The Lords of Midnight

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Opposition 5/7

Display 6/7

Ease Of Use 6/7

Game Depth 5/7

Ace Rating 950/1000

Andy Smith 950/1000

Spectrum, £9.95cs C64/128, £9.95cs, £14.95dk A fantasy wargame that can be played either as a wargame or as a graphic adventure. The best way to play the game is to combine the two separate elements and play as one epic. The wargame aspect is by far the most testing and enjoyable. It involves the player controlling four characters (at the start) independently. They must scour the lands of Midnight and try to recruit the various lords in an attempt to form a large enough army to defeat the evil Doomdark, who is resident in the Citadel of Ushgarak. This is when the strategy comes into play, as attrition plays a major part in reducing an army's fighting ability and the player must see that his forces are kept in lighting order before planning the final tactical assault on the citadel. One of the most involving and atmospheric fantasy wargames you could hope to play, and unusual in its use of 'landscaping' - a method of presenting a view of the terrain in all directions, giving the player 32000 possible panoramic displays!

Crash

Robin Candy

Difficulty: 8 Atmosphere: 10 Vocabulary: N/A Debugging: 10 Overall: 10 As this is strictly speaking not an adventure it is reviewed in this section because it owes much of its success to the arcade players that bought it. Only one person is re-reviewing it due to Ben Stone's loathing of any game that may require limited intelligence. The Lords of Midnight was heralded by many as THE game for the Spectrum because of its totally new approach to gaming. The lavish booklet details the events leading up to the game and sets the scenario for what you are to expect from the game. The story behind the game is that the evil witch king Doomdark prepares to capture and enslave all of Midnight. As Luxor the Moonprince you ride out from the tower of the moon With a few companions to try and thwart his efforts. The game begins at the dawn of the winter solstice outside the tower of the moon. With Luxor, chieftain of the free lands of Midnight, are Rorthron the Wise, Corleth the Fey and your own son Morkin. From the tower of the moon you must guide your four initial characters around Midnight to muster an army to overthrow the evil Doomdark. Luxor can recruit from the Lords of the Free, Fey and Utarg. Not all will rally to your banner and many need a special character such as Luxor present before they will join forces. Probably the most striking feature of the game is the panoramic views of which there are 32,000. The Lords of Midnight used a new programming technique appropriately called 'Landscaping'. You view the game through the eyes of the character you are controlling and as you move about distant features get bigger until you eventually arrive at them. Doomdark may be destroyed in two ways. First by finding the Ice Crown from which Doomdark's weapon, the ice fear, emanates. The Ice fear saps your warriors' strength and, as Doomdark's men capture citadel after citadel the ice fear gets stronger. If the ice fear gets strong enough your men will refuse to go into battle and may even join Doomdark against you. The other way to defeat Doomdark is by capturing his home citadel of Ushgarak. This is the harder of the victories to obtain and requires recruitment of many lords. Doomdark wins by first killing Morkin and Luxor, or by killing Morkin and capturing the citadel of Xajorkith, the base citadel of the free. As long as Morkin is alive the game will continue. When Lords of Midnight was first released I thought it would be a bore, it wasn't until I had played it to death that I realised it was probably the best thing that ever happened to the Spectrum. What makes the game so good is the atmosphere created in the booklet. Even when you have finally completed the game it is still very addictive because you want to explore the land of Midnight. Another novel feature of the game is that you can have more than one person playing the game at a time, which makes LOM as a proper role playing game. The best way to sum up LOM is if you haven't bought it yet go out and buy it now! Oh just a foot note to those of you who like comparing Spectrum games against CBM games, the Spectrum version is a lot faster and in my opinion better. RC (Rob) Midnight is still a hit!!

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 9/10

John Gilbert 9/10

SOFTWARE SCENE While some software houses are taking the Spectrum to its limits and beyond others doggedly continue to churn out ever more diabolical pieces of programmed junk. John Gilbert present a personal pick of the bunch, and Chris Bourne take an irreverent look at the dwindling ZX-81 software scene. Their talents are combinedd in listing the Top Ten Turkeys of 1984. Let the reader be warned. SPECTRUM SOFTWARE A cynic may argue that development within the software market in 1984 was non-existent. The same type of game appeared as those which took the lead in 1983, the most popular being of the arcade variety. The programs were written in the same style and to please the same type of customers. That is only a superficial view, however, and if you look at the games market as a whole, dividing it up into sectors such as strategy, arcade and adventure, you will see that substantial and sophisticated changes have taken place. Despite what some pundits have said you will find that the world of computer games is still buzzing with life. LORDS OF MIDNIGHT £9.95 Beyond Graphic adventure of the year, however, was surely Lords of Midnight from Beyond. Like Atic Atac it soon gained cult Status and created a new genre in adventure gaming. It is a truly epic adventure. You play the part of Prince Luxor and his allies, whose movements you control through the telepathic power of the moonstone. During the day you, and those you have won to your cause, travel the land raising armies, fighting battles, and sending ambassadors to recruit more Lords to your side to defeat the armies of Doomdark. The most striking feature is the superb graphics system, whereby the screen displays your view of the land from where you stand. Distant objects become bigger as you move towards them and you will need to develop a keen eye to spot significant features on the distant horizon. The graphics are built of standard pictures for various parts of the landscape; it is claimed that there are 32,000 possible views, all different in some respect from each other. Fortunately there is sufficient variety and detail in the pictures to sustain interest and the information contained in them is vital to the game, as there is very little accompanying text.

