Total Eclipse

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Graphics 7/10

Audio 2/10

IQ Factor 7/10

Fun Factor 6/10

Ace Rating 902/1000

Bob Wade 902/1000

Incentive walk like an Egyptian. Anyone who hasn't heard of the Freescape programming system must have been living on the moons of Evath for the last 18 months. In the hands of the creative team at Incentive it turns out solid 3D environments in which all manner of adventures have been taking place. Take a wander back in time to 1930, to a world in peril. Mankind is threatened by an ancient curse - if, at any time of the day, the sun is prevented from shining on an Egyptian shrine at the top of a pyramid, whatever prevents the light from reaching the shrine will go boom. Unfortunately there's about to be an eclipse, and that means it's the moon that is going to go boom, causing an awful lot of life-terminating problems for the people on Earth. Being a right little Indiana Jones, you've flown in by biplane to the pyramid and are going to have a crack at getting to the shrine and removing the curse. All before the eclipse happens and the tea gets cold in the pot. As well as the Freescape view of the surroundings, the main display contains a number of informative icons. The top of the screen shows the number of Ankhs being carried (these ancient artifacts act as keys) and the value of treasure collected, and contains a picture that shows how near the eclipse is. At the bottom of the screen a message window gives details of the location and reports on events as they happen, and below that is a watch that shows exactly how much time remains before disaster strikes, a water-bottle, a heartbeat meter, and a compass. There are a number of ways of goofing things up on the quest - such as running out of time, agitating your heart so that you have a heart attack, or encountering an instantly terminal trap. The heartbeat is speeded up by falling off things, running out of water or getting attacked by the automatic defence systems. The overall mission objective is to get to the shrine at the top of the pyramid, but in order to provide an ongoing measure of progress (and make the adventure worthwhile) treasure can be picked up along the way. The puzzles are similar in nature to those in Driller, but everything is much more compact. It's not a matter of exploring large open areas, but one of mapping a complicated maze of rooms packed with objects. Much of the uneventful travel between places that you have in Driller and Dark Side is eliminated, concentrating both the mind and gameplay. Your "interface" with objects is again conducted in two main ways: shoot them or walk up to them. There's the same freedom of movement to look up and down, crouch or do U turns and there is also a handy option to re-orientate yourself to face forward - it saves a lot of time spent messing about after having a good look round a room. The early rooms are full of relatively easy puzzles to solve, getting you comfortably into the action. It's not just a matter of finding one correct solution either... there are a number of ways of solving most situations, giving a welcome flexibility to the gameplay. It's hard to go wrong with the Freescape system, which is ideally suited for producing absorbing games. Total Eclipse is nearer to a standard arcade adventure than the previous games in terms of exploration and puzzle solving, and Freescape gives it the winning edge. Reviewer: Bob Wade RELEASE BOX Spectrum, £9.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now Amstrad, £9.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now C64/128, £9.95cs, £12.95dk, Imminent 16-bit versions under development Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 80/100 1 hour: 85/100 1 day: 90/100 1 week: 92/100 1 month: 70/100 1 year: 20/100

Amstrad - could she be the key to a puzzle?

Amstrad - inside the pyramid. Going from top to bottom you get some idea of the massive range of views available as you wander about.

Amstrad - that's your bi-plane parked outside the pyramid at the start of the game. Head through the door to start adventuring.

Right - the same view (different angle) on the Spectrum. It may not be as colourful, but it's as playable.

The amount of treasure you have collected so far.

The compass shows you which direction you are facing.

The number of Ankhs in your possession.

The watch showing the time. The eclipse occurs at 10am.

This icon shows how close the moon is to eclipsing the sun.

Your heart. The faster it beats the closer you are to a cardiac arrest.

Your water flask. It needs to be continually refilled to keep you alive.

AMSTRAD VERSION In the year or so that Freescape has been around nobody has come up with a competitor for its graphic style. It's as distinctive and impressive as ever. Graphics: 8/10 Audio: 2/10 IQ Factor: 7/10 Fun Factor: 6/10 Ace Rating: 907/1000 Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 75/100 1 hour: 80/100 1 day: 90/100 1 week: 90/100 1 month: 70/100 1 year: 20/100

SPECTRUM VERSION The stippling, one colour effect has never been as effective as the multi-colour modes of other versions, but it still looks good. Precious little way of sound effects again.

