It's Only Rock 'n' Roll + The Tomb of Dracula

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 2/5

Playability 3/5

Use Of Machine 3/5

Overall Value 3/5

Bill Davies

Bob Chappell

Geof Wheelwight

Jim Ballard

Mike Gerrard

Simon Williams

PCN MICROPAEDIA VOL 21 PART 2 GAMES GALORE PCN stacks up the best games on the block for Spectrum Dragon Atari BBC As promised in our last issue, here is the second part of the games Micropaedia. If you didn't find something to suit your taste last week you'll probably have more luck this time around. The featured micros are the Spectrum, BBC Micro B, Dragon 32 and Atari. On the following 2 pages we present a selection for the Sinclair Spectrum - both for 16K and 48K machines. NAME: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll/Tomb of Dracula SYSTEM: 48K Spectrum PRICE: £6.95 PUBLISHER: K-Tel, [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Basic OTHER VERSIONS: Commodore 64 OUTLETS: Retail The 'A' side of this tape is a simulation in which you play the part of a rock group - yes, all on your own - and must earn £1m and collect three status symbols to show you've made it to the top. 'B' side is a 'Hunt the Wumpus' type of game in which you must plot your path through the grid making up Dracula's Tomb, with simple graphics of the zombies and ghouls you might meet on the way. The 'A' side is thankfully better, and the first thing you must do is provide a name for your rock formation. I settled on the obvious, The Spectrums, chose from the three skill levels and then viewed the initial Status Report. This shows your managerial status, royalty rate if you have a recording contract, cash in the bank and time elapsed. The main menu shows the type of options you will be dealing with: write a song, tour, concert, consult your manager, buy a status symbol, make a record or rest. The first major problem, after you've got yourself a manager and a recording contract, is to gain enough popularity so that the recording company will finance you. You start off busking to earn a little money, and can then proceed to pub gigs and club performances. K-Tel made their name from re-packaging record hits, but they won't repeat that success in the micro market by putting out mediocre software like this. Micropaedia Editor: Geof Wheelwright Design: Paul Clarkson Contributors: Jim Ballard, Bob Chappell, Bill Davies, Mike Gerrard and Simon Williams NEXT WEEK We begin a five-part series of detailed graphics techniques for the BBC Micro, the Acorn Electron, the Oric Atmos, the Oric-1, the Atari series of home computers, the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair Spectrum.

Crash

Use of Computer 44%

Graphics 38%

Playability 40%

Getting Started 54%

Addictive Qualities 37%

Value For Money 35%

Overall 41%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: K-Tel Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: BASIC This manages to sound a little like the sort of dreary double bill playing at your local on a wet Sunday afternoon. Actually it's an adventure game and a strategy game. It's only Rock 'N' Roll follows the option menu strategy formula, the idea being to make it to the top of the music recording business. You have several main options like doing a tour, doing a concert, hiring a manager, making a record, buying a status symbol or writing a song for your group. The program's method of writing songs would have done David Bowie proud, with the cut-it-up-and-stick-it-down method that results in such gems as: Why does she like puking Shall I wipe your nose So give me some Da wop bop do Kissing is like a dirty joke Don't you phone her up Don't do that, it's rude Sing it baby She never did like dribbling Shall I tickle it So lay down and be nice Come on feel that beat With songs like that you could be getting a contract from Virgin any day! (They'll probably put the hit single out on K-Tel later). Other elements of the game include your energy and happiness status, popularity and fan clubs. Since you start off with very little in the way of loot, concerts are restricted to busking and tours are way beyond your reach. It's also impossible to make a record unless you have a record contract - and getting one is not simple. Drugs probes and various other scandals can affect your popularity, and, as this is a real simulation, the more scandals you are caught up in, the more popular you become. Tomb of Dracula is another matter altogether, a sort of graphics and text adventure where you enter the tomb - a series of character block-sized rooms, some empty, some with treasure and some with ghouls in them. Depending on what number of silver stakes you are carrying (you start with 7) you will either beat or be defeated by whatever ghoul you meet. Skill plays no part. COMMENTS Use of colour poor Graphics: poor Sound: reasonable tunes, but otherwise poor Skill levels: 1

And our next object is a - ZOMBIE, a ZOMBIE...