ZX Computing

Stephen Komer

This game is, as the ad's say, more than an adventure. It comes in a colourful but rather flimsy package, and is supplied with a thin plastic overlay and a book which, besides containing the instructions, outlines the events leading up to the beginning of the game. This story, although only a few pages long, makes fascinating reading and sets the scene nicely. The game begins on the day of the Winter Solstice. Doomdark, Witchking of Midnight (played by the computer) is moving his vast hordes out of their strongholds in the North in a bid to subdue the armies of the Free. You take the part of Luxor the Moonprince, and three of his most loyal allies. You move only by day, and the distance a character may move in one day depends on his strength, the terrain, and whether he is on foot or horseback. When all your moves have been made, pressing NIGHT signals the start of activities for Doomdark's forces. To win the game, you must achieve at least one of two objectives: Seize the Citadel of Ushgarak, the Witchking's headquarters - this is a war strategy game; or Destroy the Ice-Crown in the Tower of Doom. Only Morkin is protected against its terrible powers, but other characters you may come across will also be able to undertake this hazardous quest. Doomdark must achieve two objectives to win: He must eliminate Morkin, Luxor's son; He must subdue the armies of the Free, either by killing Luxor, or by taking the Citadel of Xajorkith. Unlike other adventure games, only four commands are used to control your characters. You must move through the land of the Free, looking for Lords who will support you, as you have no armies of your own. A rudimentary map gives you some idea of the locations of the main Citadels where help may be sought. There are, naturally, many lesser Citadels, Keeps and other locations where you may also find help, but these are not on the map. It is the unique 'Landscaping' feature of this game which sets it apart from any other. Standing at any location, you can look in eight directions and see a different view in each direction. As you get nearer to a building or other object, its size increases until it almost fills the screen. The programmers claim to have provided 32,000 different views, each one different. To sum up, this really is an epic game not to be missed by any adventurer, wargamer, or fantasy fan. At a price of £9.95, it represents excellent value-for-money.

Your Spectrum

Clive Gifford

Gary Smart

Neil Mackintosh

Peter Shaw

SPECTRUM ADVENTURES Welcome to our regular adventure page. The cast of contributors includes Clive Gifford, author of Adventures For Your Spectrum, Gary Smart and Neil Mackintosh who are all avid adventure fanatics. The Green Goblin is our own Peter Shaw, author of Creating Adventures on Your ZX Spectrum. LORDS OF MIDNIGHT It wasn't that long since computer adventures were solely text affairs. Now there are hundreds that boast total graphics or a hybrid text/graphics name tag. Now standards are set to rise again with the release of Beyond's Lords of Midnight - an adventure featuring a new system of graphic design called 'landscaping'. It may not be what you had in mind for gardening, but with landscaping, Lords of Midnight is able to provide some 32,000 different panoramic views. Astounding! The adventure itself has strong Tolkien overtones. You control four characters, including Luxor the Moon Prince, to defeat the extremely evil Doomark the Witchking. The game is very complex, but always fascinating. Apart from the landscaping system, the other feature which sets is apart from the rest is the way you control the characters and see the world through their eyes. Each of them must be guided using commands which, unlike the majority of adventures, are given to you - there's no need to search for them in the game. Each character has his own distinctive personality which colours the way each character thinks and helps to determine the options open to you as the controller. Mike Singleton, master adventurer and renowned 'Play By Mailer' has produced a program that, with luck, will start an industry trend towards more complex plots, multi-character interaction and superior graphics. Lords of Midnight is a must for all serious adventurers... you'll find it a taxing and exciting change from the usual crop.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair User

Without a doubt one of the most extraordinary Spectrum games yet devised, Lords of Midnight is an adventure-wargame on a vast scale. Superb programming provides 32,000 possible screen pictures of locations. Your aim as Luxor the Moonprince is to conquer the armies of Doomdark, either by war or stealing the Ice Crown and destroying it. Numerous characters and forces may be recruited, and the sheer variety of locations and tactics make the game an endless pleasure. Lords of Midnight catapults you into a world of magic and terror which has the power to thrill and inspire like no other game. Position 2/50

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 9/10

Chris Bourne 9/10

DARK SIDE OF MIDNIGHT Memory: 48K Price: £9.95 The armies of Doomdark are rising, swarming like locusts over the plains and passes of the land of Midnight, bringing with them the ice-fear, which drains the soul of courage and renders the bold sword arm numb with fear. Midnight's last hope is Prince Luxor, holder of the powerful moonstone. That, as if you had no guessed, is where you come in. Lords of Midnight is a truly epic adventure from Beyond Software. You play the pan of Prince Luxor and his allies, whose movements you control through the telepathic power of the moonstone. During the day you, and those you have won to your cause, travel the land raising armies, fighting battles, and sending ambassadors to recruit more Lords to your side. The most striking feature is the superb graphics system, whereby the screen displays your view of the land from where you stand. Distant objects become bigger as you move towards them and you will need to develop a keen eye to spot significant features on the distant horizon. Fortunately, you are provided with a map of the Land of Midnight to help you plan your campaign, although deliberately it omits many features and gives only an approximate indication of distances. The graphics are built of standard pictures for various parts of the landscape; it is claimed that there are 32,000 possible views, all different in some respect from each other. Fortunately there is sufficient variety and detail in the pictures to sustain interest and the information contained in them is vital to the game, as there is very little accompanying text. Unlike most adventures, Lords of Midnight is not played with pseudo-English commands but with a keyboard overlay setting out your options. In certain circumstances the CHOOSE option will provide a menu of further decisions, such as initiating a battle or recruiting men. Those decisions depend on the qualities of individual characters; if a commander is very frightened, he will be less likely to consider joining a battle. Likewise, movement is determined by terrain and physical stamina. The system of menus may appear slightly confusing at first but rapidly becomes easy to use and the response time is excellent, with pictures generated almost instantaneously. There are two distinct types of game combined in Lord of Midnight. First, there is a quest, as Luxor's son Morkin is set the task of travelling into the heart of the realm of Doomdark to seize and destroy the ice-crown, the source of all evil power. Only Morkin is pure and bold enough to do that. Second, Luxor and his armies must attempt to conquer Doomdark militarily, or at least prevent the enemy capturing the key citadel of Xajorkith. Thus the game can be played either as a war game or as a quest but both elements, affect each other, for the war may distract Doomdark's armies from Morkin, and the closer Morkin gets to success, the less Doomdark can direct his ice-fear against Luxor's armies. If you love fantasy and wish to immerse yourself in a genuine tale of epic adventure, Lords of Midnight will provide as authentic a taste of Tolkien or Donaldson as any game yet produced.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Your Computer

