Manic Miner

£2.99
MAD

Manic Miner must be one of the only rerelease games that has never been reviewed in CRASH. This occurred not because the lads couldn't be bothered, but because this classic platforms- and-ladders game appeared before your fave mag hit the streets. Miner Willy is the star and it is his job to travel the underground caverns of Surbiton(!!) and collect the treasure which lies twenty screens to go through, and all the treasure has to be collected on a screen before you progress to the next. Opposing your progress are such bizarre opponents as penguins, performing seals, dancing rabbits and kangaroos. And there's a time limit too.

Although Manic Miner is one of the oldest games to be rereleased, it's also one of the best. The graphics are sharp and attractive, the in-game tune attractive and playability as addictive as it's frustrating. This is an essential purchase.

Then: N/A Now: 92%

SPECTRUM SOFT

Ron Smith takes a slightly jaundiced look at all that's latest and greatest in games and leisure software for the Spectrum.

Ever since the time home computing became big business, software producers have been writhing away in ever greater paroxisms of effort in their attempts to evolve games that are innovative, compulsive and exciting.

Child geniuses have been dragged out of suburban housing estates and brutally hounded into the 20th Century equivalent of sweeping chimneys - all in pursuit of the computer game fast buck. The first waves to appear were, predictably, blatant copies of the great old arcade favourites - destroy the invading aliens, and probably your own brain cells in the process. This, of course, requires a keen eye and grand prix reactions. But for those without souped-up senses, the result is usually one of boredom and frustration. Fortunately, for those like me who would get more fun out of destroying the tape cassette than the alien invaders, other more pleasurable varieties of computer game are increasingly coming to hand. This issue we take a random stroll through a cross-section of all that's new and fantastic (it says in the press release) starting with...

THEY CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

The first title to fall into this category is Galactic Abductor from Anirog Software. It's not too hard to handle, and even I managed to put together a reasonable score while attempting to stem the relentless attack of invading armoured space hawks. I particularly like the fact that only three keys are used, so you don't have to keep glancing down to see where your fingers are.

Unfortunately, one can't say the same for Missile Defence, also from Anirog. This uses no fewer than seven keys, four of which are the cursor control keys - which in my experience are the worst possible choice. Positioned as they arc (it's rather like the old chestnut of rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time) everything gets out of sync and the game's over before you can shout "Nukes away". However, after a good deal of practice (assuming you have the patience) the poor old aliens who've come to attack your cities gradually begin finding themselves in a weaker and weaker position as your skill increases. No fewer than three fire buttons are provided to wipe out the monster meanies, before they either destroy you or disappear off the edge of the screen. It's all familiar stuff.

The last game doesn't fit in this section at all - but never mind. It comes from Timescape and is entitled Wild West Hero. Predictably, the hero's job is to rid the West of the gun-totin' bandits and this, with your help, he tries to do by hurtling around the screen blasting out in all directions as the gruesome gang closes in. Control, on the pre-production version, is via the keyboard, and uses four keys (two fingers per hand being the maximum for a reasonable response for most of us) - theoretically making for an easy-to-play game. However, the combatants are nothing if not fast moving - even though Timescape has already slowed down this (version 3) over the previous (version 2). Consequently, with bullets flying thicker than a hail storm and goodie and baddies moving at lunatic pace, this little number is certainly not one for those of slow or nervous disposition; even a rapidly plugged-in joystick did little to help me catch up with the action. For the record, by the way, the first two games mentioned were also joystick compatible.

GRAPHIC ADVENTURES

'Ask a silly question, get a silly answer' - is a maxim that might well be seen as the basis for most adventure games with their thin plots, limited vocabulary and text-only approach. Interestingly though, the latest releases are beginning to move away from this.

Two of the better new titles are Xadom and Smugglers Cove, both from Quicksilva. Xadom is a 3D hi-res arcade quality adventure where you, as SOL agent MM have to disappear off in search of some artefact that is stashed away in one of 20 rooms. Every time a room is entered, naturally, a new challenge awaits and each must be overcome before it is possible to move on to the next room.

Differing slightly, and more like a traditional adventure, is Smugglers Cove. This offers text with the delights of hi-res graphics, while you visit 27 locations, somehow or other picking up 65 objects along the way (without so much as a sack). One point here is the game's lightning response to your directions, something which many previous adventure game incarnations have been less than famous for. Both of these are well worth a spin.

CRL's Woods of Winter, however, is a new release that still suffers the perils of being text-only. It also has a slow response time - so much so that on several occasions I was left scratching myself and deliberating the state of the universe before - eventually - the program decided it was good manners to respond. To be fair, it does plot your progress (should you make any) through the cold woods of winter, which presumably can be quite useful at times. Should you ever manage to come in from the cold, you'll find sanctuary in a warm castle. Actually it's a good game for those with plenty of patience and an over-active imagination.

Velnor's Lair, from Quicksilva, is yet another text-only adventure, but one with a faster response time that doesn't tax the patience to quite the same degree. As an adventurer you can choose to be a wizard, warrior or priest, depending on your inclination. For no particular reason I chose to be a wizard, despite my ineptitude at casting either spells or enemies into oblivion. Naturally I soon met an untimely end. But where this game triumphs over other text-only adventures is in its use of vocabulary. Often it can take aeons to get into the swing of adventure games - understanding the individual programmer's own peculiar logic and choice of words, etc. Here, for some reason not immediately apparent, I found the game responding easily to my instructions.

Overall, the category contained an above average selection with one semi-adventure (Xadom), one text and graphics mixed (infinitely better in my opinion) and two giving text only. In truth, though, the big worry with all adventures is their great similarity and the obvious restriction on use of vocabulary.

FUN & GAMES

"Look at my wonderful new clothes!"" boasted the emperor. Everyone remained silent except the little boy who gave the straightforward opinion that the silly fool wasn't wearing any. This showed a certain degree of naivety and lack of cynicism - just the kind of qualities you might find ideal to survive the offerings ahead.

