Chess

ZX Computing

Brian Beckett

CHECKMATE Brian Beckett assesses the leading chess programs currently available for the Spectrum and QL. The late Norbert Wiener, founder of cybernetics, predicted a day when playing chess would be about as intellectually stimulating as a game of noughts and crosses. Both are zero-sum games of perfect information and (if neither side makes a mistake) ideal play will end in a draw. The reason noughts and crosses is boring and chess is still seen as a great mental challenge is simply that even the ablest grandmaster is incapable of sorting through the seemingly endless possibilities opened up in any one game. Computers, however, might some day be capable of playing error-free chess and Wiener foresaw fallible human opponents' interest in the game declining as a result. Wiener, who worked in the pioneering days of mainframe computers did not however imagine the speed with which chess playing micros would become commonplace. The capabilities of your piece of Sinclair gadgetry would have cost a small fortune only a few years ago but (if you are a chess player) it fortunately still fulls far short of Wiener's super intelligent beast. But, if you don't happen to be a budding grandmaster, a game against your QL or Spectrum can still be pretty damaging to the ego. Sir Clive's little black boxes play passingly good games at even the lower skill levels and can mimic a logical intelligence quite capable of beating an unwary master at the higher one. It's worth having a look at some of the better Sinclair chess programs available both as a guide to buying one and - by highlighting some of their weaker lines of play - avert Wiener's nightmare of the faultless chess computer. Someone is bound to bring out a chess program for the 128K Spectrum pretty soon but all we have now is several packages for the 48K Spectrum and one for the QL. It's not a case of finding the "best" program - the Spectrum packages share similar features, comparative prices and roughly the same skills while Psion's QL chess has the advantage of being both an excellent product and the only one available - but rather a case of choosing the one or more that you happen to like more than the others. CHALLENGE Assuming that you're buying a chess program to play it yourself, you want one that offers you a challenge as well as being able to defeat your neighbour's computer. QL Chess, for example, came first in a microcomputer knockout championship which included some dedicated chess computers but, against certain Queen's Gambit play, is marginally easier to beat than Psion's Spectrum program. The programs looked at here are QL Chess (marketed by Sinclair at £19.95 and developed by Psion) and the three leading packages for the 48K Spectrum: Sinclair's Masterchess (again written by Psion), Artic Computing's Spechess II and OCP's Chess: The Turk. For the historically curious, The Turk takes its name from an eighteenth century, chess-playing automaton dressed in Turkish costume that was the wonder of Europe and - as many believe - probably contained a legless Russian soldier who selected the plays and moved the gears. The Turk costs a reasonable £5.95 making it the cheapest of the Spectrum programs but a watchful eye can usually get the other two at a bargain. The Sinclair/Psion program, for example, is often found in specially priced game packs and many Spectrum owners probably already have one. All chess programs have several levels of play that are a function of the amount of time that the computer is allowed to consider its move. They range from a few seconds at the lower levels to several hours at the higher ones. For a skilled chess player, this can be a problem as the lower levels don't offer a challenge and the higher ones can take forever. Here QL Chess wins hands down as its top "tournament" level (Number 11) occupies the computer for an average of only four minutes a move. If you want, you can set the QL to match your average move time or (if you have a great deal of time on your hands) play at infinite time where the computer will consider its move until you force it to play with a keyboard command. QL Chess has the additional feature of considering its possibilities while waiting for you to move. Shutting off this feature with the "Easy" command in effect doubles the number of levels. For the Spectrum, Artic's program is probably the best for selecting a level of play - you simply type in the move-time you want. This makes level selection a continuous function of time rather than a choice of quantum leaps which might not match what you want. The Turk is the worst in this respect as it increases the Spectrum's move time from 90 seconds at Level-3 to 10 minutes at Level-4 and one hour at Level-5. The jump from 90 to 600 seconds is a bit too large as it's in this sort of time range that a player of medium skill finds himself with a challenge. The Turk, however, will often move in far less time than the maximum allowed at say Level-4. MAKING MOVES As far as graphics go, there is little real difference between the Spectrum programs: the screen shows a top view of the board with the pieces in profile. Personally speaking, Spechess is marginally poorer and The Turk a bit better. The Turk has the added clever feature of toppling over the King upon checkmate or. If you quit the game, your King upon what it always and cheerfully considers your resignation. QL Chess offers a choice of the traditional image or a superb 3D view that is a credit to the programmer's skill. The pieces are moved with a cursor in QL Chess but, in the Spectrum programs, you type in moves using an algebraic notation that replaces the traditional chess codings. Unlike the others, the Psion program does not require you to ENTER your move - the computer does it automatically when you type the last code number - which is nice for speed but unfortunate if you make a mistake. All the programs allow you to quit and start another game (only The Turk gloats about it) and QL Chess enables the player to change sides at any time. I suppose there is a reason for this feature but its only obvious purpose would seem to be a consolation prize to poor players. If you can't win any other way, you can always allow the QL to push you to the brink of defeat and then switch colours at the last minute. The Turk and QL Chess allow you to take moves back and, while this is handy if you make a silly mistake, it also encourages sloppy chess thinking. All the programs allow you to play from a pre-set position after placing the pieces as you wish. They all use the cursor to set-up the pieces except for Spechess where the piece, colour and square are typed in. The QL cursor is quite easy to use but the others can be a bit cumbersome which is why I prefer Artic's method for the Spectrum. Levels of skill can be selected for set-up as well as normal play in each program and QL Chess has the additional feature of eight problem solving levels. As with traditional problems, the idea is to ask the QL to find a mate in say five moves. Each program will recommend a move to the player if asked. This is a useful feature for beginners or those who wish to examine the computer's chess reasoning in some detail. Otherwise if you have to ask the computer for its opinion on your best move, you're playing at too high a level. After all. the object of the exercise is to win and not to do what you're electronic opposition thinks you ought to do. COUNTDOWN All the programs allow you to save the game to tape or to a printer. The Turk has an option for playing blitz chess which is a nice feature. The on-screen clock starts counting down from five minutes and the first side to run out of time loses if (as is likely) no checkmate has occurred. On-screen chess clocks are standard save with Spechess. QL Chess has the very useful feature of declaring a stalemate if a sequence of moves is repeated for three consecutive plays. Otherwise it's pretty much up to you to declare a draw by perpetual check or repeated moves - against any of the programs - by simply quitting the game. All the programs recognise checkmate immediately except for Spechess which, when it's defeated, uses up most of its allotted time before declaring your victory. While there is absolutely no harm in this, I personally find it a bit annoying. Both The Turk and QL Chess have demonstration modes where the computer will play itself, replay options where the computer re-displays a game on screen move by move and the capability to "referee" a game between two players. In the latter mode, the computer simply asks for move inputs from both sides, displays the moves on the screen after ENTER and keeps track of the times. Of the Spectrum programs, The Turk has the largest reservoir of extra features while the Psion package has been honed down to the bare essentials but it does play a good, aggressive game. Next month I'll be setting some classic chess problems for your Spectrums and QL's and showing how even the best chess software is vulnerable to the shrewd sacrifice.

