BALROG GIGANTIC CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!
Welcome fellow adventurers! Lower that sword, untie that hobbit you were saving for lunch and sit down on the grassy bank and get stuck into the following epistle from the apostle of Adventure! If you want to know how a ghost feels at his funeral, how Frodo uses his Ring and the Bards tell Tales then read on...
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Reviews
Scapeghost
Level 9 Computing,
£14.95 cassette £19.95 disc (disc version has graphics and needs 128K)
At last!
Scapeghost has, after much delay, finally materialized out of the nether world
to the Amstrad, a sad tribute to Level 9, as it will be their last game for the
CPC - will it be their best yet or worst I wondered as I tore open the
packaging...On opening the case I wasn't even sure I had received a Level 9
game - no massive novella, excessive instructions or long story lines, just the
disk and a poster with the instructions on the reverse side. A strange step for
L9 who usually go overboard but in fact I prefer this, although a novella may
set the scene for a game it is so annoying having to read, say the Gnome Ranger
booklet, before you can really start playing! (Although I must admit the Balg did
enjoy reading it.) Suffice to say the instructions provided are adequate enough
although first time adventurers could be well advised to play Gnome Ranger,
Ingrid or Lancelot first as they have copious instructions.The plot is very
original and clever as you play the part of a detective, Alan Chance, who was
on an undercover mission, attempting to infiltrate a drugs gang. All was going
fine, but then someone or something alerted the gangsters and they killed you
and escaped, taking your colleague Sarah as a hostage. Your fellow police
falsely blame you for mistakenly tipping of the criminals, as you soon find out
at your own funeral.You have three nights as a ghost to disprove this false
accusation, clear your name and gain revenge. You must use your detective
powers and growing spirit powers to delay the gangsters, track down their new
hide-out and bring them to justice.The game is in three parts, each part a
different night, part one starts at your own funeral and has you coming to
terms with your ghostly powers and improving them while making friends with the
residents of the graveyard. It takes quite a while to become accustomed to
being a ghost - at the start you can't pick up any objects! The graveyard is
populated with many ghosts, including one called Joe (the dead barman from the
Pig and Whistle) who soon befriends you and gives you a guided tour of the
place. You must recruit all the ghosts you meet and with their help you must
delay the gang. This section reminded me very much of Ingrids Back in that you
must do services for other ghosts before they will do what you want. The
interaction between the ghosts and yourself is very good and they seem almost
human(?!)
Part two starts you by your grave again, and after delaying the gang in part one you must go to the gang's old hideout and search the place for clues to where they have moved on. You must then alert the police as to where the new hideout is. There are some very good puzzles in this section, including getting a piece of paper out from inside a chimney...The final part has you finding the gang, you must free Sarah and then delay the gang enough so that the police can arrive in time.
The game is well written and although it's subject sounds gloomy and depressing, much of the scarier aspects are dispelled by some awful jokes. The puzzle associated with Edith is really corny but so obvious! It involves ripping up a copy of Time magazine to prove that she has 'seen the end of time'. The atmosphere is still excellently maintained though, through references to puzzles and your previous life.The game uses the same system as Ingrid's back, ie a powerful parser supporting OOPS, GO TO etc and graphics on disc versions. The graphics are definitely the best that level 9 have done yet and deserve an award! The devious and original plot was written by Sandra Sharkey (author of Case of the Mixed Up Shymer) and the adventure columnist Pete Gerrard.
In conclusion, Scapeghost is original, has a great parser, atmospheric text, beautiful graphics and some wicked puzzles... Well worth buying, though it is a great shame that this is their last game. An appropriate farewell to one of the best adventure houses ever..
Atmosphere 90%
Interaction 92%
Challenge 80%
AA Rating 90%
The Tolkien Trilogy
Beau Jolly Limited, 29A
£12.99 cassette £17.99 disc
Adventure compilations are rare things, especially good ones, so it is good to see that Beau Jolly are re-releasing the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Shadows of Mordor in one pack.Many adventures have a Tolkienesque flavour and so it was inevitable that the most famous fantasy novel of all would turn up on computer. For those of you who have never heard of these games (where have you been all this time!?), they take place in the world of Middle Earth, immortalised by JRR Tolkien in his various books. Each of the games is a 'classic' in computer gaming, the Hobbit as it was one of the first with graphics and interactive characters who acted intelligently (most of the time), Lord of the Rings for the sheer size and complexity attempted for a tape based game (and of course for its bugs) and Shadows of Mordor because, again, of it's size and complexity (and fewer bugs!)All the games are now quite old (over two years) but the magic is still there, especially for readers of Tolkien. If you haven't escaped from the Goblin's dungeon you haven't lived. The Hobbit is limited by today's standards but the Lord of the Rings and Shadows of Mordor have some impressive features, even now, such as complex character interaction, large vocabulary, independent characters, and complex parsing together with over 200 locations in each. They also feature the ability to 'become' different characters (such as Frodo and Sam) to complete the game.Because of these advanced features, Lord of the Rings especially is VERY SLOW... Picking up an object can take ten seconds and moving locations twenty! Thus, great patience is needed to complete the game. Another feature of LotR (and also Hobbit and Shadows of Mordor to a lesser extent) is the bugs in the games. In fact bug hunting in LotR became, for some, a hobby - the game has so many!