Bugaboo (Quicksilva) features a likeable little flea (if that's not a contradiction in terms) which, due to some unfortunate time warp perhaps, has fallen through the inky spaces between worlds and ended up somewhere rather unpleasant. What will our micro nipper find there... will it ever survive? I had several goes at the game, reacting differently each time to it. Sometimes I felt sympathetic as the poor creature tried desperately to escape from its pursuers, sometimes an evil grin and a wicked heart triumphed as the poor fool smashed its head for the hundredth time. Love or loathing, there's always a strong feeling for the flea!

Pathos, however, is unlikely to raise its tragic head in the case of Manic Miner from Bug-Byte; it's more a case of frustration and panic as you guide Willy the miner through the underground caverns to the surface, and riches. Starting off in the central cavern, he has to be helped past numerous obstacles on his way to the next. As ever, though, it's a case of one step forward, any number back, as you master the first hazard only to fail dismally at understanding the complexity of the second.

LIFE'S LITTLE PLEASURES

There's no real reason why computer games should always be difficult; sometimes it's fun to switch to something where success comes easily - if only to restore a damaged ego.

Slap Dab from Anirog Software is just such a game, and it involves helping Sam the Painter splash around with his oversized brush so that he can get the job finished. Of course it's not quite that simple, because no sooner has he started slapping on the paint then he disturbs the woodworms - who don't fancy the idea of changing colour this week. They decide to seek revenge by chasing Sam as he works. But fortunately for him, our slimy friends can only travel on the part that's been painted, so one way of him avoiding capture is to leave by an unpainted escape route.

Sounds like the stuff of which nightmares are made! Another conceptually simple game is Traxx, from Quicksilva. It opens with a large yellow grid consisting of 30 squares, and in essence it's similar to the hoary old children's pencil and paper game of 'dots', where the idea is to join the points up into squares. The game starts with one side of one square coloured red, and your spaceship (what else?) in the red sector. From then on you must move around, colouring as many squares as you can. But be warned, you are being pursued, although exactly how many enemies and at what speed they chase is entirely up to you. Choosing the fastest speed with the maximum number of pursuers (nine) makes for a near impossible task, although as usual it's easier with a joystick.

Rabbit Software's Quackers is virtually identical to a shooting gallery at the fair. Ducks and rabbits glide across the screen so slowly that it's almost impossible to miss them, although it's almost more fun if you try. Slightly more difficult is the last part of the game where, having gunned down all the targets, you're given the chance to 'keep the turtle hopping' by shooting at it as it moves quickly across the screen. A few moments of gratuitous violence for all concerned.

Slap Dab and Traxx are both joystick compatible, but surprisingly, Quackers isn't. It does, however, let you define your own keys.

OTHER STUFF

The three titles lumped together here have little in common, other than the fact that they are somewhat unremarkable - and also rather difficult. Quicksilva's 3D Strategy is a 3D noughts and crosses game that the maker claims is virtually unbeatable. Those into mind-bending puzzles will probably enjoy it.

But away from strategy and on to games requiring fast reactions, there's Escape MCP from Rabbit Software and Gridrunner from Quicksilva. The first of these finds you de-atomized by a chip (Z80 in this case) and trapped in a maze. There's also something called the MCP (male chauvinist pig, perhaps?) that apparently knows your escape plan and, armed with this information, is not only going to prevent you from getting away, but is also hell bent on securing your prompt destruction. The usual, friendly, stuff.

A little less strange may be Gridrunner, although it's hard to say when there's no instructions to tell you what's going on. However, it seemed safe to assume that I'd better start destroying something before it destroyed me. The screen is covered by a red grid, along the top of which moves a blue wormlike 'something' - presumably the enemy. It progresses across the screen, then down a line, and so on. But as each part of the 'something' is hit. It starts flapping about and moving much faster than before. Interesting - I can't wait to read the instructions!

STIMULATING SIMULATIONS

I must own up to a predilection for the kind of games that simulate 'real life' in some way. After all, how many of us get the chance to drive a racing car, fly an airliner, or practice being a brain surgeon? Well, courtesy of Psion, Rabbit Software and Protek Computing, we can indulge in renewed fantasy, over the first two at least.

First of all from Psion comes Chequered Flag - a game that will find you lapping away on some of the world's most famous motor racing circuits - from the relative safety of your own living room. It also features a choice of three cars, and for those who feel a little uneasy about gear changing, an automatic has been included. Intrepid participants will have to watch the dashboard instruments carefully to make sure they're not going too fast, running out of fuel, overheating, or about to encounter any of the other hazards involved in grand prix racing. As well as watching out for mechanical failure you'll need to keep an eye out for oil, water and glass, any one of which is likely to lure you into untimely disaster. But the most impressive feature of Chequered Flag is the view from the car as you hurtle like a maniac around the track.

Still behind the wheel, but not this time a simulation, is Race Fun from Rabbit Software. It's your chance to prove what a crazy driver you are, by speeding down a narrow country lane at 120mph. The faster you drive, the more points you'll make, but of course the more chance there is of crashing.

Airliner, from Protek Computing, is a realistic simulation of what it's like flying a commercial aircraft. All the normal controls are present, enabling you to take off, manoeuvre, navigate and land; it's also compatible with Protek's joystick, which does add to the fun. Flying the plane successfully requires a good amount of practice - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was almost as complex as the real thing. A map is included to show the aircraft's position, and this can be turned on or off at the touch of a key. It's a well written and sophisticated program, but the lack of a view from the cockpit is disappointing, especially when you consider the popular Flight Simulation from Psion. However, Protek's program fits into 16K, while Psion's needs 48K.

WE LOOKED AT...