Micro Adventurer

Sally Glover

CLASSIC GAMES FOR YOUR MICRO The silicon chip squares off against the traditional board game - Sally Glover reports. This month I've been given a good selection of 'classic' boardgames, available for several home micros. To begin with we'll look at the three versions of chess that I have played. CHESS First, from Psion Chess for the 48K Spectrum. The game loads to display a 2D board and a menu of options which allows a player to set up the board for problem solving or to load a saved game if you desire. Opting to 'play' then allows you to choose a level of play (0-9) and a choice of black or white pieces. The game is played by using the standard algebraic notation to enter moves. The display is rather small and I found it a little tricky to differentiate between the King and Queen particularly. As a comparison for all three chess programs I used the Fidelity Sensory 9 chess computer with a proven ELO rating of about 1500 as a standard. I played three games, Fidelity versus Psion's Chess with the chess machine on level one (instant response) and the program on level five (response two to five minutes). The chess machine won every time although one session produced an entertaining end game. The result was not surprising though, and indicates that Chess is a sound basic program which is a good introduction for the beginner but rather too limited to appeal to the more experienced player. Beyond's MyChess II for the Commodore 64 is a better product altogether and boasts many features not seen in the program above. The first of these is a very good manual, rather than the brief information sheet of the previous game. Perhaps the most attractive feature is the option to produce a 3D view of the game. This involves loading the reverse of the cassette. This program also uses algebraic notation, which is clearly explained with examples to help the newcomer. The function key toggles between a view of the board and a list of the moves that have been made. Disc drive owners also have the option to toggle between 2D and 3D views of the board. The variety of options for 'set up' is impressive. The regular mode is computer versus human. Other modes include Demo, Players (human versus human), Solvemate (search for mate in a given number of moves) and Automatic where the program plays itself. There are too many other features, including hint, take back and so on, to cover fully in this brief review but it is clear that disc drive owners have many options not open to cassette users, particularly the 128 historic games which can be loaded and replayed from the B side of the disc. The nine level game program itself is much stronger than the Psion Chess game for the Spectrum and was able to force the Fidelity to a draw on two occasions. Personally, I found the 2D option easiest for play since the pieces in 3D are very difficult to tell apart, even if you use the 'turn board' facility and view from the side. Overall, though, MyChess iI is a good, solid program with many features (also found on the more expensive dedicated chess computers) that will be a boon to the developing player and quite challenging to the more experienced. The package is very good value for money - especially for disc drive owners! Finally, Psions QL-Chess which shows most of the features of MyChess II but has a brief 'handbook' similar to the Spectrum version. This time, though, this is not a disadvantage as everything is laid out clearly and in logical order. The game has an 'easy' mode where the computer cannot 'think' while you are considering your move. There is also the facility to have the program dump a hard copy of the game to printer. The game itself has both 2D and 3D options but, unlike the MyChess program, the 3D version is very, very smooth, a real joy to behold as the pieces, clearly shown, seem to glide around the board. The real strength of QL-Chess is in the program itself, the winner of the World Microcomputer Championship. It boasts no less than 14 levels of play ranging from novice, where the program plays more weakly if it is winning, to Championship with infinite response time. Playing the game at Tournament level (equivalent to level 10 of QL-Chess) resulted in five games against the Fidelity being drawn. QL-Chess then, is an excellent program that should suit all players from the novice upwards. The serious chess player might even consider buying the QL rather than a dedicated chess computer. OTHELLO Now a classic from more recent times, Reversi - or Othello. Two players use an eight by eight grid (like a chess board) and twin sided counters one side black, one side white. The object is to dominate as many squares as possible with your own colour by 'capturing' your opponent's pieces, causing them to be turned over to show your colour. The game continues until neither player can make a move. If it sounds a little complicated when written down, just watch the sample game in the pack before you buy to help you make up your mind. The graphics with the game are rather poor consisting of red circles depicting white counters and red discs for black, but the game it plays is very strong - I was totally unable to beat it even after reading the note on hints and strategy in the instruction leaflet. Othello is one of those games it takes a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. To help in this, though, the program has the facility to set up games at any stage like the problem solving modes in chess. Reversi is a very strong program badly let down by poor graphics that would probably soon lose your interest. The next classic of this month is Backgammon, another program from Psion for the Spectrum. BACKGAMMON The game is about 3000 years old and involves men (rather like draught pieces) on a board consisting of 24 'points' arranged in four 'tables' of six each. The number of spaces moved each turn is decided by a dice throw. The first player to move all his pieces off the board is the winner. This sounds pretty simple with a high chance element but there is one snag... Two dice are thrown and you can use the throw to move two pieces or the same piece twice - throwing a double gives you four moves. You cannot move a piece onto a point occupied by two or more enemy pieces (a block). If you land on a single enemy this piece is 'hit' and removed from the board. Your opponent must use his next throw to bring the piece back into play on your home table. If he cannot do this because he is blocked, the move is forfeit. So you can see the game has very strong tactical elements too. The Spectrum version of the game offers four levels of play and the option to throw your own dice if you think the machine is cheating - perhaps it was coincidence but it always seemed to throw a double when it was in trouble! The display is very clear and, as the program is written in machine code, the responses are almost instant. Backgammon, or at least this version, is very addictive and I was soon carried away, building blocks and cursing the machine's good fortune. Most enjoyable and available on both cassette and ROM cartridge. SCRABBLE I'm sure that Scrabble is a game that doesn't need much introduction from me as it is seen in toyshops worldwide and has spawned countless TV quizzes. For any that haven't played though, the object is to use the seven letter tiles at your disposal each turn to join with the letter tiles already laid to form a new word for which points are scored. The words laid down must appear in the chosen reference dictionary. Play continues until all times have been laid or the players decide to call a halt - usually when they are left with a handful of unusable letters. Certain squares improve the value of various words and letters. When play stops, the value of a player's unplayed tiles is subtracted from the total they have accumulated throughout the game. The player with the most points is the winner. Up to four players can try Sinclair's Scrabble on any of its four levels and games can be saved for later reloading. As far as I can see there are no options denied the computer Scrabbler that the conventional player might use. You can shuffle the tiles about on your rack, change them all or note the value and distribution of the pieces. The 11,000 word plus 'dictionary' in the program allows many words to be checked and accepted by the computer but the more outlandish suggestions will be challenged. The machine is quite happy to believe you if you tell it the word is valid don't be tempted to cheat though! Playing the game is very easy. Just use the cursor keys to choose the position for the first letter of your word, and type A or D depending on whether the word is to run across or down the board. Then just type it in. The computer won't let you use letters you don't have or position words incorrectly. The only difficulty I experienced was in making out the premium letter and word squares - they seem tiny even by Spectrum standards. In summary, I had a lot of fun with Scrabble and, if you're keen on this sort of game, it is good value for money. A nice, well programmed game. Next month I shall be looking at the ancient games of Go and Kalah and computer versions of Monopoly, Cluedo, Kensington and Bridge (not Tony, although he's a classic too).

Crash

Producer: Psion, 48K £7.95 Psion's sensible graphics make this an easy game on the eye. You may play either black or white against the computer, reverse roles or change the skill level during a game.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair User