The Games Machine

Overall 91%

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95 Amstrad CPC Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95 OCCUPATION OCCUPATION With Driller and Dark Side to their name, Incentive have wallowed in success since the birth of Freescape. With a 15% speed increase and more rooms (50 in all), the Freescape series looks even greater heights. The origins of Total Eclipse lie back in the mists of time when Egypt was a mighty nation and its rule was respected throughout the Mediterranean. The people of the land, tired of the many sacrifices made to their Sun God, rebelled. Their resistance resulted in a curse from the High Priest. The curse wasn't a mild pestilence or shower of locusts, but centred around a massive pyramid with a shrine dedicated to the Sun God at its top. If the sun was ever eclipsed, the curse would cause the moon to explode - its remains bombarding Earth with deadly results. Since then the curse has fortunately remained dormant. Bringing us to more modern times, Oct 26 1930, you, as an explorer, are in the right place but unfortunately at the wrong time. Two hours away from the end of the world, the moon inches its way across the sky towards a total, and very final, eclipse. Beginning next to your trusty biplane, entering the pyramid causes the claustrophobic world of ancient Egypt to come to life through modern day Freescape technology. Sarcophaguses, treasure chests, stairways, water troughs and other artifacts of ancient Egypt origin await your inspection. Although treasure isn't the priority, it doesn't hurt to pick some up along the way. Collecting ankhs is similarly beneficial as they are keys to further locations. PEER AMID THE DESERT SANDS For protection, you are armed with a limitless-ammunition pistol. Although there aren't many mummies or scarab beetles to be found in the pyramid, the gun comes in handy for other things: matching hieroglyphics, when shot in sequence, open doorways, and treasure chests are shot open for the prizes within. Other than the impending doom of the planet, you can die through dehydration (avoided by filling your water bottle from troughs) or suffering a heart attack (your heart beat increases should you be exposed to poison or fall from ledges). Resting calms the heart but time is always moving on - the total eclipse draws ever nearer. Played in real-time, Total Eclipse shouldn't pose any immediate problems for veterans of the previous Freescape games. It follows the same pattern in style and use of commands, but it's the puzzles which bring out the best in the game. With its puzzle-orientated gameplay and down-to-earth setting, the realism and sense of atmosphere are faultless. And puzzles aren't restricted to separate chambers but expand as you progress. A number of neighbouring rooms can make up one big puzzle and often hieroglyphics have to be matched to force open doorways to new regions. The presence of trip wires and pressure pads provide an unseen form of hazard and can lead to much tearing out of hair. Total Eclipse is the best yet from Incentive. The puzzles, tricks and traps of an Egyptian tomb merged with the incredibly atmospheric 3-D solid graphics of Freescape make it a magical experience - a program not to be missed.

Don't let the sun go down on you, or your in biiig trouble - Amstrad screen.

Puzzling over a strange pyramid room - note the lower glyphics - Spectrum screen.

Using Freescape to escape the curse of the Egyptian high priest - Amstrad CPC.

"With its puzzle-orientated gameplay and down-to-earth setting, the realism and sense of atmosphere are faultless"

AMSTRAD CPC Overall: 92% There is a slight, but nevertheless welcome, improvement in speed over previous Freescape releases. Sound effects and overall presentation are much the same. The light colours used create the perfect atmosphere for this type of game more so than in Driller or Dark Side.

