it difficult for a lone player, unless he wants to play both sides — but that’s hardly cricket, is it?’

‘Wargames have never been a strong point with me, and D-Day is another mammoth task with loads of setting up to do, and then when the game starts, a long time needs to be spent gradually manoeuvering all the units into battle position. On the other hand, the graphics are very good, and before I knew it, my partner and I were engrossed in The Landing. If Stonkers is called to mind, it is only in the sense that the graphics are as interesting and varied. D-Day is definitely a fully blown war-game for experts and lovers of strategy. As such it offers an enormous scope for playing and will probably do well in correspondence games. The accompanying booklet is well laid out and clear to read. Also, and unusually, it is quite easy to understand. A very good game with plenty of potential.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: uses 8 directional cursor movement with keys: Q/W/E; A/S/D; Z/X/C;
Joystick: none needed in this type of game
Keyboard play: cursor selection is very fast and positive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: varied, detailed and dear, smooth scrolling over map
Sound:
Skill levels:
Lives:
Screens: four scenarios with scrolling
Special features: two-player only
General Rating: An excellent and detailed wargame, with graphics to match — at last!

Use of Computer

75%

Graphics

85%

Playability

87%

Getting Started

79%

Addictive Qualities

N/A%

Value For Money

88%

Overall

83%

EDDIE KIDD JUMP CHALLENGE

Producer: Martech Games Ltd
Author: Ian McArdle
Price: £6.95

Eddie Kidd is probably among the best known motor cycle stuntmen in the world. Apparently a film about American stuntman Evel Knievel inspired the twelve year old Kidd to start training with an ordinary bicyde — jumping over oil cans, barrels and even his school mates. Now Spectrum owners have an opportunity to match some of his feats in a simulation which has been programmed with some help from Eddie Kidd himself, who appeared on the Martech stand at the recent PCW Show in London to help promote the game.

Like the young Eddie, players will have to start off on a pedal bicycle before progressing to something a bit more powerful. The screen layout is quite straightforward. The top half is the actual playing area and the bottom half contains the instrumentation. In the playing area you are shown the blue sky with clouds (moving in parallax 3D), with a strip of yellow ground, a fence and then the black road with its white centre line stripes. Each attempt starts with the bike rolling off the take off ramp, heading away for the run up.

Your instrumentation shows the gears (1 to 5), brake on or off, two bars for revs and speed, and below that the objects and numbers you are attempting to jump. Controls from keyboard or joystick affect the speed, and therefore the gear change, by the throttle or brake, as well as turning the bike around and the angle at which Eddie leans. This latter is quite important both on take off and landing in controlling the attitude of the bike. Obviously other factors in a successful jump are the take off speed and the length of run up to the ramp. The run up is decided by the player quite simply by turning the bike around when you think you are far enough from the ramp. The wild card factor is the gusting headwind, which, depending on strength, can radically alter the length of the jump. To help you assess this factor, there is a wind sock device in the instrumentation area.

Software Communications are running two competitions in conjunction with Eddie Kidd Jump Challenge. Prizes include BMX Bikes, microcomputers and colour TVs.

Details are on the inlay, which also includes your Official Contender Card and a Jump Challenge sticker.

CRITICISM

‘Why does an essentially motorcycle game start off with a push bike jump? It may show how he started at first, or where he got his inspiration from first, but in this particular game it becomes very repetitive, boring and irrelevant to the game. The motorcycle seems to perform not unlike a real one, and in fact mimicks a real one very well in mid air. One thing I don’t like about this game is if you fall of your bike by hitting cars, landing wrong or whatever, you return to the menu, giving you no second chance, which is probably a little mean, and also a major drawback. Also, I didn’t understand the scoring system, sometimes I scored and sometimes I didn’t. This game is interesting at first to play, but the novelty wears off quite quickly. Unless you’re a real motorcycle stunt fanatic, I don’t think this game’s worth the money.’

‘The first task on this novel game is to pedal over some barrels. This is a doddle, or even a toddle, compared to what comes next. In the interests of making the game a little bit more playable, it would have been better to omit this stage on subsequent attempts since it soon begins to irritate. Controlling the motorcycle is fairly simple, and the fun in the game depends heavily on how you actually make your jump. There is, therefore, the attendant risk that players will soon tire of Eddie Kidd because in truth there is nothing else to it. Of course, as you get more practiced you can jump more and more cars etc., but I don’t think this is going to prove enough to keep people playing, especially as the scenery doesn’t change.’

‘Eddie Kidd has some nice graphics, the background is simple enough, but the effect of movement works quite well, and the graphics of your biker is quite neat, especially in the spills. But as far as it goes, we have already seen as good in Wheelie. Sadly, after all the promise, this game is quite unaddictive, for me at any rate, less of a game in fact than a simulation.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: SYM SHIFT/SPACE causes lean, Z controls throttle, CAPS controls brake, any key on 2nd row will turn bike
Joystick: Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: responsive, but not the best layout
Use of colour: somewhat limited, but dean
Graphics: smooth, fairly well detailed on bike
Sound: motorcycle noise is quite good, otherwise not much
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 1
Screens: 1
Special features: competition
General Rating: A good simulation, not over exciting and not particularly addictive.

Use of Computer

50%

Graphics

63%

Playability

68%

Getting Started

82%

Addictive Qualities

30%

Value For Money

48%

Overall

56%

GILLIGAN’S GOLD

Producer: Ocean Software Ltd
Author: Ronald Rhodes, Keith Burkhill, F. David Thorpe
Price: £5.90

Platform-type games have certainly come a long way over the year. Gilligan’s Gold is a good example of this development. Three screens, sitting side by side, make up the gold mine where Gilligan the intrepid hero is collecting the sacks and attempting to get them all into his wheelbarrow, which is up on the top level. The mine is a warren of passages and shafts with ladders in them and lifts. Sometimes the gold is behind a blocked wall and here the pickaxe comes in handy. It has a second use too — knocking outlaws over the head, for the mine is infested with them, and they are after Gilligan and the gold. They can also be knocked out by dropping gold sacks down shafts on top of them.

At the bottom of the mine a railcar runs up and down along the mine. It’s possible to ride in this by hanging from the roof at a few marked points and then dropping onto the car at the right moment. This also works for the other railcars that run on the other levels. Gilligan is not allowed to fall more than a level or he loses a life, and being hit by a railcar isn’t much better.

CRITICISM

‘Gilligan’s Gold is another Commodore 64 to Spectrum conversion and unfortunately it hasn’t come out as well as the other recent Ocean games. Needless to say though, it is still good, but the characters (you and your enemies) aren’t as detailed as in the C64 version. The sound is very good, playing a nice little tune. This is a fun game to play, but I don’t think it’s got tremendous lasting appeal like, say, Decathlon, one of my all time favourites.’

‘The graphics are not ultra-brill, but this does not spoil the game which is really challenging. There are quite a few features which really add to the game. I almost died laughing watching the demo, it had lots of funny bits in it. I enjoyed the game itself even more. It’s a bit like a Harold Lloyd Buster Keaton arcade game.’

‘Whatever’s the matter with the programmers today — are they being paid by Arthur Scargill, or is it just a coincidence that everyone’s gone mining mad; maybe they’re just slow to catch onto the Manic Miner trend? Gilligan’s Gold is another mining game, but more so than the others. The fact is that you have got to collect the gold in your wheelbarrow, and hack away at walls with your pick, whilst being chased by outlaws. Animation is this game is quite wonderful in some respects, such as when you knock one of the outlaws out — you can see stars around their heads and when they’re coming round they start to pant, and you see their stomachs start to rise and fall. Even details such as a barrow’s wheel whizzes round as you push it. I must say I do like the mining carts, which can be your enemy or saviour. There are only three screens to this game, but I think there’s plenty to keep you going for quite a while, and besides, if you clear all the three screens of gold, maybe there is a different type of layout — that’s left for you to find out though! Taking everything into consideration, I think this will prove to be quite an addictive game as it is a very playable game. I like it.’

COMMENTS

Control Keys: Q/W left/right, P/ENTER up/down, SPACE for all actions
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Protek, AGF
Keyboard Play: responsive, but up/down and action keys are awkwardly laid out
Use of colour: good
Graphics: large definite shapes and generally good
Sound: continuous tune
Skill Levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 3
Special Features:
General Rating: Very good, playable and addictive.

