Dragontorc

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 2/5 HIT

Roger Willis 4/5 HIT

Ross Holman 3/5 HIT

JOYSTICK JURY Judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one - Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis and Ross Holman - pass sentence on this month's selection of supreme Spectrum software. Guilty's the cry as our joystick jurors send another game to the guillotine. Dare you hold a different opinion during their reign of terror? WARNING! Just in case you find our scoring system too confusing, here's what it's all about. The score out of five at the end of each person's review is based on their own experience of the game. But that's pretty subjective... so they also use the HIT and MISS system to indicate its potential as a commercial success. DRAGONTORC Hewson Consultants £.95 Ross: Here it is, the follow-up to Avalon, featuring the same graphical furniture but with a finer back-drop. Your quest is to seek out the five crowns of Britain and free Merlyn from the evil grip of Morag the Shapeshifter (and don't try saying that when you've had a few! Ed). The game comes with a map of the Realms of Dragontorc and a potted history of the story so far. You control the familiar figure of Morac by choosing the move spell from the scroll displayed at the bottom of the screen. You've also got two other spells at the start - the servant spell does all the graft by providing you with a hard-working sprite that runs errands and fights, and there's also the Bane spell. That's much more mysterious and I'll leave it to you to discover how to use it! There are about 256 locations to explore and over 80 characters - or so it says here. I didn't get that far and I reckon it'll take quite a while for someone to crack it. If you liked Avalon, you'll love this. I found both of them to be dreary dark-age dramas - not a patch on Dallas.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

ZX Computing

Graphics 5/5

Addictivity 5/5

Overall 5/5

Hewson Consultants £7.95 The amazing thing about this is not the graphics, which are superb, the sound which is very way as Avalon, 3D perspective with the scroll at the bottom for messages and options. One ofthe new features is "Sensory Animation" which makes the characters react to you depending on how you act towards them. Most are initially rather aggressive! The plot is based on mythological characters and involves Morag attempting to reconstruct the all-powerful Dragontorc. Morac's almost impossible task is to prevent her from doing this and to rescue Merlyn who is being held prisoner by her. With the character interaction, locations which need mapping, puzzles to be solved and a specific task, this must be close to perfect in the implementation of adventuring in a graphic manner. I find Maroc's tendency of bouncing off boundaries one that makes control difficult and frustrating, and the colour attributes sometimes overlap, but these are minor quibbles.

Sinclair Programs

Rating 85%

Colette McDermott 85%

PRICE: £7.95 GAME TYPE: Arcade Adventure At last! The sequel to Avalon, the adventure movie, is on sale, and it is better, far better than Avalon. Dragontorc sets you, as Maroc the wizard, to defeat Morag, the witch queen of the north. You must move your astral projection through a series of three dimensional rooms, find and employ a series of spells, map a route, utilise objects which you find on the way, defeat enemies and make friends. Make friends? Yes, because each of the characters in the game reacts to you depending on their original characteristics and how you act towards them or others of their race. Skeletons are empty headed, and what brain remains to them tends to be full of death, so it probably saves time to kill them, rather than attempt friendship. Elves, though, are friendly little chaps, if a trifle shy. If you avoid killing any of them, either on purpose or by mistake, and if you try out a spot of trading with them, they will become friendly, and willing to help you in any way that they can. A number of nice touches add to the computer movie effect of Dragontorc. The sound effects let you know what is happening, as far as is possible with the Spectrum. You can hear skeletons thudding around the room, or the elves skipping in. There are some surprises waiting for you too. Wait until you try unlocking one of the boxes. Yeeuch. Or, until you search the wrong skeleton. Aaagh. Dragontorc is an excellent game. It makes a good film as well. Catch it on your local Spectrum. Produced by Hewson Consultants [redacted].