Overall 3/5

48K Spectrum £9.95 Beyond The Lords of Midnight is a graphics adventure based loosely on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Saying this is rather like saying a Porche 924 is a motor car based on the Model T Ford. This program is simply in a different league from graphic adventures that have gone before. At the start cf the game, you, Luxor, the Moon Prince, are standing with your three chums surveying the Land of Midnight; the forces of Doomdark the Witchking are preparing to give the land of the free - the good guys - a hard time. If you've read Lord of The Rings, the rest of the plot will be fairly familiar to you. There are two ways that you can defeat Doomdark: capture his ring of power, or defeat him in battle; neither is a picnic. Beyond claim to have crammed 30,000 locations into the game. The effect is truly breathtaking. While at any of these locations you can look in eight directions and the computer quickly draws the view and gives a text description. There is no tedious discovery of keywords like many adventures, the whole thing is menu driven, different options being available depending on location. The game proceeds by you giving instructions in turn to the various characters under your command. As you are moving them, you can find objects, recruit men and other leaders, which you can then in turn move, and of course you can do battle with the forces of midnight. Once you have completed a character's actions for the day, you go on to another. When all your characters have been moved, you press the Night button, and the computer sets to work moving the forces of darkness around and working out the outcome of battle.

Big K

Steve Keaton

THE BASILISKS OF TESCO ROAD Or, How To Find The Holy Grail In Your Local Launderette It was with more than the usual relish that I loaded up Salamander's The Cricklewood Incident - which runs on the Dragon 32/64. After all it's not often you come across a scenario set barely a bus stop away from your own stomping ground! This attention is well deserved as I've long considered the ravaged wastelands of Cricklewood and Neasden ideal locations for a true blood 'n' thunder adventure. Forget Magra, it's the denizens of Cricklewood Broadway who're really weird! The object of the game is simple: just venture forth from your padded cell (where else) and unearth the legendary Holy Grail. Apparently it rests in North West London. You're given a character option before play starts but how this effects the game I've yet to discover. From a choice of Superman, Geoff Boycott, Genghis Khan, Utter Wally and John Travolta, I chose the latter. This may well have knackered my chances from the outset. I spent most of my time meandering aimlessly in and out of the local hospital. It must be said here that Incident scales new heights of micro realism. While hunched over the keyboard I could actually imagine myself walking the streets of nearby Cricklewood. Within minutes of entering the game I'd been seized by a UFO, savaged by a gaggle of wild Australians and manhandled by an irate Hell's Angel. An accurate simulation indeed! The Cricklewood Incident used the standard Salamander formatted text display and enjoys reasonable response times. Along with the usual onscreen bumf there's a health tag (I spent most of the time in an advanced state of despair) and a money box. To successfully complete the adventure you're going to need quite a bit of cash, so try and keep those tills ringing. I invariably left the thing penniless. A good deal less zany is The Lords Of Midnight, a heavy duty phantasy from Beyond Software. It's rapidly amassing a huge army of admirers, and with good reason. Superbly designed and marvellously executed, it's definitely one to impress the cat with. But considering the lack of traditional input procedures, can it truly be classed as an adventure? Well yes, !think it can. Having entered the realms of Midnight you can't help but feel a sense of awe and puzzlement. Moving within the game is truly an exploration of the unknown. All are archetypal symptoms of a good adventure. So the format of the thing is pretty irrelevant in my book. Although it's early days yet, it's worth noting that Doomdark's foul hordes invariably march through the mountains of Ithril and so into the Plains of Blood, so it's clearly possible to avoid his hellish minions and launch an attack on Ushgarak from the rear! (Kindly re-phrase that, Keaton - Ed.) Should you Doomdark devotees discover anything else of note while exploring the land of Midnight, be sure to drop me a line, OK? This one's set to run and run. While we're dispensing help (of a sort) I must say that I've been deluged with requests for tips on Valhalla, Well, my tip is - don't buy it! As a piece of coding it's a marvel, but as a game... it sucks. For the same money you could pick up Africa Gardens (from Gilsoft) and Temple of Vran (from Incentive) and still have a couple of quid left over for some issues of 2000AD. Much better value. One Atmos owners are currently rather poorly served in the adventure field, so it's perhaps fortunate that some of the early BASIC offerings for the Oric 1 still run quite happily on the new (sic) machine. The most familiar of these is Zodiac (and its follow up House of Death) from Tansoft. Although heavily criticised for their relative simplicity, I rather like 'em. Both based around old dark houses and involving a quest for hidden treasure, they share a nice line in humour and some high quality scripting. The quote of locations may be meager but they're finely drawn. A pity they're shamelessly overpriced. Tansoft are also set to release The Kilburn Incident (currently under wraps but obviously along the lines of Salamander's Dragon hit) sometime soon, and Quicksilva have converted Derek Brewster's smashing Velnor's Lair, which we looked at sometime ago. Both should go someway to placating your hungry Atoms.