Use of Computer

80%

Graphics

77%

Playability

80%

Getting Started

79%

Addictive Qualities

78%

Value For Money

80%

Overall

79%

THE HOUSE JACK BUILT

Producer: Thor Computer Software
Author: Chris Kerry
Price: £6.95

Third in the series of ‘Jack’ games from Thor, The House Jack Built is a little different from the first two Jack and the Beanstalk and Giant’s Revenge in as much as it has many more screens and, more importantly, it plays differently because unlike the other two, you are not killed off by deviating from the very narrow, preset path.

The game takes place in Jack’s house (he’s obviously not poor any more), which has several rooms, some basement rooms and caves, a garden, a large maze, a roof which then leads onto the moon, where there are several more locations to see. The object is to go around and collect all the available objects whilst avoiding the ferocious house pets (or is that pests?). The score is by percentage of collected objects.

You always start off in the same room — the living room — but getting killed doesn’t mean having to start over and you are returned to the ‘death’ location ready to start again.

CRITICISM

‘The House Jack Built has very good graphics and sound (although it drives you barmy after a while). The characters move around well and the various scenes are well thought out and drawn. When you change rooms you must be ready for anything, as you are nearly always in immediate danger. I think Jack is the wrong colour as he tends to blend in with the background at times. Your pets are a bit weird as they do not always kill you. I thought this game was quite good, but I don’t like the strong colour.’

‘After playing the other two games and being a bit disappointed with them, I was all geared up to have a good moan at The House Jack Built, but I must confess that it’s not what I expected at all — in fact it’s quite good. The game is the same idea as JATB and GR but the ‘routes’ to get to an object aren’t so pre-defined. The game is fun to play with plenty of rooms to explore. All the backgrounds of each screen are beautifully drawn, though colour isn’t always used wonderfully because Jack is yellow and clashes with their strong colour. The game contains a good continuous tune that can be switched off if it drives you crazy. Overall The House Jack Built is a fun, addictive get-the-object-that-is-in-the-most-difficult-place game, and worth buying.’

‘I wasn’t very optimistic about this game at first after seeing Thor’s previous games on the ‘life of Jack’ theme, but to my amazement this game is quite playable. This game is still very difficult but not half as finicky and precise as the previous two games. Graphics are of the same type, colourful and with attribute problems, also Jack himself is almost invisible — again... There are many more locations to see in THJB, all quite nicely drawn and fairly easy to get to. Objects to collect, of course, are very difficult and are positioned at a key point in the screen where all the pets meet and try to destroy you. There’s no doubt that these three games from Thor look distinctly different to anyone else’s, mostly because of the strong colours employed in the graphics, yet in a way it’s as though too much colour has been used, which makes it somewhat tiring on the eye, and can be as bad sometimes as having too little colour. Much more playable and addictive than the two previous games if not yet as appealing as it should be.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/W left/right and O/K up/down
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: quite responsive, sensible keys, and better than with joystick
Use of colour: over use of colour, nevertheless, bright and cheerful
Graphics: detailed, varied and smooth, sometimes hard to see characters with colour dash
Sound: continuous tune and spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
Screens: 20 plus
Special features: Currah microspeech
General Rating: Two reviewers thought it was good, one thought it was average.

Use of Computer

73%

Graphics

78%

Playability

76%

Getting Started

76%

Addictive Qualities

67%

Value For Money

68%

Overall

73%

KUNG-FU

Producer: Bug-Byte Software Ltd
Author: Dusko Dimitrijevic, Dragoljub Andjelkovic, Damir Muraja
Price: £6.95

This is probably the most unusual game to be seen on the Spectrum for a long while, perhaps ever. As its name suggests, the game is a simulation of the noble art of defence and attack. There are two modes of play for one player against the computer, or for two players against each other.

The one and two-player modes each have a different background of suitably oriental design. The playing characters are quite large, animated line drawings which faithfully follow your commands. Four movements are possible, a left arm karate chop, a step forward and block, a right foot front kick and a left foot back kick. Additionally the character may be advanced or retreated.

Below the playing area is an indicator of hits on the computer player. A successful knock out strike results in the hit character collapsing to the ground. The more successful you are on the single player mode, the tougher the computer player becomes to beat. Now everyone has the chance to become a grasshopper...

CRITICISM

‘Kung Fu is a totally original game. The graphics are very large and allow you and a friend to beat hell out of each other. Each of the Kung Fu moves is beautifully animated. As you get better you move up belts, white to yellow etc. The sound is good with a good tune playing continuously. This is very playable and quite addictive. I don’t know how long this will keep you occupied, but it’s still a good game on the face of it. If you want a change from the usual type of game, this is worth it.’

‘It must be said that this is an exceptional attempt to reproduce a very difficult sport on a computer, and it has been totally successful in achieving its ends. Characters take about half the playing area (in height) and are superbly animated. The option of playing the computer or an opponent is a great asset to this game, allowing friends to join in for a bit of variation. Obviously the person who programmed this game is into Kung Fu as each move is executed the way it should be. The only niggle I’ve got about the game is that there is no on/off switch for the oriental music which can drive you around the bend. I have mixed feelings about whether this game will be constantly addictive, as it does get repetitive kicking your partner’s teeth in or crippling his sex life!’

‘The first thing to strike you about Kung Fu is the lovely graphics. The backgrounds are exactly right, and manage to be quite soothing to watch as you match wits with either computer or a friend. At times the movements of the two characters can look like a piece of ballet. Kung Fu is a brave and almost entirely successful simulation. Perhaps the only complaint in the end might be that once mastered, it would be nice to have some other moves to try out. As it is, this should prove interesting, different and challenging and for its novelty value, worth the money.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1, 2, 3, 4 for left player (or solo) 6, 7, 8, 9 for right player, with CAPS SHIFT and SYM SHIFT walk left, Z and SPACE walk right
Joystick: Kempston and Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: responsive, key positions work quite well
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent animation
Sound: constant tune (could do with on/off)
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives:
Screens: 2
Special features:
General Rating: Original and overall very good.

Use of Computer

78%

Graphics

82%

Playability

80%

Getting Started

77%

Addictive Qualities

71%

Value For Money

76%

Overall

77%

MADHATTER

Producer: Gamma Software
Author: Simon Johnson
Price: £5.50

Madhatter is a game which has little if anything to do with Alice in Wonderland. The title is very much an excuse for a simple idea. The scenario seems mad enough; it’s the Madhatter’s Un-Birthday and some friends are supposed to be coming for tea. Unfortunately the place is in a dreadful mess and must be tidied up. The mess seems to be made from sweets and chocolate rolls, the very things he needs for the tea. The object of the game is go around picking up ten sweets for each roll and hitting the top of the screen. Each time you do this a roll appears in the score line and after five have appeared you go onto the next screen. The unpleasant side of life here are the mice, which steal sweets (and don’t forget you need ten sweets for every roll), the vacuum cleaner on the right of the screen which kills on contact, and other objects which fly across at random, also killing. And that’s about it.

CRITICISM

‘This is one of those rush around the screen and grab the goodies games! The graphics are a little flickery but fast. The appeal of getting the sweets plus a chocky roll soon wears thin, making this one of those average to fair type games.’

‘You’ve got the speed, you’ve got the maneuverability, you’ve even got the brains but why can’t you get off that screen? This is about the most infuriating game I have ever played. The graphics are nothing special and there is only one screen. The game type is more or less out of date now — all you do is run around (very fast) and collect things while avoiding the nasties.’

‘Madhatter can be summed up as one of those games that might be worth buying at a budget price. It has very little to offer in terms of being exciting or even very skillful, since all you have to do is dodge and collect. We’ve seen this sort of thing many times before. The graphics are rather small, a bit jerky and lacking in detail or interest. Not really worth it.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, N/M left/right
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: average responsiveness, sensible keys
Use of colour: average
Graphics: jerky, on the small side
Sound: not bad
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 1
Special features:
General Rating: An old fashioned looking game with nothing much to hold the interest.

Use of Computer

57%

Graphics

48%

Playability

52%

Getting Started

58%

Addictive Qualities

42%

Value For Money

48%

Overall

51%

MUSIC TYPEWRITER

Producer: Music Soft
Author: Soft-Music (B. Mikolasek, V. Meier)
Price: £9.95

Converting a personal computer into a practical synthesizer usually requires a large amount of hardware — from musical keyboards to countless sound generators and filters. ROMANTIC ROBOT avoids this problem by converting the Spectrum into a music typewriter. The result is a respectable storage and retrieve type melody maker, not a realtime instrument. MUSIC TYPEWRITER stores up to 16 different music pieces within 254 bars, which can be edited and played with varying rhythm and tempo.