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 85%

Graphics 94%

Playability 92%

Getting Started 85%

Addictive Qualities 92%

Value For Money 90%

Overall 92%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Hewson Consultants Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £7.95 Language: Machine code Author: Steve Turner Here is the second adventure movie, The Dragontorc of Avalon. Well yes of course it's a sequel to Avalon (rev. issue 10) but there are some important changes that should make this a very different game to play. As with Avalon the game comes complete with a map, a code sheet and a fairly exhaustive instruction sheet. The screen effects are the same so the player still needs that degree of arcade skill to direct Maroc and be quick on the draw with a spell. Even the screen surround is similar to Avalon as is the way one invokes spells using the pointer on the scroll, and of course Maroc hasn't changed a bit, dear old soul. The Dragontorc story is different to that of Avalon so to help set the scene, a little tale... Many years ago this land was ruled by Bran. Now he was a realistic sort of chap who knew that one day he would die, which would leave his only son and heir as ruler. Bran's son could be generously described as a spoilt wimp, the sort of chap that drives around pub car parks in Dad's Porsche (not in those days, of course, the pubs didn't have car parks). To make his son a strong and mighty leader Bran sought the power of magic and bade the Lords of Lore to make The Dragontorc. This was to be an awsome thing, so great were its powers that even a C5 would pale into insignificance. But power such as this went straight to the young wimp's head and after Bran's death he used the power for evil, not for good. Eventually the Lords of Lore managed to recover the Torc, but they dared not destroy it lest the power of magic itself fade, instead they forged five crowns which they scattered across the kingdom. Now the Torc is harmless, until the five crowns are joined together again. Enter Morag the Shape-shifter, she yearned for the power of the Torc and used her evil on the Kings of the land so while they warred with each other she could steal the five crowns and inherit its terrible power. Morag has already managed to get the Crown of Dumnovia. Only Maroc can thwart her plans and only he with the help of Merlyn, Maroc's old tutor and prisoner of Morag. Merlyn's first advice 'seek the Ley Rod....' Essentially the game is played in exactly the same way as Avalon. Maroc has a small collection of spells which he may add to as he progresses, but this time he starts with the 'Bane' and 'Servant' spell as well as 'Move'. The spells work in the same way as in Avalon, for example 'Move' and 'Unseen' are background spells and can be used together, this would allow Maroc to be invisible while still exploring. The disadvantage with background spells is that they are a persistent drain on energy. There are a some new and more powerful spells hidden away which you will need to deal with the extra nasties that will try to impede your progress. The game itself is larger, having more locations, more treasures and more dangers. But the most important change of all is that Dragontorc uses a trick called sensory animation. All of the creatures that Maroc meets have lives and characters of their own, some are downright belligerent, while others can be persuaded to support your cause. The importance of this feature will become apparent when the game is played, for Maroc to be successful he must enlist the aid of allies. As a general rule 'be nice but be quick'. The system of ranking has been slightly changed, instead of having 16 ranks there are now only 8 subdivided as before 8 times. COMMENTS Control keys: A-G/Z-V up/down, B or N/M or SS left/right, H-L fire Joystick: Kempston, AGF or Sinclair 2 Keyboard play: responds positively Use of colour: superb Graphics: more scenery changes than Avalon, but generally similar and excellent Sound: music is great but there's little else Skill levels: N/A Lives: one cannot die Screens: scrolling, over 250 different locations

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Clare Edgeley 4/5

Publisher: Hewson Price: £7.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston Dabble in a spot of dark age magic, pitting your wits against Morag, witch queen of the north. Dragon Torc, from Hewson, is the sequel to Avalon. You play Maroc who, with the help of a few spells, has to search for the five crowns of Dragon Torc. The search takes Maroc into the Lost Vaults of Locris and from there, along ley lines, to various locations across the British isles. You start with three spells, Servant, Move and Bane. Other spells must be added to the list as without them nothing can be achieved. Wisps, skeletons, spiders and a flying cauliflower are just a few of the creatures you will meet and can be disposed of if you have the right spells. Other characters who you meet may help you and the manner in which they are approached will affect their attitude towards you. Elves are particularly useful. Maroc travels via levitation, gliding along in a lotus position. In fact Maroc is really sitting by a fire and you are guiding his astral projection. The actions of all characters are fairly realistic. Skeletons come running with outstretched arms and snakes stop, wait and then dart forward to strike. Doors really open. All spells, objects collected and instructions from Merlin are listed in a scrolling window at the bottom of the screen. Selection is simple - bring Maroc to a halt and press the fire button, use your joystick to select the option and press the fire button again to implement it. Although the graphics are relatively simple, they are clearly defined and scroll in four directions. However, when Maroc is in motion, the scrolling is jerky and can be distracting. Avalon fans will love Dragon Torc, which is more user friendly. The puzzles are well hidden and tricky. If you have never played Avalon, however, start with Dragon Torc, it is the better game.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Your Computer

