^oe.,i POPU LAR O OnlySOp.
10-16 October 1985
Vol 4 No 41 CBM turns to Amiga as 128 hits shops
WITH COMMODORE'S 128 are prices for the develop- micro finaLly beginning to ment machines only, and not reach the shops, the company loi Ihe general release." said Commodore marketing man- mszes you must recover a aoflware ager Chris Kaday. However, atHBcOng 3lrong AnolasofI vnll include both series of rune hi eroglypha by Amiga. he added that, when re- supporl foi the Balalyx - a mulli-patl sicade nackmg and catcliing company hopes to out- leased, the price would be The game trom Jeff Minler - and ghosts. The panem of pic- impressive display do Atari's Scarabeus HTitfen by Hun- tures !hen forms a Jtey lo software at the Per- The cost of development of initial garian program developers aolnng Ihe later levels. World Show systems would seem to sug- sondi Compiler Andromeda Software. Scarabaeus, along mth price ol between (see Popular Computing gest a shop Scarabeus, piclured Balalyx and an adventure Weekly. Sept S). To this end, £1,1X10 and £1.SOO in the UK. above, IS an unusual maze consltucuon program called NTSC standard Armga devel- Three development ma- style game with elemenls of Wizard, will be issued on opment machines svilh a sep- chines have already been de- 10 test pictorial pivsles. disc: at £12.95 and a arate power supply are now livered, and ten further soft- Over Ottee. ever larger. £9.95 later this r. mih. being 5old to soltware com- ware houses are wailing lor paraes lot between £1,340 - iot a model without a monitor - and £1,700 with a monilor. "Then ther Amstrad profits includes system after which 1
al documentat reach record level of £20m Popular Computing Weekly rubles hard peripherals. Computers MAGIC financial re- counted for 66°o of ils sales, MICRO record g Find out if you have won an year endmgjune 30, Ihis year, as opposed to 4% Amslrad 6128 this week or at HS. the previous year, Amstrad least some special Popular [Is pre-tax profits of £20.1m micros sold particnlarly mall Computing Weekly cassette owed an Increase o( 122% overseas, notably in France labels. Enter your personal rer previous year, while and Germany- Micro Magic number into our mover al £136.1 million was The results mean that .J special computet program on j60°i, Amstrad's chairman, Alan ) TURN YOUR MEMOTECH IWTO A SPECTRUM - SEE PAGE 10 .
AND OIM THE EIGHTH DAY EPYX CREATED. . SUMMERGAA4ESn
I i jam
SUMMERGAMES W ^.
1 •^ V 1 64i:ao\ss.£9.9S ''^.
mMlM!M4^^miaMM AVAILABLE FOR AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER '»ly ^ COMMODORE 64/128 THE ORIGINAL CASSETTE ^ SUMMER GAMES! £g_9 5 DISK£l4,95 ilHoim ' ^mwi})'- ^ m m'J- :
CONTENTS 4 NEWS Sinclair's lead increases in new survey 8 POPULAR MICRO MAGIC Another listing to type in - and an Amslrad 6128 could be yours! 10 HARDWARE REVIEW Spectacular Spectrum Emulator for Memotech 12 SOFTWARE REVIEWS OL Gardener - Starquake from Bubble Bus 16 STAR GAME Cryptogram on the Commodore 64 18 BBC AND ELECTRON Put your money on paper with this routine 20 SPECTRUM At last - a sprite designer for ZX! Basic 8 Letters 34 Adventure Helpline 35 Top Ten Charts 22 THE QL PAGE 9 Micxo Waves Fractal based computer art on Spectrum 36 New Releases 25 Peek & Poke 36 This Week 26 Aicade Avenue 24 AMSTRAD 38 Puzzle, Ziggural, Mix your modes on the CPC 464 28 Adventure Comer Hackers EDITORIAL HE
of Traimel'i eompuiera Msona lo he opiiroialic ihaugh. mainlji becsuia
of £200 is highly miflleading. Aflei all if you h
, diac drive and colour monilot you've piobatilys[ n Amiga, A Comjnodnre 64 plua disc drive wc nevilflbly going lo rue. bccau roach Ihe price !! IhinV of nying Cauldluld you £j Whal hippeiu
of the Enterprise should slimulate the innovative talents of lers to set new standards in software - Rod Cousens 01-437 4343 Sinclair market lead reaches ^t^^^^Ze MELBOURhfE HOUSE has an- new high in AGB survey noimcGd iwo mote licensing lie-ups loi games lo be re- A NEW home compuler sur- many Lndependenl distribu- These results may well con- leased wjflim the next month. vey conducted by Audita ol tor s. have been eilremely vince Sinclair that the Spec- Pop duo Wliam[ is lo lend Great Brilain (ACB) has given auccessiul, since the Spec- trum Plus and laaK OL will Whsmf The fai
Sinclair a reniarkiibly high trum Plus accounts for 50.5% serve It well thiough Christ- 56.8% share o( the British of sales, according to AGB's mas, rather than mtioducing gram for market. a British version of the Span- The user
The survey was carried out pnce ishSpecirum I33K. or adding selection 1 m the four weeks ending Sep- from £399 t more memory lo the OIj hits, Its new single, and fuially lembei ?, and 90 at a tiadi- followed by a rise to a 8.8% compose on the Spectrum 11- lionaliy quiel time. However, market share for the troubled launch the r self. Whaial The Juke Box viia Sinclair's shaia jumped 30% machine. said Ahson Maguiie 3t£e.9f up from the same period lasl "Smce (he survey we have Big Buddy's Rock and seen thai the price drop on Wresae is the follow-up to the that Dix< the OL has had a huge impact in Britain have development highly successful Exploding £139.99 offer on Ihe Speclru on sales," said Sinclair's mar- machines, but that is to pro- Pisi Using ihe same graphics Plus, and the subsequent bu: keting manager Aliaon duce software for the Spanish and animation techniques. died packs put together I: Big Dsddys Rock and Wres- i/e features a two-player million - Amstrad's shares hit Firms book in for wreslhng bout, accompamed a record level of 134p at Ihe Horizons by rock-Blyle music. show Big Daddy's Rock and Alan Sugar has promised MORE DETAILS on the Cont- WresUe will be out on the modoie Horizons Show to be Commodore 64 at £9.93. held at Ihe end of this month been released by Home sweet organisers, Editionscheme. for Eihibitors at the show, now home Popular at a new venue, the Tech SCOT Press Ltd., pubhahers West Cenlre, Warple Way, of Popular Campulmg Week- Shepherd's Bush, London ly, is pleased to aiuiounce that W12~" include Anirog, Argus, It has purchased Home Com- Llamasoil, Precision, puiing Weekly from Argus ICPUG, Vulcan, Robcom, Spemalisl Publications Ltd. NewsBeld, Manech and
The show will be held on final edition. Its mosl popular Saturday and Sunday. Octo- features are to be incorporat- ber 26-37. The venue can be ed inio Popular Compaling gram), CaSccral!, Logo. C. reached from Shepherd's Weekly. CBM turns to and Metacomcn's Pascal and Bush Tube, Acton Central BR "We are very pleased lo Lisp, all of which appear un- station, or Oxbridge Road. have reached this agreement Amiga as 128 der Amiga's name in Ihe with Argus. Popular Comput- hits Stales. In flrilam, these may vice between Shepherd's ing Weekly is now secure in the shops well be branded under Com- Bush Tube, Ihe Novolel lorig- lis pDBilionas the only weekly mally intended to be Ihe site magazme servmg the con- dole's European software The CI 23 of Ihe show) and Tech West. sumer computer market," manager. appear m the shops last For details contact Ediuon- igtng Among the interested com- week, around a month later Bchsme on 01-346 6566. dire )r of Scot Press panies are Mirrorsofi, which than originally intended. The plans Fleel Slreel Editor and first recipients of C128s, in Surfs up for New Concepts probably Stnke Force tiarri- batches single figures, er for the Amiga. tUsi the smaller inde- IRISH company New Con- which will be converting pendent stores - the machine has ysl lo reach the muluples. lationgame w Devpac and C, and also writ- The only con&guralion of Surf Chaini ing a series of new titles, The Ihe C1S3 available so far, is Edge, Virgin, which wania to the sland alone version of the ilay for the Specti develop a range of sophisti- £269. The bundled player must press the cated games, and Electric I, them o plus 1370 board with the flat of Dreams, the division of disc drive, and the 128D ver- hand, applymg presauri AcliviBion set up by Rod sion with buUt in disc drive, the relevant parts lo ride the able imtially for the
Conisens. which hopes to have not yeibeen released. waves successfully. The keyed Spectrum • convert I, of Ihe MaEk. "We are now shipping waves are depicted on the around £12, but In addition, Commodoie 1 ZSa, and peripherals Will fal- screen display. tor die Spectrum Plus 31 has Srm plans to bnng over low shortly," said Chris New Concepts claims that er machines are plarniE US titles such aa Tgxlcral!. Kaday. "We are shipping to the overlay provides "maxi- Details from New Ciaphictall. Masiciall. satisfy demand, but it lakes
Afonewaft(a time 10 build up distribution." "operated ir Dispute over GEM 664 upgrades settled by launched at 19.95, E will a . silico screens Amstrad fair THE Amslrad Compuiershow tional disc drive. Data can be and transferred from the ordinary Apple DR toolt place al London's disc. Pro- APPLE Compilers has forced Ihttl Apple got upsel." Novolel on October S-6, Pro- disc to the ailicon Digiial Research lo substan- The 'new look' GEM mil be grams can then w tially change iis screen pre- shipped m a few weeks time. number of visitors at around seniation of programs wntlen Users of 'oid style' GEM pro- very high speeds. under GEM, the porlable op- grams will find Ihe new ap- DK'Tromcs look the oppor- Also al ihe shot erating system which usi pear, corpo rated into tunity lo launch a new range was demonstrating falure upgradea. of AJnslrad peripherals, in- MicroPro's Packer Word siimlar lo that on the Apple cluding memory upgrades mg standing Macmlosh. The dispute, con- Virgin releases (or the 464/6e'l. Wordi " Amstrad Pack cerning the aimilarity o( DR's . 64K memory will cesser. The Rabbit titles in display, has been ael- Wordstar casls £119. Utles under tl ompatibility i e6138 SagesofI armounced i Uedoi tof C( a alLei I THE FIE!ST iths of d TO. "Any software usmg Popular Accounts progra .k switching and syslem for the PCW 82S6 at £99,1 The idtanges will avoid Ap- ippea . the I ple's (daims that CEM and 3 package comprising Desktop. CEMPsintand GEM The name of the company, Popular Accounts and Payroll Draw violate Apple's which Clashed around eigh- copynghtB. teen months ago. was bought Neil Rawlinson of DK'Tronics. "Apple claimed that out by Virgin Games, which is The S4K expansion will cost from Alligaia - Defend or using the name Rabbit to re- (£7.95), Super Sam (£2.99),
' (IS.95) or all said lease t £3,99. ap- Doppelganger - Frank Iveson of Digital Re- proaching budget pnce. three on one disc al £12.95 IVar- search. "II wasn't a question The first four htles are Zylo. Interceptor, showing its established of changmg any of the code, a muM-screen, mulli-layered lord and more simply Ihe screen layout. arcade game, for the Commo- Lord Mayor, anemptmg tc titles Heroes of Kam, Jewels Arabian "We were trying to rein- dore 64, Darialh, an arcade slop the Kre from spreading of Babylon and force an induslry standard, so adventure involving spells, and finally, Hiffh Rise Honor Nights, and l^uma Comput- it's something of a credit to keys, potions and amulets, an arcade game for the BBC B.
