The Balg returns from the Birmingham Adventure Convention (formerly the
Adventure Probe convention) bearing much good news as well as a review/preview
of Double Agent.
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Review
Double Agent
£4.95 disc, CPM + only
Tom Frost, Tartan Software, 61 Bailie Norrie Crescent, Montrose, Angus,
Scotland DD10 9DT.
Your starship has been sent to the planet Marego to rescue the inhabitants from
the evil rebel force who are destroying the population with a crystal of power.
Unfortunately your exploration party was captured, tortured and killed and only
two agents managed to escape. Even worse is that these two agents are near
brain dead - but they do still have intact communicators. You, the intrepid
adventurer, must thus guide the two agents (who each have different individual
skills) to retrieve the lethal crystal as well as obtaining rock, soil and
water samples from the planet surface.
Double Agent is a classic spectrum game that has been converted to the CPC by
Tom Frost, otherwise known as Tartan Tom. The control system of two separate
characters is very original and implemented well and there is a competition associated
with the game - £50 will be awarded to the person who can complete the game in
the least number of moves. Unfortunately the Balg, master adventurer, hit a
problem when reviewing Double Agent - I got stuck early on! From what the Balg
saw of the game it does appear well written (even though there SEEM to be words
IN capitals mid way through most sentences!) and the prize is certainly an
incentive to play but I would not like to comment on the overall quality of the
game. However, it did receive a good reception on the Spectrum so it should be
worth buying just for the competition as well as to see if you can get further
than the Balg!
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Contacting the Balg
To get in contact with the Balg, write to him at Amstrad Action, Future
Publishing Ltd, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, AVON BA1 2AP.
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News
Adventure Probe Bulletin Board launched
A new bulletin board has recently been put on-line for Amstrad and Amiga
adventurers. The Adventure Probe bbs run by Bob Adams is open from 10pm till
7am and runs of an Amiga with a 52 megabyte hard drive. With a database of over
400 solutions, downloadable public domain adventures and more, the Board sounds
a great idea - the Balg nearly rushed out to buy a modem just to connect!
Adventure Probe bbs can be reached on 0707 323403 and for the comms techies it
is scrolling at 8-N-1 with all speeds supported from 300 to 14400 baud.
Adventure Convention Results
The adventure convention also has an award's ceremony and once again many
Amstrad games and authors were rewarded for their hard work.
Best text-only 8-bit adventure: 1st Place went to Wow's The Taxman Cometh by
Steve Clay
2nd and 3rd place went to The Spectre of Castle Coris
and Run Bronwyn Run - two forthcoming FSF adventures to be released on the
Adventurers Workshop label.
Best text-only 16-bit adventure: The Four symbols by the Grue (soon to be
converted to the CPC by Phil Reynolds)
Best text adventure author: 1st: Larry Horsfield (of Mag Moon and Axe of Kolt fame)
2nd: Grue
3rd: Simon Avery/Jack Lockerby
Best homegrown adv. company Went to WoW Software run by Joan
Pancott HPilg
Most helpful adventurer: First place went to Joan Pancott HPilg
Adventurer of the Year 1st: Mandy Rodrigues HBalg
2nd: Lorna Patterson HBalg
Lords of Chaos champion: Was the Balrog! (For the second year running!)
New games on the way!
The Balg was amazed at the number of games that were either under
development/conversion or soon to be released on the little amstrad -
The Adventure Workshop is planning on converting many Spectrum titles to the
Amstrad as well as continuing with releasing original releases. New games
include The Ellisnore Diamond, Homicide Hotel and Starflaws (all disc only) and
the tape/disc games Dave Dangerous, A Dark Sky over Paradise and Border
Harrier. For more details write to Phil Reynolds at 36 Grasmere Road, Royton,
Oldham, Lancashire, OL2 6SR.
Jason Davis, author of Smirking Horror, seemed to be hiding from the Balg all
convention but eventually we met and he mentioned another new game in the
pipeline - hopefully it will be of the quality of his previous titles.
Simon Avery, one of the most prolific adventure authors, has a queue of games
out soon from WoW or on the PD market - watch for reviews soon.
Other adventure convention news:-
Adventure PD now has more than twenty discs of Amstrad adventures as well as a
new adventure label called Dragonsoft. Although Dragonsoft isn't public domain,
the discs are available at PD prices - for more details write to Debby Howard HBalg at 10 Overton Road, Abbey Wood, London
SE2 9SD.
Simon Avery is still operating his Adventure Finder service - if you want to
buy an adventure then send Simon a stamped self-addressed envelope and he in
return will send you any details of who is selling the adventure, at what price
and their address. If he doesn't know of anyone with that adventure then he
will hold on to your SSAE until he does! For more details write to Simon at 71
Fore Street, Chudleigh, South Devon TQ13 OHT.