THE INSTRUMENTS

MUSIC TYPEWRITER comes complete with a manual and a keyboard overlay in a library box. The program lets you set paper and ink colours and then presents itself with the main menu. MUSIC TYPEWRITER is organised in three program pages. For each page a help menu may be called up for on screen instructions.

Page 0 contains the main menu, which also gives access to the other pages.

Page 1 provides a selection of the key and time signatures, tempo, clef and tail display of the music to be written.

Page 2 contains the catalogue of existing music pieces and provides the controls for creating, deleting, saving and loading of other- music hors d’oevres. Throughout the program, SPACE moves the selecting cursor, ENTER executes the selected command or value, Q quits any operation and returns you to the main menu and BREAK reinitialises the program to the original colour selection.

The first excursion should lead to page 2, where the catalogue of existing music pieces will be displayed with their index number, name, number of bars and how many bars are still available. The piece to be written, edited or played is selected with NEW (for a new piece) or OLD (for an existing piece). O brings back the main menu.

The second excursion should lead to page 1, where all the key and time parameters will have to be set up for the piece to be written, unless one operates with the default values. All the major keys are available at the touch of their key. Existing music pieces will be transposed taking care of all sharps, flats etc. Any time signature may be selected from 2/4 to 8/4 or 2/8 to 15/8. Tempo can be set anywhere between 23 and 255 of the metronome scale. Treble and bass clefs and tail direction are selected for the correct notation. Pressing O returns you to the main menu where write mode may be selected. The music is written directly on the Spectrum keyboard. The overlay converts the Spectrum into a musical keyboard with the 3rd row from the top as white keys. The black keys, which can either be sharps or flats depending on notation can be accessed either on the 2nd row from the top (sharps) or the 4th row from the top (flats). There is just over 1 octave available at any time, but the whole range can be shifted an octave lower with caps shift & 2 or an octave higher with symbol shift & 2.

The shift can be cancelled by pressing caps or symbol shift & 3. There are two clefs, the bass def using the lower and the treble clef the upper part of the full 6 octave range. The basic note values are selected on the top row and range from a semibreve to a semiquaver (additional signs such as staccato, tenuto, dotted notes, triplets can also be selected) and apply until a new value is selected. The selected value is displayed in the top left corner of the screen. Pressing any of the music keys or PAUSE will play the note and display it simultaneously in the bar following the last entered note.

Caps shift & 0 deletes the notes from right to left starting with the last written note. STEP steps you through existing notes from left to right without altering them. The program takes care of the bar tines and end line. Upon completion of the music piece the write mode is left by pressing ENTER upon completion of the last bar.

The tune may now be played by selecting PLAY from main menu, and the music parameters may be changed and experimented with. REPEAT repeats a piece N times. The range is from 1 to 255 with 255 being an endless loop.

If only certain bars of a music piece need to be altered EDIT will enable you to step through and change notes in a bar number N and onwards.

CRITICISM

MUSIC TYPEWRITER is an extremely user friendly program, which lets you get started within minutes. As the music has to be written in real notation, it is not suited for musicians who play by ear. You cannot play a melody with varying note values just by modulating the keys, so creating a rhythmical sequence will have to be worked out in the mind. MUSIC TYPEWRITER has tremendous potential as an educational program for young kids who have to come to grips with writing or reading a musical piece and have to team the scales. Disappointingly there is only one ‘instrument’ available. It would have been nice to have a range of instruments to choose from. After all, it’s the one thing you expect from an electronic instrument. This together with the limitation of one voice only limits the pleasure of using MUSIC TYPEWRITER for anything more serious.

One other drawback is the way in which the notes are displayed in playback and write/ edit mode. The notes appear simultaneously when they are played or entered, but there is no forward vision. It is impossible to read (or learn to read) the notes on playback, as the preceding notes are invisible. It would have been far better to indicate the current play position by a change of ink colour using a less solid colour for the notes still to be played. The same goes for editing or writing an old piece, where you would li ke to do alterations by stepping with SPACE to copy the existing notes and to overwrite a certain section with new notes. As you are not aware of the next note you end up pressing STEP (SPACE) followed by DEL. (CAP SHIFT & 0) because of the blindness.

There is however full facility of making hard copies of your master pieces with a print command in the WRITE/EDIT mode for the current bar and in the main menu for an entire music piece. The music piece can be saved and loaded from tape by accessing page 2.

The keyboard overlay solves the problem of not having a dedicated musical keyboard and all the major commands are annotated for instant accessibility. There are a string of error reports which warn you of impending dangers and together with the HELP pages this makes for a very user friendly program.

Apart from any serious educational application MUSIC TYPEWRITER is an ideal pastime for any lingering musician. You can write the most masochist tune and see how the computer copes without any hiccups...

General Rating: <None>

NOAH

Producer: ESP Software
Author: Microfayre, Lotus-Soft

In the beginning, Adam and Eve weren’t as good as they should have been, and as a result of their indiscretions, humanity wasn’t as good either. In despair, God decided to get rid of everything and start over. Only Noah was nice, so God told him to build an ark and fill it with pairs of animals so they should be saved.

In this biblical epic you play the erstwhile Noah, not much loved by his fellow humans because of his tales of gloom and doom, and you must travel through the 256 screens collecting the 31 pairs of animals that live in the badlands and beyond the Great Wall in various unsavoury places.

The basic colouring of this game is yellow, with large graphics of animals in blue. Various obstacles confront Noah in his search like shrubs, trees, fences and the Great Wall itself, to which he must find the Great Gate key. Puddles are also a problem, and with a prescience of what is to come, Noah is frightened of puddles! Hitting a forbidden object causes the screen to flash with the ominous warning, Whoops Apocalypse. Too much of this sort of thing will kill you off and condemn you to a very long re-intro.

Getting an animal to follow you is not very easy, some of them don’t want to go, and there is the added problem that you cannot leave a screen unless you have first eaten the parcel of purple food. Some animals, snails especially, seem to cause an apocalypse, so what with avoiding them, dragging an unwilling animal, and trying to get at the food that the animal is obligingly blocking you off from it can become quite hard.

CRITICISM

‘Noah has rather large graphics which move a little on the slow side. The task of collecting the animals is no quick thing — in fact just trying to get one back is a task in itself. The animals are depicted well, each (from what I saw) looking like a proper elephant, snake, sheep etc. Because my Kempston had reversed itself between left and right with this game, I was slow to make progress. Overall this is a good game which will take quite a time to get into and complete.’

‘At first I wondered what a game called Noah could be based upon. I was soon to find out what this monster of a game was — it drove me up the wall. The burden of having to collect food before you can move off each screen was frustrating, and while nothing seemed to go on as the game progressed, I became bored. I tried to persuade an animal to come with me to the ark, but it said, ‘Not tonight — I’ve got a headache!’ I found Noah impossible to make any progress with whatsoever. To sum up this game it must be called the most unaddictive, highly frustrating, boring, non-progressive, slow game ever invented — it takes about as long to make its point as the Bible.’

‘One thing you can say about Noah is that it is different. It’s also rather large with 256 screens full of unwilling animals. Fortunately, in an attempt to prevent magazines doing maps of it, one is provided, although it only gives a vague indication, and irritatingly pops up every time you bump into something. The graphics are quite good of the animals but Noah himself looks a little on the simple side. It’s an odd mixture, and I don’t think I really enjoyed it, too much irritation enjoyed to be really good.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z/X left/right, O/K up/down, M for map
Joystick: Kempston, AGF, Protek, Sinclair
Keyboard play: not very responsive
Use of colour: not over colourful
Graphics: animals nicely drawn, Noah poor, movement by block
Sound: not much
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1 with allowance of apocalypses
Screens: 256
Special features:
General Rating: Mixed feelings from poor to good between reviewers.

Use of Computer

67%

Graphics

49%

Playability

45%

Getting Started

52%

Addictive Qualities

27%

Value For Money

44%

Overall

47%

PI-IN-’ERE

Producer: Automata UK Ltd
Author: Jason Austin, Colin Tuck
Price: £6.00

Burt has been miniaturised and injected into that favourite playland of so many programmers — a computer. His mission is to track down the Big Bug by tunnelling through areas of RAM, collecting all the objects in each memory location. There are a variety of minor bugs in each location. Red bugs have the power to tunnel after you, but the white, green and magenta bugs can only follow in your tunnels. Tunnelling under the edit keys, will cause them to fall, and if they fall on a bug, you send it back to its starting position and gain points. Lighting up the letters of the word EXTRA at the bottom of the screen gives you an extra life.