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ELECTRO! J " nOSTTtlKE 040 DONT BUY THIS! Q43 FAHRENHEFT 30 THE HACKER 047SPIKE MAILORDER ;': Please state name of game (and machtnej and numbers tequifGd. 18 1] Enclose crossed chegue/PO made payable to RREBIRD SOFTWARE, All offers are subject to availability Orders are despatched promptly Ail prices inclusive ol VAT and poslage MAILORCER; -FREEPOST RRKIRD, i.^f^fa;--. WBJJNGTON HOUSE, UPPER ST. MARTIN'S UNE, LONDON WC2H 9BR .
Good news 13 available ac Impressive
is good I Many ihanJo. [mpreseed? Very! Why? I,Memo tech has Because quite simply Mike Jomall's diEassemhiy listing
)f his program. I Down's Childien's ic(Augu3t 15] w
OK, tl I progta itself w 4 Oxford SlTGel nothing to London WIN 9FL could have quite happily typed in all 77 items of data Attribute effects and still have been none the wiser as to how his program FolJ owing functioned. Program help Papular Compating But there below his data Weekly {Vol 4 No 36), entitled STatamenTS was a complete We aie a national chanty New l^ncept, 1 disassembly of his program. Eel up to help parents lowing program Try it and ptofeaaionals dealing ee the amazmg Bee with Down's Syndrome chil- mferupl-dnven program is dren. Our membership now delmilely no I beyond my stands al approsimalely 4,500 Nigei Claikson meagre abilities.
and many of these children Ciossga.le Mooi May I also lei readers in ihs seem to have an aptitude for Durham Peterhead area know that computer ganves and educa- there is a Commodore com- liorud programs. As a result [ puter club thai meets every this, we have had several en- Thursday al 7.30pin in Peterhead Commuiuly
help to parents May I appeal to any soft- addressed to Bytes and II Hawthorn Ri ware manufacturers who Pieces, 12-13 Little Newport Peterhead St, London WCZ. Aberdeenshire Micro Magic Popular Computing Weekly Micro Magic
We are giving away an Amstrad CPC6128 128K micro - worth £399 - every seven days until Christmas. Not only that, but every Micro Magic card is a winner - every card wins a runner-up prize of free Special Popular Computing IVeeA-Jy cassette labels
Hew to Bnd out if you win this week the comp leledcatdoffto:MicroMagic, To End out if you are a prize wiimer this Fopnlai Computing Weekly, 13>13 Lit- week ihiE is what you musl do tle Newport Street, London WC2H 7PP. 1) Key in the computer program listing Don't forget lo fill m both yournameand printed here into your micro and Run the address, and also both your winning program. Micro Magic answer from this week and 2) Input youi special Mieio Magic num- your special Micro Magic number.
5) If you haven't won this week, don't give ed and press Enter. up hope. Keep your Micro Magic card 3) The program will tell you if you have :o find 01 won a prise this week and what it is. s Mic: )Magif iputer program,
4) It you have won a prize you can claim il 'ounghlthrough
by filling m the coupon on the back otyour don't throw il away - Micro Magics Week 2 Program listing you special Micro Magic card. Then send This week's winning Micro Magic Numbers: 439000 and 901544
If you think you've won complete tte form on the back of your Mi- S!^^tel^p.™"p2!'i^u^ISSSLSa"Xl^S'.'d cro Magic card and send it to: Micio Magic, Popular Computing Weekly, 12-13 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7PP, N.i«pQi( Suool. Londlili fwmtSp.
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLV Media Waves Hardware Reviews
the various weird loading systems so coxTvmon Game choice these days. Secondly it ensures that any calb thai the game makes to the Haidware Memotech Speculator Spetnrum Rom go to a routine, pla certain fraction of the screen, eg, Slarion Price £39.93 Supplier Memotech Ihesame memory address, that for copy- can be made to selectively refresh the Ltd, Station Lane Estate, Witney, right reaaone is totally different to Sin- moving parts at a faster rate and the clair's code but produces the same r* relatively static parts more slowly lo suit on the MTX hardware. give a better overall effect. Any sound this time laat year Spectrum The game code About then carries on rur produced from Rom calls, ie, simple emulators were the in thing. They ning as though i1 were on a Spectmit beeps, can be produced but those that were reported aa 'aoon being controlling the internal logic, etc. Th rely on special effects caused by send- available' for micros as diverse as the menu also program sets up the bet. ing a signal to the sound chip many limes OL and the Commodore 64. Unfortunate- colours to uae for each game from the a second are not worth reproducing ly all these wonderful devices had one MTX's wider range. because again the frequency falls dra- The hardware pack reads the mancaDy. Still, given the cleverness of it as Bruce Forsyth's head ol hair. Memotech keyboard to see if the appro- ail, Tony Brewer has no reason to feel (, suddenly and without liype, priate keys or joystick have been used anything hul proud. Memotech have amiounced thai ihey aind passes the iiiformaaon to the game Because there is so much lo El in as ""E oneolthe beasts, a real live emula- by intercepting calls thai would have well aa the 48S Spectrum Ram the emula one Ihal existfl independent o£ a to the gone Sinclair keys. It also controls tor will not run on the 4BK MTX only64K marketing director's imagination. The screen handling whidi is perhaps the and up. Also certain qflmoK a no Hp other thing amazing about it is thai it most complicated bit. The code that works very well. would be the Spectrum screen Ham is Of large amounts d For youi money you get two essen- ingiedients. re IS a compact
I device that plugs into the aide the computer, containing a Rom, >me Elam for slor- '^^J^^ ig the results of the keyboard reading
other bits. You also get a tape conlain- a program that allows you lo run ZO Spectnmi games (you have to buy the actual games your- of These range from
, MEMOrreCH H old chestnuts such SpecapedB. which you should ible to pick up right up to seme of 1 i£^_ eleases such as Atic Atac, Tornado 1\^mhmbhh tlarion. Further tapes are planned at held in the memory, but has lo be pre- make 80 many calls lo Ihe Rom that it Is about £4 for the necessary bits lo run ten sented in a very diBereni form lo make impractical to try lo snbslllute all the more games. Now that the system has sense lo Ihe MTX's video chip. The Rom routlnea, and certein games thai seem lo been implemented, they expect to be pack sends interrupts to stop the game take exception to the interrupts, able to keep up with the most recent running, reatls the Spectrum screen, in my experience the MTX computers Spectrum hits. translates it into values that produce the are regarded vrtth a lot of respect from ~ run a game you simply make your same on the Memolech screen, and software house, and serious users alike. choice from the menu, load the Spectrum sends the new data to the video chip. In particular they have the potential lobe tape in, lo the aci»rapanimanl of a spe- Fortunately piial rosoludon le the same expanded into a very powerful system cially recreated familiar Bashing blue so the graphic details are reproduced indeed with eicallent networking, CP/ 1 yellow border, and off you go. M, 1 megabyte discs and more. One of Choices given in the game for Kempston The obvious drawback lo this system the major reasons il didn't succeed as a etc, joyslicks, should be avoided but all IS that It all takes time - it means that the home computer was thai, like Oric, it was 3s work with the MTX cutsors and game runs slightly slower, and thai the caught in a vicious circle of no big sales joystick as well as the keyboard. No rate of the screen updating falls lo aboul because of limited software and, no rush ges at all are made to the original a quatler of what it wa« originally, mak- to write software because of Umited program tape. ing movement lass smooth. Tony Brewer sales, etc. This emulator, together with To explain briefly how it works, the designed who the package seemed al- recent price cuts, could solve a lot of the Botiwaie does the easiest half of the most apologetic for this as he explained problems at a single stroke. emulation. Firfll of all it compensates for it but the simple &cl is, whilst the jerki- Tei ly Kendla I
popuuin coMPunira weekly l'HJ:W»l»mi ^^ 1541 FLASH!
) you gel bored wailing for your disk drive tc out favoutile programs? 'hmking of revariing to 'iiirlM' a IS because "ey' re quicker' 'ATTH! Fr( SUPERSOFT comes a great NEW product which an [it in minules to upgrade your Commadore 64 - ISfllS^i DiskUlSK DriTO__.. _ AJI._. disk operaRons^. are speeded •- .: ,1 1 THREE limes (for p]g jjrograms which normally take ammute to load wi seconds or less uaing FLASK!) ISfll FLASH' is 100% compaiible wH BASIC However, if you really want to revert to the normal slow mode at an^ don't think you willl If you lake youi urog ramming senousl'i in apee DATA transfers by up to KJ Umes normal speed (in yo-.ir
own progran^). and can also make use of 1 ! screen editing fuiicLions, as well as 1? disk commands PrBBsing SHIFT and RUN/STOP becomes lite same as LOAD' '".B,] 50 you can Elan work about five seconds earlier each day' Supersofl have 1S41 FLASH! m slock NOW, so send your cheque for £89,95 or 'phone 01-861 tl6S lo order by Access PS Unlike some add-ons we could mennon, 1541 FLASH! leaves you all your memory and (he cartridge pott aVijilablc' SUPERSOFT
Ct ASSOC ATESPCW POBOX BDEOROEXS ADVERTISEMENT of six games from vanoiis software houseB under one table for a reasonable price. All titles are old chart top- pers. Starting with Mike Sin- oper- gleton's classic Lords olMid- ation although all the options n\ghl (worth the price on i» own) then SUangeloop. Pyjamarsma, Brian Bloodsxe. signed manual carefully be- Arabian Nights and Falcon fore you start. Gardener is an Patrol. The first trio here will impreKBive program with happily keep me up until the plenty of practical applica- wee small hours and, all on tions for gxeen Eingured ama-
teurs, but It would help if Included in the you'd had a little computing are the inBtructior G for e
game, although ii Manhew Palmer what precised form along with spaces for notmg down Rev Counter numbers for each program.