John Gilbert

INTERFACE GAMES ARE FAST BUT NOT FURIOUS John Gilbert reviews the ROM cartridge software currently available. The Sinclair Research Interface Two has had few kind words said about it and that it is not surprising. The add-on is supposed to give the Spectrum the ROM potential of the Atari games consoles and computers into which you can plug ROM cartridges which will load games into the machine directly on power-up. It should have been the ideal add-on for users who want a quick-load device and no messing with tape recorders or even Microdrives. The main difficulties with the idea are that the software available consists of reproductions of arcade games which are already on the market and that many software companies have been deterred from producing software for the interface because of the conditions attached to ordering. At the moment companies have to order batches of 1,000 cartridges in a sector of the market which is not fully-established. It is a risky business even for a company as established as Melbourne House or Psion. The situation could develop so that Sinclair is the only company producing the ROM cartridges. It certainly has the monopoly now. The first ROM packages, together with their colourfully-styled display boxes, to arrive on the market were titles which already existed on the cassette format in the Sinclair software library. They included Planetoids, Backgammon and Space Raiders which are all from Psion. The packages, one of which appeared originally on the ZX-81, are not particularly innovative or awe-inspiring and they are certainly not the kind of titles which would be expected to be produced when bunching a new peripheral for a prime-selling microcomputer. It is as if Sinclair could not wait to get Interface Two out of the way and so complete its obligations for peripherals for the Spectrum. One reason may well have been that the new QL machine was occupying its thoughts. Backgammon featured as the only mind game in the first release, the others being held back because the Psion games were the quickest to produce. It is a pity that Backgammon was first instead of the chess package, which was left until later - chess has a far greater appeal to the majority of home computer users. Fortunately there was a gap of only two months before Chess was released and it has proved to be one of the better software packages in the launch. Space Raiders is a painfully slow version of Space Invaders and could just as well be bought on cassette more cheaply. There are three spaceships with which you can fire at the aliens which amble across the screen. Once you have finished one screen of the game, and that is not difficult, you will progress to the next level which is just as difficult or easy as the first. That makes the game a push-over and there is little challenge to tax even the newcomer to the arcade game scene. Like most of the games in the range the price of the program on cassette is only £5 but the ROM version costs almost £10. Considering that the software does not show off either the graphics, colour or sound of the Spectrum to best effect it does not seem advantageous to buy the ROM version. Planetoids is another arcade game with a familiar theme. Your spaceship first appears stationed at the centre of the screen and asteroids start to close in on it. You must try to destroy them and avoid the ones you miss. Alien spaceships make your task even more impossible. The standard of the game is reasonable for the market, even though it was first produced in late 1982. The graphics are better than the original Atari version of Asteroids. The ship and the planetoids have been given a solid, almost three dimensional quality. The program has a wrapround screen which allows your spaceship to go off one side and return on the other. That causes a strange effect when your ship fires across the screen, as the missiles will disappear off one edge and reappear somewhere else. The rogue missiles could even cause you to have some nasty accidents shooting at yourself. Those packages comprised the ROMs available at the launch of Interface Two and there was a considerable wait until the other ROMs were launched in December. The new packages include some old favourites from Melbourne House, already in the Sinclair software library, and some releases introduced by Ultimate Play the Game. The Melbourne house offerings feature the clown of the software scene. The newest Horace adventure is not on ROM but it is pleasant to see Hungry Horace having a re-birth and Horace and the Spiders on ROM. For those who know nothing of the Horace myth he is a little round, Pacman-type creature who has the habit of annoying everyone he meets. Each of the games has a cute plot and Hungry Horace sees the round man taking the part of a Pac-man. He is, however, no ordinary powerpill eater. He has to eat the flowers in the park and avoid the keepers who will throw him out if he is discovered. If you go through one maze into another there will be more surprises and if you are adept enough you may start to think that there is no limit to the number of mazes in the game. Horace and the Spiders is slightly different Horace has to dodge the spiders to gain points before he can reach the main part of the game which takes place in a cobwebbed house. You must destroy the spiders and their webs if you are to win the game. The Horace adventures are a pleasure to play and it is good to see them in a format where they can be loaded immediately you feel like a quick game. The range of Ultimate games is also worth having on cartridge, although they could be bought more cheaply on cassette from that company. In chronological order, Jet Pac was the first game Ultimate produced for the Spectrum. In it you play a spaceman whose task is to deliver and assemble spaceship kits and to collect valuable treasures on the way. You will be faced with all kinds of odd creatures which you must avoid and destroy to complete your task. The other games from Ultimate are Pssst, which involves a robot keeping away the bugs from a sunflower, and Cookie, which involves a chef bouncing ingredients for a cake, avoiding the nasties in the larder and keeping clear of the bins. Both games are arcade standard in quality and benefit from the ROM treatment. The only mind game in the second release of ROM software is Chess. It is the original cassette version which has existed since the title was launched, with no changes. That is surprising since Mikro Gen, the original manufacturer of the game, has produced an upgraded version. The game is standard so far as computer chess goes with options for playing or setting-up the board to play in particular situations. There are 10 levels and the highest, nine, takes several minutes to make a move. Each move for both you and your opponent is monitored in seconds, minutes and hours on a chess clock above the board on the screen. The future of the ROM interface is still uncertain and many software houses are unsure what they will do in the way of supporting it. It seems unlikely that any large-scale production of programs on Sinclair standard ROMs is planned in the software industry and Sinclair could be in the unenviable position of having a monopoly of ROM software. Sinclair Research hopes to produce some language and utility packages for Interface Two but the company still has no idea which language or utilities will be available, or when. It is likely that a ROM version of Micro-Prolog will be available soon but no firm date is being given even for that step forward. The indications are that it will be the last interface for the Spectrum. The buffer at the back of the board will support only a ZX printer and Sinclair has given no intention of producing more peripherals for its home market machine. It would therefore seem logical to support the interfaces it already has as far as it can and to promote the use of those devices as much as possible. As far as Interface Two is concerned it has crept on to the market with more of a whisper than the bang which was expected.

