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Your Spectrum is continuing to scour the country's computer
clubs to get the undiluted thoughts, feelings and impressions
of dedicated games enthusiasts - in order to provide our
readers with unbiased evaluations. Any club wishing to offer
its reviewing services should contact Ron Smith, Spectrum
Soft, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P 1DE.
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DRAGONSBANE
Quicksilva / £6.95
A graphic adventure through 172
rooms; avoid 40 monsters while trying
to rescue the helpless and hapless
Princess Paula. The usual assortment of
monsters, both friendly and otherwise -
and you can also use joysticks.
Gerralt Slow, with lots of 'Y/N' single
key answers. Good use of colours, but it
doesn't look too good if all you've got is
a monochrome TV. 6/10
Ieuan The game can be crashed quite
easily - which is a bit disappointing. It
also takes a lot of playing before you get
to understand the characteristics of the
monsters. 5/10
Dilwyn Good clear graphics. It uses all
the 48K of available memory, and is
jolly good fun. 8/10
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We sent this month's batch to the
Bangor Computer Club of North
Wales, where their expert
reviewers got to work; their
plaudits and barbs can be seen
over the following pages. First,
let's have a look at the club and
what it offers its members.
The Bangor Computer Club
was formed 18 months ago by
noted author, Dilwyn Jones. He
wanted to meet the needs of local
home computer users, and holds
meetings in member's homes on a
spur-of-the-moment basis. There
are currently 25 to 30 members
whose ages range from 13 to 30
and, although there's no longer a
fixed membership fee, those
attending are expected to splash
out towards the cost of the
evening.
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Its members have the chance
to try out each other's software
and exchange ideas. Members
can always call upon their
colleagues to help solve
problems. Anyone in the area
who's thinking of joining the club
should contact Dilwyn on 0248
354023, outside office hours.
THE LINE-UP
This month's reviewers are Ieuan
Davis (25), Gerralt Jones (22)
and Brian Pedlar (31); all three
are long-standing members of the
club and avid games enthusiasts
to boot. They represent the 'Old
Gold' strata of Speccy users, so
we won't be expecting starry-
eyed reactions to our selection of
new games.
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KILLER KNIGHT
Phipps Associates / £5.00
A killer knight has captured your
companion, so naturally it's your duty to
carry out a rescue. Unfortunately, KK is
not above doing everything in his power
to stop you reaching the tower ...
Dilwyn For some reason I expected this
to be a text-only adventure, when
actually it's a machine code graphic
arcade game. I didn't go for the choice
of keys - but then it's also possible to
use a Kempston joystick. 7/10
Ieuan 12th century blend of Donkey
Kong and Digger. It's quite fast, indeed
sometimes too fast. The knight moves
and sounds like a cricket, and I also
found that jumping slows down the
graphics. 7/10
Gerralt Only a highest score is shown on-
screen - you're not even given the
satisfaction of seeing your name in
lights! 7/10
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GHOST TOWN
Virgin Games / £5.95
A Wild West text-based adventure
game set in a deserted American town
after the California Gold Rush. You get
line maps of streets and buildings, and
the whole thing is written in Basic -
there's no machine code in them thar
hills, pardner!
Ieuan Ghost Town has an acceptable
response time to entries, but there's no
variation - so once you've solved it,
well, that's it. There's only minimal use
of sound. 5/10
Gerralt The game is set in a fairly small
town, so it doesn't take you long to find
out what's going on there. The blue and
cyan colours are nice - even
contrasting well on a monochrome TV.
6/10
Brian A fairly standard adventure game,
but with a reasonably large vocabulary.
5/10
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BALLOONING
Heinemann / £9.95
An educational game for Spectrum
teenies aged eight-to- 12 which sets out
to teach observation, experimentation
and the recording of data. A keyboard
overlay for most controls is provided
and there's an accompanying activities
booklet.
Dilwyn Quite good graphics of the
balloon and the instrument panel. A nice
program, but at nearly £10, slightly
expensive for what it is. 7/10
Ieuan This package is pitched just about
right - I think it's worth the money.
Speed is adequate, but then it's not
meant to be Brands Hatch! It makes
education fun. 8/10
Gerralt A great pity there's no
accompanying sound with the game.
The activities booklet is a good idea, but
I did find the numbered menu a bit
confusing. 7/10
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3D SEIDDAB ATTACK
Hewson Consultants / £5.95
Patrol the city streets and later the
countryside destroying any Seiddabs
that come into range. You control both
surface-to-air missiles and a short-range
radar display.