II would seem that Virgm Green finger have come up with a sound You can use Gardener m a idea to stamp out schoolboy Hit list PTograin Caidenei Mieto variety of ways. It can leach, piracy by releasing popular QL Price £24.35 Sapplier Sin- help Eelecl the right kind of games at a realistic price. II clair Research, Slanhope planla for your gaiden, give Progtam Now Games Price works in the record industry Road, Camberley. Surrey. advice on shrubs, trees and EB.95 Micro Commodore 64 and should do well here. landscaping, and contains full SnppUet Virgin Games. 2 The secret is finding thi right games to mix together ^ here is very little horti- details on methods o! planting Vernons Yard, Portabello cullural software for Road, London W2, and with Now Csmes Ihey'vi home corapaieia, may- got it right. This is marvelloua value Andy Moss accesaed to discover an un- for money. Virgin have high tsch world of m Imown plant from its chief released a compilation t;'KS;»
'Ird — THE ACORN
FOR DRAGON AND TANDY USERS SATURDAY 23rd and SUNDAY 24th NOVEMBER, 1985 10am-6pm ROYAL HORTICULTURAL HALLS, 22nd-23rd November 1985 VICTORIA. Central Hall Westminster 10am-6pm London S.W.I. ToiEditionschemeLlmlted, HR House. 447 High Road, Firchley,Lon(donN12 OAF.
Please send: (qly) adult tickels at £2 and (qty) under-sixteen tickets at £1 fof the Third 6809 Colour Show/Acorn User Christmas Show (delete as applicable).
Please send: (qty) adult tickets at £3 and (qty) under-sixteen tickets at £1 .50 for adfTiission to both shows. Signature I enclose a cheque/P.O. for £ Name ^ . Address Postcode _
,11 COMPUnitG WEEKLY , . 1
ADVERTISEMENT
Micro Power News Tel: 0532 458800 PCWSHOW DOCTOR WHO ON TV. BREAKS ALL THIS AUTUMN RECORDS YES, but only U v"" ^<3" ^ CoRimodaiG 64, The Commockm; 64, AmsLrad and BBC Mloo Although final flatisUcs aie not yet available. It Is Spsctrum, BBC Mloo or Amstnid home computet veisKiiB sue to be tcleoKd In Octobei; wSh the believed thatnioieih«n60 thousand vL^Hois cams Thanks ID a unique licensing agreement wt^ the Spectruin game folloiv^g one month later Othfr to Olympia this year, with by far the greater British Broadcasting Coiporalion ami about four vSTSions am being ow!ki«red. Cont»ct t-"- ^t^rtion of inteist Jn the stH^ed 'ailing' home man-years of programming time, 'Docloi Who and Simpson or Hleen Garfield on (0S3ZI 4S compulEt skis of the Industry. the Mines oTIbinji" will be Ken on thausimds oFTV Mloo Power's Software Manager Alan Butcher fell
Micro Povnt, whose Castle Quest pmgram on the St being shown In all lour
amiblnalion o) advpnlure game and aicade-style
!lted Mloo ftiwet's a
t fltsi a IMle dii have to lorii out as much producing lap quality compuut games "We were It was explained that the prcgran: leally impiBssed by the sheei siK and compleiilEv ROM plus a cassette, giving nearly
oi lhl3 giUTte and could see that it r^esenied the data, OS opposed to the usual majf
player with a Ime ODCIDH WHO scenatia" 1 2K. they were well satisfied
Spectrum and Amstrad are only F
standing. The fanatical li^ll owing tor DOCTOR WHO provided with extra items :
In over 50 countries should ensuic excellent sales litis factory hi L
InallmatketBwherethe CnminodOTe 04 , Spednim symbols card, secret due errvelo| Amstrod and BBC Micro a^ available.' the DOCTOR gives tieniendous
Disk versions are al< ' CAFE ROYAL LAUNCH SLflY leprascnlalives (rom the Piecs and Sofiwaie ROD DistributQts attended the prestige Launch ol Micio Wwer's DOOOR WHO computer game at London's
proceedir;gs inas devoted to describing the game way the game was developed and the COUSENS scenario, the comprehensive raariieting strategy being implemented. Of partioilar note was the t2SOO0 Advertising CampalgnU TO EXPORT
being offered to distributors and dealers Most DOCTOR nia|or distributors are being sRered fVisonallsed Trade Mailers FOC Thus each distributor will be able without much eNott to mall out to each of his WHO dealers all the relevant details ol the product. The NEW MOVES ON — Rod Cousens ex Managing Director of QuIcksfJva ANTI-PIRACY to the export sales drive of their new Jiihe ' — mastermind computer game. Oocur WHCtthegamels expected to salt extremely DOCTOR WHO It have taken the unusual sli^ ol well through the High Street Multiples BobSImpson.Mlcroftiwet'sMt), said, "Having got I completed version of ihelr DOCTOR Lateron.thoseatlendingHvre Created to a pie-view to Itmw Rod at GOSH Meetings and appreciated imundetwrapsuntlltherrieasedalein ol the highly ilelalled and altiacuve graphics, that rK>one In the Industry has more knowledge of
the whole ol the BBormous playing am. t delighted that spanning overseas markets am he has A spokesman said, "i^ hove put ttjgether a sllghUy Particularly Impressive was the Scrollerama 64 agreed to act lor us. With the commodoie and cut-down version of this highly complex adventure system 4-way horizontal and vertical scrolling of Spectrum versions having the greatest potential, it conialrvng a substantial pan ol the map, puoles etc This will give revlewiers and trade buyers a
charxie to assess It properly, without arty rsk to Mkro Power Ifiat a copy could acddenrally fall into the wrong handa We are also very keen that lew of the puulesare solved before release dale" id to be invohred with Micro l^jwer in iting such a prestigious product The Doctoi The fact that the program pack contains several 10' piDgrorn should sell vary well bo^ at home ^Inlcd IterTB necessary to the Flayer In the txiurse d abroad This highly complex an:ade«lyle of the game, has the added advantage of making
«niure is an excellent tribute to the popular TV piracy very expensive: MkiD Power believe that the uactet whilst being a great challenge to the ELITE program helped to reduce topymg by the 'gifted amateur' bi^adei The video-type case itself Is of a unique de^gn to further deter commerelal
1D-ieOCTI}BERIM5 mrnmifJM
namely (he super Zaxiion dragona and a long lunnal Chuff chuff which connects one fortress to another ajid containa vaii- Soutflem Belle Mi- oiu n'ei do wells such as an CPC range Price E7.9S mine- layers and enemy SnppUer Hevison Consul- tants, 5GB Milion Trading Es- The dragons are encoun- tate, Milton, Abmgdon, Oxon. tered after a succasshil run through (wo fortresaea, and pretty fearBome creatures IHejvson have converted their marveUous Soalh- acid file breath and long (aJ- en\ Belle for (he Rmstrad. For ons. Poitunalely. they can be destroyed and thai is the aim simularion of a sleam tram of (he game, but only six di- making the run between Lon- don and Brighton. kill them. There are three lo You are given a choice be- spruced up and repackaged be despatched belore con- by U.S. Gold and senl out as a tinuing on to the higher level. mtrolling a sequel. They bill ii as "Ihs All (he usual U.S. Gold dthe ultimate challenge" and a sliclcnesa is here, and the in- ed, light up to whi Super Zaxxon Mi- have to blow the whistle control th cro Conunodoce 64 Piiee those of you not familiar with piehensive. 1 am nol sure if stoke the engine, £9.SS Supplier US Gold Unit OUT old Iiiend, you aie set (he this will be a big seller as its flreand(heair, guided by (h 10. The Parkway Induatrial taslc of Dying your spacecraft subjeci is quite p^s^ but if type of smoke produced. e(c through a complei alien ioi- you like a good shoot up Graphics are simple bu( e liess, dodging all the fire- game and don't have the orig- tective - driver's view of the
power it throws al you. allow- inal, it's a good buy. cabin shows Qie instrumenia Thai old aicade 'Zap ing you to conunit as much Recommended. wanton destniclion aa you Andy Mot> major landmarks pass you a: 2aji<]n has lesuiiaced possibly can. virire Iiame graphics. You car again having been enhai\ced. position on the run and ' course Ihe timetable. If there shouldn't have too much trou- to enjoy sudden death (memo is a weak point it ii ble, Then It's up and away to Adventure International: easy stages there Hoods with a hey nonny no and a What about SavB to Buffer many boEing bils between the hey, lads, hey! next time - please?). landmarks, bul when you Piogtun Robin ol Sbeiwood As with Adventure Interna- My only other (quibbles are pUy the game in earnest you ttonal'B previous offering, that the three screen sections are grateful for the respite Rbiaimon Micro Spectrum Gremhxis. there are graphics can become a iriSe untidy they offer. leE Price £9.95 Supplier Ad- aplenty and far from being a and the price is somewhat I found il furiously addic- venture International (U.K.), waste of memory these are steep. I guess Robin's given tive as weH as being original. 85 New Summei Street, Bir- moody and imaginative, even up lotabing the nch and start- Tony EandlB
