Afghan Attack

Crash

Atmosphere 8/10

Vocabulary 5/10

Logic 7/10

Debugging 10/10

Overall Value 6/10

Derek Brewster 6/10

DEREK BREWSTER'S ADVENTURE TRAIL THERE IS A FAULT, PLEASE ADJUST YOUR SETS In February a Green paper, a discussion document, went before Parliament which proposes the levy of 10p on an audio tape and 25p on a video tape. The reasons behind this unwelcome addition to personal finances lie in the estimated 65 million LPs lost every year to the illegal taping of music and startling statistics which suggest that up to 90% of blank tapes are used for reproducing copyright material. Could I take this opportunity to put a voice to what many must think of this bill, that it is ill-concEIved and insensitive. The loss of LP sales is a very difficult commodity to quantify as the figure assumes that a fair proportion of those who tape LPs would have been prepared to buy a good number of their taped collection. My own experience, and that of many of my acquaintances, does not bear this judgement out. Before looking at the bill's effects on computing let us first analyse another vested interest which has called for the levy. Video cassettes are used to tape TV programmes more conveniently viewed at a later time. It is hard to visualise exactly where the TV companies are losing out. The idea that taping reduces the life span of a TV programme as it reduces the number of occasions on which it can sensibly be repeated is not borne out by the facts which relate an increase in the number of repeats since the meteoric rise in video recorder sales. It is true that three years ago, say, all blank tapes could be used for were dictating machines or copying but now a significant number are used in the home computer sector, for example, in the legitimate acts of saving adventure games or, for that matter, programming itself (the pile of blank cassettes which build up developing a complex game can grow incredibly high). So the question is, how is the money raised by the levy to be split between the music and computer industries and if the Government seriously intended to include the computer industry why are discs and microdrives not included in the bill? If money is to be appropriated to the computer industry how will distribution be achieved amongst all the companies vying for a share of the proceeds when some are reticent over sales figures and other distort figures up to a factor of ten? It would seem this bill could end up as a direct tax on adventuring with the levy (which amounts to a fine) being added to the amount already allocated in the price of adventure games to offset the proportion lost to illegal copying. The bill is an insult to all those who have never made an illegal copy of a computer game. A law which assumes everyone to be a criminal and punishing everyone as such will set a bad precedent and is the equivalent of imposing a levy of 20p on a gallon of petrol to combat speeding. By imposing this levy the Government would be virtually legalising the copying of copyright material and instill a feeling that has it that, since the levy has been paid then it must now be all right to copy. In short, if you've paid the fine you might as well commit the crime. AFGHAN ATTACK Producer: Southern Software Retail Price: £7.95 Language: Quill Author: Mark Phillips and Andrew Graham Afghan Attack is a reasonably topical adventure offering something a little different with special features including communicating aliens, control over their activities and real-time simulation. The title does not refer to an altercation with man's best friend on Hampstead Heath but to that more distant turmoil, the stomping ground of ITN film crews who remind us every other day what might happen to us were we ever foolish enough to construct the channel tunnel. The funny thing is, if things get any worse in our once homely islands the Russians wouldn't even be interested - although all those Japanese video recorders might prove useful for videotaping Russian parades. Anyhow, back to Afghanistan which is slipping down the news charts (it now follows Princess Di's hairdo) after briefly hitting number one when the Ruskies decided to stretch their legs a little and stroll around Asia. The game is set deep within trouble torn Afghanistan where the invading Soviet army is in a desperate battle with the stubborn Afghan rebels. We are told on loading 'this adventure is purely for entertainment. The plot is based on total fiction and holds no political or educational bearing whatsoever.' This is the stuff - pure gobbledegookski and antipropadarnosk - you'll leave this program as precisely ill-informed as when you entered it - super! Not quite though, the instructions which load separately before the game must be some of the longest on record, and in the style boring radio stations have made their own, one screen is devoted to dedications including one Bilbo and a Longfellow. A request has been put to western governments by the Pakistani leaders seeking intervention due to the increasing numbers of Soviet troops massing on their NW border with Afghanistan. The western leaders meet in Paris to discuss the crisis and after intense negotiations send a crack force of highly trained men to head-off Soviet movement on the eastern road out of Kabul. You, the Commander will lead fifty British Paratroopers (including ten under your direct command) and five Officers. The adventure consists of two parts where part two begins north of the camp in part one, and on request Southern can supply a clue cheat, a list of objects and a complete list of the vocabulary. Vocabulary is verb/noun but with some notable exceptions. Communications can become quite involved with constructions such as SERGEANT GRANT OPEN FIRE and LIEUTENANT TRAVIS ATTACK HELICOPTER or even CORPORAL MARSH FIRE BLOWPIPE. DISTRIBUTE and DEPLOY are further refinements to the active battlefield scenario where DEPLOY allows you to detail your men wherever feasible. Instructions before programs are tolerable unless, as in this case, they are overlong. In fact you must load up part one of the game once you've loaded up the instructions. This means it is not easy to look up an aspect you may have forgotten and, of course, necessarily increases loading time. Instructions, really, are for covers with perhaps some salient points precised into the program. Here we have verbose volumes within the program in a throw back to 1983, a la Timegate. The program claims a friendly vocabulary but is about as friendly as a Russian entrepreneur denied his full quota of blue jeans. LEAVE or GET OUT would seem too straightforward and you can only disembark the helicopter by resorting to JUMP OUT (still, could be worse, how about DISEMBARK!) and why is it seemingly impossible to get back into the helicopter. Unfriendly moments can be lightened with prompts to coax the player into the right area eg TRY TO REMOVE COVERS or something to that effect but this program provides no such assistance. It would seem Quilled adventures share this vocabulary problem to a large extent where, compared to programs written without the aid, they do not offer as many verb/noun alternatives for one action. Often a Quilled game will allow only the one verb/ noun combination for any one action. Hence the helicopter problem here. Afghan Attack offers a very different challenge to the norm and appears well-written with a good text. The atmosphere is built up consistently with M16 machine guns and ammunitions, bayonets and grenades, and this is cemented by the feeling of power from your control of a large body of men and their officers. If you grow tired of the traditional adventure and can overlook an obstinate vocabulary then this program is well worth the (rather considerable) effort required to unravel what is a very complicated plot. PS Isn't it funny how at school you do a soppy language like French when Russian is what you're after? Now pass that 'Get by in Russian' book here and let me look up 'No missiles here - we're a nuclear free zone'. COMMENTS Difficulty: quite difficult due to wording Graphics: none Presentation: good Input facility: very fast

