Producer: Phoenix
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price:
Language: Machine code
Author: Fraser Orr

Dodge City comes packaged in a large video-style plastic box and contains two cassettes. The first is an action game, the second an adventure game, each inextricably tied to the other. The object is to master twelve skill levels in the action cassette, and if you do you will be given the running code for the adventure cassette. Without this secret code you will be unable to play the adventure. At the end of each skill level you will be given a clue, and all the clues are vital to solving the adventure.

The action tape shows you a Western desert plain with mountains in the background, and 'you' are a Pony Express rider. The aim is to collect four mail bags while avoiding the baddies on black horses chasing you. They shoot at you, and you can shoot back. If you hit one, he falls off his horse and dies, only to replaced a second later by another. The other problem takes the form of cactus plants - running into one results in a prickly end. On the first screen you find yourself chased by one baddy at a time, but on succeeding screens there are more baddies to contend with. These may be rotten cowboys, bandits, Mexicans or Indians and mixtures of all.

You lose a life if hit by a baddy, if you run into a cactus or if you fail to collect four consecutive mail bags. Between each skill level the picture cuts to the office, where a message has arrived for you - a clue to collect for the adventure.

When the adventure is loaded, you are asked for the code, If you get It wrong the program NEWs itself. The scenario for the adventure is that you must prove your innocence in the murder of Dodge City's deputy sheriff, who has been found dead in your hotel room with a pearl handle gun, presumed to have killed him, lying at your feet. Now, read on...

COMMENTS

Control keys: poorly positioned; left= 2/0/W/S/SYM SHIFT, right= 1/Q/A/CAPS/P/ENTER, down = 3/E/D/X/I/K/M, up = 4/R/F/C/N/J/U, fire=5/T/G/V/Y/H/B
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive, although confusing with the keys
Colour: good
Graphics: good
Sound: fair, none on adventure tape
Skill levels: 12 essential 24 in all (arcade tape)
Lives: 5 (arcade tape)

The graphics of the horses are very good, smooth and quite realistic, and those of the adventure are all quite detailed, taking up the top third of the display area. In the action sequence, the pursuer's fire very quickly, sometimes when they're not even on the screen. I thought the adventure was quite a good one, but it takes a long time to get into as you must master 12 skill levels in the arcade tape. This is a daunting task. (I only managed five, but the producers were thoughtful enough to provide me with the secret code so I could get to see the adventure. Frustrated adventurers should send a stamped addressed envelope and fifty pounds to...) Seriously though, I think there is a danger of becoming bored with the arcade game before you manage 12 levels. If you want an adventure buy one, if you want arcade, buy it. The idea of Dodge City is debatable because unless you manage the first you cannot see the second, and I wonder how many adventure fans will want to wade through hours on an arcade game. Nevertheless, both games are above average in quality.

Both games have a nice sense of humour - the title page to the adventure is very good, and so is the first location which tells you 'Dodge City welcomes careful drovers'. A warning when entering the secret code - the characters entered don't appear written on the screen, only dashes appear, which may confuse you into an error. The idea is a good one, although it probably won't appeal to serious adventure fans because of the arcade game coming first, and it is difficult to yet through the adventure without those vital clues.

The action and adventure graphics are pretty good, but there's not much sound. The worst thing is the poor instructions which don't tell you the control keys, which are numerous in option and very badly laid out.

Producer: Phoenix, 48K
£9.99 (2)
Author: Fraser Orr

This is a two-part game with an arcade cassette and an adventure cassette. Only if you complete 12 levels of the arcade game will you receive the secret code which allows you to run the adventure game (See Adventure section next month for the game details of the second cassette). You are a mail rider on the desert plain, galloping your horse along, avoiding the cactus plants (a prickly end) and collecting the mail bags which have been so carelessly left about the desert. But behind you come baddies, shooting at your back. You can dodge the bullets or fire back. If you hit a baddie, he's soon backed up by another. As each level progresses more baddies join in. Get shot, hit a cactus or miss 4 consecutive mail bags and you lose a life. Between each level you are given clues, vital to solving the adventure game. We had some doubts about the idea of combining two so inter-related games. Poor keyborad positons, joystick: Kempston, good colour and graphics. 12 skill levels essential (24 in all), above average. CRASH overall: 57%.

Producer: Phoenix, 48K
£9.99 (2)
Author: Fraser Orr

For adventurers, the problem with this game is that to load the adventure you must first win through 12 levels of an arcade game where baddies chase your pony express rider. Completing the 12 levels results in a running code for the adventure as well as some vital clues. Your task is to prove you innocence of the murder of the deputy sherrif who has been found dead in your hotel room with you holding the gun that did it. It is an option menu graphic adventure with each situation offering two or three choices of action. Overall CRASH rating of 57%, machine code.

COLLECTING MAIL IS JUST A START

Memory: 48K
Price: £9.99

Dodge City is made up of two games, an arcade and an adventure which are supplied on different cassettes. The player's aim in the arcade game is to elude pursuers, dodge cacti and collect the mail. Six successful mail collections completes a skill level and 12 skill levels must be completed before the adventure game can be played.

At the end of alternate skill levels the player arrives to find that a telegram containing a clue for the adventure has been delivered. They appear and disappear slightly too quickly to be noted at the time but the game is so difficult that frequent re-starts will mean that most players will have memorised the clues by the time they reach level 12.

Various groupings of Indians, Mexicans and Confederate soldiers appear chasing the player during the game. Moving to the correct part of the screen at the proper time means that they can be shaken off quickly, although finding the proper place and the correct time can take hours.

An infuriating feature is that the mail collector can be shot at any time, even when no bullets have been seen to fly, or the pursuer behind is dead, or even when there is no visible pursuer behind. Another problem for the player is that Confederate soldiers seem to have nine lives, possibly because there are two of them on each horse.

Once the twelfth level has been reached and the player arrives in Dodge City the adventure begins. The sheriff's deputy is dead and what better suspect could the sheriff have than the mail rider who just arrived in town?

Dodge City is produced by Phoenix Software Ltd, Spangles House, 116 Marsh Road, Pinner, Middlesex.

MULTIPLE DODGE

Arcade versus Adventure is often a theme of readers' letters and, in Dodge City, the two are brought together.

First an arcade game must be played up to skill level 12. You ride across the desert collecting mail, pursued by bandits, avoiding cacti and oncoming bullets. As you complete each alternate skill level, you are presented with a clue to the Adventure, and this culminates in the receipt of the password to enter the Adventure section.

Into the Adventure itself then, and you find yourself in Dodge City, about to face a murder charge, and all the evidence stacked up against you. You must choose (1) to make a break for it or (2) submit to arrest. You choose (1) and find yourself looking into the guns of the Deputy Sheriff. You must decide (1) to raise you hands and surrender or (2) jump from the balcony,.

Get the picture? Yes, at last a real multiple choice adventure. It has instant 'wide-screen' graphics and a good sense of humour. It would probably make a good board game, and is certainly to be recommended for wallies wishing to boast their Adventure prowess. Adventurers leave well alone. And the arcade game? (1) you like it or (2) you don't.

Dodge City is from Phoenix Software for 48k Spectrum. priced £9.95.

Reviewer: Keith Campbell