CRITICISM

‘A very playable, frustrating and addictive game. All the graphics are neat and not jumpy like so many other games. Each screen has a faster, sometimes more intelligent, set of mini-bugs for you to squash or flee from. On each screen you must make up a routine which you should stick to, otherwise your tune will run out (you have roughly 1 minute and 55 seconds per screen). Every 10 screens there is a bonus screen which is near to impossible to complete. I really enjoyed playing Pi-In-Ere, even though it might be a little behind the times.’

‘That super hero of super heroes, Burt, is back again in another Automata game. Burt is portrayed using very good graphics, the way he turns around is brilliant. The graphics are good, bright, colourful and amusing. Pi-In-Ere is a different yet playable game. Because there are 61 screens, don’t worry about losing your last life on 59 and having to start again, as the game always starts from your last level.’

‘It’s nice to see that Automata are producing some playable games for a change instead of games that are fun, but a bit pointless. Pi-In-Ere is a very original idea probably conceived from an arcade game along similar lines. Graphically, Burt is a marvellous character — he’s very well animated, swivels round, moves up and down with his arms waggling — he looks so jolly and bouncy. This game has an incredible amount of screens although they don’t vary very much, the bugs are different with every screen. They also look very and snappy. You’ll probably be able to play this game for a long time without getting bored with it, although after a while it may become tedious just collecting the objects needed to continue on to the next screen. Overall, a very colourful, jolly game — a trademark of Automata games — jolliness.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Cursor type
Keyboard play: well placed and responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: reasonable size, smooth and cheerful
Sound: good tunes and spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 5
Screens: 61
General Rating: Good, playable and reasonably addictive.

Use of Computer

78%

Graphics

81%

Playability

79%

Getting Started

75%

Addictive Qualities

75%

Value For Money

76%

Overall

77%

PIROMANIA

Producer: Strange Loop
Price: £6.00

Automata Towers, that well known TV series, is on fire, and all the residents are threatened with flame out, a sizzling end to another fine day in tower-block suburbia. It’s all the fault of that little cult, the Piman, whose soaring star has fueled the flames. Your task is to help Walter Hose put out the flames and save the inhabitants from becoming barbecued spare ribs. Despite his name, Walter has only a fire bucket and taps to help, unless he can get to the fire extinguisher. The method is to grab the bucket and run to the nearest tap, fill the bucket and then douse the flames which are breaking out all over the place. A bucket full will do the trick for a few fires, but it needs to be replenished frequently. Care must be taken to ensure a needy tap isn’t isolated by burned out staircases. Being a gentle bunch, some residents actually keep dynamite, and this should be removed to safety as quickly as possible!

There are also fire extinguishers to use, a pink elephant which dances beautifully, and doors which may be used to avoid the worst of burns. Points are scored for inhabitants and valuables saved.

CRITICISM

‘Piromania will obviously not be an epic, but it is quite a good idea and is very playable. It gets infuriating, especially when the piromaniac comes along and starts the fires again. If you leave a fire burning it will spread around all the building and eventually burn through the floors. I haven’t found any dynamite, which is a surprise, as I got quite far with the game. I quite enjoyed it, and it will probably have lasting interest for me.’

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game quite like this — it’s certainly different. The idea is so simple even a moron could play this game, just get your bucket, fill it with water and put the fire out. Saying this, the game does have a little more content than just putting a fire out. I must say, it gets ever so frantic and panicky on the higher levels — and whatever is a pink elephant doing in a house?! One niggle about the game is that Walter is a bit over-responsive, or perhaps it’s him just making a frantic dash to put the fire out, and he slides as he comes to a stop. Nevertheless, I found this game very playable and very enjoyable, but I don’t know whether to recommend it, except for its sheer simplicity of play. A good family game.’

‘Piromania is a fairly original platform game. The graphics are not very large, but they work well. The game has that quality that tends to make it addictive. Quite a few control keys are required, even with a joystick. Overall, I would say this ‘hot’ number is quite hottish.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: left/right — alternate keys bottom row, Q-P/A-ENTER up/down, numerics to use an object, BREAK to drop, CAPS to open/dose door
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: reasonable layout despite handful, responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: although small, generally good, animated and good looking fires
Sound: fair
Skill levels: 1 with progressive difficulty
Lives: 3
Screens:
Special features:
General Rating: An unusual game, with high playability and reasonably addictive.

Use of Computer

69%

Graphics

71%

Playability

72%

Getting Started

67%

Addictive Qualities

72%

Value For Money

72%

Overall

70%

SIR LANCELOT

Producer: Melbourne House
Memory required: 16K
Retail price: £5.95
Language: machine code
Author: Stephen Cargill

You’ve got to be quick to dive into the alcoves

Here’s the first game from Melbourne House’s new ‘Studio B’ based in England. Your task in this manic platform-ish game is to investigate 24 rooms in the castle and to collect all the things of use to you as you go. This is obviously the kind of useless existence that King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table enjoyed, seeking, collecting and getting killed off.

Although principally a platform style game, Sir Lancelot has many variations on the different screens, ladders, stairs, towers, hidey-holes and all sorts of things. Because of the combination and placing of collectible objects and hazards, strategy becomes an important element in the game. Even when all the objects have been collected, you cannot clear a screen until you reach the flashing exit which appears when the last object is taken. There is a large playing area, with score lines and animated ‘lives’ remaining running along beneath.

CRITICISM

‘After watching someone else play this game I was determined to do better than that person — that just goes to show the competitiveness of this game. Sir Lancelot is a well animated knight that has some amazing powers of jumping and running around the screen. Collecting the jewels can be an easy task or a difficult task depending on the screen layout and on the moving hazards, but as a general rule it gets progressively more difficult and more thought needs to be put in to each screen and reactions need to get sharper. Colours have been used very well to give various shades, all very pleasing to the eye and very clear. Graphics are of a nice size and are also very detailed. One thing I especially like are your spare lives hanging about at the bottom of the screen waiting to be used, pacing impatiently from side to side in boredom. I found Sir Lancelot incredibly addictive, and just the sheer fact of wanting to see the next screen made me play the game even more. I can well recommend this game to anyone.’

‘This is the best 16K game I have seen in a long time. It has all the graphics and playability of Manic Miner and four more screens as well! The knight you play moves around well and very fast, as do the other characters. You have to time jumps and work out a routine through each screen. I have one main criticism, and that is that you are given a very short time to finish the screen, but apart from that I enjoyed playing Sir Lancelot very much.’

‘Sir Lancelot is rather a surprise from Melbourne House who seem to have been more interested in ‘state of the art’ games in a way, for this isn’t really that at all. What it is is a very fast, cleverly tortuous Manic Miner style game with neat, smooth, detailed graphics and some interesting variations on the theme of avoiding nasties. There’s plenty here to play with 24 screens, each more a test than the last, and like MM, once you get good with the rhythm of a screen, you can show off to your friends. Very addictive very playable, very good.’

Another screen which looks deceptively simple

COMMENTS

Control keys: alternate keys on second row for left and right and SHIFT to SPACE for jump
Joystick: cursor type, but hardly needs one
Keyboard play: very responsive, nice simple keys
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: excellent
Sound: very good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
Screens: 24
Special features:
General rating: an addictive playable game, good to excellent value.

Use of computer

90%

Graphics

89%

Playability

88%

Getting started

93%

Addictive qualities

89%

Value for money

90%

Overall

90%

SKOOL DAZE

Producer: Microsphere
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £5.95
Language: machine code

Skool Daze is the best daze of your life and if the gratuitous violence possible in this extraordinary new game is anything to go by, it is probably best to go through them all in a daze! The nefarious hero (or is he an anti-hero) of this piece is called Eric, although the program allows you to input a new name if you prefer to personalise your software, and you can change the names of the other ‘actors’ in this play. ‘Play’ and ‘actors’ are apt words in this game, for it carries on its own life regardless of what you are doing, in fact the demo alone is like watching ‘Grange Hill’ on the telly!

The simple object of Skool Daze is to get the end of term report out of the headmaster’s safe, so suppressing the appalling information contained in it. However, achieving this aim is not so simple. In essence, to get the safe combination code, you must set all the school shields hanging on the walls flashing. You do this by hitting them with your catapult. Once they are all flashing, you must extract the code letters from the teachers, each one of which has been entrusted with one letter. This is done by knocking them over. All except the history master who, because of his advanced age, has had his code letter implanted in his brain by hypnosis.

The methods to be used to set shields flashing, knock over teachers and extract the information are very varied, and typically school-like. But even with the codes, all is not over, because Eric must try out all the combinations on a blackboard. And even with the safe accessed safely, Eric must then cover his tracks by stopping all the shields from flashing by the same method he used to start them.