CrashCrash Smash

Difficulty 8/10

Atmosphere 10/10

Vocabulary N/A

Debugging 10/10

Overall Value 10/10

Derek Brewster 10/10

DEREK BREWSTER'S ADVENTURE TRAIL AC/DC AND BARRY MANILOW Many adventures I received this month are similar in style and presentation to the companies' last efforts, e.g, those from Level 9 and Digital Fantasia. One might expect some advance with each new adventure, perhaps an improvement in presentation or programming. How to cram as many locations as possible into the 48K of the Spectrum, for example, while retaining some useful graphics. Since their initial releases Phipps Associates have made improvements to their games by taking the graphic routines and machine-coding them for a faster response. Some houses produce too many games churned out on a modular basis. This weakens the impact of each adventure such houses release since it is originality and uniqueness that marks the successful adventure. Quilled adventures clearly reduce the opportunities for original programming leading to flat-footed structures and storylines. For the companies themselves it may be a better marketing ploy to go for the one big, original game for it is difficult for any adventure to chart high and make an impact. Now that I've mentioned the rather prosaic world of marketing, I've always wondered why there is such a poor selection of adventures in the high street shops. To make matters worse for the consumer several of the so-called specialist computer shops, often just off the high street, don't fair much better - it's a case of The Hobbit, or an Artic adventure or leave for home empty handed. The Hobbit is a good adventure but along with the Artic games they can now be considered a little dated if for no other reason than most committed adventurers will have by now completed them. If the record buying public were confronted with the same dilemma it would be a case of choosing either AC/DC or Barry Manilow! THE LORDS OF MIDNIGHT Producer: Beyond Software Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £9.95 Author: Mike Singleton Beyond have produced a game of immense complexity that transcends the simple word-matching of the mainstream adventure and in many respects more resembles a strategy war game. Many features of the game are new or are developed to an elaborate degree setting new high standards in Spectrum software. The cassette is accompanied by a lavish booklet giving thorough and very sound playing instructions. When I say you will need them, and you most certainly will need to read some of the hints given, I mean this as a compliment to the inventive depth which pervades the whole project. There is an original reward for the first adventurer to finish off Doomdark, your evil adversary. The prize has the winner cast in the role of fantasy fiction writer as he will become the co-author of a novel based upon the scenes of his unique version of the War of the Solstice. Thus you will have had a hand in creating the first ever computer-generated novel. Had I heard of this idea from a third party I would've immediately dismissed it as half baked folly but having seen the game I should like to be first in line to receive a copy. A look at the overlay card for the keyboard might show some ways this game differs from the others. Instead of the adventure-style input, here you have a set of keywords. LOOK gives a vista with details of where a character stands. The heraldic shield at the top right tells you through whose eyes you are looking. You can turn a character to look in another direction by pressing the appropriate direction key. THINK gives more details regarding the character and any army he controls is numbered and described. CHOOSE can lead to searching, hiding, attacking an enemy and repairing defences but the options will shrink or expand with different characters and circumstances; a cowardly character will seldom volunteer for daring deeds. SELECT gives you a list and allows access to the characters under your control. At the beginning of the game you only control four characters but can employ many more once you have visited the various citadels and keeps scattered about the land. Although this game is so complex it is difficult to review in the few days available there is one feature which impresses on the very first frame of the game. The graphics which show your journey through the land of Midnight are little short of stunning. The panoramic views are drawn in full perspective and consecutive moves see mountains, forests, hills, citadels, towers and fortresses rising in stature as you approach or fade to distant outlines as you leave. The screen as a whole is very well presented as if designed by a graphic artist. There is no crude split on the main screen but instead a pleasing mixture of superb views of the scene, tastefully redefined characters for the text, a heraldic shield depicting the crest under which your character fights, and highly decorative and detailed representations of the numbers and type of foe you might come across. These last are the best I've seen on the Spectrum. Possibly the most pleasing aspect of the Lords of Midnight is its wonderfully coherent storyline. Doomdark has woken from his slumber and the lands of Midnight are plunged into Winter. This Solstice is the peak of the Witch king's power and it is now that you must defeat him. The computer plays the role of Doomdark and intelligently pits the evil forces against you. A cold blast of fear emanates from the Citadel of Ushgarak, blowing across the Plains of Despair ever southwards to where you are busy marshalling troops. Victory for Doomdark is eliminating Luxor the Moonprince and Morkin, his son. Alternatively he can creep south into the peaceful land of the Free, striking at its figurehead of serenity and happiness - the Citadel of Xajorkith. If thinking of yourself pitted against the computer fills you with despair don't worry, you have your friends and your own wits. You take the role of Luxor the Moonprince, Lord of the Free and your first task is to travel abroad and gain the support of the other citadels and keeps throughout the land of Midnight and amass an army. As Luxor you have the Power of Vision and the Power of Command which enable you to control other characters loyal to you, move through the land of Midnight and look through their eyes. The closer a character or army is to Luxor and his Moon Ring the less demoralising is the effect of the Ice Fear that emanates from the Plains of Darkness as the ring radiates the strength and warmth of his mind. Your most trusted companion, and the most important person in the quest, is your own son Morkin who is half human and half fey. By virtue of his unique ancestry Morkin can withstand the utter coldness of the Ice Fear which is increasingly directed at him as he approaches the Citadel of Ushgarak and so lifts some of the burden upon the armies of the Free. You initially have control over four characters: Luxor, Morkin, Corleth the Fey and Rothron the Wise but as you progress such characters as the Lord of Shimeral and the Lord of Brith and their armies add support to the forces of the Free. If I run through a typical game it may show you some of the great features it has and perhaps some tips if you've already got a copy. My tactics, and remember you'll need them as this is very much a strategy game, involved building up armies at the Citadel of Shimeril guarding the western route into the tranquil south-east and at the Keep of Athoril which overlooks a major route south. Luxor headed south-east past the cave of shadows, through the Mountains of Ishmalay to the Keep of Brith where the Lord Brith is recruited to the cause. Lord Brith travels north-east to the Citadel of Shimeril while Luxor leaves to the east to recruit Lord Mitharg who in turn heads north to Shimeril. Mitharg picks up an extra 100 warriors on his way at a keep in the Domain of Blood. Morkin travels east to the Domain of Morakith and finds shelter and refreshment at keeps along the way. In the east he gets quite a shock to see Doomdark's troops lined up with 890 riders. Morkin finds it difficult to recruit Lords of keeps and citadels, presumably because he is so young, but does manage to persuade the Lord of Whispers a little further along his way. Corleth headed east to Shimeril ahead of Morkin and seeks and finds the sword Wolfslayer - very handy when you meet wild wolves as well as Skulkin and ice trolls. You can become very blasé about killing these creatures but if you are tired they'll give you a nasty surprise. Corleath is very invigorated and utterly bold and the Ice Fear is mild. In these early stages all is going well. Rothron goes north-east but, apart from recruiting the Lord Blood who takes his 1190 riders and 375 warriors south to Shimeril, he plays little further active part in the game and comes to an untimely end at the hands of the Skulkin. During the night of the third day Doomdark has made his presence felt. The bloody sword of battle brings death in the Domains of Kor and Lorgrim which are unfamiliar to me. I consult the map to find they are in the far north in the vicinity of the Citadel of Ushgarak. Lord Blood loses 10 in the battle of Blood but picks up 100 warriors in a keep in the Domain of Blood on his way south. He finds Lord Mitharg at a keep unaware he is so near to the Citadel of Shimeril where the Free have decided to meet. Blood takes Mitharg south with him. The Lords of Shimeril, Brith, Blood and Mitharg are now encamped within the relative safety of the Citadel of Shimeril, overnight losses being small - say 5 to 10 warriors and about the same riders per army a night. In the later stages of the game Luxor recruits and sends Lord Dawn to the citadel with 1200 warriors and 600 riders, bringing the total warriors in the Citadel of Shimeril up to 3500 and riders to 4000. Later Luxor finds Athoril, with its keep and Lord Athoril and begins to build up forces here, the point I had chosen as the second major bastion of defence and counter attack. The Utarg of Utarg marches his 1000 riders to this second meeting point. However, on his way he is not so committed as to recruit other armies and this is left for Luxor to do. At the end of the seventh day at nightfall, when looking throughout the eight compass directions, I could see the silhouettes of the towers, citadels and armies that surrounded me, my thoughts turned north to Morkin who I now knew had this very day penetrated deep into the dark Mountains of Ugrorn, into the Tower of Doom and at this very moment was wondering how he might get back with that precious object held tightly within his grasp. He had the Ice Crown.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Keith Campbell