Gerralt The 3D effect is quite realistic
and adds a lot to the game. The speed is
good too - not too fast and not too
slow. I liked the split screen display,
although the idea is not all that new.
8/10
Brian You can use a Kempston joystick
with this game, which certainly makes it
easier to play. It's very addictive, and
some useful hints for strategy are given
in the sleeve instructions. 9/10
Ieuan It really needs a colour display as
the monochrome fails to show up the
necessary details. After a while, my
eyes felt a bit strained trying to make out
all that was happening on-screen. 7/10
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HARD CHEESE
DK'Troniks / £5.95
This one is an arcade game where you
have to eat your way through a maze
avoiding the deadly bulldogs and
zapping them with the deadly virus.
Extra points can be gained if you're at
all adept at handling cherries!
Brian This is not a new concept, but it's
very playable and quite fast - if
anything a bit too fast. Unfortunately,
there's nothing other than loading
instructions on the sleeve. 7/10
Ieuan It's a good game, with enjoyable
sound that doesn't slow things down at
all. A joystick is handy for games of this
speed; a very, very addictive game. 9/10
Dilwyn Player keys in this game can be
re-defined, which seems to be the
ultimate answer to joystick
compatibility. When you enter in the
high score name, letter descenders
disappear! 8/10
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LABYRINTH
Axis / price TBA
Labyrinth is a graphical 3D maze
program for all who enjoy getting lost in
a good game (ouch!). The plot is the
simplest possible - just choose the
maze size from four-by-four to 10-by-15,
and off you go. You can give up at any
time or you can ask for a brief glimpse of
the mess you're in.
Dilwyn A great game, which could
probably have been expanded to form
an adventure. The graphics are still
impressive even though they've been
around since '82. 9/10
Gerralt 200 moves is the most allowed.
Mostly Basic, the important fast bits are
in machine code. However, drawing a
'help' plan is very slow. 8/10
Brian It could have made a reasonable
adventure it there had been some
treasure or monsters to watch out for.
The graphics are pretty good. 7/10
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THE ADVENTURES OF ST BERNARD
Carnell Software / £5.95
Every day, Brandy the St Bernard dog
has to face blizzards and other
hindrances on his way to rescue
travellers. His current adventure is to
rescue his mistress from the
Abominable Snowman.
Gerralt It's rather a slow game, not only
is there sluggish response to the
controls but the animation is also jerky.
The graphics are reasonably good on the
characters and the landscape, but on the
whole I found it rather boring. 6/10
Ieuan Good graphics detail for the
characters and the arctic landscape, but
the animation is rather jerky. I found it
more pleasing to the eye in
monochrome. 7/10
Dilwyn Players tend to become frustrated
at having to go through the first rather
silly stage, every time the game re-
starts. But overall. not too bad. 8/10
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WAR 70
CCS / £5.50
A Napoleonic wargame set in the 18th
Century for two players. The object is to
capture your opponent's capital city by
occupying it with your army for three
days. This game took second prize at the
Cambridge awards back in '83.
Gerralt Fairly good graphics, although
perhaps they could have been a bit
clearer; also the tokens are a bit small.
The long explanatory sheet should have
carried more details. 7/10
Dilwyn It sometimes takes a long time to
set up the positions but the use of
colour for the various positions is quite
good. 7/10
Ieuan It's a game that could take all day;
it's certainly very involved - good for
the war games enthusiast! At least the
close of play position can be saved to
tape and the game continued another
day. 8/10
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MICRO DRIVIN'
Softel / £6.95
This is a combined text and graphic
adventure game where you have to drive
a car to compete in the great Island
Treasure Hunt. The graphics appear to
be very good, apart from the flashing
border which tends to rather distract
your attention from the instructions
which appear on the screen.
Unfortunately, we all found that using
certain entries caused the computer the
crash and lock out the keyboard! That's
more or less all we can say about the
game, because after four hours of
playing Micro Drivin' we couldn't even
manage to get the car to move off the
starting line. We thought we'd better
have a good read of the listing, but even
that failed to solve the problem!
By the way, don't be fooled by the
title, this program is not Microdrive
compatible.