This may all sound involved and fun, and it is, but the bare bones of the plot don’t even begin to explain how hard the task is made by the ants nest building of a school! It swarms with kids and teachers, the former milling innocently around, bopping each other in the eyes, scrawling rude messages on the blackboard, tripping up masters and generally causing havoc to Eric’s endeavours; the latter handing out lines, ringing bells to change classes, asking daft educational questions, and generally being just like school teachers. Quite honestly, the Department of Education should have this game suppressed before it really causes trouble...

CRITICISM

‘Skool Daze takes me back a bit, to the good old days — school days. This incredible 3D school time game has many features associated with school, such as ‘Whacker’ — the teacher that is out to get you with his cane. The object of the game is quite easy although achieving the objective is very difficult, and this seems to add very well to the playability of the game. Among the many things I like, two things that stand out are — the catapult action, where your missile if fired at the back of someone’s head, promptly knocks that person down, with the victim scratching his head — and the fact that there is no character disruption when the figures pass in front of the background. Colour, sound and the general idea are all exceptionally good. I think this will provide many hours of joyful skool daze.’

‘Skool Daze is a fun game to play. The graphics are excellent and the sound is good. You are set an enormous task, which I have only just started. Most of the shields are much too high to reach, and all the teachers are line-happy. When ever you do anything and there is a teacher near you, the teacher will shout remarks at you. I really enjoyed playing this game and recommend it to everyone with a sense of mischief.’

‘From the moment you see Skool Daze, you fall in love with it, because the graphics are tremendous. The whole playing area is alive with action. The cast of characters is presented in a long menu which introduces each recognisable graphic, tells you who they are and their names and allows you to change them if you want. The game has the feeling of an animated comic strip with the teachers’ and pupils’ comments all appearing in balloons. Playing the game requires a lot of attention to keep up with everything that is going on, and even if you don’t feel up to a day at school, you can always sit back and watch it happen around you on the excellent demo. Microsphere seem to have a knack of finding unusual themes for games, and this is no exception. They also find the great graphics to go with it. I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with Skool Daze.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors or Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, plus; S for sit/stand, H for hit, W for write, J/L jump/leap and O or F for fire
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent — it seems an inadequate word
Sound: very good, good tune
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1
Screens: scrolling school building
Special features: masked character graphics
General rating: excellent value, plenty to do, addictive, unusual.

Use of computer

92%

Graphics

93%

Playability

95%

Getting started

93%

Addictive qualities

94%

Value for money

94%

Overall

93%

SPACE PROFESSOR

Producer: Front Runner
Author: Pinksoft
Price: £5.95

Space Professor is an educational game which requires some arcade skill of the traditional variety, for it is a shoot em up. It also requires some quite nifty mathematical abilities on the harder levels!

The screen takes the form of something between ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Galaxians’. You are at the base, on the ground in a laser tank, firing upwards at the hordes of descending alien craft. Each of these has a number on it. Below the playing area a sum will be displayed and you must work out the answer as fast as possible so that you can shoot up all the aliens excepting the craft with the correct answer to the sum on it. This must be allowed to land unhindered to win.

Meanwhile, you must avoid being hit by the missiles that the aliens are firing down on you. On an easy level, this is pretty simple and suitable for fairly young children. However, on a harder level with, say division and a fast speed, working out 891 divided by 91, can be quite difficult.

There is an option menu to select between addition, subtraction, multiplication or division; three speeds of play; and control from keyboard or Joystick. If you get a sum right, the computer plays a tune and the arriving space craft puts down feet and puffs importantly to a stop.

CRITICISM

‘Space Professor is a very unusual way of learning fast calculations in arithmetic. Of course, at first I chose the easy level just to get into the game — this is a good beginners level. Moving onto level three — now that’s a totally different matter — you don’t even have time to look at the sum because the aliens are moving towards you so rapidly — it’s a nightmare! How ever are you meant to mentally calculate huge numbers while zapping aliens? And it’s no use having a calculator, because you need all your concentration on the screen. A good, fast colourful learning aid for simple (and not so simple) arithmetic.’

‘This is exactly the sort of game that is likely to cause more argument about whether computer games can be educational, especially in the light of Front Runner’s very ‘hit arcade game’ style advertising for it. What they have managed very nicely is a game that does have some reasonable arcade skill requirement as well as a fairly fast mind on the calculations. I have to confess to playing this in two, one on the keyboard and one on the calculator keyboard! Some of the harder sums are really quite a handful. I would think that Space Professor will provide excellent opportunities for distinguishing moving objects and linking them with an answer to a question, and making an immediate decision on how to act according to the answer.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: 9 and zero left/right and 1 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF and Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: responsive, with simple, well positioned keys
Use of colour: good
Graphics: large, simple shapes, quite fast
Sound: good tunes, some spot effects
Skill levels: 3
Lives: 3
Special features:
General Rating: An interesting educational program with rather more arcade content than usual.

Use of Computer

75%

Graphics

N/A

Playability

70%

Getting Started

78%

Addictive Qualities

N/A

Value For Money

68%

Overall

73%

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Producer: Creative Sparks
Author: Dalali Software Ltd
Price: £6.95

It has long been a tradition in the popular music business to produce Christmas ‘hit’ songs — something suitable to the season. Special Delivery by Creative Sparks is probably setting a new trend (a dubious one, many may think) by bringing out the first computer Christmas game.

In Special Delivery you take the starring role as Santa Claus on his merry way delivering presents to all the excited children. Unfortunately Santa has only five hours to complete the task, and if that wasn’t bad enough, he discovers that there aren’t enough presents to go round. The only way to ensure there are enough is to collect them as his helpers drop them from on high, avoiding the clouds as he goes.

The game is basically played in three stages. First, Santa is driving his sleigh through the air over mountainous terrain. He has to avoid the clouds otherwise one of the presents in the bag is lost. Above, angels are dropping presents which must be collected. A target figure for collection is set at the base of the screen. Once this is met, you progress to the second screen. Some angels are red in colour — don’t collect those parcels! Some clouds are thunderous, and if Santa is hit by lightning he loses an hour of time.

The second screen commences with Santa arriving over some large houses and he must land on the roof and walk to the chimney, the screen cuts to an interior view. Three ladders lead downwards, and you control Santa as he descends, moving him left and right to avoid the fireballs that rush upwards. On harder screens there are also objects falling down.

Getting down safely leads Santa into the house. This is displayed as a 3D cutaway of the floors, with stairs leading up. The idea is to drop a parcel beneath the Christmas tree then get out to move onto more difficult screens. Failure to collect the target figure of parcels from the angels in screen one means that you cannot land on a house, but must attempt to drop parcels accurately on to the houses.

CRITICISM

‘This is a Seasonal game for you, the only one I’ve seen that relates to Christmas or the fallacy of Santa Claus (no — he’s real, isn’t he?... ) The novel idea of collecting your presents from the angels of heaven above, avoiding hazards of lightning and mountains and devils (does Santa really go to all this trouble every year?) is very appealing. Whipping down chimneys is more difficult than I first thought and gets even more difficult on the higher stages with loads of flames rushing up to meet you with soot whizzing down after you — difficult, eh! Now here comes the exciting part — actually placing the presents at the base of the Christmas tree, while avoiding the happy children rushing to see if Santa has arrived. Unfortunately you can’t climb up chimneys, so it’s off to find the key to open the front door, although sometimes the door is weirdly placed, sometimes on the second or third floor. Despite the seasonal overtones, this turns out to be quite a difficult game, but I don’t think it’s going to be very addictive.’

‘With Christmas getting ever nearer, it is time for the seasonal spate of games. And here’s one complete with Santa, plus reindeer, presents an’ all. This is a game which I doubt anyone will be playing in June, but with that said, it’s still a good game. The graphics are small but smooth and well drawn and a good jingle bells tune is played. Special Delivery is fun to play and provides quite good value for money considering how many stages there are and that some of them are totally different from the others. The game is addictive without being tremendously time consuming or taxing. A good game worth considering for Christmas.’

‘I must admit to being rather horrified by the thought of a Christmas-specific game — would it feature Bing Crosby or Perry Como on the sound track? Actually Special Delivery turns out to be a tough game to play with lively graphics and quite a lot of content. And no Bing Como anywhere! The mix of ‘Scramble Santa’ with ‘Santa in Hell’ and ’3D Santa Beserk’ seems to work rather well to result in something quite new. Hardly a ‘great’ but very good for that.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursor keys
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, Fuller, AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: awkward on the fast bits if you don’t like the cursors, but responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: smallish characters, but smooth, well drawn and very good scrolling
Sound: good tunes
Skill levels: 1 with progressive difficulty
Lives: 6
Screens: 3
Special features:
General Rating: A novel and seasonal game that turns out to be well worth it.