mingham B 1 9 3TE ed to Uve on his royalties. It's a rather linear aorl at JohnMiiisc How many Robin Hoods game and there are ample can you remember? opportunities tor masochislB '"^^^^ ''^^^h Errol Hynn. all buckel swash and roguish grin; Rich- ard (Lincoln?) Greene on TV the action hall Iflte Ihe with that ever parodied fan- Spectrum. fare and bow twang; more Oh rocks! This is a reasonably att: recently, moody Michael The idea, obviously, is to Praed and the addition of a Program MeleoT Storm Mi- clear the screen without be- goodly dollop of mystical cro OL Price £12.85 Supplier ing totalled by an asteroid or hokum. Smclair Research, Stanhope asteroid fragment. sr who's Road, CanJ^erley. Surrey More fun comes in the form Adventure GUIS 3PS.L. of alien spaceships that zip across (he sky lobbmg space ready lor his latest rendez- mmes at you. So il gees: more vous wi(h Heme the Hun(6r. screens, more asteroids. standard (ro- who 1 always thought haunted Ms oil of Ctonlrols are WindsoT but could, 1 sup- games, and here it is on the tate l/i, torwaid. Ore. and hy- priced about averagely Cor pose, be on his hols in OL ui 19B5, For those suHer- pierspace - instant removal lo (heOL. Nottingham. mg from amnesia, you have a another part of the screen if But It's as tar from being ' F!r8( (hough the knotty triangular shaped spaceship things get tough) and the OL original as it's possible to problem of how lo escape the and must blast away at a plays jolly one channel tunes and techrocally exciting ci dungeon - jusi one of the screenful of large floating like Bach's Toccala (the one daily hazards of outlaw hfe. asteroids. Bnger version) and the theme Matthew Pain Those with a logical mind Each time you hit a large from Thunderbiida which at and/or memory of TTieHobiJir least don't make the rest of
WEEK(.y On screen related by either aciolling the scene, or by using siory- pTognaa Screenplay Price boaids hke they ciid in the old £0.95 Mlcto Speclnim Sop- silent days. pUei Macmillan Software, 4 A nice loach is the facility to to italics. laltle Esse» Si, London WCSR change the typeface The only drawback is that it is all limited, but Macmillaiia always letreahing to say that to get around this Il'sbe able lo review some- problem just video youi first thing different from the six screens, (they explain norm, and this package bom how) and then add more as Macmillan is certainly that. you go, gradually building a Full on It IB a bold attempt lo put lenglh computer Him you in charge o( creating video. The only obvious your very own rao»ie pro drawback ia if you don't have duclion. !iom writing tlie irder you've only acnpt and soundtrack, through to animating the as a whole, the package secDon is This niggle aside, Screen- characters and designing the works quite well. by the v play is a vary piofesaiona] Initially, you are presented begin yi package appealing more to There ia obviously a limit lo the younger element. Three what the Speclrimi is capable cheers to Macmillan for pro- of proceBsing, and as the which save and load your the program, along with viding something new and whole system is loaded at production and the oihei hve once, your 'movie' is only six for accessing the scnpt, 3! film and li Andy IfloEf screens long and the aclual soimdirack, action, scenery nple movie is supplied
and editing sections. Once a i B of the tape. In your
sembletaplan ' whatsils, stop worrying - Bubble Bus 5- hours ol seem to have no qualms about New world getting out conveiaions, and teleports, the space hoppers, The other bit of good news Piognun Slarquake Micro possible, Spectrum Frice £7.95 Snppli- mid and many other strange such as the Coniimodore or Tony Ksndle ei Bubble Bus Software, 87 objects. Where you get the Amstrad who wish they had High St, Tonbridge, Kent. psEswords, what do you do Uttimate's back catalogue can
y= Dowhen Ocean bought disappointingly simple grammmg are soon forgotten Imagine 's Trading screen display and very little and it can be absorbing, in Style and everyone sat Up the air guidance in the packaging 1 sdll think there is room for around trying 10 figure the lo, what to a definitive Amstrad flight full awful imphcations of the Pia grant Flight SimulalOT move. Well, it's a good job Micro CPC range Price you can't copyright Graphics £12.95 SoppUei Myrddin Style as well or Bubble Bub Software, HO Box 61, Swm- might owe Ultimate a lot of don. Wilts.
BuMile Bus's biggest Spec- yrddin's Flight Sim-
- Wizaid 'b Laii il was com- M around for quite a pletely dorivBtivB of Ulti- while on the Arastiad. The malB's Atic AlacjSabre WuU disc version, unfommately, games but with more plot and lakes no advantage of the op- gameplay injected (o justify portunity for increasing the itself. Now ihe toUow-up to scope of the game. this from the same author has Cespile a few other re- done exactly the same with leases from companies such UnderwurldB, and the result as Anirog with their 737 pro- is brilliant. gram, the only other fUght The graphics, the cute simulator worthy ol the name sprites, the tailing down cav- on the Amstrad to date is erns all scream Ultimale, but Digital Integration's superb expect, etc. However, it has with a space theme rather the advantage at 3D land- than a mystical one and it marks, a playing area so wide anything ttie sprites are cut- It would take ages to see il all both worlds. In the meantime er. The best news, however, without merit despite this. and a choice of runways that this is a reasonable buy, is that there is a lot more to do Flight Simuiator is slow, actually look diHereni. Onoe TonyKnttdlB in this than in tincfetwurtde - moves m small jumps of the involved in the thing minor ^ftw^^ts* not only do you have to fine wireframe landscape, has a quibbles with the style of pro- l&"tp IP star Game Crossgram
ia a hybrid a Ctossgiam between have been simply encoded (Lines 100- 3. Can anyone beal iti crosswoid and an anagram, bom 145 should he enlored as graphics sym- oul of idle houra between larger bols) so Ihat yon can type in the program NB. Lmea 100 in 146 moi projects. The game has five separate withoulknowmg whatthe wordsare. His giaptOes symbolB shown z!ss - youi (ask is to solve the ana- easy lo break into the program and out the ibbi ( ihn Lisiuig grama, then find out exactly where they discover the words ... but thai would and cursor inEiructionsh! fil in Ihe crossword. be cheating! m Ml ro mike your typin The program contains (ull instructiDnH The quickest time that anyone (exdiid- should pot be e as shown, hui replaced and is quite user friendly. The words ingmyBelf) has completed a puizle ia 47 hy ihe npptopi
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LSn EDOE- W^OOTOSO 224 PRINT- Of THE OHID.FDR EXfUPl^ THE 9 JHaWBRE; 718 ER^e.FORT^lTOSNFKKIJOfB ^fim' IS 2 KM* ETC. Mll'T UORRV VOU UILL- 7M FTOT-1TO!^1FKKT-«)OI1» 231 PRIHT- -K«HI1.?.3*VMI. -WVSI-HiED l-l 735 1per=1t>«mpriwt-4m0i1e 1 0FPI-ICVH1_H»0RTS THE OBME. VOU OW THEN" -BI=-H"iB0TO5es 749 PRlHT'4N0nE_; CONGRflTULHTI Mr«WT^^^nl£''ouTy''iF^mocmRv o N TRVmOt-ttlOWHHBOMNI-tDCMNr bH ^1°h**FIH]SHIH0 TOUCHES:»M . BBC & Electron ZF PROCsBEewiilB Assembles Memories are made of bits A memory dump to printer for BBC B and Electron, written DEFFKOCd(iiJ'.y) PnnBai by John Beckett When pTogramrmng in machin VDir 1,15- Tuina on conde il IB code, Qflan neceaaary I TheppTogiam presented here will al- display the ctintenla of memi low you to dump any area of memory lo find the inlormaaon oacessary I directly on the printer. When you run the programmei. il is common practice this program, you muai first enler how liis caae, lo use a dump piograi " many tKjlumns (looattons). the dump much larger machines, ili 13 often the case ahould be pnnted, ihal files may have l B 'dumped'. The Most programs which dump memory le principle applies (o 33-bit lo the screen use a fixed aighl columns. chines costing thousands ol pounds I Using this program, up to 32 columns can the araall B-bit Electron this article wa be used, so you need not waste haUyoui printer paper he following program will give the included in Ihe output a a handy offael user a hard copy of a section of memory table at the top. This is included because ump format. The program IB suitable e locations you print, the easier it for a printer which has Epson compati- IS to lose track of Ihe mdividual address- ble control codes. If you are using a es. Secondly, you should enter the start primer which does n address, this should be in the range - aes, men ! have provided a list &0000 &FFFF. ™ byie sddrei IS used in this program. With This program will atop after 16 lines this, conversion should be easy. have been printed. For the neil le, prampi, t Vdu 1,37, l,64-reBetspnntei,VDUl, press the apace bar. Anything else will 37. 1, 64, 1. 9- setslma spacing lo 9/72', end the program. PRINTER OFFERS i»«'i»;y y I these deals oi ^ Inclusive of receipted delivery, nd lead (please specify ArnBtrad, BBC. CBM B4, i ogon, Einstein or M Memole^) for Spectrum or OL ui can supply with a tMd ^^r > suilable Inlerlnca lor an addition £199-'' ^^W^ / ja ^^g^h^•^^SH^jJ SMITH CORONA FASTEXT 80 r^NECHj' r^^^^Rotronlcs DR23(n TATUNOTP1O0 DaORacorder Vs."- Standard PICA text (lOOcpsI PICA text enphaslsed tijV an etc. True descenders j pg =« ELITE node gives 96 colunnB \ 'Si*.-"" r "!? TportaWeCBM cmKltSa iDle glvH IK cDlDiPS ENL_ARGE:Z3 mc3cte- SUBaCRIr-r« and ""^""BCWIPTB underlines nicely SSMT Italics avaitAtle In all aades MICRO PMP165 ONLY C249.00 COMMODORE OFFERS . msM 6. Where aeveral spaces are required this is indicated by [64 apacsa] etc. Animated routines 7. Line 8006 [copyrigbl]i8 E-lrtode/P. This program makes uae of thenom The one you've i been waiting for- a sprite designer for Spectrum UDGs, These should be sel , ZXiBasic written by Stuart Nichols using the Heidump Code 85368,168. Use the Hexlodei in Vol 4 No 32. haB buill ZXiBasic inio il a set ! piograro uses the following shorthand Once the program has been typed in for graphics chaxaclets to avoid confu- and Ihe UDGs entered then Save it using ot up to 16 on screen sprtteB. Bach sion in the ksUng: Ckito SOOQ. To check thai the program la sprite haa a sel oi attnbules whicb lell the 1 All giaphica chaiacteis oie placed in correct iioadZXIBosic into memory &III, computer how and whsn 1o il. move The brackets [ ]. then Load AXISpriles which should auto direction of sprites 1 lo 13 ia caiUioUed 2. Graphics aie indicaied by a tower nm. Work tlirough the menu option to by the eompuler; however, spnle 16 is case g Followed by the giaphica Istlec m ensure that all is OS. Note that the first controlled from the keyboard uaing the upper case, eg, [gA] is graphics A, inatruction le !Z1 which disables Break. 