Galactic Abductor (16/48K), Anirog Software, £5.95
Missile Defence (16/48K), Anirog Software. £5.95
Wild West Hero (48K), Timescape, £5.90
Xadom (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Smugglers Cove (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Woods of Winter (48K), CRL, £5.95
Velnor's Lair (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Bugaboo (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Manic Miner (48K), Bug-Byte, £7.95
Ant Attack (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Slap Dab (16/48K), Anirog Software, £5.95
Traxx (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Quackers (16/48K), Rabbit Software, £5.95
3D Strategy (16/48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Escape MCP (16/48K), Rabbit Software, £5.99
Gridrunner (16/48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Chequered Flag (48K), Psion, £6.95
Race Fun (48K), Rabbit Software, £5.99
Airliner (16/48K), Protek. £5.95

Producer: Bug-Byte, 48K
£5.95

This is the best platform game around, in fact it's probably the best arcade game for the Spectrum. From the moment the full colour title blasts onto the screen accompanied by what sounds like the massed Coldstream Guards band, it's all wonderful. An amazing demo mode takes you through endless levels to whet the appetite. Control keys are simple: left/right/jump, and it seems incredible that Bug-Byte managed to pack so much animated detail into one 48K program. You must take Willie the Miner through the warrens of a long abandoned robot-worked mine beneath Surbiton, collecting keys at each level in order to proceed to the next. Jumping up the platforms is easy - avoiding the slime, poisonous pansies and manic mining robots is not. Some platforms collapse when you tread on them, but forward planning let's you use these on your way back down to the portal. Excellent quality all round and top notch value. Highly recommended.

Producer: Bug-Byte, 48K
£5.95

This is the best platform game around, in fact it's probably the best arcade game for the Spectrum. From the moment the full colour title blasts onto the screen accompanied by what sounds like the massed Coldstream Guards band, it's all wonderful. An amazing demo mode takes you through endless levels to whet the appetite. Control keys are simple: left/right/jump, and it seems incredible that Bug-Byte managed to pack so much animated detail into one 48K program. You must take Willie the Miner through the warrens of a long abandoned robot-worked mine beneath Surbiton, collecting keys at each level in order to proceed to the next. Jumping up the platforms is easy - avoiding the slime, poisonous pansies and manic mining robots is not. Some platforms collapse when you tread on them, but forward planning let's you use these on your way back down to the portal. Excellent quality all round and top notch value. Highly recommended.

INVENTIVE CAVERNS DESERVE MORE SUCCESS

Mutant telephones, killer penguins and caverns of ice are all part of Manic Miner for the 48K Spectrum. The game includes some impressive graphics routines which you will encounter when you take your player-character, Willy the miner, through a series of caverns inhabited by all kinds of strange creatures.

To exit from a cavern you have to pick up a series of keys hung from various parts of the ceiling or from bushes which are deadly if you touch them. To reach those keys you must jump on to ledges which are situated at various heights and you must jump in the correct order or you will fall back to earth again.

If you are not careful you could bump into a patrol robot, shaped in various guises, which will take away one of your lives.

The other killer is a fall from one of the ledges which disappears as you walk along it. If the ledge is high a life could be lost.

The game is very inventive and a great deal of thought must have gone into creating the many screens full of colourful characters. It is one of the few games on the market which deserves to succeed automatically because of the effort put into it. It has the depth of concept and quality of sound and vision to make it an instant winner.

If you cannot pass all the caverns and discover the secret of the game in the last sector the author has included an excellent taster routine which runs automatically at the start of the program. It shows the various caverns as they can be seen in the game.

Manic Miner should keep anyone, child or adult, enthralled through the long winter evenings. It costs £5.95 and can be obtained from computer branches of W H Smith.

PENGUINS MAKE LIFE PERILOUS!!

There's humour, horror and wholesome addiction awaiting the intrepid hero of the marvelous Manic Miner.

From perilous penguins to ferocious phones, this Bug-Byte game is filled with the most unlikely villains trying to thwart your progress through to the next cavern.

Miner Willy must explore the underground caverns and collect the keys which open the door to the next cavern.

Miner 2049'er, which runs on an Atari, is considered a big game with its 12 screens. Manic Miner has 20 and each is a game in itself.

The designer of this game has come up with some highly original scenarios; my personal favourites include Attack of the Mutant Telephones and also the man-eating toilets. The bank scene is very clever, but don't get caught by the bouncing cheque!

Although the game is not written for use with any particular joystick it should run on those which allow the interface to be programmed to use certain keys.

I found the movement keys quite easy to master and have so far managed to reach level four. A secret message awaits you if you successfully complete all 20 levels and Bug Byte promise a prize to the first such person.

Timing is the key to success. Once you have mastered a screen, you will usually have little difficulty in clearing it every time. Some levels, though, take a long time to solve especially as you have to start at screen one each time your three lives run out.

One of the qualities which make a game a winner is whether you'll keep coming back for more. Manic Miner scores well here, as it will take some time to complete.

When the impressive title frame comes up, you are told to press a key to start. If you don't, the game will cycle through all 20 screens giving you a short preview of each.

Impressive graphics and good sound, Bug Byte have produced a challenging game with long-lasting appeal.

Manic Miner runs on a 48k Spectrum and is well worth the £5.95 charged by this Liverpool software house.

Manic Miner is one of the latest releases by the longstanding Bug-Byte. Bug-Byte has been around on the micro scene right back since the 'old days' of the ZX80. Over the years they have built up a reputation as a highly business-like professional body, producing high quality software in colourful packaging, advertised over glossy spreads and being sold in just about every retail outlet available. Recently there have been some reservations as to the quality and originality of the individual games. Fortunately, Manic Miner has come to dispel these. Though the packaging is of the normal professional standard, the game is the real masterpiece. I had no hesitation whatsoever when including Manic Miner in my 'Hall of Fame'.

MANIC MINER

Miner Willy is the star of the show. Whilst prospecting, he stumbles over evidence of a lost civilization far superior to ours. To maintain such a civilization it was necessary to mine vast amounts of precious minerals. When, many aeons ago the empire crumbled and this world lapsed into a dark age, no-one thought to inform the mine workers, who were in fact robots anyway. Willy realizes that there is a fortune to be made if he can find the hidden store. Your task is to guide him through the 20 underground caverns, collecting the keys so as to progress to the next cavern. Each cavern is an arcade game in itself. Apart from the problem of Manic Mining Robots who are out to get you, there are also Poisonous Pansies, Spiders, Slime, one way conveyor belts, collapsing floors and lots more besides. In each cavern, the problems are slightly different but never easy. Some of the monsters created are incredible. Each being perfectly defined and controlled.

