Machines tested and emulator used:
Commodore 64 via Hoxs64
Amstrad CPC464 via WinApe
BBC Micro 32K via B-Em
Commodore
I used a tape version for this as the disc one did not appear to want to load in either of two emulators. The game starts immediately after loading. As common with graphics/text GAC based adventures the picture takes up about two thirds the top screen area followed by the descriptor text itself.
The background of blue/purple with grey text is not 100% ideal for reading but its not the worst combination.From the few locations I visited this colour combination did not change.
The text is detailed and matches other versions and the parser accepts all the usual common commands without complaint. It does respond a little bit more slowly in its output to a command compared to other versions but its not sluggish.
Amstrad
The game starts with simple but effective loading screen of its title in the disc version I tested. Once loading is complete the game immediately starts. As common with other GAC games the text and graphics area are split as per the CBM and ZX version.
The text is presented as bright white on a bright blue background initially and it is easy to read and uses the standard font. As you change locations, the colour also changes for this.
The parser responds quite quickly comparable to the ZX version. There did appear to be a small bug in that some characters got garbled a bit, in particular on the opening location and errant "z" although I did put this down to an emulator concern or perhaps the disc image I used.
BBC
As the same as the CBM version there is no loading screen. Once the disc version I tested had finished loading the game started. The text is presented in white on a black background and it is nice to see that room was made for graphics to be present on this platform too. One small gripe here at the opening location is the text descriptor is too long to fit in the space and scrolls the top line or two away before you can read them. It is possible to pause this via key combo on this machine anyway but a way around it may of been a shorted description perhaps.
Slightly unusually unlike other versions when you "Get" (it does not accept "Take" in this variant) a wearable item you have to specify to wear it, whereas the AMS and CBM version automatically do this for you. The variation of G vs T reminds me slightly of the Quill for this machine as iirc that is missing by default on the standard setup, I do realise this is GAC based and it is not a concern anyway once you know!
The parser responds quite quickly, the same speed as the AMS version, although the variant I tested also appeared to display some random characters occasionally in the text, I concluded this was perhaps an emulator issue as it did not seem consistent.
EDIT... Small typo's fixed.