3. If more than one graphics chaiaclers To le-enter ZXiBasic select option Hii hit detection ) be printed tliio will be indicated Remember, ZXISpntes Designer will IB the m irofaitysprite bytgABCX] etc. only run if you have loaded ZXiBasic colliding with il. Because (he If for example 18 graphic fiisl. publiahed In Vol 4 Nos 31- inteiTupl driven, the Basic Interpreter are required thia will be shown as Copies of both programa can anil be miss noticing may a hit when sprites are [legAl obtained from Sluarl Nichols. Send £3 (a travelling at 'fast' apeods. PeeJC 81100 5. Graphics Shift characters are indicat- him, c/0 82 Lays Drive. Seynsham. Bris- = will letum a value to IS (0 no hi!). ed by [ga53 etc. tol BSIS 2LE. The sprite routines aie switched on by Ihe lAI inBtrucdon. Thia also copies the current screen to a screen dump area o! ZX/Bflsic memory to be used when eras- mg sprites. Because of thia it ia aot possible to add or remove objects from the acresn unless the sprite routine is switched oH using /AO (and then back on again :AI) thus copying Ihe updated screen. However, il is possible to alter Ihe attributes wtulataniniBtiaiiisOn. thus changing barriers or boimdariea, etc. To set up or alter a sprite 'altribute' use inBlnictiona !A, }F. IG, IH, IJ, IS as described in Ihe main Instructions pub- lished m Vol 4 Nos 31-34, Note thai sprite altributes can be changed whilst the animation is On, If possible switch ofE the animation routines (.WO) before letuming to ZJdBasic aa Ihe sprites will continue to move through your listing, !A0 can be used aa a direct command. ZXIBasic comes with 16 Egures set up in memory to be uaed straight away. If you require your own sprite figures then use the ZXISpntes Designer program (listed this week) lo alter those existing or to completely redesign your own seL Because of the method of animation used in ZXiBasic each sprite occupies its own screen layer, thus one sprite will overprint another. However, because a special masking technique is used, parts of an overprinted sprite can show through if required. ZX [Sprites Designer requires not only the sprite design to be oreaied (up lo 2 < 2 oharactei aquaros) but also the mask area ol Ihe sprite. It is generally advisable lo leave ^ one pael border around your sprite so that it will show up on a soUd block of colour. Select opnon two of ZXISprites Design- er, thfin figure two to give you an idea of the design requirements. You can Sara your new aprites to tape for use m other piograms. The following Basic program ia wiittnn for use only with ZXiBasic and makes use of many of the extra conmianda. The m.-i.fj^m.m The QL Page Under pressure a fioi Improve your typing with this program for the QL by E Penman appropriaiB key. A» you play i This program, ttioagh not actuslly charactert «te allowed provided Oiey are gradually Increaies and a scoio u teaching touch typing, piovides a between CbiS(32) and ChiSOBli, Alphabeii- the botioin. very useful lool for leanung Ihe cal, foreign. nuniBra], as well as miacella- FS-Sound QL keyboard and will allow you with neaui characiers are allowed. By entering a ItuswiUlumon wdal[(alnu)8U)lb cy and speed. ihe chance ol ii beuig selBcled which is usetui Piogtun Hotei On ruiimng the screen is divided into lor letters you do not know. The lelters thai No Rani slatemenis are consideiad two windows. The (op window contains yop solecl aie ahnwn oi the top window, ai the program is hilly atruciured. Ihe program name and a liGlot the letters When you hiM run ihe piogram a defaull lisi lion has an appcopciaiely named you have selecled. In the bottom window of Ihe alphaheiis uaad. loiishouldbflquiieeaiy tounderi ia a UeI of the Sve optiona Fl-FS (which F2 - Narmal Mode KIdIs may be selecled al any time) and five This opiion displays a lenet on the sctaen Change Lme« Z30-340 and 310 it paramaleTB which the OL recordo while which you have lo ptes« on the iiaytioatd. li default hsiollehera. you type. The bottom window is also ysu are correct anolher letter ii lelecled. ad Change Ihe "60" in Luie 1330 a used to display Iheletteia you must type miinitum. By doing Ihia many tunes you will aliei Uie lengih of ihe speed teal (eg, "PieaalC"). eventually aulomalically assccsale a parncu- Change ihD tom in Line 1420 loi lai leiler with lis coneopondingkey. number o( "aliens" which sun in U n-enmChancten F3 -Speed Test Change the "10" and ihe".l"ir Line 1B80 Thia option allows you to enter Ihe leUers you This has Ihe same formal as FS but lasts 60 to alter Ihe maximum speed and ra "" "" which a record is shown of the game mcreasHs m «pBBd taspe The QL Page m QFFEE^ . ACCCW HICCC . 2 ^^"'"^^^- Mix your modes Different modes on the 4 f with this machine code program by Brian Cadge Aveiy powerful featuie of Ihs Amatrad computers la Iheit abili- ty lo display diEfereni parts of the screen in di&erem modes. Aiiyone who has seen Sorcery will know juat what can be achieved using mixed modes. In Sorcery the top half of the screen is in Mode 0, giving 16 colours for the graph- ics, whiliil the bottom of the screen is in Miimg modes ia achieved by chang- ing the hardware registers during an interrupt which occuis every 300lh of a second. This method allows the normal screen lo be split up into four separate sections, each of which can be displayed in any mode. The Operating System of the C^C handles all the differeitl inler- mpts, and converts them to their soft- ware equivalents of 'Events'. An event caused by the 300th oC a second interrupt ia callad a Tast Ticker Event'. 10 'Mixed Modes Basic Loader Program The piogiam preaenlod here adds 20 MEMORY 42300 ihree new conunaitda lo Basic lo allow 30 FDR i-42301 TD 42521 sophisticated mixing of modes ott 40 READ *tv"VAL<"»<"+«*> screen. To use the new commands you 50 CB-CB+viPOKE 1 ,v will need to type in the Basic Loader with the 60 NEXT i Program. As usual take core - Data statements and save a copy before 70 IF CB<>2332a THEN PRINT"DATA ERROR tunning. Check llatlng"|CHR*(7)iST0P The demoBStiation program listed is BO CALL 4Z301iCLBiPRINT"Mixed Modes comm well worth typing in as well, as this will «rnJ« lo«ded - You can now NEW this pro help you to understand the use of the gram. new comnianda. It aimpty sets up a "tEND Bcaeen ahowing a section in Mode Z, 80 90 DATA 01,52,AS,21,2B,A6,CD,DI,BC,3E,00 another in Model, 40 columns, , columns, , 32 , 2F , A& , 2A , EC , 5D , 22 . 20 , A6 , C9 SD and the rest in Mode with aome pretty 100 DATA A5,C3,iE,A5,C3,DC,AS,C3,F7,A5,0 graphics in 16 colouis - all on the smeen 3 , 45 , 54 , 40 , CF , 4E , 4F , 52 , 4D , 4 1 , CC , 53 DATA 4D, 4F, 44, 00, CB, 47,20,43,87, The three new commandsare aU R.'iy no C5, a which a , 40 , F5 , DD , 7E , 02 , FE , 06 , 30 , 2B , 06 , 00 ' slait with a character obtained 1 Om 120 DATA 4F,21,1A,A6,09,DD,7E,00,77,3A,2 the keyboard by Sh(fl/@ Then F,A6,B7,20,1A.3E,FF,32,2F,A6,3E,00 mands are tjescribed below^ 130 DATA 32,19,A6,21,22,A6,06,ei,OE,00,l SETMO.MOMon,mode - The iSelmD oom- t , B6 , AS , CD , 1 9 , BD , CD , EO , DC , Fl , DD , 23 riousf ncf 140 DATA DD,23,DD,23,DD,23,3D,3D,20,C0,C Lhe dlfferen' 9 , 3A , 1 9 , A6 , 3C , 32 , 19 , A6 , 47 , FE , 06 , 20 qunriBi of the 150 DATA 06,3E,00,32,19,A6,7B,21,iA,A6,3 boltom quarto IS three. The mode aiia D,06,00,4F,09,7E,D9,CB,B9,CB,B1,B1 as normal 0-3. 160 DATA 4F,ED,49,D9,C9,21,22,A6,CD,E6,B C,3E,00,32,2F,A6,21,1A,A6,06,06,DD 170 DATA 7E,00,77,23,10,FC,CD,0E,BC,C9,2 1 , OA , A6 , 22 , EC , BD , DD , 7e , 00 , CD , OE , BC . you would typo SaflnD.D.O.I^. ISO DATA ZA,20,A6,22,EC,BD,C9,CD,06,B9,C }tmo comniand di^iJays the in D , 4F , OD , 2 , , , CD , 3C , OB , C3 , 3C , OD Lit if you try printing to ^y pa 1 00 00 190 DATA 00 i SMODEji has In " ' ., 'Demo prograni far mixed modes 19 20 ON ERROR QOTD 200 120 PEN 6lUaCflTE 2, 13lPRINT"PreBa key 30 ON BREAK GDSUB 230 to CLS" 40 BORDER Ol INK O.OlINK 1 , 13l INK 2,26) IN 130 DEGiFOR 1-1 TO 500 : Z,b 140 IF INKEY*<>"" THEN CLBiSOTO 120 rO (NORMAL, liREM Sat to rnadm 1 150 col-INTtRNDItlMlS-i-l) ) 60 CLSl I5ETM0, 0,2, 1,0, 2,0,3, tiREM Split 160 H-INT (RND C I >»600) i y-INT (RND < 1 * 160) lea 20 ISM0DE,2iUIND0W 1, BO, 1,5 ',coli BO PEN OlPflPER liCLSiPRINTi PRINT" " l STR IN8>[76,42>iPRINT" *Thla la an aHarapla o-f the apllt screen modea on the CPC464, I BO I NORMAL,! thlB la mode 2«"iPRINT" "|BTRINB«(76, 190 END 200 IF ERR-28 THEN PRINT"You muat run th 90 I SMOQE,li WINDOW 1,40,20,25 e loadsr program before running thla de 100 PEN 2iPflPER SiCLSiPRINTiPRINT" nio!"iSTOP Mode 1, 40 column* window. "i LOCATE 9,4i 210 PRlNT"Errar"|ERR|"8it UnB"iERL PEN ltPRINT"Papular Computing W»Bkly"iPE 220 END I liPftPER 230 PEN liPflPER Ol [NORMAL, liPRINT"*BREflK 10 t5M0DE,Oi0RIGIN 0,I20iWINDOM 1,20,6, *"lEND Peek & Poke tng the softwaie to dii-re the loads perfectly. rery handy with a soldi joystlclc. I am considering por- ng iron. Please give r What can I do? Do yon chosing a disc drive for the idvice as to the modiHi know anyone who could BBC bat am relnctant to ions required to run a Sp< sell me the tape? I hope you spend over £200 (including ram with Saudi TV I can help me oi I'll have £30 interface) In case t gel simi- onitor ofuselesahaidwaie. lar loading and saving t understand that the 200 problems with discs- volt power supply is snffi- Getting hold o! a copy ol Do yon think my fears are cient to run the computer A the joyslidt tape should justified? and that a change of modo- pTesenl no problem as long lator Is be required. Lable rage Well, funnily enough I am than (ape. The inadence ol A a bit of an expert in this loading or saving fiiiluiea will particular Geldl be only a [laction of thai ex- The Spectrum requires no Joystick perienced or even the beat modilications al all to allow its tape cassette tape cecordeis. use in Saudi Arabia. The TVs Loading I do not Ihink thai your con- available in Saudi aie very Brian Che^dle ol 68 problems cern is really juatiSed and I similar to those available ii Carerleigh Way, Worcester think that yon vrtll have count- England, although you should or-tre. hour lake care not to buy an NTSC ' you have inslalled youi discs. or SECAM only c 91 would valne you ad- The power supply is either vice on whal, alas, 01 have always experi- 220 or 1 10 volts (depending these days is probably aU eoced a lot of dUBcolty Arabian on where you hve). 