Use of Computer

75%

Graphics

70%

Playability

70%

Getting Started

69%

Addictive Qualities

72%

Value For Money

70%

Overall

71%

STARSTRIKE

Producer: Realtime
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £5.95
Language: machine code
Author: Ian Oliver, Andrew Onions, Graeme Baird

Shooting away the cubes to get through the forcefield

Realtime’s second game, following their popular Tank Duel is another wire frame 3D game, set in space. This is one of the new generation of wire frame games for the Spectrum with fast moving coloured graphics. There are basically three different screens to play through, linked with computer ‘tacticals’ and culminating in a grand ‘finale’ scene. In the first section you are in the furthest reaches of space, fighting numerous alien fighter craft which hurl powerful plasma bolts at you. The object is to destroy as many enemy as you can by firing at them with the twin lasers, but it is also essential to destroy the plasma bolts as well to survive.

The second screen takes place on a battle planet, covered with a variety of towers. Some of them are armed, indicated by their yellow tops, and these also fire plasma bolts at your craft. Surviving through this screen takes you onto the third, and down into the trench. The trench has laser blisters on its side, which fire at you. Again it is important to destroy the bolts as well as the blisters. The trench is criss-crossed with transverse bridges and side towers, which must be dodged by weaving in and out of them. At the end of the trench is a protective forcefield, through which you must fly. But to disable the field, the two rotating cubes to either side must be shot out of the way. Failure to do so, will result in your being forced back into the trench again. If you get through unharmed, then you are shot into space and you see the planet behind explode, before going onto the next difficulty level.

The screen shows the status panel of your craft with the view beyond. The instruments show shield status and laser status, levels and score. The lasers overheat rapidly and take time to recharge. Shields are damaged by hitting enemy craft, towers, trench walls etc. as well as the enemy plasma bolts.

On the planet attacking the battle towers

CRITICISM

‘I was privileged to see the first ever ‘tests’ the programmers produced for this game, where you could see them ‘playing’ about with the ideas now contained in it. These were just space ships flying around in space. I was asked, at the time, whether I approved of this type of graphics. It looked as though it was going to be the beginning of a marvellous game. Seeing the finished product now, the graphics have come a long long way, maybe from the deepest, darkest depths of space itself. Although the game ‘Star Wars’ has been attempted to be copied many times in recent months on the Spectrum, none have really gone for the feeling and graphic presentation, instead they have added a gimmick to help sell the game, such as speed. This version definitely does have a great deal of graphic presentation, although wire frame, they are very detailed and well within the speed limits of a playable game. Colour has been used exceptionally well to add interest to the game with no tragic attribute problems. It must be pointed out that this game can be played quite easily by beginners with a skill level setting that increases with your skill, and does not just throw you in the deep end with a very difficult game to begin with. I think this is a big asset to any game. Starstrike is a very addictive, playable mindless shoot em up — what the majority of arcade freaks love!’

‘This game is bound to be compared with Dark Star but they are two totally different games. Dark Star has its tremendous speed, but Starstrike goes in more for the graphical side of the game. It’s the best ‘Star Wars’ type game to date, offering more playability than the arcade original with various extra screens and enemies added. It is very addictive and will offer hours of enjoyment to the arcade player, especially as it is a good hi-scoring game, more so than their earlier Tank Duel. It’s instantly playable because it offers skill levels from total wally to arcade perfection.’

‘The first thing I liked about Starstrike was the plasma bolts, nice big solid things that look real mean, and they spin as they come towards you, getting bigger and bigger. The space ships are also big and well detailed, and the explosions are great, the ships breaking up into their constituent parts before sailing away into space. The trench effect is exceptionally good 3D, and has you swaying in your seat as you weave between the towers and up over the bridges. On the planet if you hit a tower, your craft goes into an ‘out of control’ spin momentarily, which just adds to the overall effect and realism. This is a pleasing and high-performing game.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q-T/A-G climb/dive, Y-I and H-K left, O-P and L-ENTER right, any bottom row to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: responsive and well laid out
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: excellent 3D wire frame, smooth and large
Sound: continuous
Skill levels: 4 selectable but progressive up to and beyond 25
Lives: 1 with percentage of damage
General rating: excellent, addictive, playable and good value.

Graphics

93%

Playability

96%

Getting started

91%

Addictive qualities

94%

Value for money

94%

Overall

93%

TILER

Producer: Interceptor Micros Software
Author: Stephen N. Curtis
Price: £5.50

You have been contracted by Acme (what else) Construction to go and tile the roof of Rob Rubber’s roof. But this task is frustrating because Rob is a bouncer — he bounces all over the place like a manic deep sea diver in an over-pressurised suit. If he should land on you, then you’re squashed flat. The game is played out over three screens, the inside of the house, the garden and the garage. Nothing is quite as straight forward as it first seems — stairs are all one way, a key is needed to get through the garage to the garden, and from there you go up past the tree house onto the garage roof to collect the tiles. Tiles and key are collected by running over them, and as the tiles are deposited on the roof, they automatically appear in place, ready for you to go and collect another one. There is a panic button to press if you can’t avoid being squashed by Rob, but you forfeit any tile carried at the time.

CRITICISM

‘What a jolly looking game this seemed to be when first looking at it. What a shame, instead of the stickman there could have been someone a bit fatter walking about for you. Playing the game is quite easy, except for the fact that Rob bounces about rather wildly and unpredictably. After discovering the way of collecting tiles to be placed on the roof and working my way back through the screens to get to the roof, something became distinctly apparent about this game — it was going to be very tedious and long-winded. This is a major let down of the game. Tiler lacks an enormous amount of content and has no instant or lasting appeal.’

‘Tiler would quite possibly win a prize for one of the silliest scenarios ever written. Before making comments on the game itself, I would like to point out that the Hall of Fame is really frustrating. Onto the game; the background is filled up rather well and the graphics are good, but the actual characters are not over impressive. Playability is okay at first as you have to find out where to go etc., but it soon becomes repetitive — addictivity thus suffers. Not, I suppose, a bad game, but this fetch and carry type scenario is now wearing a little thin — I mean, in this case avoiding a rubber man while you tile a roof is not ultra-challenging. To fill the roof takes many tiles — you will probably lose a life while falling asleep.’

‘Tiler is a very infuriating game. The graphics are, at first glance, very good, but they seem to look worse when you examine the two character moving around, The one-way stairs are about the only hazard in this game, you don’t even have to work out a routine to get around the screens. By the time I’d tiled half the roof I had become very bored with this one.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, SPACE to panic
Joystick: Sinclair 2, Kempston, Protek
Keyboard play: good positions, very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good backgrounds, poor animated characters
Sound: average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 5
Screens: 3
Special features:
General Rating: Repetitive, lacking in content and ultimately below average.

Use of Computer

72%

Graphics

61%

Playability

50%

Getting Started

63%

Addictive Qualities

39%

Value For Money

54%

Overall

57%

TIR NA NOG

Producer: Gargoyle Games
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: Greg Follis & Roy Carter

Our recent preview of the new graphical adventure Tir Na Nog, which loosely translated means Land of Youth from Gargoyle Games, whose first game Ad Astra caused such a stir with its graphics, seems to have already aroused a lot of interest. Tir Na Nog is one of those games that is a review team’s nightmare! There is such a lot of it to get through in a shortish space of time that it is inevitable we can only give a hint of the flavour.

An insidious Sidhe, creeping up behind Cuchulainn

Tir Na Nog is set in a mythical Celtic world peopled by the Sidhe. Once mighty, now fallen on hard times, these monkey-like creatures are the main protagonists in the adventure. They had bound the Great Enemy by creating the Seal of Calum, and thus had become a great civilisation. But the Great Enemy had managed to steal the Seal by sending a thief. In their rage the Sidhe killed the thief but the Seal was shattered into four pieces and the Great Enemy freed to wreak havoc on the Earth again. So fell the Sidhe into sub-human beasts.

When the game opens, it is a new, darker age. You play Cuchulainn, the Hound of Heaven, a mighty warrior who has been called to reunite the four pieces of the Seal of Calum and thus defeat the Great Enemy. In this respect Tir Na Nog is definitely an adventure. You are required to explore, seek useful objects such as weapons and keys (some of whose uses are immediately apparent, and some are not), and interact with the other characters who inhabit the land. But it is not a text orientated adventure — text only plays a part in telling you where you are and what objects you are carrying, although occasionally there are situations where text will appear, such as the Oracle. There are puzzles to solve (the Oracle’s obscure pronouncements are such), and there are many arcade situations where quick reactions are needed to stay alive.