'The company has no idea which utilities will be available.'

'The packages are not innovative or awe-inspiring.'

Crash

Producer: Psion, 48K £7.95 Psion's sensible graphics make this an easy game on the eye. You may play either black or white against the computer, reverse roles or change the skill level during a game.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Getting Started 8/10

Value 8/10

Playability 7/10

Terry Pratt

The Spectrum's graphics face a severe test when asked to produce a good chess board with easily distinguished pieces. So far I have yet to see a board which is easy on the eye and doesn't have at least two piece symbols too close for comfort. The Psion game, which comes courtesy of Microgen, seems to have trouble with pawns and bishops and I had to look hard in some positions to spot a bishop hiding in a pawn chain. Given this problem and the usual difficulties with keying-in the E2-E4 format, which usually causes me problems when keen to play a good move with black, it's a pity this game does not include a facility to allow you to change mistakes. Many an interesting position went down the drain after I simply mis-pressed a square and sent a rook, pawn or queen into a dangerous position instead of the one I intended. Still this Psion tape is probably the best Spectrum chess around so if you can learn to live with these shortcomings, you will manage to get some decent games out of it. The levels are 0-9 and levels one, two and three all play a fast and fair game. The program allows you to set up a board position to play from and I particularly enjoyed the chance to turn the screen position and moves so far onto the Spectrum printer. Current games can also be saved on cassette. The game costs £7.95.