230 volts loading and saying to and Spectrum supply is OK, but if you leadetB, namely whal hap- fronv my BBC micro asing a 110 supply you will n pens to your haidwaie tape recorder, so much so )f Soath Wirrall, buy i when the flrm goes bnal? that I always save anything wei up to 220 volts. These 1 have a Specbiim and a of importance twice nalng are readily avallflhis in Sudi Cambtldge CompnUsg Re- dtSatenI tape recorder*. and cost about £4. eaich Joysticlc UnfoTtn- TliiB IB a pxoblen. Vlo laddah, Saudi Ara- Apart tiom that, your only nately my two year old has had with my bia, and I wonld like to take problems are going ti dcEtroyed the tape contain- which always i a Spectrom with me. I am 10-IB OCTOBER 1«BS . Arcade Avenue Poke SlHBTEI.X where it is the number of iiems to collect before fintsliing. To enter ReadaS *toadMmeTl (atari tape) these Pokes use this program 10 Pake n,VALC'&"-l-rt): *FXI3,1 10 Ctear 0,&H8500 : Screen ?&74CB = 8rfC 40 addr = 493BB ' Call &747g Wait unti] mine 20 flJofld "cas:" ; SO KEadaiRBadh.Seadc has loaded and slop tape. DEFtJSRO - tMA4EA 60 rb = nien CaZf 49153 30 Rein enter your pokes 70 Poke addr,a:Poke addr H.b 40 Z-USRO<0) Also try printing 80PoJteaddr-i-2,c:addr« +3 Allernalive routines Oul lent held within memory 90 Com SO locations &H9D71 (o&HDOOO. .00DaM21,14,a0,e5,l],d2,ae Finally try a truly eTcellent 10Dafa01,l2,01,ed,bO,el,ll louluie tot the Atnatrad from .20 Dara 64,00,0e.2c,ed.b0.21 Nicholas Mew (1 thmkl of .30 Da(a Sd ,00 ,22.90.00 ,3o, c3 C^a619A Warwick. This aliemflUvB routuiE lor gettmg into (SW ib .50 Data 93!ooic3!64!oo!dd,21 out [he chal. Firsl off [rom Paul mence as usuaJ. When the longer than the one we have ,60 Data 88,c0,3l,5a,cO.l 1,63 MLlei for ihe Spectrum. Run initial tide acteen appeals da published already but ofleia .70 Data 80,ed,S3,f4,a6,01,2e this shoit program and play not press return oatermise it lota of excellent features, U Us 00,ed,b0,3e,c3,33,f3 the rape - (he qame virill load will crash. Wall until Ihe you don't warn lo use any of .90Oarae6,21,m,07,22.4e,e! and then stop: you can then demo mode ataxia and press the PoJces herein just Hi^d the Z00Dars0e.03,dd,6e,00,dd,6e enter your Pokes: return when the screen you appreptiaie Ham statement Z10Da(a01,dd,7e.02,77,b4,ca ZO paper 0- InkO: BorderO : wish lo start at displays. You and delete it from the listing. 220 Data 4a,ac,dd.0S8,lB,ee, vnU have Z55 hves. It is aafe to This routine also allows you d2 30 For A^ 630« lo 63032 the 230 Data 44,Sa,B,20,fe,74,c2 V Read's -.PoksA.B Addicts Handbook. I hope 93.133,0,281,131.0 you have all ordered a copy - 430 Rem walk on walei/killer choc full of ftifrej PLUS a com- objects plete beginners guide lo do il 440 Da:a 242,131,354.243, yourself games hacking! Escape and wait i jump on a pansy and up 131,3,244,131,220,345,131, Now m answer to the plea mode is entered. Central Cavern. 196,246,131,144,247,131. for cheat loulinea for BBC Now for the IWSX JSW from Then o gives you 62,148,131,4,249,131,40, Manic Miner, gratefully re- oui fnend John Lydon-Smiih ceived from Clare HaUworth of Johannesburg 450 Rem immunity to of Altrincham. Enlei the fol. Poke &H8D4D,0 to be immune ing - the i lowing Imes carefully and lo moving sprites 460 Data 125,142, have the Manic Miner tape in Poke «H8A1A,10 turns of all , eg, 007 and you will 470 Rem turn Ihe cassette player wilh mo- conveyor bella 4B»Dala 143, ,201 tor control engaged if possi- Poke 4HEK;5A,0 infinite lives The option lo slort at any 490 Rem play final ble, otherwise be prepared Poke&H9Bri,20t turns off the loom works on a similiai 500DafaO,l54,E01 to turn il on and off. clock prmidple except that you SIO Rem trip switch load "Manic" then entei thisi Poke &HB3E6,X X - to 255 to inusi remove 1 from the room island more easily) change the noise made number yoi) use with the 20P%=&70:[OPT0;PHP;PHA: Poke &H93E3,0 lor a surprise telepon. At present in the TXA; PHA; TYA: PHA: LDA & eSeel 3CA:AND£ScFE.STA &3CA: Poke &H9C00,2D1 makes Wil- LDA £1BTA &3C7i PLA; TAY: ly totally mvmcible even in the number to go elsewhere. PLA: TAX: PLA: PLF: RTS;) Hades 10 Memory SHOOOiLOAD''": POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY : Tony Bridge's Adventure Corner setting goes on for another couple of and open the wooden door and walk in acreen.'! before you gel lo the first the gardening shed. In The Pawn, all this can be done with The authors of The Pawn are, 1 know, one command, and even longer coh- great fans of talocom's great advenlures, BtmctionB are possible. The input scan- and the influence is seen m Ihe genera] ning routme ia fairly sophisticated, for- layout oi Ihis program. A very legible giving your bad typing and bad re-designed diataclei sel is employed grammar, and filling in the gaps wit (normally green on black, but this may guess at your meaning. This ia much like be changed lo white on black for greater playing an Infocom adventure, although contrast), and Ihe location name is at lop- I would say Ihal The Paivji seems e\ lefl with the movea/score fally at lop- more approachable and easy to comr nicate with. Bm it has the annoying habit The general proceedings are similar, of finding one word of Ihe 1 loQ, even down to the Verbose and Brief unrecognisable and as a consequence commands, which respectively reel ( rejecting the whole command. Imaginary world Ihe complete description every timey Among the welter of system com- mands, It would have been nice lo have a was [allcmg the other week about description, iVormaJ gives a full descrip- Repeal command, one which I've never atmoBpherein advenliirea: I feel that tion on the fiisl visit lo a location and yet seen but must surely be fairly simple I this iniHiigible pan of Ihe adventure brief descripdon thereafter. to implemenl; this would give Ihe invalu- game, so hard to define, can make all the It's a pity thai another Infocom con- able facility of re-displaying the last diffarence betwean a great adventure mand. Script, is not supported - thi command so thai mis-typed ( and just aiiolhei: tough puzzle. unrecognised words may be edited. 1 leant then lowaids Bcene-settmg via BO that nol only does the player have an Traditional features lacalioii deaciiplions, both text and on-screen report of what is going on, but graphic. Bui there ia another way for Ihe 9/he can lake away a Iianscripl of Ihe Havmg said all that, Ihe multiple cor adventule-WTilei 10 convince Ihe player story and study it while brushing his mand facility is useful, and 1 found mysell that he lives in the imaginary world - lo her leeth. using tl more often in Ihis game than suspend disbelief. Atmosphere can be Other commands are fairly standard. others. I managed lo confuse Ihe parser fashioned by passive means - the pic- alUiough Exit is still ralher unusual, giv- of couple of limes by doing deliberately tures and evocative lew that we have ing of course a list of the possible exits, stupid things, but il is quite able to discuEBSd already -- or by active parlici. which maltes a change from having tc handle any sensible input. There is also a pation, Thalia, by direct player/compul- "JooJt" again. Olhei lot of humour m Ihe compnter's replies, mands are Coiwrasf, which gives the although the reply to Help is a little The earUeal adventures, uid many more legible wliilB-.on-black lexl, and predictable ('I don'l know, why d( more recenl examples, accepted only left and right margin shifts, allowing the you try tap-dancing?' - 'Tap dance' two-word input from Ihe player, the player lo move the maigins aiound the don'l understand tap dance'l The paiser well-known verb/noun coastmcdon. as screen lo suit the monitor. This last Is not isn't always so clever!). in "Get Swoid". Drop all" and so on. often seen oulside Scott What abom the adventure itself? It's While this form of commutu cation has the bul is a godsend OL, good having such a sophiaiicaled frame- advantage of brevity, many of the prob- System commands work lo a poor scenario. The slory of TTie lems Ihal players have found with adven- Pawn is left deliberately vague by Mag- tures arise £rom this itiOejabls mode of An abundance of recognised system netic Scrolls, and il is