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Disk 16 News
PRINCE OF PERSIA by Revelation
Reviewed by D.Tonks
After many false starts, the game that all Sam owners were
waiting for has finally arrived. Does it live up to
expectations, and has it kept the game the same as on those 16
bit thingies, well read on, and I'll give you my opinion.
First off, you'll be pleased to hear that the graphics are every
bit as good as the other versions, and they move with a
smoothness that really does the machine justice. You control
your character as he leaps and bounds through many and varied
screens to finally rescue the princess. There are lots of
possible moves, each one perfectly represented on the screen,
whether it be climbing up the side of a wall or leaping across a
gap.
Sound has been used to good effect, and although there is not
continuous music, there are plenty of spot effects. The only
thing that I noticed was that in certain circumstances, the
sound chip get a little confused and stops one sound midway, to
play another one. This is only a small niggle, and doesn't
detract from the gameplay.
The screens themselves are very close to the other versions, in
both layout and style, and the difficulty level is the same.
This is not to say that it's right, as I find level one much
more difficult that level two, and later in the game other
levels seem very simple compared with prevoius ones.
The game is packaged in an A5 size box, complete with
instruction booklet. This is where my main gripe lies, as the
booklet is not really for the Sam, and even though the controls
are mainly the same, there are extras, and ommissions. The
biggest omission is, in my opinion the SAVE GAME option, which
the booklet says is there, but is in fact missing on the Sam.
With this sort of long term game it is very frustrating to have
to play through all the levels to get to where you were on a
previous occasion. This may actually put some people off playing
it for very long, if like myself they have got as far as say
level 8, it takes me nearly 20 minutes to get back to there from
level one, before I can start working out how to do level 9.
Come on Samco, put us a SAVE option in!!!!
I have, whilst playing, noticed a couple of very small buglets
in the code. These again do not detract from the game at all,
but really a full priced game such as this should really have
been sorted out.
After saying all that, I still think that this is the one game
that all games playing Sam owners should have, and I recommend
that you go and buy it at once, if not before.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED....
SAM ADVENTURE CLUB by Phil Glover & Dave Whitmore
Reviewed by Dave Tonks
Let me first of all say that I am not an adventure player, and
that this review is done purely on the discs merits and ease of
use, rather than the adventure content.
This is a new disc magazine to me, and probably a lot of Sam
users, as it is the first one for the Sam that concentrates more
on the adventure side of things than most.
The mag come on 1 disc, and is BOOTed in the normal F9 way. This
first loads up a rather novel "DO YOU WANT LINEFEEDS", which is
done as though playing an adventure. When you have made your
choice, you are taken to the main menu of the mag.
The main menu is very nicely laid out, with a cursor to move to
select which bit to load, and lots of Palette Line interupts to
give a very colourful effect.
The menu choices cover a variety of options, and I shall try and
give a brief overview of the issue that I was looking at.
EDITORIAL: A piece by the editor(s) telling you the aims of the
club and what the club is all about.
LETTERS: Adventurers own letters, like the Supplement, on any
issue that they care to write.
PD LIBRARY: A list of PD adventure software.
HINTS/TIPS: As it suggest, hints on various adventures, and how
to get past tricky bits.
ADS: Avertisements for other mags and services.
BITS: In my particular issue, this was a set of extra fonts to
use in your own programs.
REVIEWS: Reviews of adventures.
NEWS: Adventure/Samco news.
SCREEN$: The obligatory screenshots.
EMULATORS: An explaination on Spectrum emulators and how to use
them, and a working example of SPECLONE by Steve Nutting.
SMALL ADS: Readers own advertisements
PUBLISHERS: A list of adventure publishers and their work.
MAGS: Reviews of the latest issues of other Sam related mags.
TECHNICAL: The review issue covered adventure conversions to the
Sam and an article on how to start writing your own adventures.
As I said, the above is only a brief skim through the main menu,
as it would need a lot of space to go throught it in detail. Of
course this is only 1 issue, and of course each issue will have
something different in it.
Overall, I was very impressed with the layout of the mag, and
the ease with which it could be used. Most options only needed
one keypress, and plenty of options to dump to a printer were
given.
I found that a large percentage of the adventures refered to in
the mag, were Spectrum, but this is of course because there is
not a lot of Sam specific adventures available yet. Having said
that, the editors have made sure that they give you enought info
to get your Spectrum adventures up and running on the Sam.
If you are (or have been), a Spectrum adventure player, then
this is the disc mag for you, now that you have a SAM.
For further information contact:
Dave Whitmore Paul Glover
3 Pass Way 43 Ferndale Rd.
ST. Helens or Hall Green
Lancashire Birmingham
W11 7HL B28 9AU
oooOOO N E W S OOOooo
The eagerly awaited "SOUND MACHINE" has now been released, and
very good it looks too.
There was a slight problem with the manual at first, but by the
time you read this, that will have been cured.
I can't see the Supplement doing a full review for a couple of
issues yet, as the program is quite involved, but I shall try
and get a first impression review done by next issue.
Another piece of software that's now ready is "SPLAT" by Colin
Jordan. I gave you a short preview of the game in a previous
issue but I shall do a full review ready for next issue.
-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-
Supplement news is that we now have a complete glossary of Sam
basic ready for the membership.
It takes the form of a disc of text files which you can print
out yourself, and covers not only Sam Basic, but the Masterdos
and Masterbasic variations.
At the moment, it is set up for the 85 column Samscratch which
was in issue 13, and a copy of this program is included on the
disc for ease of use.
This disc is only on offer to members only at the moment, and
will cost you a mere £2.00. This can be taken off any subs that
you have outstanding or you can send a cheque or postal order
made out to SDC, to either Brian Mumford or myself (Dave), which
ever is the easiest for you.
We regret that we cannot receive blank discs for it, only money
and you should state with your order which version (64 or 85)
you require.
Many thanks for this project have to go Dave Hall for most
of the hard work, with Andy Wright backing him up.
-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-
Dave Ledbury of ZAT has asked me to give you his new address,
which is:-
103 Chiltern Gardens
Dawley
Telford
TF4 2QJ
Whilst on the subject of Dave Ledbury, he informs me that Manic
Miner is well on course for the end of January, and hopefully he
will send me a review copy for giving him this plug. (HINT
HINT).
----------------------------------------------------------------
You may have read in the letters section of this issue, Frank
Harrops letter about a Ham radio section in the Supplement, well
Jeff Jennings, who was responsible for the Sam talking to the
Psion Organiser, has agreed to put together a comms column if
there is anyone interested out there.
The column will be on an "as and when" basis, and will cover any
subjects related to the Sam talking to other computers or
machinery.
Jeff would like to hear from members who have had any sucess at
all in this direction, and will also try and help out with any
problems that members may have in this department.
Space could be made available in the Supplement for any programs
relating to interfacing throught the comms box, as well as any
listings for other machines.
You can contact Jeff at:-
109 Hither Green Lane
Abbey Park
Bordesley
Redditch B98 9BN
.
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