GAMES GLOSSARY If you can tell a Pacman from a Defender and a Galaxian from a Space Invader you probably know your way around computer games. But if some of the game terms we have used in this supplement, or in the issue itself, are new to you, then this page should supply the answers. In it we take some of the best known types of computer game and describe how they are played and what features these games normally incorporate. So, if we claim that Penetrator is a "Scramble-type game" and that leaves you just as much in the dark about what to expect, then below there is a full description of Scramble to put you in the picture. ASTEROIDS The Asteroids came into the arcades courtesy of Atari. It features a small dart-shaped craft controlled by the player which can rotate left or right and thrust or fire in the direction it is facing. There is one further control, the panic button (hyperspace) which lets you travel to another part of the screen chosen by the computer. The enemy is mainly made up of large asteroids which sweep across the screen in large deadly groups of rock. When blown up these break into smaller fragments worth extra points. There is extra danger supplied by two UFOs. The first larger creature you'll meet fairly early on. It tends to spray shots in all directions and often crashes into an asteroid. The smaller variety is far more deadly in its own shooting and also more difficult to hit. Each cleared screen means you start again with extra asteroids. DEFENDER You can't expect to keep a finger on every control button in Defender or you'd end up in knots. The action, which takes place above an alien landscape, involves some seven control buttons and takes patience to gain proper mastery of your lone craft. That patience can be rewarded though, as Defender is challenging from the word "Go". The Defender craft can go: up, down, thrust forward, reverse direction, fire, smart bomb and hyperspace. Ten humanoids wander on the landscape and these may fall prey to raiding alien creatures known as Landers. Landers pick up the humanoids and take them to the top of the screen. If they succeed in getting there the Landers turn into fearsome mutants hellbent on your destruction. In all there are six alien opponents. On top of Landers and Mutants, these are: Pods are quite harmless but contain the small and persistent Swarmers; Bombers seed space with white bombs and Baiters only appear if you take too long clearing a screen of the rest of the aliens. If all 10 humanoids are captured, the planet explodes and all remaining alien life attacks your craft at once. Defender games usually feature a small radar screen which shows what is going on at all parts of the planet surface. FROGGER Frogger has spawned a whole host of computer games with a similar theme. This game features a frog hero who must jump across a road and make his way across a river torrent to five frog-holes in the bank. The busy road usually features live streams of traffic travelling in both directions at varying speeds, between which the player must hop his frog without wrapping it around any fenders. Once across the road, the river can be crossed by leaping onto floating logs and onto the back of swimming turtles, until our frog can enter a vacant spot in the far bank. Turtles have a habit of diving though so don't let a frog dally too long on one. Being carried off the edge of the screen (by log or turtle) also results in a note in the funeral column of Amphibians' Weekly. When all five frog-holes have been filled, the game becomes more difficult with extra traffic being added to the road, snakes traversing the bank between road and river and alligators appearing instead of logs in the river. A timer running down on each frog also adds to the difficulties. The arcade original also featured a small lady frog who could be "picked up" on the logs and offered a lift home for a bonus. Other bonuses can be scored by entering a frog-hole in which a tasty fly meal has come to rest. DONKEY KONG Donkey Kong is the strange name for a climbing and jumping game which features a starlet-grabbing monster gorilla. Often referred to as Crazy Kong or Crazy Climber in the computer circles, it has only just found its way onto the home screen. The game features a gorilla holding a girl captive at the top of the screen and an intrepid hero (Mario the carpenter), who starts at the bottom of the screen. Between the two is a connecting network of platforms and ladders up which Mario must run to achieve his rescue. Kong hurls barrels down the screen and Mario makes use of his "jump" button to leap over them. He can also grab a hammer and smash the barrels as they approach him. Once at the top of the screen a new complex is built with Mario, again starting from the bottom with a view to rescue. This time the screen features a series of conveyor belts and deadly fires which travel around on the ladders and belts. GALAXIANS The Galaxians were the sons of Space Invaders. Instead of proceeding down the screen at a leisurely pace, they wavered at the top of the screen before swooping down in batches of two or three (or more often on a solo mission) firing bombs. The player has the usual left, right and fire controls on his laser base and must take care not to get trapped in a corner. He scores double points for a galaxian hit in mid-swoop and there are bonus points for taking out the red fleet commanders, who usually descend flanked by their