OTHER FORMATS A Total Eclipse is imminent on the Commodore 64/128 (Cassette £9.95, Diskette £12.95). Atari ST, Amiga and PC versions will follow next year.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Tony Dillon

[ZXSR: This is not a review for the Spectrum version, but the Amstrad CPC version. The text could describe the Spectrum version. Scores have not been added as separate entities but only at the end of the review to prevent score-skewing.] MACHINES: SPEC, AMS, C64 SUPPLIER: Incentive PRICE: SPEC/AMS/C64 £9.95 Cass VERSION TESTED: AMS REVIEWER: Tony Dillon Incentive are still moving forward as far as 3D games are concerned. They got all the shape generating maths correct first time round with Driller, but the main problem with all the versions was that they were slower that they should have been. Dark Side was a little better as far as speed was concerned, but it was still a little bland. Total Eclipse is a step forward in the right direction. It features quite fast gameplay, a lot of intricate puzzles and some complex room designs. For example, in one room there's a staircase, a symbol on the wall, a pedestal with a chair on it and a few blocks scattered about. All this takes up quite a bit of RAM, but the programmer has managed to put a lot of code in a little space. The miracle of compaction. You start standing next to a bi-plane near a large pyramid, somewhere in Egypt. If you take a look into the sky, you see most of the sun. The reason you don't see all of it is because there's an eclipse about to take place. In two hours time in tact. The reason you are there is because some clever-dick cast a curse on the pyramid. The curse is "If anything should block the sun and stop the light reaching the top of the pyramid, the blockage will be destroyed." Should the moon explode, then of course it takes the Earth with it. You have to get to the top of the pyramid and destroy the curse before it's too late. Before you can start your quest, there are a few things you should take note of. Firstly, you must always watch the time. A wristwatch in the corner counts away the seconds, and you're going to need everyone. Secondly is your heart-rate. Take too much damage and it speeds up dramatically. Take a rest before going any further. The final thing to take note of is your water level. In the hot climate you have to keep a constant supply of liquid passing through your body or you dry up. There is water hidden around the pyramid, but there's only a finite supply, so you can't keep going back to the some old tried and tested water trough. The puzzles are well thought out, and mainly take the form of locked doors and magically locked doors. The locked doors have to be opened with ankhs, which are found lying around, hanging on walls, under objects etc. The magically locked doors are opened by shooting two identical hieroglyphics, which are normally in two completely different rooms at either end of the pyramid. Mummies take the place of the laser guns in the two previous games, springing up from the floor when you step on a pressure pad or jumping out of coffins, as mummies tend to do. What you do with them is up to you to work out. The Amstrad version is quite fast and smooth, and colour is used to good effect. One clue to getting anywhere on the game is that opposite walls are always the some colour. If they're not, maybe there's something you're missing out on? AMSTRAD Graphics: 83% Sound: 63% Value: 73% Playability: 87% Overall: 76% UPDATE Total Eclipse is going to be roughly the same game on all formats. The only difference is that the Spectrum version is monochromatic (and a little faster than the Amstrad version), and the Commodore version is slightly more colourful, but very s-l-o-w. Still, those who like the other Freescape titles will more than likely revel in this.

Enter the pyramid.

Face to face with a face.

Puzzles all the way.

CrashCrash Smash

Presentation 90%

Graphics 93%

Sound 58%

Playability 93%

Addictive Qualities 92%

Overall 93%

Mark Caswell 95%

Nick Roberts 93%

Phil King 92%

Eat your heart out Indiana Jones Producer: Incentive Bucket and Spade: £9.95 cass, £14.95 disk Author: Major Developments This is the picture - you are standing beside your 1930s biplane in the Sahara desert, overshadowed by one of the great pyramids. A firm believer in the occult, you've been alarmed by learning of a curse laid on this place. The pyramid was built in ancient times with a special chamber at its Apex for the ancient Egyptian sun-god, Re. The sole reason for its construction was as a curse on the people who had revolted against the High Priest. And if anything should obscure the sun's rays during daylight hours the curse will be fulfilled and the Moon explode. Now here's your problem: a total eclipse of the sun is due in just two hours time. Your thankless task is to find Re's shrine and destroy it before the eclipse brings about a catastrophic disaster. Your equipment for this task is about the best the 1930s could provide: a revolver, wrist watch, compass, and water bottle, which can be topped up from water troughs found inside the pyramid. The many rooms of the pyramid (all portrayed in glorious Freescape) contain many objects, including chests of treasure, jewels and Ankhs - special symbols which can be used to open the barriers on some of the doors. Stairways allow access to higher levels of the pyramid, but the route to the shrine is a tortuous one which can only be completed by solving a variety of mysterious puzzles. Time may be your worst enemy in this quest, but is not your only one: poisoned dart booby-traps can prove fatal, while falling off high ledges isn't too healthy either. Your health is shown by a heart, the faster it beats the nearer a fatal heart attack. If you want you can slow it down by resting, a special function which speeds up time until your health's restored. The Freescape technique was impressive in Driller and Dark Side, but Total Eclipse uses it to its full potential, creating a sinister, claustrophobic atmosphere to suit the Egyptian scenario. The pyramid is full of nasty surprises and mysteries that will take a long time to discover. In fact I think Total Eclipse is probably the best Freescape game yet, with much more attention paid to deep game content. This is one that should keep you playing until you complete it. PHIL 92% THE ESSENTIALS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: the Freescape solid 3-D is just as impressive as ever, but seems slightly faster (5-10%) than in its predecessors Sound: no tunes, but some good, informative effects

