Are you serious? Mail order adventures from small concerns can be a cheap way of supplying your adventure habit - they can also be a risky way of spending your money. One we received for review did not exactly inspire confidence right from the start. It is a cassette adventure for CPC machines called Mad Jock's Family Reunion from Dented Designs. You would think that anyone sending in a game for review would try to get everything as well presented as possible, if only to try and impress the reviewer. For starters, MJFR was on a tape that was too small to include the whole program and had to be turned over to load the final few blocks.
Your task is to find Jock's four sons and persuade them to visit the old man for the aforementioned family reunion. Finding them is not too difficult, but persuading them is anothef story. To get each one to Jock's, you have to find the right object to give to each son. Having given him this he will then go off happily to see his dad. The game has simple graphics for several of its 60 locations. There is plenty of pseudo-Scots text, some of it quite funny. The only problem is that after several attempts I have not been able to complete more than one task before the game crashes. Perhaps they will send us another version when they have sorted it out. Perhaps it got corrupted in the post - but what if it didn't? How dedicated to your adventuring are you? Reading just a few pages each month in your favourite magazines may be enough to keep your appetite whetted, but for some this is just not sufficient. Although one or two books make good reading, they can never be as up to date as a regular magazine.
Five regular publications cater exclusively for the adventure player. They all cover the complete range of home computers so although not dedicated to the Amstrad, there will always be some games each month that are applicable even if they have been played on another machine. The five are What Now?, Adventure Probe, Soothsayer, Questline Chronicles and The Adventurer's Club newsletter. What Now? is the most professional, with over 60 A4 typeset pages of hints, solutions, maps, reviews and general adventure news. It has grown from its 20 A5 duplicated pages to what it is today in just about two years. Its present incarnation is available in selected computer shops and there would seem to be plans for wider distribution -1 just hope they can keep going as production costs cannot be cheap. Cost of a six issue subscription is £10.50, from: H & D Services, 1338 Ashton Old Road, Higher Openshaw, Manchester M11 1JG. Adventure Probe and Soothsayer are both edited by Sandra Sharkey (she wrote The Case Of The Mixed Up Shymerl. Adventure Probe has 40 A5 duplicated pages and has hints, solutions, articles and general adventure chat. Soothsayer has the same format but is dedicated to maps and solutions. Each will cost you £1.25 an issue from Sandra Sharkey, 78 Merton Road, Highfield, Wigan WN3 6AT. Questline Chronicles is edited by Jean Thorhe and has an A5 format with about 40 duplicated pages. Like Adventure Probe, it covers a range of topics but usually with more pages of hints than AP. Cost is £6 a year (issues come out bimonthly). From: Questline Adventure Club, 34 Crossgates Ring Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS15 8RD. ACU #8804 |