Night has fallen and the Foul are abroad. One day has passed since the war of the Solstice began. Doomdark, the Witch-king of Midnight despatches his evil forces... But worry not, for while Doomdark despatches his warriors to do battle, you have ensured that Luxor, the Moonprince, is well rested and guarded by a thousand men. Morkin, meanwhile, is secretly making his way to the Tower of Doom, to destroy the Ice Crown from which Doomdark derives his power. This is Lords of Midnight from Beyond Software. Here I must declare an interest, for Beyond is a subsidiary of EMAP, publishers of C&VG, and Midnight was written by Mike Singleton whose name will be familiar to many readers. Ever wonder what became of Terry Pratt, C&VG's first editor? He now manages Beyond and warned me back in February that he was about to introduce the world's first epic game. Would it be too much for me to handle in a review, he wondered? I warned him that as he was now ex-editor, I wouldn't hesitate to say exactly what I thought. "Nothing's changed then?" he said! Lords of Midnight has text, but no worded commands. The game does not have puzzles, so much as strategic problems. Nor is Midnight exactly a war game. It does have graphics, but no diagrams. It is a mixture of both and is, perhaps, an Adventure in the broadest sense of the word. Your tasks are twofold - to destroy the Ice Crown and to defeat Doomdark. Either or both of these ends can be chosen by the manner in which you control and deploy the four main characters you command. A 32-page glossy booklet explains how to play the game and contains a well written 16-page story - essential reading if you are to relate to the characters and play the game constructively. Commands are entered by single key-strokes, selected by reference to a white plastic keyboard overlay included in the package. You see the lands of Midnight through the eyes of the character you are manipulating at the time. You can rotate him in 45 degree steps, seeing his view from the same position in all directions. You can move him forward in the direction he is facing and the view, being in perspective, moves towards you as you page your way through the mountains and villages. The graphics are described as landscaping and there are said to be 32,000 different views available. This innovative approach to graphics immediately invites comparison with Valhalla. Midnights graphics are spectacular and, in contrast to Valhalla, there is no waiting for the response. The re-display is almost split-second and includes a short text description of the location and view. Neither does Midnight crash on you in the middle of a game. I found the game more playable than Valhalla, which bored me to tears after the novelty had worn off. The major features of the lands are depicted on a coloured map on the back of the booklet and box and this is a necessary source of reference if you are to plan your strategy to gain either objective. The lands are vast, but unfortunately the map is small. I had expected a fold-out enlargement inside, but was disappointed. The words on the map are stylised and obviously photo-reduced and I had to squint to see where I was. Another problem is that, upon defeat, it is necessary either to reload the program or a saved game. The latter option takes only about half a minute and the instructions recommend you to save a game at the start for just this purpose. The reason is that there is not enough room in the computer to hold all the initialising data. The description epic seemed quite apt to me, as I felt as if I was participating in one of those Charlton Heston films! It is a game that should delight those who enjoy graphics Adventures and Adventurers who don't mind breaking away, for a while, from the 'What shall I do now?' format. I'm not keen on graphics Adventures, but I certainly enjoyed this game! There Lord Emap, can I have that promotion now? Lords of Midnight is from Beyond Software for the 48k Spectrum, priced £9.95.

