Dragonsbane

Sinclair Programs

June Mortimer

We look at the best and the worst releases in a month which offers new games from top software houses Fantasy and Ultimate. DRAGONSBANE Dragonsbane - 48K Spectrum, £6.95 - is one of those awful amalgamations of adventure and strategy game which become disenchanting within a few minutes of loading. The aim is to make your way through the castle, past the deadly monster, to rescue the princess. Only one room is displayed at a time and, even with careful use of a map, it is difficult to do anything other than trust to luck, as fleeing from monsters can transport you magically over some distance. Dragonsbane should be re-named Userbane and is definitely not recommended. Produced by Quicksilva, [redacted].

Big K

Steve Keaton

I must confess to being generally nonplussed by the recent spate of hybrid arcade adventures. The likes of the chart-bustin' Atic Atac fall between too many stools for my taste. However, Dragonsbane (which runs on a 48K Spectrum from Quicksilva) is enormously impressive. It's a 'true' graphical adventure that thankfully doesn't involve zapping everything that moves, although I must confess that the plot is a little ho-hum. Trapped within Castle Earthstone you must outwit the dread Dragon Lords and rescue the beautiful Princess Paula. Still the hoary old story is more than compensated for by a stylish presentation. You move through the castle's great halls using the cursor keys, picking up artefacts and battling such hideous adversaries as vampires, ghouls and (shriek) giant pigeons. There are 172 locations to visit and 40 species of well-drawn monster to avoid, not to mention a brace of randomly generated trapdoors. Its a true graphic adventure.

Your Spectrum

Dilwyn Jones 8/10

Gerralt Jones 6/10

Ieuan Davis 5/10

Your Spectrum is continuing to scour the country's computer clubs to get the undiluted thoughts, feelings and impressions of dedicated games enthusiasts - in order to provide our readers with unbiased evaluations. Any club wishing to offer its reviewing services should contact Ron Smith, Spectrum Soft, [redacted]. We sent this month's batch to the Bangor Computer Club of North Wales, where their expert reviewers got to work; their plaudits and barbs can be seen over the following pages. First, let's have a look at the club and what it offers its members. The Bangor Computer Club was formed 18 months ago by noted author, Dilwyn Jones. He wanted to meet the needs of local home computer users, and holds meetings in member's homes on a spur-of-the-moment basis. There are currently 25 to 30 members whose ages range from 13 to 30 and, although there's no longer a fixed membership fee, those attending are expected to splash out towards the cost of the evening. Its members have the chance to try out each other's software and exchange ideas. Members can always call upon their colleagues to help solve problems. Anyone in the area who's thinking of joining the club should contact Dilwyn on [redacted], outside office hours. THE LINE-UP This month's reviewers are Ieuan Davis (25), Gerralt Jones (22) and Brian Pedlar (31); all three are long-standing members of the club and avid games enthusiasts to boot. They represent the 'Old Gold' strata of Speccy users, so we won't be expecting starry-eyed reactions to our selection of new games. DRAGONSBANE Quicksilva £6.95 A graphic adventure through 172 rooms; avoid 40 monsters while trying to rescue the helpless and hapless Princess Paula. The usual assortment of monsters, both friendly and otherwise - and you can also use joysticks.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 2/10

Sound 2/10

Originality 3/10

Lasting Interest 2/10

Overall 2/10

Chris Anderson 2/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K JOYSTICK: No SUPPLIER: Quicksilva PRICE: £6.95 This game is best described as Adventure by Multiple Choice. Your best choice is to steer well clear. The scenario is familiar. You're wandering through the halls of a monster-infested castle in a bid to rescue Princess Paula. You're shown a picture of each hall (all almost identical), together with a monster if one is present. There is no movement, no arcade action. And unlike a text adventure you cannot suggest your own course of action. Instead you are presented with a set number of choices, e.g. fight or run. Fighting will result in a written running commentary appearing which details the fights progress and may end with the monster's death or you feeling very weak. The trouble with this kind of program is that it is completely devoid of atmosphere and variety. The choices forced upon you reduce the adventure to a banal affair more in keeping with a Chemistry O-Level.

Crash

Use of Computer 55%

Graphics 64%

Playability 54%

Getting Started 59%

Addictive Qualities 42%

Value For Money 52%

Overall 54%

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Quicksilva Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: BASIC with some m-c Author: Preston, Hunt, Rose and Moore This graphical adventure-style game takes you deep into the maze of rooms that make up Earthstone Castle, where you must battle with vampires, zombies, skeletons, gryphons and sphinx, among other legendary beasts. All this to rescue the Princess Paula from the Dragons Lord. There are 172 rooms laid out in a roughly radial manner, so that progressing backwards or forwards a number won't actually mean ending up in the room next door. There are 20 duplicated monsters to encounter, some friendly, most not, and you will need to eat food regularly to keep up strength, although over-eating will give you indigestion and halve your strength! Of course, there are also all sorts of useful objects lying about to be picked up when they are needed - if you can work out when that is. The screen is divided up into a main viewing area in which very simple 3D-style images appear of each room, plus a colour representation of any objects or monsters, and a status area, which gives an indication of the direction in which you are facing, the weapon you are using, the room number you are in and a key to the coloured bar codes beneath, which indicate the amount of strength you have, endurance, skill, and your proximity to both the princess and the Dragons Lord. A display panel above the view screen prompts you with messages like, 'Do you want to speak with the beast?' The view will also clear on pressing key H to show you your options, which are: pick up or drop an object; change a ready-to-hand weapon; eat some food; call up inventory; Look; free princess; and quit game. The view area will also clear to give a verbal description of any battles taking place. COMMENTS Control keys: cursors, plus prompt keys Keyboard play: reasonably responsive Use of colour: reasonable Graphics: detailed creatures although slowish to appear Sound: poor Skill levels: 1 Lives: 1 Screens: 172 rooms

Lonely Beast - would like to contact similar for mutual friendship and exchange of beastly confidences. Box CM0457.