up to the player to commands make life a la! easier for the fmd out what his goals are and how to 1 got toimd to thinkmg of all this while achieve Iham. Most of the tiadibonal looJdng al a new OL program, soon to be tial. The parser is that part of the pro- fealureB are here - dragons, gold co: released by Sinclair via Magnetic Scrolls alchemists, the obligatory magician - (a new software house). Called TTie sentence foi a secnience of words upon and all make an appearance. Pawn, il raises the level of player/com- which il can act. On ray third play-through (and I w puter interplay lo new heights. The authors of the present adventure. just beginning to gel somewhere!), the "You wake up on a fiunny August Magnetic Scrolls, are justifiably proud of dreaded Bad or Changed medium ' (Homing with buds singing and Ihe air their parser, comparing it favourably raised its very ugly head, and that. fresh and clean. However, your jomla with that of Infocom, With dus program. afraid, was that. This is my major misgiving about the youi bedroom as you would have i pick up all the ribbons except the red program - ttie authors have decided not pected." So begins the adventure. In this and purple onea, put the magenta nbbon to offer a cloning facihty, which suieSy ia case the location descriptions are long into your packet, tie the blue ribbon onto essential on the OL. and atmospheric - this opening scene- (he green watering can and then unlock Other programs allow ihe purchaser to make a back-up. thereafter using the clotie in conjunction with Ihe master Adventure Helpline cartridge lo run the program, on the aasumpIiDn that only a liny pari o! the tape is going lo become crunched, le jng many sectors clear and able lo b despair -twi BIS the copy. Without the master, a pirate will still nol be able louse the copy. However, The Pawn is certainly a i jor release for llie OL, No information yet on price and release date, or indeed, what the packaging will look like, but I hope thai It will be cheap, aoon and lavishl DOPULAR COMPUTWO WEEKLY C L A S S I F I E Du CALL DAVID OSEN on 01-437 4343 ¥0P. SEMI/DISPLAY ADVERTISING WDSoftware FOR THE OL HJjJiJ:III.M.!:l!l MASTERCLASS' FOR SPECTRUM/QL/BBC/ELECTRON FOR SPECTRUM 4aK mmyikmiianwiiii : POOLS AID BYTAMASSY SOFTWARE CONVEnSIONS PLOT THE BALL FOR THE COMMODORE 64 Forecasts outcome ot this years Remalcli, thus brine the ctiance of a pools win closer, than you ever thought Easy to use. on-scraen prompts. The forGcast function ~ the IrLjit ot caietui study ol Must be the easiest, most eftechve program to dat CU.SOtape, C1S.50 disk version. Cheques or POs to: TAMASSY. 33 MATHER STREET. BLACKPOOL, LANCS FY3 SHA CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Here's my classified ad. RATES: (Please write your copy In capital letters on the lines below.) Urw by I3n«: 30p p«r word. date 7 days before GAMES SOFTWARE o Book your Classified or Semi-display advert by Credit Card Call David Osen OB 01-4374343 VISA ID-ie OCTOBEH IMS There's a Dealer near you ... ^^Bnniii^^i LONDON KENT ESStX >NIRDECDHPDIERS THE COmPUTER STORE KNNIEIICRDCDUPVTERSIDIE 1-4 THE MEWS ilKeslHII laCLEVEUNDSIB OEISTERHESPUIADE HATHERLET ROAD DOinSTER mm SDDTIE«D,ESS!I SIDCUP, KENT M III: (laps TtipilllSlll T»l: 01-309 1111 ,. TitmiW! ... THE mmpinEH stdbe ESDimifBIIILDlllPnEIS VICDIIEHS llimillELLBIH itlEALlSIIEEI illHDDIIRIDDEmi 10 NORTH STREET, inRlCinSIIPPIGGEITIE WAKEFIELD LDHIIHSEI tSHFORD, KBIT SlnDWSEI B|0!2I|!K« Tel;OKO!lM T>l: 102331 32597_ TtpilllOI ~. IHbLLfil^UlkhUmHfc lUiSVDILI llHtOIIPDTEIS IIHSDEH BBS STREET MiHSTRET THSCDMJgRCmE H>IIHEBIT* lORK UIHaA!l,IENT il'luSlD lINDDIIf TltnSISTS! HILL TllOHIIHlI „. KDRTHHinSIIE ^irnirnwiMM OW! 16297 THE CDmPlJTER STORE ^mrmwiB^ tmiiinsnEEiiRBOS iioiDWAiargiEi GENII! HD«!ISEnCl«PlTElS LEEDS TeLm4;;;g4 TSllEENSIDID StWIDEIIRSHSTIEr SDDIDMDnON nDiLHEin HEREFDIDHRIliP 11 SILI SHEET Til; (Hai (3301 TtlMIISIWI LEIGH. LMCS INI W (DUCDMPDIEICtllDE T(tpi|i!36l! TSIDKEDIIEIItlDE ^^rnm^^ ^mrmrn^m IDII MIOWIHtB SDFTMIEPLDSCDIPDTEIS LIE CHIP 1! rem STREET niLLERTOIIDII MPPLEIICROKSDCIITE! BAII lllERPDDLLIliU PIEEPOST Tll:|0!!S1111Il Iel;10il|m»I PDItlll DBigHCDIWERSLID CVIIRIN GIIEHTIPHSn ... ra HUH STREET LEICESTER Tipiisrai IPCSDFUM ItlltlDTEIELEntlltS DEALERS!!! liiOLIAIIDID niDDILEIM Let llism know WSIBRIDCFDID NSDNEREEI you're out Ihere. HOTTIRDIUNDiSIN IIWRtHIH Cell David Dsen TBIP!|1!1M .„ lBt|0!l|(S(« ™ oe 01-437 4343 .. F»STFOI«lRDtDMPDIEISTDIIE iSSMIUl SHEET MdCI AGORN TANDY Own Business Tll:pi|« W.IF0M=l.=l.»™3?KnAM..B«. *M.y MODCt in MK ™,ln ,™ LUCR.T™EPa«mw». C«5ln™, n. UaPI«>neRe.D<>lDt<033^Tte.S^ 1 FOR SALE I MAKE MONEY! SURPLUS PKINI'EU SJUM CKflLESFORTHEQI. WffMl^MWM: 3 CHILTERIM ELECTRONICS iSS^M^!;:!:^'^' MAGAZINES DUPLICATION [ | M. G. COPIES DRAGON USER MTA^DUPLICATrON BBCB1.20S ^ DFS IHAHDLV USED) £300 ONO TEL: POTTERS BAR S03B7 HEI^Sd^^^HI tbi iiflpdbf& BARGAINS by post AMSTRAD I * AMSTRAD BOREDOM? ' EPROMS AND RAMS ggwa™^ ICLt MEDDLER FOR ftWSTRflDS ia-1S OCTOBER 19U COMPUTER SWAP COMPUTER SWAP ' ';?: i!'': '\ .,1 S„ , „ ,|l,i,.r= " 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 M 1 1 1 1 Top Twenty ] <1) WiroriheEiplnlingFu; ( (1) Way of the Explotiing Fist (Specmim\C64iAmslTAd! Melbourne HoDEe (3) Frank Bruno Boxing (Speclrumj C64IAmstrad) Elile (2) Daley Thompson's Super Test (SpecU 1 {-) Tighbng VlsTtioT (Specirum) Melboiune Hoaee 5 (4) Novi Games (SpeclTum! Commodoye) Virgin 6 (5) Summer Games 2 (Commodore) Epyx/BS Gold (Iccno^Gildl 1 (17) Action Biker I'ComniodoreJ Mastertionic S (6) Sky Fox (Commodore) Ariolasoft 9 (IS) Fairlight fSpecrmim; The Edge 10 (12) BeachHead(Speclruiiil Commodore! Amsiradl BBC) Access /TFS Gold 11 (18) Karateka (Commodore) AnoUsoft 12 {-) Boied oH^e Rings (Specinimj Commodore!BBC) Silversoft 13 (10) Barry McGuigan World Championship (Commodore) Activision 14 (J) Finders Keepers (Spectrum) Mastei^onic 15 (8) Frankie goes to Hollywood (Spertrura/Commocfore^ Ocean I FlSSinkeEdgle (HlosproK/tIS Cold) 16 (11) Hypersports('SpecU'uni/ConiniodOi-e^ Imagiae I GtoitCtiiser (tSCold) £B9S 12 (9) Formula One Simulator ('5pecfrujzj/Comn7odDre; Mastertronic I MigAUoyAce (Mlni^ioK/IIS Gold) £S.95 18 (13) BMX Bikers CSpec(rmn/ CojTtmocforeJ Mastertionic I BeqiPiAiu iJiwwk/USCold) £995 19 (13) Beach Head 2 (Commodore) Access/US Gold 20 (-) Graham Gooch Test Cricket fSpecfrum/ CommodoreMudio genie FlgmoMcompUEdliTCallnp/LeiBiueicope Readers' Chart No 45 llhutll) (1) Way of ihe Enploding Fisl (Speclruni/C64/Ainstiad)MeUioii IS pons (Spectrum/ C64j (iCEMS/DSGold) Ftankie Goes To Hollywood lSpeclrum/C6 Daley Thompson's Superlesl (Speotiuin) (31 Elite NighlBhade (Spectrum) 1-) Mim Office Karateka (Commodoie) Aiiolasoft Soft Aid (Commodore B4/SpeolTum) Soft Aid Now Games (Commodore 64/Speclrum) Summer Games n [Commodore 64) Red Moon (Various) Commodore 64 r^r-' 1 in FiaiUBruimsBoimg (Elite) iJ*i 2 It] Simmer Cimsa 2 |Iit.;ijS Cold) Now voting on week 47 - £25 to win 3 (3| SkyFia Ibiiluril) 1 WByOITtaEiplodiiigfiB 6 14) BsiryM^GuigiB'sWoiWChimpiMBtup And each week we will send £2S to the person who sends m, with their chart v< Boimg (IciniiioiD the most original (witty, neaiorclever-bulneverrude)phraseorsenlencemadeup 3 fl) aesghHejdS (Ich«/OS Gold) fi=(h- from the letters (you don't have to use Ihem all) in the titles of the top three programs a m N™Gima (Viigiiil in this week's Headers' Chart, published above. 9 IS) BkAwiTta raitiiiute) fssi You can still vote in (he chart without making up a slogan - but you won't be in a chance of wmiiing thepnze. All you have to do is till in the form below (or copy tt out if you don't want to d age youi magazine) and send it off to: Top 10. Popular Computing Weekly. 12-13 Little Newporl Street, London WC2H 7PP, DalcjIliDinpsonsSopeiTcH (Octu) Voting foi Week 41 etosen a( Epm on Wedne.day October 16 IBBS. Enuies received Wa,ffiTlsE.pl«lin=FV (Iihlbeiiiiie Biw decision li final. Only one entiy pei individual pur vipeV vriXi be allowed. FiiftogWmid. (KkU mi Fjiiljgf.r fThcEdsB) ff,w Name My lop 3: Voting Week 47 BoiedOfTMRingi (MtBHBl Addteas 1 No'-Hjibk (Vi™.| wS (!(,»' 10-16 OCTOBER 19B5 New Releases .