Personal Computer GamesPCG Game of the Month

Graphics 9/10

Sound None

Originality 10/10

Lasting Interest 10/10

Overall 10/10

Steve Cooke 10/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys FROM: Beyond, £9.95 Let's not beat about the bus. Forget all those two-bit games that claim to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just get one thing into your head - The Lords of Midnight is THE game for the Spectrum. There is absolutely no doubt about it. No, it's not a new arcade game, or an adventure game, or a strategy game. It really is something completely new, a type of program that only a year ago you couldn't even have imagined running on a home computer. Just imagine a game with a staggering 4,000 locations. Not only that, but every one a full-screen colour display with panoramic views in all directions. Add to the scenery no less than 32 major characters, a quarter of a million soldiers, dragons, wolves, and other fictitious beings, and you begin to get just an inkling of the scope of this game. The scenario is a familiar one, but still presents an enormous challenge to even the most experienced games player. Doomdark the Witchking holds the land of Midnight at the mercy of the Ice Fear, an evil force that saps the courage and well-being of his enemies. Your task is straightforward - rally the Free to your cause, defeat Doomdark, and liberate the land. The program comes attractively packaged with a comprehensive 30-page booklet giving background details to your quest, information about the land of Midnight and a short story. Don't skimp on the story. It gives valuable tips on gameplay. Taking the role of Luxor the Moonprince, Lord of the Free, you can use the Moon Ring to see through the eyes of any other character loyal to you. At the start of the game you have three servants - Morkin the Boy, Corleth the Fey, and Rorthron the Wise. Your servants can be moved around the country, enlisting soldiers and recruiting other Lords to your cause. Every time a new leader joins your forces, you are given control over him and are able to move him about in the same way. In order to defeat Doomdark you must either wipe out his armies or destroy the Ice Crown from which he draws his power. A purely military victory is very difficult since even if you manage to recruit every available man, you will still be outnumbered by approximately four to one. Destroying the Ice Crown isn't easy either. The only person who can get hold of it is Morkin and he is very vulnerable. Others may help him in his task, but there are no tips about this in the instructions so you'll have to find out during play. As you move the characters about the country, you will see a whole world unfold about you - ancient standing stones. forests, citadels, mountains, caves, even igloos! Every feature holds a secret or tells a story - but beware, some secrets are best left undiscovered. During the game you will manoeuvre your armies and engage in battle with hostile forces. Every leader has his own character and some are more reliable than others. Once you've moved all the characters in your control and issued the necessary orders, night falls and the computer gets to work. Your humble Spectrum has been elevated to the position of commander-in-chief of Doomdark's forces, and it does a frighteningly efficient job. The Lords of Midnight is excellently presented on screen, with a beautifully designed character set and an entirely convincing representation of the country around you. After a couple of days' playing I found myself able to tell from the screen exactly where I was and which direction I was heading in. And I MEAN a couple of days' playing! It kept me up till 5 o'clock in the morning on one occasion. Once you get into it, The Lords of Midnight is mind-gripping to an almost unhealthy degree. Beyond Software, producers of best-selling Psytron, have done it again. This is a superb game and a must for all 48K Spectrum owners.

Mike Singleton - master programmer.

FROM RAGS TO RICHES Mike Singleton, programmer of The Lords of Midnight. wrote his first computer program three years ago - and ended up in court! 'It was a racing simulation game for a betting shop', he told PCG, 'and we had it up and running in the shop, only to discover that we had broken some obscure law. We had to withdraw the program though I think we did sell a couple of copies to someone in Ireland!' After this unfortunate experience, Mike started producing 1K machine-code programs for the Sinclair ZX80, and later for the ZX81. 'I wrote six games in Basic and Sinclair put them out under the title Games Pack 1 - and suddenly there I was with a cheque for £6,000.'' Beats horse racing any day. The enterprising Mr Singleton has also produced games for the Vic 20 and Commodore 64 including Shadowfax, yet another program featuring horses. The Lords of Midnight took all his skills. 'I had tremendous problems fitting it all into the Spectrum.' said Mike, 'and by the end I was in trouble for want of just 2K of memory. If I'd had that extra 2K I could have finished the game two months earlier.' Meanwhile Mike's forging ahead with the sequel to The Lords of Midnight, Doomdark's Revenge. Similar in format to its predecessor, the characters will have even more individuality as you struggle once more against the forces of evil. The series will consist of three programs in all, and if each is as good as the one before I can safely predict that Mike Singleton will soon be a very rich man. He deserves every penny.