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ESKIMO EDDIE
Ocean Software / £5.90
Arctic thrills and chills with Percy,
Growler and the Snowbugs. First of all
you have to rescue Percy the penguin
and then battle against the Snowbugs,
using the available ice-blocks as
protection against them.
Ieuan The three crosses of the awkward
Frogger-style beginning spoil the rest of
the program. Excellent sound,
especially the harmonious jingle. The
graphics are also very good. 8/10
Dilwyn The coloured snakes racing
around the screen got on my nerves after
a while, but technically it's a great effect
- typical of many of the fine finishing
touches to this game. 8/10
Brian The second stage of the game is
rather faster than the first, but great once
you get to it. Lovely smooth animation
and it's compatible with most joystick
interfaces. 9/10
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OLIGOPOLY
CCS / £5.00
A business management simulation
game in which companies have to be run
by one to six players; they have to show
a suitable degree of business acumen.
Brian Oligopoly is a very complex game
which seems to succeed as an excellent
business simulation. Sometimes it says
'Press any key', waits for a while and
then goes ahead without a keypress -
which is annoying because it's difficult
enough to show a profit without
anything else going wrong. 7/10
Ieuan As a business program, it doesn't
sell itself very well and seems as though
it was originally written for the ZX81. It
would probably benefit from a splash of
colour and a new character set. 6/10
Dilwyn It has a facility to use the printer
if desired and the computer can run a
rival firm. Perhaps there could be some
educational uses here. 6/10
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BEAR BOVVER
Artic Computing / £6.95
Ted the bear has to fetch batteries for
his (Sinclair Research?) electric car -
but is hindered by several 'teddy boys'
who insist on making things difficult.
Dilwyn Fantastic graphics and animation
accompanied by the 'Teddy Bear's
Picnic' tune - which can be turned off
once it gets to you. The only problem is
the marring of the colour resolution
where two colours meet. 9/10
Ieuan Quite addictive and wonderful
animation considering all the action
involved. Bear Bovver uses a poster-
style set of letters which is quite
attractive. 9/10
Brian Not too bad. Well thought-out,
with the bonus drinks and the fact you're
able to deter the opposition by dropping
time bombs or burying them under a
battery! Good sleeve notes are an
advantage. 8/10
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DEVIL RIDES IN
Carnell Software / £5.95
You are a wizard in your magic circle
and you have to use your magic talisman
to do battle with the armies of Hell who
throw spells at you. Neither you nor the
attackers are allowed to touch the magic
circle, even if continuous fighting has
partly erased it.
Ieuan Reminds me a bit of Asteroids.
The 'rotate through 45 degrees' feature
is a nuisance - it should allow
simultaneous keypress or joystick
diagonals instead. 7/10
Dilwyn Other than Ieuan's comment, a
nice game. Slow at first, but once it gets
going it's fun to play. 8/10
Gerralt All events are covered with a
'zap' or 'ping'. The sound slows things
down a bit which, once the game has got
into top gear, causes a little jerkiness.
There doesn't seem to be a time limit as
long as you keep alive. 7/10
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RIDER
Virgin Games / £5.95
An MI5 agent parachutes into enemy
territory, collects a Resistance motor
bike and checks out the mined roads
ready for the invasion - ta-rah and
toodle-pip!
Brian Good colour and graphics
throughout. The game also improves in
speed after you've managed to get over
the first stage - watch out for the sound
effects too. 7/10
Gerralt The parachute bit at the
beginning is too slow and long,
especially when you consider this
game's meant to be about riding a bike
- which, by the way, is by far the most
interesting bit. 6/10
Dilwyn This one really wasn't my cup of
tea at all. I think it was the long intro
that put me off the most. There's some
you love and some you don't. Say no
more. 4/10
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CAR JOURNEY
Heinemann / £9.95
Another educational game for eight-to-
12 year olds which this time has a
mathematical slant - towards teaching
arithmetic, graphs and strategy
planning. The idea is to travel around
Britain choosing the appropriate vehicle
and route for various tasks.
Dillwyn Fairly good graphics and route
map. All units are metric for school use.
It's a pity that the reference to the
Welsh 'Eisteddfod' had to be mis-spelt
though! 7/10
Ieuan No sound again! Useful activity
booklet and keyboard overlay. The
package is better than most educational
software, but I'm not sure how long it
will keep the kids' interest. 6/10
Gerralt Basically, a fairly simple concept
done quite well; a bit more animation
would probably have helped to keep the
attention of the users. 7/10
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