The introduction to Manic Miner entails a display of the surface of the mine, and the home of Willy. There is also a full graphical keyboard, on which a line is played with the appropriate notes lighting up as it proceeds. Once this is over, and you have not selected to play the game, a demo mode will proceed, showing displays of all 20 caverns.

The sound is fantastic, the graphics are excellent, whilst the programming is brilliant. This must be the most colourful game I have ever seen. This is highly recommended for arcade freaks everywhere. The controls are simple - only left, right jump - hence making it playable by anyone. Though it may take hours before proceeding past Cavern One, this in itself is a game. Manic Miner is an absolutely fantastic game - very highly recommended. Have a very happy Christmas.

MANIC MINER
Bug Byte
Bruce Boughton

This excellent title is a must for ALL arcade enthusiasts. At £5.95 it is well worth a couple of weeks pocket money.

While loading, we are met by a continuous rotation of the words MANIC and MINER in large letters which alternate in colour. Once loaded we can hear a fascinating tune played on a piano keyboard with the keys visibly being played.

On the inlay we are told that miner Willy (that's us) has found a long-lost mine and has to bring out all the treasure he discovers there. We have a choice of keys, but I found that Q to go left, W to go right and space to jump (with A to pause) are the best keys for the job. We also have a choice of having the tune (Hall of the Mountain King) on or off while we play.

So, onto the game itself. On pressing 'enter', the first cave (called the Central Cavern) flashes up instantly. We are in the bottom left-hand corner and have to get all the keys that are placed in awkward positions around the rest of the screen. This is not as easy as it seems as there are nasties like poisonous pansy bushes all over the place which must be jumped over or otherwise avoided at all costs. A mad mining-robot must also be missed as an added peril. Conveyeor belts also must be negotiated as well as disintegrating floors. If these are not enough complications for you then I'll add that you have a limited air supply, which only takes about 2.5 minutes to run out.

If you safely get all the keys and manage to return to the lowest level, you can go through the flashing door into the next sheet. You get a bonus depending on how much air you have left, with the keys at 100 points each. If you get killed for the third time a boot comes down on the end of a very long leg and steps on you. What a good idea!

If you make it through the first cavern you have got another 19 more caves to go through before you reach home, each one progressively harder. Cave 2, the 'cold room', has penguins on ice skates after you, and rather than keys you have to get snowshoes. The third cave, the 'Menagerie', obviously got its name from the three emus which eagerly patrol the different levels. Deadly spiders appear for the first time on this sheet, making it even harder.

My favourite cave (also the furthest I can get) is 'Eugene's Lair', cavern number 5. In this we must obtain five bricks to get to the next cave. Eugene is a small round man with stubby legs and glasses and is clearly named after a certain well known programmer. He does his best to stop you getting all the bricks, as do the ferocious toilets, which are complete with flapping seats.

This game is highly addictive as there is always the motivation to try and reach the next cavern. Each cave holds its own secret, which must be learned before any progress can be made.

Well done to Mathew Smith for writing an ingenious program with such super graphics, and thanks to Bug-Byte for issuing it. All in all, an excellent game for the 48K Spectrum.

For further information on the cassettes reviewed in this article you can write to the following addresses:

Silversoft Ltd, [redacted].

New Generation Software, [redacted].

Red Shift, [redacted].

Artic Computing, [redacted].

Automata UK Ltd, [redacted].

Abacus Programs, [redacted].

Bug Byte, [redacted].

Softek Software, [redacted].

PSS, [redacted].

The all-time classic of arcade games on the Spectrum. Written by Matthew Smith, originally for Bug-Byte, it proved to be the ultimate in ladder and level games, and has caused an influx of lookalike software from other companies.

Your aim is get through as many weird and wonderful screens as possible to collect keys to the mine in which Willy works. You must escape from mechanical penguins, mutant toilets, poisonous pansies and mining robots. At the end you can access a special screen of evil goodies which will finish off any miner.

Position 3/50

48K Spectrum
Bug-Byte

Miner Willy stumbles on the riches of a lost civilisation while prospecting in Surbiton. Your job is to guide him back to the surface avoiding poisonous pansies, spiders and slime, and worst of all, the manic mining robots. Willy must also collect the keys which are vital to his escape to each of 20 lethal levels.

The game has excellent graphics, and keyboard control gives you plenty of choice as to which keys are most convenient for you to use. There is lots of wacky humour, too from the penguins in the cold room to the ferocious toilet seats in Eugene's lair, a witty side-swipe, no doubt, at one of Imagine's star programmers. Satire on other games also creeps in - Pac-Man lookalikes are to the fore in the processing plant and there is a Kong Beast and a Return of the alien Kong Beast. Not to forget the Attack of the Mutant Telephones - do not ring us we will ring you, eh, Llamasoft's Jeff Minter?

Games like this certainly make the average micro user of the paucity of imagination that less dynamic software houses are stricken with. What is the point of buying one game if so many elements of different arcade games can be so effectively combined? The animation is excellent. With games like this Bug-Byte will be laughing all the way to the bank - which occurs, in Manic Miner, on the 15th screen.

As the Crash annuals are still for sale ZXSR has taken the decision to remove all review text, apart from reviewer names and scores from the database. A backup has been taken of the review text which is stored offsite. The review text will not be included without the express permission of the Annuals editorial team/owners.

ARCADE ADVENTURES

Chris Jenkins looks at some of the more adventurous examples of the marriage of Arcade and Adventure.

The software of the future combines the best aspects of adventure games strategy, the requirement for mental agility and complexity of plot - with the best of arcade games - brilliant graphics, sophisticated programming techniques and exciting action.