Micro Adventurer

Phil McDonald

WAR OF THE SOLSTICE Phil McDonald goes in search of the Ice Crown - the object at the heart of the Lords of Midnight. Adventure: The Lords of Midnight Micro: Spectrum 48K Price: £9.95 Format: Cassette Supplier: Beyond Software Lords Of Midnight is described as an epic rather than an adventure, something completely new. After extensive testing - I have immersed myself till midnight and beyond - I think epic is a fair description. Lords of Midnight is well packaged and includes an excellent instruction book, printed on best quality glossy paper. Here you will find the story of the mysterious Land of Midnight, and the war of the Solstice. Also included is a keyboard overlay to fit the Spectrum keyboard. Unfortunately, I am one of the many people who have fitted a full stroke keyboard, and the overlay doesn't fit. Still, it is an excellent feature and makes the package that bit more professional. Inputs for the game are all by single key, but there are so many options that this does not detract from it. At the start of the game, you control the four main characters. The central character is Luxor the Moonprince - he must rally the forces of the free to defeat the evil Doomdark (Spectrum). Luxor wears the moonring, which enables him to see through the eyes of his allies. Morkin is Luxor's son, half man and half Fey. Corleth the Fey may be able to raise an army from the Forests of Midnight, while Rorthron the Wise may be able to seek help from the wise who live like hermits in their tall towers. If more than one person wants to take part, it is possible for each to play one or more characters, which is ideal for a family. There are two methods you can pursue to defeat Doomdark. The first is to gather as many allies as possible to your banner and attempt to defeat the evil hordes on the bloody field of battle. You could also send Morkin north to find the Tower of Doom and capture the dreaded Ice Crown. However, Morkin cannot be accompanied safely by an army and, having found the Ice Crown, must discover how to destroy it. The wise may be able to offer advice in this matter, but it's still up to you to fulfill the conditions. Of the two victory conditions, defeating Doomdark's armies can be a protracted affair, likely to take several sittings (I still haven't done it). Fortunately, there is a save game option. It is possible to try either quest, or both simultaneously. There are no animated graphics in Lords of Midnight and yet graphics are the strongest point in an altogether excellent program. By a method described as landscaping, the scenery is put together in blue and white. The perspective is superb. There are no set 'pictures' in memory, each feature in view is constructed starting from objects farthest away and working towards you. However, it is all done in a split second, before the view appears on screen. Therefore, you cannot see things which are hidden from view and some features may be partially obscured, say by trees. Some of the features you will come across are citadels, keeps, towers, mountains, forests and lakes, all beautifully drawn. The best view of all is of advancing armies, banners flying. Any ally, denizen or enemy in the adjacent area in the direction in which you are looking, is drawn in the foreground in multicolour. There are 32,000 possible views, eight from each location. You can look and move N, NE, E etc. It is possible to hide in forests and mountains. The first thing to do is to attempt to enlist some allies quickly. Having done that, you can use them to enlist further allies, thus freeing your main characters for more urgent matters. Enlisting an ally such as Lord Blood or Lord Shimmerill, automatically brings their armies to your aid. Visiting a ruin, a henge, a lith or a cave, you may find a magic sword such as Dragonslayer or Wolfslayer. On the other hand, you might find something altogether nasty. If you want to frighten yourself, you could approach the pass to the north of the Plains of Blood to see Doomdark's hordes flooding through each night. Doomdark's warriors and riders have different shield emblems for each army. In addition to these, other nasties that you will encounter include dragons, wolves and skulkrin. Atmosphere, that elusive ingredient sadly lacking in so many other adventures and games, fairly oozes from Lords of Midnight. You can spend hours just exploring the landscape. The book includes a map of the Lands of Midnight, which shows major features such as plains, mountain ranges and forests. However, if you are looking for the Keep of Lord Blood, you must search the Plains of Blood until you find the one he is at, for there are several. I have not yet succeeded in finding all the possible additional allies and armies. You aren't told how many, or where they are, but I would guess at about 20. They take quite a bit of controlling once you've found a dozen or more! There are several extra nice touches such as Gothic writing and, best of all, whichever character or ally you are controlling, their own heraldic shield appears on screen. Each character has up to eight moves a day, depending on the terrain through which they are passing. Travelling in mountains can be particularly exhausting. Characters and armies can be invigorated to a greater or lesser degree, depending on what fighting or travelling they have done. Exhaustion can be alleviated by resting at villages, citadels or keeps, or negated by drinking at magic lakes. Even when a citadel or keep contains no new ally, you can recruit a few warriors or riders from the garrison. If an army is facing insurmountable odds, it is easier to defend a keep, or better still, a citadel, than fight in the open. Your characters' horses may be slain in battle, and your warriors become exhausted quicker than riders. Doomdark bends the Ice Fear towards his enemies and if the Ice Fear is strong, his armies are harder to defeat. The Ice Fear can be diminished if Morkin captures the Ice Crown or by defeating Doomdark's armies. Your allies will be afraid to a greater or lesser degree depending on the strength of the ice Fear. If they become too afraid, some of them may refuse to obey or even desert. Several - armies can take part in any one battle or siege. When all of your characters and allies have used their move allowances for the day, you press the 'night' key. At this stage Doomdark moves his armies and the outcome of any battles, sieges and skirmishes are decided. Factors affecting battles include the strengths of opposing armies, the strength of the Ice Fear, the quality of your commanders and the involvement, or not, of Luxor. If Luxor is killed, you lose control of the Moonring and therefore all of your allies, unless Morkin can find the Moonring. If Morkin wears the Moonring, he can no longer continue his quest to destroy the Ice Crown. To sum up, Lords of Midnight is well designed, well programmed, with excellent packaging, and is reasonably priced. This program deserves to be a financial success, to encourage other software houses to be more Adventurous. The author of Midnight, Mike Singleton, tells me there are two sequels in the pipeline. Personally, I can't wait!

Lords of Midnight author Mike Singleton revealed to MAD: There are roughly 4,000 locations on the map of Midnight. Possible allies include the Wise, Lords of the Free and of the Fey - and at least two rather unusual characters. Thirty or more characters can be recruited to aid Luxor. Lords will not always be in the same place; Ddomdark's armies can force them to move before you can reach them. Icemark, a land to the north east of Midnight, will be the setting for the first sequel, Doomdark's Revenge. The third in the series will take place to the south of Midnight, and is to be called The Eye of the Moon. A Commodore 64 version is planned, as is a French version for the Thomson micro.