The screen is split roughly into two sections — a top playing area, where the land is seen, and a lower information area which tells you where you are, what you are carrying or using, and most importantly, a compass. The hero Cuchulainn moves left and right, but the scene may be viewed from four ‘camera’ positions which relate to the changing compass below.

Tir Na Nog comes in a large cardboard box which contains a 28 page booklet and a full colour map of the land. The booklet has playing instructions, a history of the land and playing tips contained very neatly within a supposed Sealltuinn, or ‘observations’ of a Bard of the Sidhe. The game may be saved at any point (to avoid constant death!) and reloaded.

CRITICISM

‘What we have here is a game that desperately needs careful mapping by the player! The map provided is very useful in giving the general layout of the land, but as the booklet says, ‘So many doors are there in Tir Na Nog that it has often been called the Land of Opportunity, because of the number of openings that exist.’ And there are hundreds of pathways. Because of the 3D world the program creates, but which you only really see in two dimensions at any time, it can get very confusing at first! The first time player would be well advised to ensure that he or she doesn’t lose a life right outside the altar cave and so drop the axe picked up just inside, because a Sidhe prowls around on that path and makes it a hard job on a next life to get the axe back. And that’s an important point — as in Avalon, objects used or dropped remain where they are, you affect the land every time you play and things are not reset to ‘start’. The graphics are extremely good. Cuchulainn walks and fights with tremendous vigour. It’s marvellous animation. The adventure quests are numerous and this game is going to take a long time to get through, which makes it good value for money, and a must for adventurers and arcade players alike.’

‘Tir Na Nog requires the skills of adventure, strategy and arcade. Some of the creatures you just have to fight, and what with orienting yourself and moving, it can be quite a skill. But some are in possession of things you need, and you may have something they want, so strategical thinking and forward planning comes in as well. Colour has been well used so there are no attribute problems to spoil the look of it. All the animated characters are masked on the backgrounds, so they look realistic and can be easily seen. The sidhe are very good, but a damned nuisance! I have barely scraped the surface of this marvellous looking game, but as far as I have got, it is playable, fun and (not usually the case with an adventure) very addictive.’

‘I didn’t get to see the preview copy of Tir Na Nog earlier but I had heard about it, and was looking forward to seeing it. Then I saw The Legend of Avalon and wondered whether Tir Na Nog wasn’t going to be very similar. Well they are not at all alike, visually or in the playing, beyond the fact that in both games you do have to be able to think and move very quickly at times in what is a vast playing area. I like the idea in Tir Na Nog that access to the many major ‘above’ and ‘below’ ground places is done by way of caves which lead you from one place to the other. This game is also one of those that requires a lot of exploring and familiarising before you have a hope of getting onto the quests. Fortunately, the exploring itself is fun and there is a lot to see. I just wonder whether there isn’t too much walking about to do? I feel sure that Tir Na Nog is going to appeal widely because of the different things in it, and it’s going to take a long time to get right through it and destroy the Great Enemy.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: corner keys for thrust, alternate bottom row for left/right, alternate second row for changing ‘camera’ view, alternate third row for pick up/drop
Joystick: none, but a programmable interface might prove useful here
Keyboard play: responsive — takes getting used to keys and views
Use of colour: black drawings on simple colour grounds, works well and looks fresh
Graphics: excellent animation, using many frames, large characters and smooth scrolling effects
Sound: not much, mostly warning beeps
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1, but the game constantly returns you to the start position, with effects of last life intact
Screens: continuous scrolling
Special features: map of Tir Na Nog
General rating: a sophisticated looking and playing game with masses of content, good value for money, generally excellent.

Use of computer

82%

Graphics

98%

Playability

93%

Getting started

95%

Addictive qualities

90%

Value for money

91%

Overall

92%

TRASHMAN 2: TRAVEL WITH TRASHMAN

Producer: New Generation Software
Author: Malcolm E. Evans
Price: £5.95

The sequel to New Generation’s successful and novel Trashman sees our intrepid dustman on an exotic trip around the major cities of the works as a sort of free-lance waste collection consultant. Travels with Trashman is set in Spain, the USA, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Israel and Samoa.

The object is to collect litter from the various sites and score points. On the right there is a cash figure which increases as you collect, but decreases if you keep bumping into people like waitresses or guests, or annoying them. This cash figure is important because unless you earn enough, you won’t be able to afford the flight to anywhere else in the game. The Spanish part is set in the bull ring.

Trashman has to collect all the bouquets of roses that the spectators keep throwing into the ring. But he has to watch out for the black bull, which gets increasingly angry. In the USA the scene is the streets of New Orleans, picking up the money being thrown at the jazz band, but the musicians are a mean lot. In Samoa, it’s the beach, littered with holiday makers’ rubbish, while overhead the ripe coconuts keep falling down. Israelis are noted for their wailing wall in Jerusalem — what few people realise is how many tissues are discarded by the tearful Jews. Parisian street cafes may look pleasant but there are loads of waiters, irritated diners and tons of frogs — it’s the frogs that are the litter problem. Germany sees Trashie clearing away empties at the beerfest, while in Hong Kong there is a lively scene with a carnival.

Each separate section of the game is accessed through a screen which shows the world globe and the various destinations.

CRITICISM

‘I must say that I was looking forward to seeing the follow up to Trashman with its clearly defined bright graphics and a high degree of skill required to play it. Generally speaking I was immediately addicted to it. Travels with Trashman, however, is a different matter. I don’t find it very addictive at all, and not really playable, just travelling around the world, going to find what rubbish you can collect to earn a living. In my opinion, it is not a very adequate follow up to a previous top seller. Graphics are quite pleasant to look at, but in most cases suffer with a high degree of attribute and clarity problems. Also, there seems to be a definite lack of colour in many areas. The graphics just don’t look half as solid as in Trashman, and in many areas look quite weak. On some occasions Trashman (you, the character) is more often than not difficult to find on the screen for the simple reason that there’s no outstanding colour of his own to show him up. This poses problems and loss of money and loss of time during the game. To be quite honest, if you enjoyed playing Trashman I cannot seriously say that you will enjoy playing Travels with Trashman because they are two totally different games based around the common factor of Trashman.’

‘Travels with Trashman starts off with a realistic world map showing locations where you may go. The various places have slight differences to the basic task (collecting rubbish), like frogs in France. TWT has, in my opinion, graphics which are not quite as good as in the original, but it offers more variation. One thing is certain, this is no easy game, and you really have to earn your travel money. The game should stand the test of time well.’

‘Part of the game is to get to see the various locations. This is not possible at the start because you are never given enough cash to fly to the more exotic ones, this has to be earned, otherwise you may find yourself restricted to one or two, or even stranded. As in Trashman, there are humourous comments at the bottom of the screen, when you bump into people, or at the end of a game. I very quickly got gored the bull in Madrid and was informed that my (meagre) 30 bonus points would be flown back home (presumably for the poor destitute family). On some screens the graphics work very well and the game is jolly. But there are some where this is not so good, and generally the game lacks the intensity that Trashman had. This lowers its addictivity considerably. I think it’s likely to appeal widely but I doubt that it will have the staying power of the earlier game because the playability has been dissipated by the fact that less attention to detail has gone into each of the different locations, than went into the suburban Trashman.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: user defined, four directions and fire (used for option selection only)
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Cursor type
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: varied, but not as colourful as Trashman and there are some attribute problems
Graphics: again, varied and neatly animated, but generally a bit small
Sound: nice tunes, not much in play apart from some spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1
Screens: 7
Special features:
General Rating: Mixed opinions from the reviewers from above average to very good.

Use of Computer

79%

Graphics

70%

Playability

68%

Getting Started

72%

Addictive Qualities

63%

Value For Money

76%

Overall

71%

TROUBLE BREWIN’

Producer: Silversoft Ltd
Author: Stanley Cartwright
Price: £5.95

Just lately there seems to have been something of a ‘looking back’ at basic ideas in arcade type games, most notably from Silversoft with titles like Hyperaction, Super Mutt and now Trouble Brewin’. Silversoft seem to be taking care to incorporate varied elements of traditional games into new ones with the experience gained over two years of what makes a game addictive to play.