These arcade adventures, or Aardvarks as I insist on calling them to the disgust of my colleagues, are in my opinion a genre which will come to dominate the market, as pure adventurers become bored with repetitive text-only programs, and arcade players come to demand something more sophisticated than mindless shoot-'em-ups.

So how do you go about conquering the world of Aardvarks? First, go out and buy a joystick. I know, the very thought will fill some of you with disgust, but grit your teeth and get a bog-standard stick (no need for optional laser sighting attachment and self-locking neutrino ranging circuits) plus the interface necessary for your Spectrum, BBC or whatever.


Next, check out the market carefully. Not everything described as an "arcade adventure" turns out to fulfill the requirements I've outlined. Manic Miner, for instance, could be described as an arcade adventure, but in fact requires no more than infinite patience and precise reactions to play. The best games require more strategic thought, and reading the blurb on the pack should give you some idea of the content. For some reason true Aardvarks usually seem to come in mega-packages with 150-page full-colour leaflets, badges, a club magazine, a scarf, three posters and a plastic goldfish. I exaggerate of course.

For Spectrum owners, an excellent starter is SabreWulf from Ultimate.

Like many adventures, SabreWulf is supplied with the minimum of instructions. All you know is that you mug collect four amulets and combine them to be able to pass through a mystic portal. The play area is a jungle maze of enormous complexity. Several games magazines have published SabreWulf maps, which are very helpful.

As in an adventure game, you'll find on your journey through the maze that you pass potentially useful objects such as treasure, food, weapons and potions. Your character will automatically pick these up on passing over them, but there are also dangers such as various monsters, poisonous orchids and the eponymous Wulf, which you must avoid.

For a game requiring more in the way of pure strategy, you should look at KnightLore, again from Ultimate for the Spectrum. This one features an intrepid explorer afflicted by lycanthropy. You have forty days and nights to find the secret of the Wizard's magic potion before you become a werewulf forever...

The transformation scenes, in which you involuntarily change shape, are brilliantly handled, as are the animated monsters and obstacles. Each of the 128 3-D screens is packed with details; moving stone blocks, treasures, potions, portcullises and the like. The trick here is to approach the mysteries of each chamber imaginatively - for instance, if you can't reach a desired object KnightLore by jumping, can you stand on one of the other objects to reach it, or move it to a new position? Split second timing is vital, as is attention to the clock. Should you transform into a werewulf in the middle of a difficult routine you'll meet a sticky end, either from guardian monsters or from automatic traps.

At the risk of making it sound as if only Ultimate produces good Aardvarks for the Spectrum, another goodie is Underwurlde. This has nearly 600 screens on a grid 52 deep by 16 wide, representing a selection of furnished rooms and mysterious caverns.

To win you must find four randomly-placed weapons and destroy the guardians of Underwurlde. You can run and jump around the caverns and ledges, but must beware of various monsters and natural hazards. Blue gems will make you invulnerable for a limited time. Underwurlde doesn't feature as many strategic elements as Knight Lore, and is perhaps more of a joystick basher.

For a little variation, let's look at the CBM64. Virgin's Sorcerer is a fast-moving Aardvark which features a flying wizard, who has to collect various magic objects in order to reach a confrontation with the evil Necromancer without falling victim to ghosts and goblins. The game looked very impressive when it appeared, but the Commodore version pales into insignificance besides the magnificent Amstrad CPC 464 version. This implementation of Sorcerer features stunningly sharp, colourful graphics, and a truly infuriating and fascinating plot.

Six good wizards are trapped in the game's forty screens. Your wizard must fly around the castles and dungeons of the magic land, picking up useful objects by passing over them, and fighting off the baddies to liberate the six captives. Only then can you progress to the show-down.

The objects scattered around the screens each have a specific task. Swords and clubs are for killing land-based enemies. Shooting stars and spells kill the airborne Demons, and Sorcerer's Moons, Scrolls and Bottles open various doors. Any contact with the enemy depletes your energy, though you can refuel by landing on a cauldron. But beware! If you try to refuel while carrying certain objects, you will lose energy.

The game starts randomly from one of five locations, and it's essential to make a map and keep notes of which objects open which doors. Altogether this is certainly the best game yet for the Amstrad, and possibly the greatest arcade adventure I've seen.

In many ways it's similar to Hewson's Avalon for the Spectrum, which again features a flying mage. This time you are armed with a selection of spells, selected using the joystick controls, which allow you to move around the 200-room Kingdom of Avalon in your quest to destroy the Lord of Chaos. Some doors are locked until you find a key, some are invisible until you cast the right spell. Sprites can be enslaved using a SERVANT spell, and made to work for you. Avalon is so complex that like many adventures it has a SAVE facility. It's one of the most Aardvark-like of Aardvarks, combining adventure and arcade features remarkably well.

For the BBC, you could do worse than investigate MicroPower's Castle Quest. The scenario is similar to that of many an adventure - finding the wizard's treasure which is hidden somewhere inside the castle. To do this you must determine the correct use of the many objects found on the platforms and corridors of the castle.

To give you some idea of the adventure-like nature of the problems you're set, if you are captured by the guards at one stage you are thrown into jail. To escape you must pick up a stool, leap into the air and throw the stool at a torch, pick up the stool and place it near the door, pick up the torch and use it to set fire to the bed, leap onto the stool then onto a ledge over the door, wait for the guard to rush in and leap down behind him, then through the door! It makes getting out of the goblin's dungeon look like a piece of cake.

Back to the CBM 64 for Impossible Mission, a disc game from CBS. Again this takes a good deal of co-ordination as you control the brilliantly-animated figure of a secret agent, leaping from level to level in a complex of underground rooms. The object is to examine the items of furniture and computer equipment in the complex in order to discover hidden computer codes. These let you log onto security terminals so that you can disable the lethal guard robots or reset the elevators in each screen. The password for the final control room is in several pieces, which have to be assembled correctly to gain access. You have a pocket computer to help you, and can also call up your HQ computer at the cost of a time penalty.