generals, dispersing bombs at such a rate that the first instinct is to flee for cover. That is the essence of Galaxians but with each destroyed platoon, new waves appear at screen top and their attacks become more frequent, more accurate and, all too often, more deadly! PACMAN The ghostly world of Pacman is made up of a dot-filled maze, a hungry dot-eater and four pursuing spectres. Pacman variations can be found under a whole range of titles from Vic-men to Gobbleman, Snapper to Super Glooper and many others. Most dot-eating games are related to it. The main character is the dot-eater, which travels around the maze, eating every dot he touches. His objective is to clear the screen of dots. He is hampered in this by the four chasing ghosts whose touch is lethal. The Pacman's main defence against the ghosts, who usually number four, are energiser dots. These pulse in the four corners of the maze and, upon being eaten, reverse the roles for a short while. This means that Pacman can turn the tables on the ghosts and eat them for bonus points. He is allowed only a few seconds of dominance before the usual hunter and hunted rules come back into operation. It is also usual for fruits to appear on the screen occasionally and these too can be consumed by Pacman for bonus points. When Pacman has cleared the screen, it refills with dots and the game restarts except that this time the ghosts are a little livelier and a new fruit, worth extra points, appears at this level. SCRAMBLE Scramble should have a big one-way sign on its cabinet. The screen rolls from right to left, taking the player's craft along it into ever-increasing danger. Scramble variations often contain the word "Mission" or "Attack" but there are some weird and wonderful titles about. The player controls a craft heading right across the screen over hilly terrain His craft can never turn around and opt out of its mission but he does have some control over his destiny. His controls are up and down, fast and slow and he can both bomb and fire at his enemies. The Scrambler is not usually equipped with enough fuel to complete his task, but it is normal to obtain more fuel by bombing fuel tanks on the ground and so (mysteriously) replenish his own stocks. The enemies come in all shapes and sizes. Most common are missiles which fire up from the ground as your craft passes overhead and alien invader creatures which frequently inhabit caves and fly at the player's craft. The original Scramble game sent the player through a series of different terrains with new challenges in each section. And most computer Scrambles attempt to duplicate this with a number of different stages. Scramble requires a cool head which can find the right control in a crisis, but it makes an ideal computer game as success naturally leads to new and more difficult stages. INVADERS Space Invaders started the whole computer game craze back in 1977 and most gamers know the format backwards. Still, just a brief resume... The invaders come in waves above the ground and move in rows across the screen one step at a time, firing missiles earthwards. When one row of the aliens reach an edge of the screen, the whole platoon jump down a line and return back the way they came. When they achieve their slow progression to the bottom of the screen, the game ends. The player controls a laser base which moves left to right and fires directly up from its position. His aim is to blow up the entire fleet before it reaches the bottom of the screen. Flying saucers move across the top of the screen in both directions and can be hit for a mystery bonus score. In the arcade original, top saucer scores of 300 were achieved by firing 22 shots before shooting at the first saucer, then firing 14 shots in between each subsequent saucer. Some computer versions have copied this technique.

TIME AND MOTION The classic board games transfer well to computers who make better than average opponents on all the games dealt with here. But there is more to choosing a chess, backgammon, draughts or reversi program, than picking one which will beat you every time. Most important in these programs are a display that is clear and easy on the eye, coupled with pieces which can be easily recognised. Programs which use disturbing colour clashes or badly shaped pieces will hardly help a player trying to give caretul study to a critical position. The program should also draw a player's attention to its move. Both an audio and visual signal should be included to let the player know it's moving and which place it is changing. A good response time is crucial. If left to its own devices for long enough most computers can come up with a good move. But long study should be the human player's prerogative - computers are used for their speed. Finally an easy-to-understand, and implement, move input system will ensure that the program does not start gathering dust after the first few tries. In chess it is difficult to come up with anything better than E2-E4 but this can easily lead to a mistake which is still a valid move and completely ruin a player's chances. Few programs allow the player to take a move back, try and find one that does. Other key things to question with regard to chess: does the program always respond to P-Q4 openings the same way? If so you're in for a dull opening repertoire. Does it play forced moves quickly? Does it keep its head when things go wrong? Some programs just give up on bad positions. Terry Pratt