Trouble Brewin’ is basically a platform type game where you guide your man through several screens, collecting a number of objects on each screen whilst avoiding the nasties which include animated corkscrews, apples, ‘pimen’, slugs and others. The screens incorporate both main elements of platform games, the use of ladders and the function of jumping. So on one screen it may be ladders that are the main feature, whereas on another it might just be jumping from a small platform to an even smaller platform. Part of the attraction of such games is the fun of seeing what’s coming next, how to get through the various hazards, and in the case of Trouble Brewin’, what the slightly different objectives in each screen are.

As the title suggests, the action is taking place in a brewery, and indeed, on one screen there is even the alchohol vat to be seen, getting hotter as you watch it. The objective here is to control the temperature by keeping all the windows shut, whilst avoiding the nasties which are constantly opening them.

CRITICISM

‘This game requires a good combination of skills in judgement and timing. I found that each screen required a very high degree of skill and luck. Screen layout is attractive and very colourful — well finished. The graphics, of course, are smooth and cheerful, and they work very well. Each screen is different, in fact a different game in itself. But it is basically a platform game with quite a few other elements thrown in. The keyboard is well positioned and is highly responsive. Trouble Brewin’ is difficult but highly playable and has all the features required of an addictive game.’

‘It must be hard to ring the changes within the basic format of a type of game, but Silversoft have managed very nicely with Trouble Brewin, providing the right sort of difficulty so that timing and jumping skills have to be good. The five screens are very lively to look at, and they make you want to get on to the next. Smooth graphics, with plenty of animation add to the fun of what is a very addictive game.’

‘I thought Trouble Brewin’ was a jolly game to play, reasonably addictive without being anything major. In other words, very fine but not amazingly exciting. It does have a wide range of graphics, which are well drawn and animated, and everything is certainly very colourful — which helps. Perhaps I’m a bit tired of the jumping platform game, and I don’t think Trouble Brewin’ has anything very new to say. Which isn’t to say that it is poor value — there’s plenty of content and the difficulty factor is quite high. Try it and see.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, N/M left/right, 2-5 to jump
Joystick: unstated on preview copy, presumed to be Kempston, Cursor and Sinclair
Keyboard play: good positions and very responsive, good jumping action
Use of colour: very good — bright
Graphics: smooth, fast, well animated and large
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 6
Screens: 5
Special features:
General Rating: A very good and addictive game made by combining traditional elements well.

Use of Computer

75%

Graphics

79%

Playability

81%

Getting Started

82%

Addictive Qualities

82%

Value For Money

80%

Overall

80%

TURMOIL

Producer: Bug-Byte
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £6.95
Language: machine code
Author: David Turner

Here we have what Bug-Byte describe as a multi-screened animated platform-type game. Turmoil certainly is a platform game, although a very varied one, containing 26 screens with a multitude of hazards and layouts. The game features Mick the Mechanic, who must collect enough oil for his car to get it going. On each screen there is a different car sitting in the garage. It’s invisible until you start pouring oil over it which makes it appear. As soon as it is fully visible it will drive off and you get to the next screen. As you progress through the screens the cars get more sleek and expensive (from a Mini to a Porsche and beyond).

Leaping on the giant spring to gain great height

On each screen there is a dripping tap of oil at the top. Mick must go and collect a can, then make his way to the tap and fill the can before going to the garage. Life is made more difficult by swinging ropes, poles, conveyor belts and a couple of angry Arabs who don’t approve of having their oil stolen. Now and again tools appear in different locations which ought to be collected and taken back to the shed structure at the bottom right of the screen, otherwise the Arabs will become angrier.

Any game must have something that distinguishes it from previous ones, and Turmoil has a very novel difference in the large spring-like trampolines which both Mick and the Arabs use to leap up onto the higher platforms. Mick’s only protection is to spill drops of oil on which the Arabs slip up, removing them from the game for a few moments. Unfortunately this is also guaranteed to kill Mick off as well if he’s not careful of where he treads.

CRITICISM

‘Turmoil is a classic platform game and overall a very good game. The graphics are of a high quality and work well with few attribute problems. The colours are excellent and everything makes for a slick, well executed program. This game is fun to play and addictive. If you like platform games then you will probably like Turmoil which is a bit different from the Manic Miner type game. Well worth buying.’

‘It must be said that this is quite an original platform game. Screen graphics are highly variable and exceptionally pleasing to the eye. Playing characters are large, well animated and detailed. I especially like the trampolines where you have to time it properly to jump when the tension in the spring is right to give you a high leap. Timing the swinging ropes is also difficult, although not half as difficult as some games which have used these devices — this is a pleasing factor. The pace of the game speeds up as you progress through the various screens, not in the sense that the characters move about more quickly, but in the sense that more tools appear and as a consequence the Arabs get angrier and come after you harder and there are more Arabs as you go along. I love the idea of having cars that alter from screen to screen, progressing from the low class Mini through high performance sports cars (and maybe onto the supertax bracket). Overall I think this game has a high playability factor, and each screen definitely needs a different skill factor.’

‘Originality in a game is sometimes a question of an entirely new idea, and sometimes it’s a question of intelligently re-using old ideas in a new way. Turmoil is one of the latter sort, and a very good one. All the elements have been combined like a classic recipe to make an excellently playable, funny and addictive game that has an entirely new flavour to it. There is also a very good training mode which gives you an opportunity to have a go on the higher screens for practice. There are marvellous animated graphics, and the leaping Arabs flashing their long scimitars are particularly good. A very good game that should keep you playing for quite some time.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/Z up/down, I/P left/right and M to jump
Joystick: not indicated on the preview copy
Keyboard play: highly responsive — ‘a joy’
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: excellent
Sound:
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 5
Screens: 26
General rating: Very addictive, playable and satisfying. Good value.

Use of computer

84%

Graphics

90%

Playability

91%

Getting started

89%

Addictive qualities

95%

Value for money

91%

Overall

90%

WORLDS AT WAR

Producer: Esteem More Than Equal
Price: £2.99

Worlds at War is an arcade game in three sections — or ‘chapters’ as the software house prefers to call them.

Part One — sorry, Chapter One is called ‘Exodus From the Red Planet’, which should tell the astronomers among you that this game is set on, and then off, Mars. The rise in ground temperature has driven the Martians underground. But even here, all is not safe. Toxic fumes seeping up from the planet’s core is causing the supporting pillars to collapse. So the Martians must collect all the parts of a ship together to escape. These parts together with fuel and food are dotted about the caverns of the complex and must be assembled on the surface by the character you control. Lifts communicate between the three underground levels and the surface. Only one object at a time may be carried and you must avoid the pets, driven mad by lack of water, and the toxic sand seeping down through the root.

Chapter Two ‘The Journey’ is set in space. The fuel ship is ahead of the main passenger ship, but the guiding computer does not work properly, so the target cursors have to be moved manually

Chapter Three — ‘The War Begins’ sees us back in familiar territory — CRL Land. The ship has landed on a common on Earth. Before the ship has even cooled, the earthlings are attacking with cannon...

CRITICISM

‘What first strikes you about this game is the use of colour. It has been used quite well but the graphics are ‘strange’ — they’re not what I would call ‘definite’ graphics — more of an old and mystical type with no straight edges and no definite lines. Collecting the parts of the ship is quite a task, I can assure you. It’s also highly frustrating, and eventually just drives you up the wall. I gave up on this game long before I should have. To tell the truth I just ran out of patience. In other words — no way was it appealing. It says on the blurb for screen two that it, ‘has the most realistic cockpit display ever seen’ — can this really be true? It’s interesting and different — true, but hardly what I would call the most realistic. Overall, I wouldn’t even pay a pound for this game.’

‘When I watched someone else playing this game, I thought it was confusing. When I played this game I found it was confusing. The reason for this is the extraordinary looking graphics which are — well, dust-smothered. Also, it takes a while to comprehend exactly what is happening on the screen. The game itself is rather tedious for some reason that I can’t exactly put my finger on — it just didn’t grab me at all.’

‘Worlds at War sounds very good when you read about it, and at its low price — three different games in one, sounds like good value. But oddly, the thing doesn’t really work. It all looks very different, but the graphic characters are small in a busy screen, and everything gets lost. I did like the medieval look of the graphics however. In general it isn’t a user-friendly program either. I can’t say it’s exactly bad, but it isn’t all that good.’

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down and pickup/drop, O/P left/right, SPACE to jump and hover (use energy)
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: responsive and well laid out
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: weird, could be better, but weirdness gets in the way sometimes
Sound: continuous
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: Special features:
General Rating: below average.

Use of Computer

55%

Graphics

61%

Playability

29%

Getting Started

42%

Addictive Qualities

20%

Value for Money

28%

Overall

39%