Impossible Mission features bloodcurdling software-generated speech and excellent sound effects. It's perhaps more of a logic puzzle than a strategy game, but should interest many adventure fans with a quick trigger finger.

Finally it's worth looking at some more Spectrum games, since the Spectrum is still the first machine many Aardvarks are designed for.

Microgen's Wally series veers towards the arcade rather than the adventure side, but is good nonetheless. Automania, Pyjamarama and the forthcoming Life of Wally are described as "graphical adventures", in which the usual arcade jumping-and-ducking idea takes on a new depth. Automania is almost entirely an arcade game, Pyjamarama has more of a quest element in the saga of the sleeping Wally searching his house for an alarm clock to wake him from his nightmare, and Life of Wally reputedly features several characters any of which can be controlled at any time like a more conventional adventure such as Lords of Midnight.

Ocean's Gift From The Gods also features a combination of animated graphics and a quest element, following the ordeal of Orestes in the labyrinth of Mycenae. Hidden in the chambers are sixteen geometric shapes which, when placed in the right order in the Guardian's chamber, reveal the exit. Various creatures sap your strength, which can be replenished with streams of water. Orestes' sister Electra will help him to choose the correct objects if she's around, but the evil Clytaemnestra will confuse the issue.

Gargoyle's Tir Na Nog winds up this brief look at the wonderful world of Aardvarks. Described as a "computer movie", it features convincing animation set in a world of Celtic myth. The design of the scrolling backgrounds is very rich and detailed. The hero Cuchulainn must traverse a series of interlinked paths. As is traditional, the quest involves finding and assembling the parts of a broken artefact, in this case a seal, while fighting off the baddies which include the ape-like Sidhe. There are some 150 objects which can be picked up and used.

This concludes our brief look at the private life of the Aardvark. Die-hard adventurers will I'm sure curl their lips with, contempt at the idea of it all, but try to be a little flexible. The most sophisticated programs now being produced fall into this category, and you'll soon be finding that skill with a joystick has become as indispensable to the adventure games player as a working knowledge of Elvish.

NAME: Manic Miner
SYSTEM: 48K Spectrum
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Bug-Byte, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
LANGUAGE: Machine code
OTHER VERSIONS: None
OUTLETS: High street dealers

OF PITS AND PENGUINS

If you've ever had the uncontrollable urge to jump over a penguin while it's humming Hall of the Mountain King then this is definitely the game for you.

OBJECTIVES

The idea is to manoeuvre Miner Willy through the various caverns of a long-forgotten mine-shaft near Surbiton, collecting all the keys in each cave before being able to move on to the next, and eventually up to the surface and untold riches. It's a game for one player with keyboard control, or joystick.

IN PLAY

The game opens with simply the best title screen I've ever seen, with the waving palm trees of sultry Surbiton behind a piano keyboard whose keys are moving up and down to the tune, more or less, of The Skater's Waltz.

Pressing ENTER starts the game, but if you don't you're given a chance to see the assorted caverns you'll be travelling through, and if you're anything like me this is the only way you'll get to see them.

The first in the proper game is the Central Cavern, and while every one is different, the general idea is that Willy goes walkabout, jumping over obstacles and slowly climbing up the platforms that lead to the top of the screen, grabbing the keys he needs as he goes. When the last key is taken, the portal leading into the next cave will start flashing and Willy must make his way back to that.

The game requires a lot of thought, practice and timing to get through each screen, especially as they are all being patrolled by robots, ducks and a dozen other creatures - which is where an ability to leap over a penguin comes in handy.

Complications also arise with the platforms, some of which crumble under you as you pass, meaning that you only get one chance to jump from them to the next level. Others are conveyor belts, and once on those you can't change direction, so you have to know well in advance exactly where you're going to jump next. Coming down is even more hazardous than going up.

The graphics and sound are both superb, and if the constant playing of Hall of the Mountain King starts to annoy you the writer has thoughtfully provided an on-off switch in the program.

VERDICT

Manic Miner is original and amusing as well as hard to master, and I haven't enjoyed a game so much since I first encountered Donkey Kong.

PC MICROPEDIA VOL 13 PART 3

SOFTWARE

Christmas Software Buyers Guide

SOFTWARE BUYERS GUIDE

SOFTWARE SELECTION

Whether you've just bought a personal computer, had one for some time or are expecting one on Christmas Day, one thing you'll be looking for is some good software to ease the digestion of the Christmas fare or to stave off boredom during the re-runs of old films on the TV.

In this Micropaedia we'll give details of how to select the best value programs for your money, as well as a list of the best games we've reviewed in our pages this year.

The first thing to do is look carefully at your needs. Software can be divided roughly into a number of areas such as: applications, utilities educational and games. This list is not comprehensive and there are bound to be some overlaps.

Applications: This covers word processing, database, accounting programs and so on. These are designed to take the slog out of paper work, it you're looking to make typing easier then you must bear in mind that there's no point buying a word processor unless you have a printer. You should also ask:

- Does the program give an adequate screen size, ie between 40 and 80 characters?

- Does it respond quickly when a word runs off the end of a line? How easy is it to use and is the documentation clear?

- Will it verity your text once you've saved it onto cassette?

- Can you print more than one copy of the text easily?

Databases: If you've reached the stage where you've got so many cassettes or records that you can't keep track of them, then you might consider looking at some database packages. If all you need is a simple card index, then you might be better off buying just that. Databases on micros can be misapplied quite easily. The problem with a card index is that you can retrieve the information in one of two ways: by picking a card from its main heading or by searching the entire set from start to finish. A card box is good for people's names and addresses etc, but no good if, for example, you wish to find out which of these people live in a given town.

The main advantage of a computer database is that you can select cards ('records') on a number of criteria. For example. If you run a club you could pick out all the members who are late with subscriptions and who live in a certain town.

The main limitation of computer databases is that you can't usually keep more than 300 cards at a time. If you have a cassette-based program you will have to SAVE and VERIFY the database every time you alter it - this can be a real pain.

