Producer: Sapphire Software
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: P Davies

Sapphire Software's first product, Ourworld is intended for the budget end of the market. It's a science fiction strategy game involving mining and trading on a planet called Outworld, hence the title. I can't comment on the packaging, as the review copy sent to me had nothing beyond a few, limited instructions and the cassette. So, to the game.

First of all, it is necessary to buy land before mining may commence and at the beginning of the game you have to stake a claim on one of three mining zones by purchasing a patch of land. They range from dangerous areas with massive are reserves to relatively safe areas with few good mining prospects. Their price also varies - naturally the more expensive the mining rights, the better the are deposits. Once a choice has been made, play progresses to the next screen.

At this point, a workforce needs to be recruited and a motley bunch they seem to be, too! A workforce consists of a couple of hundred weird looking aliens who possess even weirder names. No mention is made of their abilities but each belongs to a different union and union rules affect you later in the game. The workers demand different levels of pay as well, so economists should bear this in mind. Neither the union rules which individual workers follow nor their abilities are mentioned at the start, so it's hard to make a good decision first time around. Hopefully, when this game appears on the market, better instructions will be included that rectify this matter.

Equipment needs to be bought next. Again, there was no mention as to whether certain equipment is actually necessary for are retrieval or whether it simply aids retrieval. In fact, the latter seems to be the case and the options cover heavy duty pickaxes, which are almost worthless, to mining machines, which I could never really afford as they are more expensive than opening up a new mine. This screen also allows old equipment to be sold, but beware, you're only likely to recoup a tiny proportion of the original price when selling equipment. After a couple of offers have been made, you will not have the opportunity to sell again until the next month's turn.

During the game, mining reports come into tell you how things are going and opportunities arise to spend money with advertising companies or even mercenaries, who are prepared to harass your competitors for a fee. Little else of use happens until the end of the month when the offers for your are arrive and the banking reports are published. During the mining it's possible to alter the safety level at the workface, which is governed by a variable between one and ten. As might be expected, safer conditions cost more to implement.

No matter how safe you make the workface, it appears that one major disaster befalls the workforce every month! Normally a disaster results in the death of a couple of hundred workers owing to the collapse of a shaft and although these losses do not show on your workforce reports, compensation has to be paid out.

Inevitably, some of your workers misbehave. Every month a few of them decide to steal some ore - and they always get caught! Doing nothing is likely to make the situation even worse next month, so two other choices are possible. Firing the culprits and reclaiming the are is one choice, but taking the culprits to courts is perhaps a better financial gamble as workers who are found guilty are fined 5,000 credits, which does wonders for your profitability.

If cash flow is a problem, you can ask for a loan. Going overdrawn is allowed and if you think the money will come in soon, then an overdraft may be the best course. Otherwise, a loan will cost you a small amount extra and can allow better investment in the mines (you could use the money to open up a new mine - but this would almost always entail adding to your workforce). The last way of saving money is by fiddling the taxman. Care has to be taken here. At the end of each month, the taxman declares how much you owe (calculated as a percentage of monthly turnover) but leaves you the option of deciding how much to pay. Too little, and he will simply take more than was originally asked for. Careful consideration of the problem can lead to significant savings.

Outworld flows nicely as a game and is far more flexible than many other trading games in terms of expenditure and company control but it is not without its faults. Mining may be dangerous but I feel there are far too many major disasters. The workforces are too predictable and do not vary enough in behaviour or ability. Fiddling the taxman is probably the best feature of the game. Unfortunately, I still felt stifled by the game's limitations in the same way as with many others of this type. Having said that, if you're into trading games then this can only be considered as one of the better ones

Label: Durome
Author: P. Davies
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Andy Moss

I wouldn't make a very good King I've decided, too many decisions about too many things. What with feeding my loyal subjects and exporting my rotten wheat, there just doesn't seem enough time in the day to count the money it's all bringing in - its probably the reason that I'm never too successful at playing Kingdoms.

Outworld, by new mail-order only software house Durome, is a sort of interstellar Kingdoms, set on a distant planet, where you have to control a company that mines rocket fuel ore.

This sounded more the ticket I thought, forget that King nonsense and try being a big company boss for a change. I must admit I was quite impressed by Outworld. There are plenty of features to keep even the toughest would-be mogul busy and the game flows along quite nicely.

The scenario is this, having taken over this mining company, you have three years to make a fortune or get banished to some far off galaxy (where you could train to become an Elite pilot - but that's another game).

The first decision is which of the three land areas do you mine in (one has very rich ore, but is very unstable - prone to earthquakes. Another has so-so ore, but is very safe etc). You pays your money and you takes your choice. Next you choose your labour force from three types of alien, the better the worker the more it costs in salary payments. This done, you may buy drilling equipment and here again are three choices ranging from bog standard pick axes to fully automated drilling machines.

Numerous other screens depict advertising investment (which increases the number of customers), industrial espionage (stealing from other companies), tax payments, loans and productivity. You start with two mines and 150 workers, and expansion is the name of the game but caution is a necessary evil and it will take quite a few months before you get really profiteering.

Durome have packed a fair amount into this game, and have tried hard to bring a fresh approach to an otherwise old subject and at a price which is to be commended. It doesn't have state of the art graphics, and some of the routines are a bit amateurish but, nevertheless if you're into mining games, you'll dig this one.

Durome Software
£1.99

The ancient game of Kingdoms has been given yet another twist in this variation. Based on the film of the same name insofar as it deals with mining of rocket fuel on the planet 'OUTWORLD', you are faced with "Your toughest job yet."

You have to make as much money as possible in three years, and you begin by choosing the land to mine and your workforce from the Grobblys, Pifflumps and Slurians. By buying machinery and organising loans you can get to work and hope to survive (I hate games which say "GOOD LUCK", don't you?)

This theme really has been worked to death, the best being the 'MUGSY' variations with many others in line behind them.

The game is competent, little sketch characters liven up the text, but there is nothing to get the adrenalin flowing. The program is written in Basic which is adequate for this kind of game as fast responses are not needed.

It is well presented, text and colour are nicely balanced and sound is almost nonexistent (it would probably be a distraction anyway). Screen layouts have been carefully thought out.

I must admit I enjoyed playing this game though. It is easy to grasp the fundamentals, fairly well error-trapped and nicely prompted for inputs. During play it is quite difficult to make a fortune, mining disasters and compensation payouts occur too frequently for the liking of budding Mr. Scargills, but overall the algorithms have been nicely balanced.

Nothing to get excited over, but you could do a lot worse if you want a game of this type. My main criticism is that the options, information and events are a bit limited compared to those provided by the kings of strategy games, CCS. But for a pleasant, simple game this one is recommended, and at least you can win occasionally!