In conclusion, there's no doubt that LotR is seriously bugged in places, but all three games are challenging and the Balrog enjoyed them very much (especially because he makes a star appearance in the Lord of the Rings) and if you haven't got them and Scapeghost doesn't appeal to you then buy 'em!
Atmosphere 87%
Interaction 84%
Challenge 80%
AA Rating 85%
You can read the full reviews of Lord of the Rings and Shadows of Mordor in AA6 and 21 respectively.
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Do you want to win a copy of Level 9's Scapeghost, or any other of their fantastic games? Yeah? Then simply answer the following questions set by Mr Level 9 himself, Pete Austin. Take it away Pete...
1)
2)
3)
The first three winners can choose to have any Level 9 game of their choice and the ten runners up a Level 9 tee shirt. Send in a postcard today with your answers, name and address and t-shirt size - S, M, L or XL.
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Want to win a copy of the Tolkien Trilogy for your Christmas stocking? Those
nice people at Beau Jolly have given me five copies to give away. All you have
to do is draw a picture of what you think the Balrog looks like under all that
darkness. The best five will win a copy of the compilation plus undying fame in
having their work published in AA. The closing date is
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Balrog's Post
First out of the Balrog's postbag this month was a letter from a Red Dragon?!? (Strange names people call themselves nowadays - why can't they call themselves something sensible like the Balrog?) Red Dragon has written in wanting to join the Bard's Tale club and praises the idea 'if enough attention was drawn to the popularity of the game on the CPC then Electronic Arts might just reconsider and release parts II and III of the best computer game in the 8 bit universe.' He goes on to say that he is a bit of a machine code programmer and is very interested in writing a Bard's Tale type game for the 6128. 'Is there anyone who would be interested in writing it with me or has a suggestion to offer? If there is could they please write to me - this is a serious project as I am a keen programmer and role-player and I believe that a disc based program with the 128K memory could produce a truly epic fantasy game.' Well, anyone interested, please write to Red Dragon and the Balrog looks forward to any game you might produce. I would look at the various alternatives though - Swords & Sorcery, Ring of Darkness and Mandragore - perhaps even games on other machines such as Ultima and Dungeon Master - don't stick too closely to the Bard's Tale theme - otherwise you might have Electronic Arts after you!
Simon Fincher also wrote to join the Bard's Tale club 'my only regret was
buying the tape version; the levels take ages to load and having to go through
many just to reach Mangar's Tower is a real yawn. Prospective buyers beware! A
disc version is worth every penny.' He goes on to say that EA should be
congratulated for releasing the game on the CPC and then 'painfully slain by
Nazguls for not releasing the others in the series.' I quite agree Simon,
perhaps EA might release parts II and III if they thought they would profit by
them - so fellow Balgs protest to EA at
The Balrog received a letter from Stuart Whyte, AA's Adventurer of the year, enquiring about his prize asking about the Pilgrim, Steve Carey and Pat McDonald 'It seems mysterious that these people have all left AA at more or less the same time, in fact, the time when you arrived - have you eaten them or something?' Reports of the Balrog eating these people are of course wrong, whatever the police say (quick, quick, get Steve's arm out of my freezer...), and anyone else who suggests this will also be eate.. oops dealt with! Just because the Pilg and the editorial staff forgot to feed the Pilg's pet Balrog during his absence, it can't be my fault if I became a bit hungry. Suffice to say Rod is now at this moment throwing adventure games at me to satisfy my appetite!
Last and by no means least, the Balg received a letter from Mandy Rodrigues, the editor of Adventure Probe magazine and a keen CPC adventurer 'How nice to see you in AA. Having read the veiled references to you in past issues it is good to see you coming to the fore, so to speak. I suggest that you place an immediate ban on anyone entering the vicinity waving crystal wands or blowing flute, horns and the like in the interests of safety to your person. Bob Adams is really a smashing chap and I am sure he didn't mean to call you a Skrimball. Anyway could you please draw the attention of your readers to the best adventure magazine around? It has been referred to as the Granddaddy of all adventure magazines as it has been around for so long (first issue was June 1986) but I prefer to call it the Grandmama as we have never had a male editor. Your readers should feel at home reading 'Probe' as Joan Pancott (Hi Joan!) contributes regularly.'A bit of a shameless plug by Mandy! But worth it as Probe really is that good. Anyway, look out for the forthcoming adventure club round up. In the meantime if you are interested in Probe then write to Mandy at 67 Lloyd Street, Llandudno, Gwynedd, LL30 2BN or phone (0492) 77305. Probe costs ú1.50 per month and is packed full of interesting articles, reviews etc.