The questions to ask here are, will it really save you time and effort? What is the maximum number of records you can keep on it at any one time? How many separate pieces of information can each 'card' hold? (eg product description, code value, number in stock, reorder limit.) How many characters (letters) are you limited to for each record?

Accounts: It's at this time of year that you are most likely to be feeling the pinch, financially. Investment in a home accounting or bookkeeping package may help with the management of money matters. In this area you will also find programs that help you calculate heat losses which may help you save money by proper insulation.

As with the database programs, the most important question relates to your needs - will the program really save you time and effort? Would it be easier, quicker and cheaper to use a calculator, pen and paper?

Utilities: These are programs for the more serious hobbyists, who enjoy developing their own programs and finding out more about their machines.

Perhaps the first thing you should consider in this area is another language. Basic is a good language for learning about programming but it shouldn't be the only string to your bow. Forth is now available on most micros which allows you to write arcade games which run very fast indeed. Pascal is becoming increasingly popular on a variety of micros and most versions will give you a good grounding in this structured language. Rarer but just as interesting are, Logo, Lisp and Prolog.

If you want your programs to go faster but don't want to learn another language you should shop around for a compiler. This is a program that will convert your Basic into machine code. This has the advantage of speeding up the program and making sure other people can't steal those routines that took you hours to code up. Certainly one thing most programmers will find of enormous use is a 'toolbox' of some kind. There are as yet only a few of these about due to their immense value more are being launched every week. Toolkits generally include REM strippers - to take out all the REM lines needed during program development. This can make for great memory savings if space is tight. If you're lucky a toolkit may also have a packing routine which takes out all unnecessary spaces and in some cases joins lines up to save space. An 'unpacker' should also be provided.

If you're interested in working at the heart of the computer, you'll be looking to machine code. In that case you'll need an assembler at least. This saves you the slog of having to convert op-codes to hex, or calculate branches and offsets. A disassembler does the opposite - takes the hex codes from memory and shows you the op-codes. You'll need both of these for getting right down to it and so it is probably worth considering a full monitor system. A good monitor should combine an assembler and disassembler and provide a machine code toolkit with such facilities as, block moves of memory, trace functions, break point settings and so on. The more functions the monitor has the more useful it will be... and the more expensive.

Education: In the last few months most of the major educational publishers have launched educational programs. These include, Heinemann, Griffin and George, Macmillan Longman and so on. There is also a lot of software being produced by smaller companies like Chalksoft and Widgit Software.

The standard of software in this field is probably more variable than in other areas, some is dreadful, some excellent. Five-Ways is a software company that has produced programs for both Heinemann and Macmillan. Its programs have set the standard by which others should be judged, so try to see them. They are available on Spectrum, BBC and RML380 from retailers, who should be prepared to demonstrate any programs in stock.

Games: There used to be a clear division between adventure and arcade-type games. This has been blurred over the last few months by programs which use ideas and techniques from the two types.

Arcade-type games can be subdivided into those that mimic the 'real-thing', games like Invaders/Galaxians, Phoenix, Pac-Man, Defender/Scramble, Kong, Asteroids, Berserk and so on.

The main differences between these games ties in how you move relative to the background.

There has been a move of late toward 3D games. These seek to produce the illusion of three dimensions on the screen, so that things don't just move left-right and up-down, but can appear to move into the distance as well. Some of these have tried to use the brain's capacity for giving this impression from the different information obtained from the two eyes. They do this by using two coloured pictures of the same image on the screen and you have to wear coloured glasses to get the effect. These are worth looking at, but they don't always work well on all TVs.

Other games use perspective transformations to get a similar effect. These seem to be pointing the way to a new and exciting direction in games. Of particular note here are Lunar Crabs and Ant Attack.

The main point about arcade-type games is the use of sound and colour graphics on the machine. Don't be misled by the packaging. Sometimes the cassette cover gives the impression that the game uses stupendous graphics, but you'll find that this may be an artist's impression of the title and bear no relation at all to the pictures on the screen. To avoid this, look in the magazines to find reviews accompanied by a 'screen-shot' - a photograph of the game being played. Sometimes you'll find one of these on the inside cover of the cassette.

Adventure games are often 'text-only'. This means that there are no pictures at all. In these you have to type in instructions such as 'go west', 'get rifle', 'open door' and so on. The idea is that you have to complete a quest which might involve finding some secret treasure or simply finding your way out of a labyrinth of rooms and corridors without being killed by some unsavoury thug.

Often you need to have picked up items before you can proceed very far - for example, you may not be able to read a crucial message (or even be told it's there) before picking up and/or using a torch. The best of the strictly text-only adventures should have a very large vocabulary. The program should recognise ten verbs as a rock-bottom minimum and at least twice as many objects. There should also be many locations to move to and from. The best way to find out about these is, again, to read through reviews of the programs or to look at the cover or instruction manual.

The problem with this is that some suppliers deliberately include very little detail about the words you can use, or the objects. One of the main points about an adventure game is that you are supposed to work out all this information for yourself.

There have been a number of games released recently which might be termed 'extended adventure' games. In these you get a picture on the screen of the room you're in and possibly some extra information at the foot or to one side of the screen.

Of particular note here are games like Valhalla. In this, you play the role of a wanderer in the Norse Gods' kingdom. The screen is split into two sections - the top shows your location, yourself and who/whatever might be present. The characters move around rather like those in a cartoon. The lower screen is used for entering commands and getting information about who's who or what's what. The point is that the characters have lives of their own and will move around without your doing anything at all!

Also in this vein are the Oracle's Cave and the Hobbit. There are more and more games breaking into this new territory every week. One to watch out for will be Alice in Wonderland from Audiogenic for the Commodore 64.

Adventure games require more wit than dexterity and it's easy to get addicted to the better ones, rather like getting completely taken up with a film or book. Try to see them in action before buying and bear in mind that the first few times you play them are likely to provide as much frustration as excitement while you're getting familiar with the basic framework.