No more moonlight serenades now!

The riddle of the Pharaohs - Incentive's fantastic freescaped puzzle pyramid.

Use the ankh to remove the obstacle on the left door.

ANKHS FOR THE MEMORY (AND THE TIPS) Search all the nooks and crannies for Ankhs and treasures. Shoot at any symbols which appear on the walls - some of them open doors. Top up your water bottle whenever you get the chance: thirst is not good for your heart. Watch out for nasty mummies - shoot them to make the close their sarcophaguses. When moving along narrow catwalks, reduce your step size to avoid falling off so easily. Make a map of each floor level, and do some origami to make a 3-D model!

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Your SinclairYour Sinclair Megagame

Graphics 9/10

Playability 9/10

Value For Money 10/10

Addictiveness 10/10

Overall 9/10

Marcus Berkmann 9/10

Incentive £9.95 cass/£14.95 disk Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann Pure pleasure, this. I was just hanging around the office in my "any games you want reviewin', guv" mode, when lo! the new Freescape game from Incentive came through the door and I was the first to get hold of it. Ya ha! Try getting it back now, suckers! After Driller and Dark Side whizzed us off to galaxies far away, Total Eclipse brings us right back down to earth (and I don't mean Evath). In fact, Egypt is the setting, and you, sho' nuff, are an Egyptologist (Come again? Ed). Let's hit some history here. (Deep voice with huge echo). It is written that in the days of ancient Egypt the High Priest of Re, the God of Sun (I thought Re was a drop of golden sun, myself, but never mind), placed a curse on his people because he'd lost at poker or something (our ancient documents are a little sketchy on this point). So, being a quick-thinking sort of geezer, he instantly had an enormous pyramid built, and in the topmost chamber a shrine was installed to Re, the aforementioned deity. The curse was that if anything ever blocked the sun's rays during daylight hours, it would be destroyed. Trouble is, 2500 years later, you've just discovered that there's going to be a total eclipse of the sun in, well, two hours. If the moon is destroyed, all sorts of terrible things will happen - tidal waves, new ice age, and another series of 'Cheggers Plays Pop.' Yup, you've got to save the world. How you do this is by finding your way through a reet fiendish maze of rooms, chock full of puzzles and treasure and the occasional dart-throwing meanie? The treasure is of course there for the blagging, and the success of your mission is measured by how much you grab as well as whether you save the world or not. (It's a mercenary life, isn't it?) You're equipped with your trusty revolver, with loads of bullets, your wristwatch (to tell you when the world is going to blow up), a water bottle which you'll need to keep topped up (thirsty equals dead in this game), and a compass, which comes in remarkably useful when you're trying to make a map. 'Cos, believe me, you will be trying to make a map from the first moment you load this up... Yes, Total Eclipse is a mappers' paradise, more so even than The Dark Side. Each room has several exits, but some are high beyond reach and others blocked off. Some blocked doors can be opened with Ankhs, which lie around the place and can be easily picked up. Others need a more ingenious approach if you're to get past the block and through the door, and no, a blast doesn't usually work. Water troughs slake that deadly thirst, while sarcophaguses are usually more perilous than meets the eye. As always with these games, there are a lot of keys to memorise, but somehow you get used to it. As well as just walking and turning, you can look up, look down, crouch and then stand up again, do a U-turn and even change your step size. Pressing R makes you rest a while - useful, this, as it helps calm your heart - you don't want to have a coronary, do you? The idea in the end is to rise to the top of the pyramid through the maze. It's reet tricky - I've been playing this for hours and I'm nowhere even close. Height above the ground is measured in cubits - you start at 24, you want to get to 72. Too many times you get yourself to a decent height and then find yourself plummeting through a hole in the floor. It's often a good idea to keep an eye on things down below. The game plays very similarly to The Dark Side, although with the much smaller areas you're moving through, the atmosphere is quite different. Think of Mercenary combined with Knight Lore and you're not far off. The emphasis is on puzzle-solving rather than blasting, and the graphics are, as ever, immaculate. The Freescape technique opens up huge areas of gameplaying that until now were denied us, and it's to Incentive's credit that the games are as clever and enjoyable as the format deserves. A hit, sir, a palpable hit!