Your Spectrum

Corrie Brown

Peter Shaw

Stewart McPherson

SPECTRUM SOFT Starting this issue Your Spectrum will be touring computer clubs up and down the country in an effort to find dedicated games enthusiasts who will give us their impressions, thoughts and feelings on the current selection of new releases. Little do they know it, but these unsuspecting souls will be contributing a large slice of our regular review section in the future. This month we visited the Stanwell Computer Club (which meets weekly at the Stanwell School, Short Lane, every Friday evening from 7-10pm). Five of the resident 'freaks' were enlisted to tell us (and you) what was good or bad about the programs we gave them to play around with. In some cases comment was justifiably harsh, and in others they could hardly contain their glee at coming across a really well thought-out game. The guinea-pig five whose comments appear below, are all members of the club, and they are (in alphabetical order): Corrie Brown, Stephen Cathrall, Ryan Davis, Stewart McPherson and Peter Shaw. Peter, by the way, is also Secretary of the Stanwell Club. Them we do thank. IT'S ONLY ROCK N' ROLL/TOMB OF DRACULA K-Tel £6.95 The first of this pair is a strategy game where you take charge of a rock'n'roll band and try to take them to the top of the heap. Tomb of Dracula is a graphics adventure set in a 3D maze.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Getting Started 6/10

Graphics 6/10

Value 7/10

Playability 7/10

IT'S ONLY ROCK N' ROLL, BUT... K-Tel are well known as the people who bring you those giant compilation LPs full of greatest hits. Now they've moved into the world of computer software with a range of "Doublesider" tapes for the Spectrum. One of the first features games called it's Only Rock n' Roll and Tomb of Dracula - both Adventure style games with some graphics thrown in. In it's Only Rock n' Roll, you set out to become a rock superstar and the road to stardom is a tough one. You have to write songs - with the help of your Spectrum - raise enough money to go on tour or play concerts, make records, hire and fire managers, just like real life. It's like a computerised game of Monopoly set in the pop world. The second half of this "Doublesider" is Tomb of Dracula, a standard maze-style Adventure with some amusing graphics thrown in. I found myself getting killed off too quickly, but I think that's more my fault than the way the game is put together! The documentation for this game is much better and enhances the playability. All in all, this innovation from K-Tel is pretty good value for money. Two enjoyable games for £6.95 available now from Spectrum games stockists.

Your Computer

Overall 2/5

48K Spectrum Adventure K-Tel £6.95 The flip-side of the record company's first bid to break into micro software. A text adventure in which you collect silver stakes to arm yourself against the vampire. They can be traded for glimpses of a map leading to gold. The flipside is called "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll But I like it." It is only written in Basic, and I did not like it.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 5/10

DOUBLE-SIDED RELEASES PROVIDE VARIED CHOICE A newly-released batch of double-sided tapes from K-Tel includes It's Only Rock and Roll, with Tomb of Dracula on side two. It's Only Rock and Roll is a strategy game in which the object is to become a pop superstar by earning £1 million and collecting three status symbols. Among the options are choosing a name for the group, planning tours, hiring managers and selecting songs. Time, money and energy are your resources and you lose the game if you run out of any of them. The odds are stacked heavily against you and neither the songs which the computer offers for your approval, nor the occasional news flashes which are intended to enliven the game - "Government taxes pop groups" or "Tony Blackburn likes Sinclair Swingers", for example provide much of an incentive to continue playing. A few graphics and more amusing responses might have improved this potentially appealing idea considerably. Tomb of Dracula is a simple graphics adventure in which you attempt to find your way through a tomb haunted by ghouls and zombies and reach a staircase leading to Dracula's treasure. On your way, you must collect silver stakes with which to defend yourself and be careful to avoid the slime pit. You may find yourself repeatedly entering empty vaults and neither the story line nor the graphics is original enough to compensate. Castle Coldltz, on another double tape, is a slightly more sophisticated adventure, in spite of the fact that it has no graphics. The location is the notorious prison fortress, from which you are trying to escape while collecting as much Nazi loot as you can to take with you. The scene changes quickly - from bath-house to trophy room to mortuary among others - and there is an interesting variety of treasures and messages to spur you. Full instructions are given at the start and if you make a map as you proceed, your quest should not prove too difficult. The second side of the Castle Colditz tape offers Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes. It is a shoot-out game featuring a tube of toothpaste from which you fire at the evil brush brigade and the serried ranks of mini-tubes below. You must beware of the chattering teeth but can protect yourself with your fluoride shield. If you hit the handle of a brush instead of the bristles, your toothpaste will rebound. Apart from the novel scenario there is nothing particularly original about a simple arcade game which should only please anyone who is addicted to pressing the fire button. It's Only Rock and Roll and Castle Colditz are available from K-Tel International, [redacted]. The cost is £6.95 per double-sided tape.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online