The better games allow you to do more than just enter two words in the usual verb-object pair. Some will even allow you to enter such complex phrases as telling one of the characters to do something for you!

General rules: Avoid buying programs on the strength of advertising or covers. Some suppliers can generally be relied on to produce high-quality games, but everyone makes the occasional mistake! Check the top-ten charts in different magazines and look through back issues of magazines for reviews. Ask to see games before you buy, but make sure you know what sort of game you're after, or you'll waste a lot of your own time and that of shop assistants.

TRIED AND TESTED FOR THE SPECTRUM

NAME: Psst
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Ultimate
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 16/48K

NAME: Jumping Jack
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Imagine
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 16/48K

NAME: Cookie
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Ultimate
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 16/48K

NAME: Magic Mountain
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £4.95
PUBLISHER: Phipps
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Zzoom
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Imagine
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Splat
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Incentive
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Football Pools
TYPE: Utility
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Hartland
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Pimania
TYPE: Advent
PRICE: £10
PUBLISHER: Automata
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Horace Goes Skiing
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Psion
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 16K

NAME: Mad Martha
TYPE: Arcade
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Mikrogen
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K

NAME: Jetpac
PRICE: £5.50
PUBLISHER: Ultimate Play The Game, [redacted]
SYSTEM: 16K
FORMAT: Cassette
OUTLETS: WH Smith, John Menzies, Sinclair Dealers, mail order.

This is a classic game that tops Space Invaders and Pacman and offers lots of fun.

You're the chief test pilot tor Acme interstellar Transport and your job is to go to various planets to assemble rockets.

Bits of elements, jewels and gold fall from the sky which you snatch, but the aliens get a bit peeved because you've grabbed their worldly goods without so much as paying the V in VAT. And there's only one way to settle the matter - shoot them with your Quad Photon Laser Phasers.

Before you can make a quick getaway, you have to fuel a rocket with six fuel pods which drop from the skies. Each planet has its own share of nasties that try and get you. The first planet has fire-ball type creatures, the second furry creatures, the third vicious bouncing spheres and the fourth some strange looking little insects.

With its good graphics and interesting content you'll have plenty to do to fill those free hours.

NAME: Valhalla
PRICE: £14.95
PUBLISHER: Legend
SYSTEM: 48K
FORMAT: Cassette
OUTLETS: Some retail, mail order from Legend, [redacted]

Valhalla is half epic, half cartoon strip and its Norse setting is ideal for those with the fjords in their bloodstream.

With 200 crowns and your brains you have to wend your way through Asgard, Midgard and Hell to pick up a key, a ring, a shield, a sword, an axe and a helmet.

First of all you need to get yourself well equipped. Armour is a must. So are the bare essentials like food and drink. And as you progress through the adventure the condition of your soul is rated.

The graphics are good and varied, and the responses can be slow, but this is because the machine is processing the moves for a number of characters not just you, and the screen features a superb cartoon effect.

The program also allows you to stack instructions. For example, you can type in get food, eat food, go north in quick succession then see your character do all these.

I won't tell you how to solve the quest. What I will tell you is that Valhalla is well worth the rather substantial cost.

NAME: Manic Miner
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Bug-Byte, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
OUTLETS: High street shops

For superb graphics and sound, humour and overall addiction there's little can beat Manic Miner for the 48K Spectrum. It scored top marks in Gameplay (Issue 23) and subsequently soared to become a bestseller.

Using keyboard or joystick, you manoeuvre Miner Willy through caverns in a long-forgotten mine-shaft near Surbiton in Surrey, collecting keys to unlock a great fortune on resurfacing.

Press ENTER and you're in Central Cavern beginning the great trek upward. The game needs a lot of thought, practice and timing. Robots, ducks and dozens of other creatures. Including humming penguins patrol the caves, platforms crumble and conveyor belts whisk Willy off in quite the wrong direction if he's not quick.

NAME: Rescue
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Computer Rentals, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
SYSTEM: 48K
OUTLETS: Smiths, Menzies, Boots, Mail order

An adventure that has all the ingredients - graphics, variety, plenty of surprises, good plot and ease of play to make it a winner.

You have to rescue a princess who is in a castle, and you have four levels of skill from which to choose. You decide how to rescue the princess, you decide what tactics to employ, you decide what objects to use and how to use them.

The game is played on a 'board' made up of concentric circles, linked together like a spider's web - and a fresh board is created every time you play.

While you play you can keep tabs on the position of your enemies. The two guards keep on the move at the same time as you, and if they catch up with you, you're well and truly dead.

NAME: Fantastic Voyage
TYPE: Shootout
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Foilkade, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
OUTLETS: Mail order
MACHINE: ZX81

If you fancy a trip through the veins of a human body, battling against white blood cells - try Fantastic Voyage.

You are injected into a right arm and must make your way to the brain by navigating through the body's bloodstream. Your aim is to destroy a bloodclot.

On this interesting theme, forget all the medical jargon about veins and arteries you go straight into the scan mode to give a front and side view of the body. You identify your position by a tiny dot which represents a submarine - a strange object to be floating around in a body. Also displayed is your energy level, direction and size, which gets larger the longer you stay in the body.

The movement of the submarine is well done, as you see the artery walls moving past you. But destroying white blood cells is none too easy. They jitter about the screen at a rapid rate and you have to use laser power sparingly.

This is a very good game with clever programming. There's a good deal to do and you won't get bored.

NAME: Adventure 200
TYPE: Adventure
PRICE: £5.95
PUBLISHER: Foilkade, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
OUTLETS: Mail order
MACHINE: ZX81

The ingredients are here for a really gripping adventure. Disguised as a peasant you venture into the evil land of Grunlock to recover your King's stolen treasure. And you'd better not come back empty handed or the King will have you killed.

Starting west of the palace you give simple commands for directions you want to move. After every move, the ZX81 displays where you are, what's happened, and the obvious paths you can take.

During your journey you are offered several things, such as a lamp and a fish. And what you pick up affects your progress.

A very interesting adventure.