WoW software, in the guise of Joan and Morris Pancott, was unfortunately not at
the convention this year due to illness - hope you get better soon Joan!
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Cluepot
This months sniff of clues comes from Daniel Pooley, an anonymous reader from
Aylesbury, Stuart Farmer and Laurence Boyce from Leeds.
Classic Adventure
Feed the bear.
Pour oil on the rusty door.
Drop the vase on the velvet pillow otherwise it will break.
Open the clam with the trident.
In the room where you hear "Plugh", say "Plover".
Wave the rod by the fissure.
Dragons of Flame
Give 'Wyrm Slayer' to Riverwind and 'use' it. Trade Riverwinds Longsword +2 to
Caramon and use it.
Find Traps, Heal Crucial Wounds and prayer do not work well and are a waste of
charges.
Cast Heal wounds, Fireball and web. These cost a lot so be careful.
Keep to the maze edges until you are familiar with the level - else you will
get helplessly lost!
Make a map.
Flint has loads of hit points and Sturm is strong.
Use the arrows on Bozak Draconians.
Gilthanas, being an elf, cannot be raised from the death.
Heavy on the Magick
Blast
all creatures except for Apex.
Drop the nougat to get the nugget.
The nugget protects you from the Werewolf.
The mirror protects you from the medusa.
Drop the copper ball to get the pellet.
The Ulna, Thigh and skull are to be placed in the cauldron to call Ai. Once
there in, type "Cauldron, Achad" and he will appear.
The flask in Morfang enables you to walk over the chasm.
The clasp in Trollwynde enables you to walk through the fire.
The iron clasp enables you to walk past the hydra in the Rook of hydra.
To get past the water type "Water, fall"
To get past Rabak in the Doubt of Rabak type "Rabak, water" and he
will go down.
When invoking, the sword protects you from Astarot, the ruby protects you from
Asmodee, the mantis protects you from Belezbar and the sunflower from Magot.
To find phoenix, find the nest in Nidus, drop an egg in it (make sure you have
the clasp on you) and type "Nest, Phoenix" and he will appear.
Necris Dome
Search all mandroids immediately after killing them.
If searching a chamber reveals an arrow, it is a location for using the
trans-rod.
Shoot re-ans.
Do not enter the re-an centre.
Do not stop the geoscopic stabiliser.
Cut the water pipe to kill the mandroid.
Push the caskets to kill the mandroid.
Shadows of Mordor
Get Frodo and Sam to wear orc clothes, listen to the orcs who are bathing.
Give orc the pass at checkpoint. Take off rags or Faramir will avoid you.
--
Lords & Ladies of Adventure
Adult II, Adventure Quest, Adventures of Zebedee Gonig, Aftershock, Alien
Planet, Al-Strad, Amstrad Action Adventure, Angelicus Saga, Angelique, The
Antidote, Apache Gold, Arena, Arnold goes Somewhere Else, Astral Plain, Atalan,
Aunt Velmas Coming to Tea, Ballyhoo, The Base, Behind the Lines, Bestiary, The
Big Sleaze, The Big Top, Black Fountain, Black Knight, Blue Raider, The Boggit,
Book of the Dead, Boredom, Bounty Hunter, Brawn Free, Bugsy, Burlough Castle,
Cacodemon, Can I Cheat Death, Captain Kook, The Case of the Mixed up Shymer,
Castle Adventure, Castle Warlock, Cave Capers, Cave of Darkness, Caves of the
Bew Bews, The Caves, City for Ransom, Colossal Adventure, Colour of Magic,
Corya, Warrior-Sage: Dragon, Conch, Countdown To Doom, Crash Landing, Crispen
Crunchy, Crown Jewels, Cursed be the City, Dance of the Vampires, Danger
Adventurer at Work, Danger Adventurer at Work 2, Dark Manor, Davy Jones Locker,
Deadenders, Desmond & Gertrude, Detective, Dick-Ed, Die you Vicious Fish,
Doomlords, The Drake, Druids Moon, Dungeon, Dungeon Adventure, Dungeons Dragons
Amethysts, Dungeon of Hell, Escape, Escape from Alien Spaceship, Escape from
Koshima, Escape from the Planet of Doom, The Experience, Fantasia Diamond,
Fantastic Adventure, Federation, Firestone, Flight from Danger, Flook, Forest
at Worlds End, Foxy, The Fugitive, Galaxias, Gerbil Riot 67, Get Me to the
Church, Ghost House, The Gladiator, Grue Knapped, The Guardian, Guild of