^^:^ you lell it whether you got 1 queslion right or wrong. obvic I realise theie are ACTION MUSIC problems with a 'play against the c;ompaler option* and that having lo type in L" The Edge's WLsardiy is. I say. slightly recognition ' would being eiaci overshadowed by all the \I Puisail. The idea of the aien'l expressea m ine attention being paid to game is lo correctly answer a loim the computer has stored nuitiber of quefltions them. Nevertheless, beyond Faulighlhy the same com- It howevei, a su- ut uHerly unimportant the process of typing m Ihose pany. is, game, a little like Ui- topics. The fun from the game !,40b questions, there's the perb derives precisely from the feeling that no effort f tmiale's Enlombed but banal nature of the questions. with marginally better graphics and a superb They require the sort of no more, li all worthless information thai we you want is 1,400 questions iccumulate, but is never then this is OK. As a complete nsualLy tested. fully presented game, it's This computer version of doesn't merely the game has one major vir- gartie. It Piogtam Tiivis add up to a few pretty instead a corn- four aepaiately loaded Price £7.35 timea, but is chunJo) of over 1.400 quea- Micro Alisfrad clues on danger 3ns. Beyond that the game SappUet Aniiog gives you - castle. Individual levels IS nothing to recommend it Umt W are each protected by ,e screen layout is clumsy guardians; for the firsi lev- and messy, the kind of thing watched over by a Mi- you might el, - Richard Wagner, eat makes you your heart out. how much ef- Graphically, the game me is going to AIR CONTROL features a Zaxion-like ! Wizani- Cascade Game lie claiming edge-on display of the I play qmie a lot for walls and chambers of a Combat Emulal , Things like castle. There are a whole 'without doubl the i host of strange c ning flight Simula trap- produced'. Jusi th of e the game immediately. Dungeons ancf Dragt. Achially Ace is one of the cast and blast. beat flight simulators I've a series of problems a one ol the most playable: There are just about enough of Sid chip for elements lo justify the term to please extinguish youT cig- good use gme noises and good to very simulator, but in Cie end the aielles. ~ good grapliics. There are game is about flying and zap- There are a host of good wmter ping rather than dealing wilh lealures to the game, some lions for mght and speech you can understand, ing (everything goes white) This Week New Releases evilably. less impressive o Written by Steve Turner i pilot [a Eiisnd on second joy- the Spectrum with that na AvalonlDrsgovlorc fame) ' sdck opeiates things like un- ' 'i inability to deal wil certainly packs a lot mto 4f deicaiiiage and weapons I colou Defending the Earth from n selecl). rauding invaders is diivided You gel lo kill (hings in the The game is essentially into Haee stages^ the Strate- air, ground and aea and (lalh- Mastic Hupeir. colled the par- gic phase in which you dis- er speclatnilar, this) refuel in ty inTilaliotis, dodge the little perse of your forces through- mid-air. A map display shows guards men. trains and other out (he galaxy, the Space you whare everything ib and toys, jump up to diflerent lev- Combat phase and finally a that speech comes in at tunes els and oti to the next scieen. Ground Combat phase where if you are Cymg dangarouaiy; I like Euperl very much on you explore and disable the eg, in danger of stalling or Iha Commodore - perhaps basBH - all m glonous 3-D, whatever. because of the excellent and On first impreSHion, I'd say Ace may not be the most stylish graphics that ceally the ground combat phase is. if did echo the famoua comic anything, belter than Avalon like the bluib stiip. Oti the Spectrum, how- graphically . . . with the add- ever, things are diBerenl. ed bonus of icon driven Colour attribute problems sers and tricky puzzles. cause the game to look very I enjoyed playing this - while trying to appeal !o ev- horrors, causing Rupert's eryone maybe it stands the dore S4 hnght red jumper lo change chance of pleasing no-one. Virgin's aBseitions, It's a a SoppUet Cascade Camas colour. Wasn't jumper colour Not tor devoted purists of any caverns and ladders affair L3 Hayv/ia Cres continuity wnlten mto the particular genre then, bu with magic potions, a nice Hanogale certainly one of the battel variety of spella, vanoue nas- NoiUi Yorksluie On the end. poorish graph- ty guards and wnzards and a ics and naff soimd make this particularly large dragon. look like a budget game al It looks a little like Sorcery, best, a passable half hour's Progiam j'lslro- Clone you are a wizard and along worth of entertainment al Price £7.95 the top of the screen your Micro 5pecrruin stamina and wisdom are pre- Snppliet Hewson sented as a percentage. 'Vari- ConsuUantB ous actions (discover them 3SB Mdlon Trading for yourself) add or subtract Price £7.9i from these figures. Micro Spectrum Supplier Ouicksilva pecially (he backgrounds Liberty House which are mealy detailed, 22 Regent Street and though there is nothing London NWIR 7DB new here, there's still plenty to keep one hooked. A faiily Virgin Games has just auspicious start to Virgin's launched a range of cheapish new range, I'd say. software titles using the Hab- Savmi le Univ, bil label. They coat £3.99 each PTDgram Dorisrh complicated all Iha Price £3.sa iimu. (Jone aie the daya wlien than budget' to make it clear Micro Contmodore 64 a siraight left/right with the that though cheap, Virgin Supplier Virgin Games joystick and a quick ingger consider them to be well 2-4 Vernon Yard finger would do. No such luck above the usual quality of il9Porlobello with the latest release from such games. Road Hewson - Aslro-Clons. IJorlaUi for the Commo- London Wll 2DX This Week Anlrog. Vicloiia Industrial Park, Victoria Road, Dartlord. HP? 6EX, 0443 63933 English Software, 1 North Parade. KenI DAI 5AJ, 0322 92513 AriolHSDlt, Retail Beau -Jolly. Parsonage Gdns, Manchester M60 1BX, 061 835 135S 19A New Broadway. Ealing, London W5 SAW, 01-567 9710 HIsoft, 180 High Streel North, Dunstable, Beds LU6 1AT. Beyond, Lector Court, 153 Farrmgdon Road. London WC1R 0582 696421. Qulckallva, Palmersion Park House, 13 Paim- 3AD, 01-837 2899, Cascade Games, 1-3 Haywra CrescEni, ersion Road, Souihampion, Hampshire SOI ILL. 0703 Harrogate, North Yorkshire HC1 5DG, 0433 504525 Com- 20169, Rabbit, 2-4 Vernon Yard, 119 Portobello Rd, London puler Concept, Gacidesden Place, Hemel Hempstead, Herts W1 1 SDX, 01-727 8070. 10-16 OCTOBER 19 around you. Are there any employees In segments who appear not lo be subject lo the same rules as the rest? Do they differ in their Puzzle No 178 hours of work (usually shorter)? Have JdjTtie was watclmig Ihn figures changing on they taken on radical styles of drees hi£ digital wiisi watch when he noticed some- (usually more sharp and trendy)? If you thing iuiububI abDul Ihifte of Ihe dlglls. have identified any such cossetled ones, enquire the source of their ordination. New business problems have arisen and new workers have found them- selves in high poailions, masters ol the enterprise. No humble quill pen pusher ThBthiBBdigilaarefour.fl' of bygone days could have envisaged the age when an eleclronic record The Neck Verse would be supreme and Ihe latter-day ihe reign ol Jaraea tl ihere weie clerk be Dansloimed into the Time- In Loid. dsalh penally. Some quits trivial none of this, of course, applies to the oSencos, such as laiceny lo the value oi humble micro-user at work. He is as one ahilling, were counted as felonies conformist and as submissive as the rest and the perpetrators, when found guilty, of Ihe plebeian massea. For him, the were hanged. Through this period of rules are to be followed. barbariGin il was hoped That all England Decentralisation, we Bnd, diBseminatefl would bs kepi quiet. Detection was un- and Fragmanta power. The nucro-man is uve i value o! 32. Al this dne Ihe lalal certam and ]uatice arbiitBry. obedieni for the common good. Ke suf- rambai o! aegmHni aecondi' amca midnight In this faltering order there were some fers the usual fate for sros ol comrnission who bora flpecial privilegoa, much like and omission. ^ven lor any dots which may be pcBSent. Ihe children who, in a playground, can And what was the Neck Verse? An JajiuH wondeted ai what lime alter midnight temporarily escape retribution by call- accused person claiming to be a clerio vould the lotol 'gcgmenf second' value reach ing "pax" or some local derivathre. By would be handed The Holy Bible. He claiming that they were in holy orders. would be lesled on his ability to read with fluency a particular verse from Ihe ilation Id PwxIe I punishment by passing a test called Ihe Old Testament, It was assumed Ihai only Nedt Verse. those who could successfully do so were We can see a modem parallel, a educated. Education meant that the per- grown up version of Ihe child-like call, in son was a pnest. Undoubtedly, many modern buBirtensea. The analogy is par- otherwise ineligible people could learn ticularly evident when the busineaa is the teil by heart and fool the lesiets. large, the technology still relatively in ila This deservedly popular trial became infancy and the hierarchical slrucluie of known in lime as the Neck Verse for it relationships somewhat fluid. saved many precious offenders from Considerable forelock touching is ac- damaging their necks on the gallows. corded 10 those who hold the mysbciEm Dare we now say that (hose who know of data in their machine-blessed hands. enough about computer prograinming The needs of the mainframe and its high and coding, Ihose who claim priests hold sway. No tnatter that the acquaintanceship with all the secrets of Iheology has been secularised. Woe to the software and Ihose who keep any those who fail to submit the computer insatiable lO-megabyle dragon-beast m recums ui the prescribed lormai a mo- ment alter the cut-off dale! Evil to them consequences of their iransgressions? I that inaccurately record a checksum do hope nol. As Orwell might have said - veriiicalioni in the business world some computer When next you visit a large corpora- usei^ are more equal than others. tion or subslandal business - Just [CM)k Rod DavrsoQ The Hackers "tor heie aietbe overs ia j&ch we iake' ckoite [fesiKcoD wafers. POPULAR COMPtn'lHG WEEKLY CDS Software Ltd Available for the Commodore 64 and 128 CaseUeEMS DisH£P4-95 also available Apple II £29 95 CDS Software Ltd, Silver House. Silver street, Ooncester DNi IHi (0302)21134 (5 Lines) 48K SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM "niGHTSHADE" recommended retail price £9.93 inc VAT. Available from W.B.SmTBS, BOOTS, J.HEnZlES, WOOLWORTHS and all good software retail outlets. Also available from UITIWATE FLAY THE OAflE, The Green, Ashbydela Zouch, Uicesten'--- ' (P«F are included) Tel: 0530 411485