Overall 3/5

Paul Bond 3/5

Spectrum 48K Arcade Adventure Hewson Consultants £7.95 Maroc is back. So what? Well, this is the entity who vanquished the Lord of Chaos and banished him from his earthly realm - a neat thing to mention in job applications. Aficionados of Hewson's Avalon will remember him; more importantly, they will have experienced the lateral thinking necessary to get things done in this program. Hardly anyone does anything for themselves; Maroc kicks off by projecting his soul - not one of the more manoeuvrable souls I may say - but quite a lot of Maroc's soul's work is done for him by a servant creature. To move, you get the arrow pointing to move. Press the fire button once and the scroll changes to show the move you have selected and how many more uses of it you have left. "Project they soul" hints the scroll. In the style of Gargoyle's Tir Na Nog, you have to move around on pathways. To access the servant, you scroll as before and press the fire button twice. A small will-o'-the-wisp appears which you control with the joystick instead of Maroc. The graphics are rough - scrolling, sacrificing smoothness for colour, so sometimes irritating to the eyes. But I am sure that the actual mechanics of the game will prove an irresistible addictive factor to adventure fanatics.

Personal Computer NewsPCN Star Game

Overall 10/10

Mike Gerrard 10/10

PRICE: £7.95 PUBLISHER: Hewson Consultants [redacted] This isn't another Captain Sensible single but Hewson's successor to the very popular Avalon, described by the company as an adventure movie. From the same author, Steve Turner, Dragontorc continues the adventures of Maroc. This time Maroc must rescue his old tutor Merlin from the evil clutches of trickily named Morag the Shapeshifter. Morag, the Witch Queen of the North, has also managed to lay her gnarled hands on one of the five crowns of the British isles. With all five she can remake the powerful Dragontorc and gain sovereignty of the British Isles. The first thing you notice about the supplied map is the extent of the playing area, and how much more varied than Avalon it promises to be: ruined castles, Torhenge, the Trollstones concealing Hellsmouth Cave, Wispwood Forest where the lost vaults of Locris are hidden, and many, many more, culminating in Morag's Citadel near the Wyrmwood somewhere in Scotland. The screen has the same design as Avalon: a playing area at the top containing simplified but effective 3D style graphics, with a scroll beneath where information is displayed. You move the astral body of Maroc by keyboard or joystick. You can load a saved game if you wish - an essential facility as you must progress through no less than 64 levels, from Apprentice Magician to Supreme Lore Lord, and you won't do that in one sitting. You begin next to a roaring fire in the depths of Wispwood Forest, and the spells of Bane, Move or Servant at your disposal. You select the one you want by scrolling the scroll they're displayed on and using the fire button. Move, the most frequently used spell, allows you to 'transport thy soul' around the various screens. Servant summons up your friendly tadpole-like sprite who moves about independently, removing and replacing items from your capacious back-pack, and investigating other objects. Bane is the Wraithbane spell; as in your actual adventure, it's up to you to discover where and how you can make use of this. Dragontorc really does combine arcade and adventure as you discover on exploration of the first forest. You know the entrance to the lost vaults of Locris is hidden here, but you must piece together clues from the scenario that comes with the game, and experiment with different objects to see which, if any, opens the vaults. There are also Wisps and Elves wandering round the place, and you see whether these are to be traded with or defeated: your remaining energy is indicated by a dragon's head at the foot of the screen. In the Wispwood you move from one screen to the next down gravel avenues, while in the lost vaults we're back with the old doors to open and skeletons to grapple with. By this time you should have extended your magic repertoire and a quick spell-check might reveal an effective weapon against those accursed skeletons. I found a variety of new objects in the vaults, including three chests, two of which were locked. When I opened the third I was nabbed by a particularly nasty spider, although I did survive clutching a key to one of the other chests, where two spiders promptly arrived to chase me round the room. Regrettably the spells in my backpack didn't include any patented aerosol bug-blaster, and nor was my servant much use as the spiders were bigger than him. Only two minor problems surfaced in the first few plays: one is the difficulty of controlling Maroc, as in Avalon, with doors closing in your face when you try to go through them; the other is the irritating wait through a lengthy musical interlude between games. On the plus side, when you die you're resurrected somewhere in the area that you'd reached, though you must reach the actual place of your demise to retrieve the objects you were carrying with you. Sequels frequently disappoint, but in my limited experience as a minor magician, Dragontorc achieves the near-impossible feat of being even better than Avalon. Avalook yourself.