Thieves, Haunted House(Incentive), Haunted House(PD), The Hermitage, Heroes of
Karn, Hero Select, Hobble Hunter, The Holiday, The Holiday II, House Out of
Town, Hunchback, Ice Wizard, Ichor, Imagination, Inca Curse, Inner Lakes, Into
the Mystic, The Island, Island of Chaos, Jason of the Argonauts, Jewels of
Babylon, Jolly Poppa Down, Journey to Death, Key to Paradox, Kidnapped, Kingdom
of Hamil, Kingdom of Zaar, Labarinth, Last Believer, Leather Goddesses of
Phobos, Lighthouse Mystery, Lord of the Rings, Lords of Magic, Lost Shadow,
Magicians Apprentice, Mell, Merlin, Message from Andromeda, Miami Mice,
Microfair Madness, Microman Project X, The Miser, Moonbase III, Moonmist,
Mordons Quest, Morgans Seal, Mountains of Ket, The Mural, Necris Dome, Nite
Time, Nova, Nythyhel, Orb Quest, Panic Beneath the Sea, The Pawn, Planet of
Death, Pride of Tewksbury, Prison Blues, The Prophecy, Quad-X, Quest for the
Golden Egg-cup, The Race, Ransom, Rebel Planet, The Rescue, Return to Eden,
Revenge of Chaos, The Revenge, The Ring, Rings of Artek, The River, Roog, Rouge
Midget, Seabase Delta, Search for Largo Grann, Search for Mithrillium,
Seastalker, Secrets of Ur, Shard of Inovar, Sharpes Deeds, Ship of Doom, Simply
Magic, Smashed, Snowball, Souls of Darkon, Space Station, Spaced Out, The Spiro
Legacy, Spy-Trek, Storm Mountain, Stripy, Stryptiche, Subsunk, Supastore, Swamp
Thing, Talisman of Lost Souls, Teacher Trouble, Tealand, The Test, Theseus and
the Monotaur, Thieves Tale, Time, Time Traveller, Tizpan Lord of the Jungle,
Top Secret, Total Reality Delusion, Travel, The Traveller, Treasure Island, Treasure
Tunnels, The Trial of Arnold Blackwood, Underground Adventure, Unknown Planet,
Use Your Loaf, Venom, Videoworld, Warlord, The Well, Welladay, Werewolf
Simulator, Winter Wonderland, Wise and Fool of Arnold Blackwood & Worm In
Paradise.
Phil Reynolds, 36 Grasmere Road, Royton, Oldham, Lancashire, OL2 6SR.
Colour of Magic, DAA, 4th Protocol, Gems of Stradus, Not a Penny More Not a
Penny Less, Return to Eden, Scary Tales & Vera Cruz Affair.
William Conlon, 171 Mulvey Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Ireland.
Forest at World's End, Kobyashi Naru, Message from Andromeda, Quest for the
Golden Egg-cup, Rigel's Revenge, Snowball & Venom.
Bill Bennett, 171 Stapleton Hall Road, London N4. Tel: (081) 340 3884.
Redhawk.
Lars Arell, Angsrogatan 1B, 554 39 Jonkoping, Sweden.
Al-strad, Astral Plain, Book of the Dead, Federation, Hermitage, Imagination,
Teacher Trouble & Tealand.
Peter Knowles, 102 Standhill Crescent, New Lodge, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S71
1SS. Tel: (0226) 292141
Al-Strad, Big Sleaze, Dracula, Frankenstein, Gnome Ranger, Grue-Knapped,
Hobbit, Kentilla, Lord of the Rings, Lords of Time, Not a Penny More Not a
Penny Less (part 1), Panic Beneath the Sea (part 1), Price of Magick, Quest for
the Golden Egg-cup, Scapeghost, Shadows of Mordor, Smirking Horror &
Wolfman.
Legolas the Irish Half-Elf, 14 Curley Hill, Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern
Ireland BT82 8LP.
--
Help!
Stuck in an adventure? Or desperately trying to find one - the helpline it the
place for you! Just send a postcard to Balrog's Helpline at the usual Balrog
address.
WANTED: Copy of Scapeghost.
Yannis Sariyannis, Aristophanous 8, Maroussi, GR 151 22, Greece.
I have got to scene 7 of Edd the Duck and am now stuck. I can find 19 stars but
am having difficulty finding the last - can anyone help?
Chris Watson, (0582) 591162.
I would like to get in contact with Richard Robinson, Rod Pike, Mike Stanworth,
Dave Lewis, Lee Martin, John Betteridge, Frank Grimshaw, Francis Neary, Steve
Barker, Charles Sharpe or Mike White. Does anyone know of their whereabouts?
Phil Reynolds, (061) 652 7565.
Help wanted in Bart V the Space Mutants - how do you get rid of the purple
flower pots?
Charlotte Duff, 77 Fairway, Kingsley, Northampton NN2 7JX.
Need help in Knight Orc.
S D Oswald, (0524) 733045.