Marlin Games
£2.95
Author: Linda Wright

It's the middle of the night and a strange light is coming through the window; a mysterious voice is calling your name. One of the weirdest adventures suburbia has ever encountered is about to begin. Jack Frost has been messing up the weather and you've got to put everything right before dawn.

Linda Wright's latest adventure (two have been published by Incentive already) comes in two versions. The 48K adventure is text only while the 128K version has graphics, more detailed location descriptions and one or two extra commands.

The weather quest begins in the comparative comfort of your own home. Like all the best homes, it's in a terrible mess, and the text does its best to bring you all the gory details: there's 'junk littering your desk and covering the floor', and as you stumble into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you notice 'crockery that's piled in the sink and on the units, as well as the sticky finger marks which cover the cupboard and taps'. Further exploration leads you to the weather city of Cloud 99 (it's outside your front door, of course), with three levels of sabotaged weather halls and all the trappings (including theatre and tourist office) of a wealthy tourist town.

The 128K version has different graphics for every location from hen house to art gallery, theatre to barn. The small, clearly defined pictures, which take up about a quarter of the screen, don't contribute a tremendous amount to the light-hearted atmosphere conjured up by descriptions. Still, with opening doors and running water, they're an added bonus.

The havoc Jack has created in the weather halls is rather like the disorder in your own home. A fire is melting the ice hall, the rain dispenser is blocked up and the thunder machines have lost their drumsticks. Initially the player has limited resources: judicious interaction with some of the city's characters, who respond in various ways to pleas for help, are necessary. In most cases they'll help you if you help them; it's just a matter of working out what an American tourist, a crestfallen angel, or an anxious baker want most in the world.

The puzzles are light-hearted and logical: common sense generally provides the answer, although in one or two cases some extra lateral thinking may be required. Linguistic jokes should not be overlooked. Only some solutions are interdependent, with the advantage that getting stuck on one area of the game doesn't necessarily bring progress to a complete and grinding halt. As you restore order in each of the halls a congratulatory message flashes up to commemorate your success: it's very satisfying to get a pat on the back early on in the game.

All these user-friendly features make Cloud 99 an ideal adventure for beginners, although experienced adventurers shouldn't he put off. Some of the problems require alert, logical thinking and the time limit (the clock ticks away even between turns) gives the challenge that extra edge.

The game, which was written using Gilsoft's PAW, accepts fairly long, complex sentences. It may take a little time to discover the necessary wording to carry out a particular action but usually there are strong hints in the descriptive text. Additional commands include RAMSAVE and SAVE and, in the 128K version only. HELP and PAUSE. The latter stops the game temporarily should you want to make a cup of tea or get on with something else.

Cloud 99 is another example of the high quality home-grown software that can he produced using a facility like the PAW. It's not one of the toughest adventures around but the humorous tone and the ingenuity of the puzzles make it one of the more enjoyable to play. At £2.95 for both versions, you can't lose. Marlin Games can be contacted at: 19 Briar Close, Nailsea, Bristol BS19 1QG.

FAX BOX
Title: Cloud 99
Publisher: Marlin Games, 19 Briar Close, Nailsea, Bristol BS19 1QG
Price: £2.95
Reviewer: Mike Gerrard

In June I reviewed Marlin's first Spectrum release, The Jade Stone, which was an excellent adventure: good enough for me to choose it as one of my 'Best Indies' offers soon after. Now here comes Linda Wright's latest, and it's every bit as good as Jade Stone - and very different, too. No one-hit wonders here.

This is a single-part PAW'd adventure, but with two versions coming on the tape. One is a text-only 48K version, the other has full (but optional) graphics for those with 128K machines. The larger version also has longer location and message texts, more EXAMINE commands, HELP messages and a PAUSE command. In addition, some of the objects that are just lying around in the 48K game are a bit harder to find, though basically the two versions play the same.

The game's a very light-hearted adventure, that reminded me a Little of Shymer, but in this one you're not dealing with nursery rhymes that have gone wrong - instead it's the weather that been messed up by a certain Jack Frost. And whose job is it to put it right? Right! Yours, the lazy blighter lying round reading Speccy mags.

Before you answer the strange voice that's calling out your name in the middle of the night, you'd better explore your house fully. Don't take too long about it, however, as the clock at the top-left of the screen ticks away whether you enter an input or not, and you've only got 'til dawn to set things right. With the PAW's pause feature, though, you only need to start to enter an input in order to put the timer on hold - I tend to hit the space bar to stop the counter counting.

You'll have to be thorough in your explorations, as objects are hidden all over the place and if you're getting stuck then re-read every location description fully to make sure you haven't missed a bench, a desk or a cabinet that's cunningly concealed. Getting the key to Cloud 99 itself isn't too tricky, and then you can ascend the ladder to this strange place in the sky and hope to start putting things right. Watch out for Jack Frost, who pops up unexpectedly and starts pinching your carefully-found objects. Can you stop him? Yes you can. And I loved the answer to the problem of the cockerel, which isn't exactly a doddle. And if it's puns you like, then wherein Weather City can you get some cash? just go to the Cloud Bank!

I found very little I could fault in this game... and you know how hard I try! The PAW's been well used, the problems range from the simple to the head-scratchers, it's refreshingly different and should appeal to adventurers old and new. You might think with only 44 locations it could be a bit limited, but that only goes to show that you don't need 200+ locations to make for a good game. Linda Wright's adventures are definitely proving alright by me.

Also from Linda Wright, at the same price as Jade Stone, comes Cloud 99. The 48K version of the game is text only, and the 128K version contains graphics and more detailed location descriptions.

You have just woken from a strange dream in which the sprite, Jack Frost, was messing up the weather, to discover that your bedroom is bathed in a weird light...

Your aim is to explore the weather city of Cloud 99 and put things back to normal before dawn... If Jack Frost will let you! Another well written amusing adventure at a very reasonable price.

SUPPLIER: Marlin Games
MACHINES: Spectrum 48K; Spectrum 128K
PRICE: £2.95
AVAILABLE FROM: Mail Order only from: Marlin Games, 19 Briar Close, Nailsea, Bristol BS19 1QC

Did you realise that the weather is all controlled from Cloud 99, where, currently, Jack Frost has gone berserk, and messed it all up? After a strange dream, you awake in bed, to find your bedroom bathed in a bright light, and a voice calling your name.

After gathering up anything useful you find lying around the house (well, adventurers always do, don't they?) you pop outside to see what on earth is going on, There, hanging above your garden, is a bright white cloud, with a ladder suspended from it. You hop on the bottom rung, and climb up.

Soon you arrive outside the gates of Cloud City, and once inside, your task is to put things right. The weather is controlled in a series of specialist rooms, like the Hall of Mists, Sun Square, and Snow Hall. But all is not well, and alas, the hammers and drums in Thunder Hall lie quiet.

This is a light-hearted adventure that is not too deep, not too difficult, and is fun to play. Pawed, the game supports speech to characters as well as full sentence input, plus a RAMSAVE option.

The two separate versions (48k and 128k) come on the some tape. The 48k version is text only, but the 128k has some attractive graphics, more detailed descriptions, and more objects hidden, rather than just lying around.

A recommendable budget adventure, that is a lot better than many commercial adventures available for the same price.