CLUE'S 'O'

ZX Computing

Brian Robb

An interesting adventure, this one. At first glance it appears to be a standard text/graphics adventure, from a little known software house, but upon closer inspection it is obvious that "Clueso" has something a little special. The plot is basically a murder/mystery set in France, as indicated by the loading screen which shows a detective and a window view of Paris, including, of course, the Eiffel Tower. The layout of the game is in the form of a small graphic picture, though not all locations are accompanied with illustrations. Some of these graphics are very nice, and they are all followed by a text description of the location. This all sounds like pretty standard stuff, and indeed it is, but as I said, this game has that little extra - a sense of humour. One of the first things the player finds is a ringing telephone (complete with sound effect) which when answered is revealed to be a wrong number. Later on, though, the phone plays a more useful purpose. Another nice touch is the use of French. Instead of replying with the boring "I don't understand" when stuck for words, this program uses the French equivalent "Je ne comprend pas". But as with the telephone, the use of French is not only there for variety and a knowledge of the language comes in handy later on. Overall, "Clueso" is an enjoyable program, with fast responses and a strong sense of humour. This game is recommended - as long as you know your French! Available from Imperial Software, [redacted].

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Personal Rating 5/10

Keith Campbell 5/10

Here is another detective Adventure, with an awful pun as the title! You play the part of a French detective, but that is not to say you have to bungle things! You are outside "Chez Fawcett", about to investigate the death of Major Fawcett. Lying around the house are various clues and using these you must put two and two together to solve the mystery of who dunnit. There are various characters around who may be questioned, including the gardener, who gets very upset if you try to dig up his prize lawn! The Adventure is quite well written, with graphics at many locations. Unfortunately, the presentation is very ordinary - the text display is only passable, for instance, "you also see:-" remains on the screen even if there is nothing following it - and the graphics are rather mundane, although instant. Of course, it is all very well joking about Sherlock and its bugs - perhaps one does that because one expects so much from it. However, Sherlock very much puts a game like Clues 'O' in the shade, for the characters seem lifeless and wooden in comparison with Basil, Watson and co. In fact, I mistook Mrs Fawcett, who I discovered in the cellar, to be a corpse! No "Good morning, Clueso" or "That is brilliant, Clueso", from her! In fact she let me kick her and prod her at will without any sign of protestation! She uttered one cryptic sentence when I questioned her, and promptly left the cellar! There is some humour in the game, especially over the french doors, where the computer thinks you are getting English and French mixed up! Clues 'O' is from Imperial Software, for the 48k Spectrum, priced £8.95. I think it is overpriced.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT Buying computer games can be an expensive business. Some can cost anything up to £14. To buy all the latest titles as they come onto the market would cost a small fortune. And that's beyond the pocket of most people. So it's no wonder that software companies have started producing a range of games costing no more than a couple of pounds. Unfortunately, besides being cheap, some were very nasty and a waste of money. It seemed far better to save up and buy a top price game. But such is the potential of the market that the quality of the games has improved while the prices have been kept low. So Computer & Video Games thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the current budget games on the market from software houses. Firebird, British Telecom's software company, is now in the process of updating its Silver catalogue which was launched in October 1984 with great success, with all the games selling for £2.50. Star of the original 20 titles was undoubtedly Booty on the Spectrum 48k and Commodore 64 which, claims Firebird, has sales now in excess of 100,000. It's now being converted to the Amstrad and should be available by late summer. In Booty, Jim the cabin boy faces death by drowning or at the hands of the Ghost Pirate as he searches through the hold of the Black Galleon in search of treasure. Another favourite is Gogo the Ghost on the Commodore 64 which has, believe it or not, 150 frames of haunted happenings. New games shortly to be introduced into the Silver range are Microcosm for the BBC B, Subsunk for the Commodore 64 and Don't Panic for the 16k and 48k Spectrum. Mastertronic, formed in April 1984, now claims to be the brand leader in budget games - its extensive range sells for just £1.99 each. In its first 12 months of trading, Mastertronic says it has audited figures of sales for two million games. New developments for 1985 in the £1.99 range include two semi-educational games in its Mistertronic titles - Make Music with Mistertronic and Type Rope - aimed at the six to 11 age range. Earlier this year, Atlantis Software launched three games under its new Atlantis Gold label, selling at £2.99 each. They were the Dungeons and Dragons-style Adventure Velnor's Lair for the Commodore 64 and Nicotine Nightmare and Self Destruct, both on the Spectrum 48k. The last two have proved so popular that Atlantis is in the process of converting them for the Amstrad - a move which again points to the growing popularity of the machine. Mike Cole, of Atlantis, says: "We believe in the Amstrad as the next thing to come. It's a lovely machine. We will be supporting it." Being launched this spring is The Sparkler range of games from Creative Sparks at £2.50. Sandy Mackenzie, of Creative Sparks, says: "There is a a need to supply good quality software at prices affordable to kids". The company's decision to produce cheap software was prompted to a great extent by the large number of excellent games sent in by amateur writers. "By promoting games in the budget range," says Sandy, "we are opening the industry to new talent, and also serving the interest of games buyers by publishing good games at reasonable prices. After all, low prices doesn't have to mean low quality." Soit seems that pocket-money power is being recognised at last and computer star wars could soon become computer price wars. About time, too!