Your Computer

Simon Beesley

SPECTRUM SOFTWARE Simon Beesley brave attacks by trolls, bombardment by meteoroids, alien invasions and even English literature to bring you up to date with Spectrum software. The quality of Spectrum software has improved since our last survey but originality remains in short supply. Most of the programs looked at are games programs and the bulk of these are modelled on the arcade classics, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Defender and Asteroids. Perhaps this is because the games-buying public is only interested in games that fall into a recognisable category. Some of the programs are written entirely in Basic. This need not count against them unless the program displays moving graphics. The Spectrum's keyboard is not very suitable for fast-moving games although Quicksilva and Softek offer a joystick option on some games. Sinclair has released a large range of programs written for them by ICL and Psion. By and large the ICL programs compare badly with those from Psion and have a rather amateurish look to them. Each of the tapes in the ICL games series, Games 1 to 4, contains four short Basic programs with titles such as Galactic Invasion, Skittles and Train Race. These are the sort of programs a reader might like to key in from a listing in a magazine. They are fairly simple and afford a limited entertainment for a short period. In view of their variety each package represents reasonable value although they are perhaps more suitable for young people. ICL has also produced five titles in a Fun to Learn series covering Music, History, English Literature, Geography and Inventions. They present a variety of quizzes on their respective subjects. Players can compete against each other in a race in which correct answers send them further along the track. It is difficult to know who these programs are aimed at. One soon runs through the stock of questions and the same names appear in different types of question. Some of the information presented is too obscure or eccentric to make the programs suitable for schools. In the English Literature quiz, for example, Ian Fleming rubs shoulders with Shakespeare and little-known seventeenth century playwrights. Psion's collection of programs is far more satisfactory. Hungry Horace is loosely related to Pac-Man but has a number of original features. Horace has to eat the flowers in a park while avoiding the park guards. Sinclair gives a fair description of Horace as a subtle and amusing cartoon-style game. Psion's 48K chess program was written in conjunction with Microgen. It plays a remarkably strong game even at the lower levels. As an averagely competent player I found it quite hard to beat at level two, although its play seemed to come adrift under pressure. The program's response time is quick and the pieces are quite easily distinguished. Space Raiders and Planetoids are Psion's versions of the arcade games Invaders and Asteroids. Anyone who still has an appetite for these games will find the Psion products more than adequate. With Vu-Calc, Psion has scaled down a Visi Calc-type program to the dimensions of the home micro. These programs, which are commonly used on business micros, are usually described as providing a financial spreadsheet. They enable the user to lay out financial data in rows and columns and enter formulae to run calculations on parts or all of the table. Vu-Calc supplies a range of commands for entering data, text or formulae and performing calculations. Basic programs which have been compiled by Softek's compiler, Super C, run - typically - 10 times faster. The compiler sits at the top of memory above RAMtop and is unaffected by a New command. It leaves room for a Basic program of up to 8K and a further 10K for data. The present version cannot cope with decimals, arrays or string variables. These limitations need not be too constricting. Strings, at least, can be stored in the data areas as ASCII codes and accessed through Peeks. At £14.95 this is good value; particularly since it enables people to write commercially respectable programs without having to master machine code. However Softek insists that anyone planning to sell programs created with the compiler should negotiate for the rights. Softek claims that trace elements have been included to detect code written with Super C. The arcade game Asteroids crops up on almost every micro. Softek's version Meteoroids is one of the fastest for the Spectrum with good colour and sound. Softime supplies the Spectrum with a digital clock and alarm at the top of the screen which remains there while other programs are loaded and running. The last program in Softek's list is Zolan Adventure, a standard text adventure game which has the merit of fitting into 16K. Quicksilva gave Time Gate considerable advance publicity claiming it would make as great an impact on the computer games' world as had Atari's Star Raiders. As it turns out the game closely resembles Star Raiders. Given that the Atari is a rather more sophisticated computer it is not surprising that the Spectrum version of the game does not match the original. Time Gate presents a view from the cockpit of a spaceship. An instrument panel below contains a long-range scanner and a variety of other indicators giving information on the ship's position and damage incurred. Your mission is to clear 18 galactic sectors of enemy craft. The business of locating and firing on enemy ships is not as interesting as attending to all the other procedures. The controls are not as responsive as on the Atari. Nonetheless this is an elaborate game with excellent graphics - certainly one of the best so far for the Spectrum. In an impressive piece of synthesised speech Quicksilva's chess program announces itself at the beginning with 'this is the Chess Player'. Rather startlingly the packaging relates how the Chess Player, an Evil Being, has called for a challenger from Earth. The planet's survival hangs on your game - and you thought you were just going to have a quiet game of chess. In the event the program plays quite a strong game with the option of six levels of play. The board is clearly displayed and the pieces are well designed. Psion's chess program, however, is probably the better player. Meteor Storm, another version of Asteroids, also announces itself but rather indistinctly. There is not much