An earlier room, this little red chamber. That trough on the left should refill your water bottle - not that it needs refilling, but never mind. The thing on the left at the end is an Ankh - ker-blag. On the right, who knows? But notice there's a gap underneath. What could be under there?

Here's the room they call Morakhty-E, and well they might. That door at the left hand corner is out of your reach, and the one up at the right looks pretty blocked off (has that eye got anything to do with it?). So off you go through the middle one, like a complete nana (hee hee).

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Graphics 89%

Sound 60%

Playability 89%

Lastability 90%

Overall 88%

Chris Jenkins 88%

Label: Incentive Author: Major Developments Price: £9.95/£14.95 disc Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Chris Jenkins In the beginning, there was Driller Then, a bit later, there was Darkside. Now, even later than that, there's Total Eclipse. What do they all have in common? Freescape, Incentive's revolutionary 3-D display system which lets you explore every aspect of the gameplay area from every angle, that's what. The plot of Total Eclipse is a bit more down to-earth than the science fictiony Darkside and Driller. This one's set in the 1930's, and your task is to explore an Egyptian pyramid and destroy the shrine of the sun-god Re. Oh, did I mention, the world is going to be destroyed by lunar meteorites if you don't manage it in two hours? Well it is. The Freescape backgrounds are, as usual, excellent; each separate chamber is shown in a single colour, with rampways, stairs, treasures, mysterious objects and doorways liberally scattered throughout. To move through locked doors you need to collect Ankh symbols; to please your bank manager, pick up treasure; to keep yourself in good health, find water troughs and keep an eye on your heart rate. It's important to explore every inch of the chambers, the perspective view shifting as you move around. You can also shift your viewpoint up or down, crouch or stand, and choose your speed of walking. Watch out for unexpected falls: too many jumps off stairways, and crying for mummy won't do you any good. Interaction with objects consists mainly of shooting them; activate your sights with the space bar and you can aim at and shoot any object. Try shooting the eye on the wall for a useful clue, or the casket for a helpful object. While the pretty glyphs on either side of the main display serve no function at all, the gubbins at the bottom of the screen is invaluable. The wristwatch shows you the remaining time until the eclipse, and zooms forward if you hold down key R to rest. The water bottle shows your remaining supply, while the heart beats in time with your pulse. If it starts palpitating violently, it's time to take a rest, or you may die of a heart attack. The continuous sound effect of the heart beating is the only annoying aspect of the otherwise satisfactory sound effects. So far, there's little chance of me winning; usually, I run out of water, at which point you die and get treated to the sight of the moon exploding. Total Eclipse is a fabulous game playing experience, but it must be said that if you have already played Driller and/or Darkside you may find it a bit samey. Like the Ultimate Filmation games, which started off as astonishing and ended up as dead boring WITHOUT ACTUALLY DECREASING IN QUALITY, Freescape games might have a fairly short life span. So get 'em while they're hot.