Sinclair Programs

Rating 45%

Colette McDermott 45%

GAME TYPE: Adventure Despite he disclaimer in the introduction to Afghan Attack that the title is of no political significance, it seems likely that the title will probably discourage potential purchasers of any political persuasion. The game itself is definitely aimed at the more war-mongering adventurer. The situation at the beginning of the game is that you and your troops have just been airlifted into Afghanistan. Your helicopter has been camouflaged and it is now up to you to make the decisions. The game has several special features including real time simulation and the opportunity to communicate with allies. This communication is, however, fairly limited. Your sergeants and corporals are always happy to be told to open fire, or to do something suitably militaristic, but they are less enthusiastic about being helpful, being ordered around when it does not suit them, or simply indulging in lighthearted banter. The vocabulary of the game appears to omit many of the most common adventure terms, and employs many words specific to the situation. This is, at first, difficult to adapt to, as war simulation is an unusual subject for an adventure. Afghan Attack is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Southern Software, [redacted].

Personal Computer News

Overall 3/10

Mike Gerrard 3/10

PRICE: £9.99 PUBLISHER: Southern Software [redacted] After the controversy over Raid Over Moscow I felt similar reservations when loading up Afghan Attack, a two-part Quilled adventure about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The scenario is trouble on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; you're the Commanding Officer for 50 British paratroopers and five officers sent in to sort it out. Reach the end of part one and you'll get a code number allowing you to start part two. An initial program loads the instructions, forgetting to tell you to stop your tape recorder, which is typical of the program's slack approach. You begin by descending in a Lynx helicopter, to be greeted by your men who are already present and who, you are told, salute you and depart. Try to go west and you get the confusing response that the men refuse to proceed, and the computer doesn't blame them. But didn't they just leave? The flippant approach to the subject shows if you try to move in a direction for which there's no exit: 'Ooch!! Sorry! Wrong direction'. If you're going to write an adventure, do it properly.