to choose between this and Planetoids or Meteoroids. The major problem for software companies writing an Asteroids-type game must be in finding an alternative title. Spectres from Bug-Bvte gives a novel twist to the Pac-Man concept. Eddie the electrician has to rewire a haunted house. Instead of eating or picking up objects in his path he lays down light bulbs. Reaching one of the four power generators enables him to illuminate the house and drive off ghosts. The game has a highly individual flavour. The characters which glide around at a fairly leisurely pace, are engagingly different from the standard Pac-Man figures. This is one of the more original games yet to appear for the Spectrum. Gulpman from Campbell Systems is also based on Pac-Man but refreshingly breaks away from the standard format. It offers a choice of 15 different mazes and allows the speed of play to be set. At the highest levels your little man dashes around the maze at quite a pace. By contrast Jega's Specman, written in Basic, is dismally slow. Sometimes the ghosts seem to be stricken with paralysis and unwilling to take up the chase. Escape from New Generation Software is a variation on the maze theme which involves escaping from dinosaurs. The dinosaurs - brontosauri, pterodactyls and such like - pursue the player's character with considerable animation through the maze which is shown in bird's-eye view. Silversoft's games Orbiter and Ground Attack are probably the best Spectrum versions of the arcade games Defender and Scramble. Ground Attack requires the player to fly a plane through a series of caverns and avoid or destroy missile attacks from the ground. Scramble from Work Force is similar but marginally slower. Likewise Avenger - Abacus' version of Defender - is competent but not quite as accomplished as Silversoft's. MYSTERY MEETING A gold sundial worth £6,000 is the prize for the first person to solve all the clues in the adventure game Pimania. As in Kit Williams' book Masquerade, deciphering all the clues will lead the winner to a meeting at a specific time and place with representatives from the authors of the game, Automata Ltd. The other side of the program tape contains a disco single. Automata say that the clues are scattered in the music, the program and the graphics. Although we did not proceed very far with the quest the music and opening graphics seemed to bear out Automata's claim that the world of the Pi Man is totally bizarre. Melbourne House has based The Hobbit, on the novel by Tolkien. It helps to have read the book in finding your way about. The Hobbit is claimed to be an advance on other adventure games because it introduces other characters from the book who react to the player in the role of Bilbo with an independent life of their own. It also allows you - in a limited fashion to enter sentences rather than single words as commands. In practice these extra features do not amount to much and give the program greater scope for the sort of inconsistencies adventure programs are prone to. Thorin, for example, repeatedly enters the scene and tells you to hurry up. This is irritating because you were unaware that he had left and he seems to be totally devoid of constructive ideas. It is not a good idea, however, to kill him off since he sometimes proves too strong for your attack. Furthermore the manual suggests that you should stay on good terms with the other members of your party if you are to succeed in your quest. Many of the locations in the adventure are illustrated by some excellent graphics. We only managed to complete 7.5 percent of the game during which the text was accompanied by six different pictures. The graphics coupled with a more varied plot than usual make The Hobbit superior to any other adventure games available for the Spectrum. Both the assemblers tested, from ACS and PI software, require Z-80 mnemonics to be entered in Rem statements and both allow addresses to be replaced by labels. The ACS assembler, Ultraviolet, costs twice as much at £7.50 but offers several extra features. It allows multiple statement lines and provides five pseudo-instructions such as DEFS, which inserts a string of ASCII characters at the current assembly position. ACS also supplies a disassembler, infrared. Like the assembler this has two different versions for 16K or 48K machines. The program is easy to use and docs all you might expect from it. Company: SN Program Name: Games 1-4 Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: SN Program Name: Hungry Horace Memory Required: 16K Price: £5.95 Company: SN Program Name: Fun to Learn Memory Required: 16K Price: £6.95 Company: SN Program Name: Chess Memory Required: 48K Price: £7.95 Company: SN Program Name: Vu-Calc Memory Required: 48K Price: £8.95 Company: SN Program Name: Space Raiders Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: SN Program Name: Planetoids Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: QS Program Name: The Chess Player Memory Required: 48K Price: £6.95 Company: QS Program Name: Time Gate Memory Required: 48K Price: £6.95 Company: QS Program Name: Meteor Storm Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: SF Program Name: Super C Memory Required: 48K Price: £14.95 Company: SF Program Name: Meteoroids Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: SF Program Name: Softime Memory Required: 16K Price: £3.95 Company: SF Program Name: Zolan Adventure Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: SS Program Name: Orbiter Memory Required: 16K Price: £5.95 Company: SS Program Name: Ground Attack Memory Required: 16K Price: £5.95 Company: MH Program Name: The Hobbit Memory Required: 48K Price: £14.95 Company: AU Program Name: Pimania Memory Required: 48K Price: £10 Company: WF Program Name: Scramble Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: AB Program Name: Avenger Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: CS Program Name: Gulpman Memory Required: 16K Price: £5.95 Company: JS Program Name: Specman Memory Required: 16K Price: £5.95 Company: AC Program Name: Ultraviolet Memory Required: 16K Price: £7.50 Company: AC Program Name: Infrared Memory Required: 16K Price: £6.75 Company: PI Program Name: Assembler Memory Required: 16K Price: £3.75 Company: NG Program Name: Escape Memory Required: 16K Price: £4.95 Company: BB Program Name: Spectres Memory Required: 16K Price: £8