Your Spectrum
Issue 10, December 1984 - Frontlines
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MASTERS OF THE THIRD WORLD
How long have you been waiting for Wrath of Magra? Well, kick those cobwebs away because, yes, it's finally arrived courtesy of Mastertronic's new label, Mastervision. The only trouble is, it's bad news for all adventurers with shallow pockets ... for the price tag records an extravagant £12.50 - and not the £1.99 we know and love.
The Wrath of Magra manifests itself as a two- cassette package containing 120K of code as well as 158-page paperback crammed full
of spooky spells.
Plans are currently in hand to make all three parts of the adventure available in one package, but there's no price tag as yet. But, further thrills, there's another part to the saga in the pipeline, the working title for which is The Legacy of Light, destined for a Spring launch.
If it's arcade stuff you're after, well, don't go complaining to Mastertronic (on nn-nnn nnnn) - they'll only tell you about See-Ka of Assiah which is priced at £7.50 ... you see if they don't!
WRATH OF MAGRA screen

Mastertronic move into the big time with Wrath of Magra - 120K of code for £12.50.
WANGLING A FURTWINNING AND LOSING
JASPER screen

Jungle japes with Jasper - find out what happens once the Furt has been wangled!

Micromega has just released a new game called Jasper - a nifty little number that mixes Furts with flowers, potions, brollies and killer bunnies. Confused? So you should be.
Apparently the lucky player lands the role of a jungle rat called Jasper, making his way through his native land after the Furt has wangled.
Written by Derek Brewster (author of Codename MAT and just-released Kentilla), the game seems to have some loose connections with Alice in Wonderland. The mysterious Furt has just done its wangling and poor old you have to follow a killer bunny that's armed only with a total lack of resolve as you search for safety.
In fact, Jasper is another of those platform-type games, giving the benefit of no fewer than 22 screens; it also employs the strategy elements of an adventure game.
You can obtain your Furts from Micromega for a mere £6.95.
THE PRINCE screen

This year's Cambridge Award winner - The Prince.

The Cambridge Award winners have been announced, prizes presented and CCS has several new games into the bargain.
The competition was won this year by The Prince, 'penned' by John Sherry of Keele.
Anyway CCS is retailing The Prince at £7.95 and the four runner-up tapes - 1942 Mission, Insurgency, Blue Riband, and War Zone - all at the conventional £5.95.
OCEAN SPLASHES OUT! IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM ... BT GOES SOFT
Final negotiations have just been completed between the liquidator of poor old Imagine, and Ocean Software.
Not only has the company bought exclusive rights to a major portion of Imagine's assets, but it's also got its mitts on the Imagine name and logo. Says David Ward, Ocean director, "We now have sole rights to use the Imagine name".
Ocean has also re- employed eight of the ex-Imagine programming team to work on the development of program concepts, in particular a new animated strategy adventure to be released sometime in November.
Bug-Byte, CBS, Quicksilva and Virgin Games have joined forces to set up a sales service to sell all of their collective software, as from 1st October 1984.
The operation is jointly controlled by the four companies involved, and an extra person in the guise of Geoff Thompson has joined to become national sales manager.
The Software Sales Service, as it's called, plans to move the simple selling of software into a more dynamic dimension, using marketing aids, distribution networks and promotional material. We'll be able to pop in and see how they're getting on - because the new service is based just down the road from the YS towerblock - at n-n xxxxxxxx xxxxx, xxxxxx xn.
Who knows what the relationship is between telephones and computer software, but British Telecom seems to think there is one. It's launched a range of packages under the Firebird label, available for the Spectrum, CBM 64 and BBC Micro.
Priced at only £2.50, the cassette insert actually has a screen shot of what appears on your telly. By golly that's bravery for you! BT has 20 titles to kick off with, nine of which are for the Speccy.
Richard Hooper said when announcing the venture, "You can now judge a game by its cover. In a market where quality and prices tend to be variable and complaints of misrepresentation frequent, Firebird software is setting new standards".
If you want to get hold of a Firebird game and check for yourself what the quality is like, then dive into your local stockist. Otherwise give BT a buzz on nn-nnn nnnn.
AND ON THE 8TH DAY ... DJ FIGHTS BACK DOWN IN THE DUNGEON
Yet another Liverpudlian software house has just programmed itself into existence. Called 8th Day Software, the company's opening its range with six text adventures, ranging in difficulty from beginner's stuff to 'jolly difficult'.
All have a low price of £1.75, but 8th Day is quick to disclaim the 'you-get-what-you-pay-for' syndrome.
The six new titles, all launched under the 'Games Without Frontiers' banner, are all Quilled adventures and your measly £1.75 even includes postage, packing and VAT. How they can do it at such a low price and still make a profit defeats us.
Unwrapping the first six packages, we have Four Minutes to Midnight (an advanced strategy adventure), Cuddles (a moderately difficult adventure for 'big' kids), Quann Tulla (a science fiction adventure), Ice Station Zero (a beginner's crime solving adventure), In Search of Angels (another crime adventure) and Faerie (an advanced fantasy adventure). All the games can be ordered direct from 8th Day Software, so give them a ring on nnn-nnn nnnn.
A cheque for £2100 was presented to proud Radio Luxembourg disc jockey Stuart Henry, which will be used to fight the crippling disease Multiple Sclerosis. The cash had been raised by Bellflower Software and WH Smiths from sales of the Spectrum game Stuart Henry's Pop Quiz, which was launched earlier this summer.
An MS sufferer himself, Stuart Henry said, "Everyone who's bought the program so far has made a contribution to vital research into finding a cure for MS". And if you haven't rushed out and bought one already or you just don't like music ... well, that's not good enough! Why not send a donation to the MS Society anyway - it's an impeccable cause! You can ring the society on nn-nnn nnnn.
PSS seems to be getting more than enthusiastic about its latest release, Swords & Sorcery. The company now claims that it's the best reproduction of the role playing idea on a computer yet; it's true there's been nothing completely true to the original concept of Dungeon & Dragons to date.
Written using an odd system called MIDAS (whatever that might be) the program is a 3D graphic animation, simulating the effect you get with Video Disk games.
The colour leaflet that PSS is currently putting about makes Swords & Sorcery sound like nothing on earth. Either it's got a very good public relations department, or it is like nothing on earth.
The fact that the game sticks very close to the gripping role playing idea makes this program kind of special. If it's got the graphics it claims to have, then it's no wonder PSS is screaming about it.
More enlightenment on nnnn nnnnnn.
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