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Clue Sniffing with the Balrog
Some hot clues this month from Trevor Fullore, Antcrusher (?!), Ludwig the Egg and Jerome Young.
Don't forget that if you're well and truly stuck in a game, and the clue you need isn't here or in a previous issue of the magazine, then check out the Lords & Ladies of Adventure - there may be someone there who can help you.Trevor Fullore has come to the aid of Mr. Unrecognizable Signature's plea for help in AA50...
Kobyashi Naru
Porthole 1, Knowledge: Get scimitax, S, examine tree, throw scimitax at stems, get pod, N, activate pod, throw pod in gaping maw.Porthole 2, Wisdom: Activate Solance, pull solance. At the tunnel don't go down more - just examine tunnel and climb cliff.Porthole 3, Understanding: Activate magaunit, get lasalite, go to pit, jump pit, E, E, drop magnet, get wheel, get magnet, lasalite, W and throw wheel in pit. Now jump hoverdroid.
Sorceror
Examine the curtain in Belboz's study.
Scapeghost
Pick up the thistledown first, then build up the weights!
Guild
of Thieves
Help old man to get into castle.Shout to Miller "Please stop Vanes" to get into Mill.Shake palm tree.To deal with Macaw - break coconut with spade then feed Macaw.The bee hive is a red herring.
Worm in
After getting the managing job, buy a ticket from the travel agent for the riverboat.
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Just for Laughs
Aren't games on the Amstrad funny? The reason I'm asking is that the response for this section is decidedly poor - so if you know of any funny responses write in now or feel the wrath of the Balrog's whip and sword! Thanks this month go to Adrian Forbes and Stuart Whyte...
Jinxter
Urinate when on bus!
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
SMILE and PANIC.ESCAPE when in poetry chair.Try lying down in front of bulldozer and then standing up again.Try calling home or the police on the phone.
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HELP!
Lorry (?!) wants some help in Lurking Horror - How can he get the hand
without the creature eating it and how can he get by the brick wall?Steve Ellis
is stuck in Redmoon - What are the spells chasm, obis and obullian for?John
Gibbins has collected all the treasures in Guild of Thieves and put them in the
bank - how can he finish the game from here?Paul Daykin is stuck in Corruption
'How do you get in the casino? Can you drive your BMW out of the car-park? - if
so how?' and finally 'How do you avoid going to sleep at
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Bard's Tale Club
Even the Balrog himself was amazed at the response to the Bard's Tale club... But please - no cheats! Anyone can complete the game with a poke but it takes a true adventurer to succeed alone.Nicholas Butcher has BT on disc and has characters with 'roughly 15,000,000 experience points each; uncountable amounts of gold; and many varied and wonderful objects. After defeating Mangar I now have him in the 'special slot' of my party.' Nick has mapped all the levels and knows nearly all the answers to the riddles.116 Upper Hale Road, Farnham, Surrey GU9 0J4HI have a 17th Level party and am willing to lend aid to others...The Red Dragon, Rockmill House, Painswick Road, Pitchcombe, Glos GL6 6LH.'I have 2662774 pieces of gold, level 25 characters with about 2,600,000 experience points each' he also has maps to all the levels except Mangar's tower.Simon Fincher, 7 Fairfield Road, Evesham, Worcs, WR11 6HB
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Lords & Ladies of Adventure
Hail the Lords & Ladies of Adventure! Bow down at their feet, you
miserable lot out their, and beg for their assistance in times of toil and woe
- and if you're too proud to do that, then get off your backsides and write in
to join them! Everlasting fame awaits those Arnold-venturers who communicate
with the Balrog, offering help to those less fortunate than themselves.As
always, send an SAE when writing and keep phone calls during sociable hours!
Souls of Darkon, Kobyashi Naru, Venom,
Wendy Watters,
Message from Andromeda, Heroes of Karn, Forest at the Worlds End, DAA n
Everything, Trial of Arnold, Jewels of Babylon, Mordons Quest, Hobbit, Lord of
the Rings & Planet of Death.
Bob 'I love Probe'
Colossal Adventure, Heroes of Karn & Message from Andromeda.
Stuart Mason, Flat E3/3.5, Lupton Flats,
Cricket Crazy, Life Term, Smashed, Mindshadow and Rigels Revenge.
Paul Daykin, 93 Hummersknott Avenue, Darlington, Co.
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Contacting the Balrog
The Balrog can be contacted c/o Amstrad Action, Future Publishing Limited, 4 Queen Street, Bath BA1 1EJ.The Balg does his best to keep up his correspondence, but I'm afraid that I cannot answer individual pleas for help - if you're really stuck in a game then check out the Lords & Ladies of adventure column, where there is bound to be a brave Balrog who can render more timely assistance than I. If you are really stuck then send in your pleas and I will print them in the help section.As always, I am interested to hear from readers on any subject to do with adventures and will include your letters in the column whenever space permits.