Personal Computer News

Mike Gerrard

EPIC PROPORTIONS This vast and enterprising escapade impressed seasoned adventurer Mike Gerrard. One recent adventure release stands head and shoulders above any others, and that's The Lords of Midnight from Beyond Software who, after a shaky start, became a name to reckon with after the release of Psytron. Now comes this new epic graphics game which can be played either as a strategy battle or an adventure. However you play it, there's an intriguing prize to be won by the first to conquer the evil Doomdark who's set to take over the Land of Midnight by decidedly undemocratic means. The winner will have the printout of the scenes from the winning game turned into a novel and share in the royalties, which sounds fine though it does mean laying in rather heavy stocks of Sinclair printer paper just in case your 732nd attempt at playing the game proves successful. PRESENTATION Although Lords is priced at £9.95, it is handsomely packaged, coming complete with a 32-page glossy booklet that includes the Midnight Chronicles. This is not several editions of the local evening paper but five chapters setting the scene for the game. There are also several essential pages of instructions, plus a colour map of the Land of Midnight on the back of the booklet. PRESENTATION The map is vital for several reasons, not the least being that you can simultaneously control four characters initially, each of these having eight viewpoints corresponding to points of the compass. You can switch from character to character and from viewpoint to viewpoint instantly, which gives some idea of the quite complex and stunning nature of the program. Congratulations are due to author Mike Singleton, whose name may be known to many due to his earlier networking games such as Starnet. The characters involved at the start of the game (you might recruit more as you go) are Luxor the Moonprince, his son Morkin, Rorthron the Wise and the quaintly named Corleth the Fey. These four between them must try to prevent Doomdark and his forces from taking over the land. While you can control all four characters yourself, if you wish, obviously up to four people could play together too. OPTIONS The two ways you can play (although they are linked) are as strategy or adventure. Strategy is an out-and-out war game in which you must recruit armies and move together towards the Plains of Despair, trying to seize the Citadel of Ushgarak, which is Doomdark's headquarters. The alternative way to try to win is by sending Morkin on a quest to the Tower of Doom in an attempt to destroy the Ice Crown, which is the source of Doomdark's power. If you elect for the second option, don't expect Doomdark to sit round filing his nails of an evening. His armies will still be battling for power over the land, though your own armies of the Free will defend themselves without Morkin's intervention. If all this sounds very complicated then that's because it is, though Beyond offers a little assistance by way of a keyboard overlay telling you which keys control which commands. The adventure element is not one in the conventional sense where you input your instructions, but more a case of you being given various options at different times and having to choose between them. The number keys 1-8 control the eight viewpoints for each character, with no less than 32,000 different panoramic views said to be contained in the program. Thankfully you don't have to wait for each of these to be drawn every time, they're up on the screen the instant you press the key, whether it's Morkin looking north west to the Forest of Lothor, or Luxor looking south east to the Plains of Trorn many miles away in the opposite corner of the land. It's hard to believe, but the graphics are also rather good, and the perspective changes naturally as you MOVE towards a particular feature. Another natural element built in is that you never know what's going to be round the next corner till you actually get there, and when you arrive you can LOOK to check what is at the location. The game switches between graphics and text where necessary, though the location illustrations also have a Gothic-like text printed on them. You can also THINK to remind yourself of various options, and CHOOSE where you have to decide between different courses of events - do you fight the wolves or do you hide? Trying to assess The Lords of Midnight after just a few sessions with it must be like trying to explain the plot of Lord of the Rings after reading only one chapter. The game is immensely complex and it will take weeks to even familiarise yourself with the landscape and features, let alone attempt to take on Doomdark's forces. Played as an adventure, it seems impossible for Morkin to reach the Tower of Doom before his strength gives out, and many routes will have to be attempted before starting to discover which might be the best way. The land is so vast that mapping it out fully will be quite an undertaking. The game is not without its faults, one being that night falls rather too quickly and regularly. When it is night and you must rest, it can be half a minute or so while you sit and stare at the screen's last message before being told it is day again and you can continue. This is repeated every few moves, and is a little irritating. Another nuisance, though unavoidable, is that you can't simply start a new game as soon as you're defeated. You must either LOAD again, or have used the SAVE command early on (after maybe one move) to allow you to reload using the OLDGAME command. Overall the program is quite breathtaking, and a few minor complaints hardly matter. Even more breathtaking is the thought that this is merely the first of a trilogy, with Doomdark's Revenge and The Eye of the Moon still to come. I think I'll go back to simple games like Ping-Pong and Breakout.

Your Spectrum

BEYOND SOFTWARE Beyond, has just launched three new games for the liddle ol' Speccy, the first of which it reckons will take adventure players by storm. It's called Lords of Midnight and, according to the description, it's not actually an adventure at all, but - rather - an 'Epic'. The idea is that, unlike other adventures, you don't need to restrict yourself to just one character and your routes are no longer dictated by the programmer in advance. This program knows where a given character is on the map, checks the direction he is facing and draws the whole scene, foreground to background, in perspective. Thus, every time you leave a location and return to it from a new direction, it'll be drawn again with a different background: and every time you move forward, distant peaks become mighty mountains and houses grow into great towers, flanked by forests. This is all made possible through (it's claimed) a new programming technique called landscaping which gives the program a possible 32.000 views. The idea of the game is to gather armies from the various people you meet; you have to convince them to join you, but of course there are some who are simply enemies and must be destroyed. As the force splits to defeat the evil Witchking Doomark you can see the dramatic happenings through the eyes of each character. There's an accompanying 32-page booklet which includes a map of the land and the game should retail for around £9.95. The second game from Beyond is called Psytron, and in it you play the part of a computer (Psytron itself) which controls the massive Betula 5 installation - a sort of moonbase type set-up. The computer controls every aspect of the place, from defending the base against evil intruders to assessing everyone's oxygen needs and allocating food and work. The problem is that the base is being constantly attacked and bombed from the skies while saboteurs (of the three-legged canine variety) run loose underneath the floorboards. The aim of the game is to keep the base running, and all human life is expendable in order to maintain the mighty Psytron. There are six levels and, according to the accompanying booklet, they've been carefully designed to take you through the game step-by-step; you mustn't overload your all-too-human mind. You may be interested to know that level six has only one aim - to survive for half an hour! Beyond is challenging players to achieve this great feat and the reward is . .. wait for it... a QL. Obviously, the company's not expecting anyone to manage it for a while yet. Anyway, full details are in the pack. The game, by the way, sells for £7.95. Last in the bunch comes Spellbound, where you take the part of a frog and attempt to race down the steps of the fortress before Griselda the witch catches you with her spells. Straightforward stuff it may be. but there are 12 levels of action to get through. Spellbound costs £5.95 and all Beyond's games should be available in your shops now.

In Spellbound you must use your frogs legs to hop fast down those steps before Griselda puts a spell on you!

Psytron's view of the Betula 5 installation. There's terror in the skies and under the floorboards.