Level 9/Mandarin
£14.95 (cassette or disk)

First came Jewels of Darkness and Silicon Dreams. As compilations of Level 9's most popular games tantalisingly packaged (by Rainhird) in an attractive blue box, they became essential additions to every adventurer's collection. The presentation of Level 9's latest trilogy of rereleases Time And Magik (published, this time, by Mandarin) is just as impressive. The instructions are comprehensive and a glossy novella sets the scene for an exotic journey into a world of spells, magic and mysteries unknown.

LORDS OF TIME

The oldest of the trio is probably the most impressive. As a portrait in your living room suddenly springs into life, it reveals that a group of megalomaniac Timelords are plotting to take control of the world. Unless nine different objects bearing the impression of an hourglass are thrown into a cauldron at the end of time, the planet's fate is sealed.

A grand tour of history follows. The vital objects are scattered throughout nine different time zones accessed via a Tardis-like grandfather clock. Wandering through Ice Age caverns, past a prehistoric water hole and into a dangerous Roman amphitheatre, you encounter a series of perplexing puzzles. Successful interaction with (among others) clumsy dinosaurs, sabre-toothed tiers and Viking raiders (death is a constant possibility) leads to a final showdown with the terrible Timelords themselves. Carefully constructed, with complex, though logical problems, this is perhaps the most challenging of the three to play.

RED MOON

The Red Moon Crystal has been stolen from the Moon Tower on the island of Baskalos - and you've got to get it back. Your journey winds through plains and forests, past the edge of a very active volcano to a complex network of chambers in the castle of Cakabol. Puzzles centre around collecting the appropriate objects to cast a series of spells and weaving the correct enchantments within a limit of 50 magic points.

Like The Price of Magik, it's a totally different type of adventure from Lords Of Time. The emphasis is on exploration (the environment is seemingly endless) rather than solving specific problems. Once you've acquired the right focus for each spell it's simply a matter of using them in the right place. If you're after puzzles that you can really get your teeth into, you maybe in for a slight disappointment.

THE PRICE OF MAGIK

The Red Moon Crystal has gone missing again. This time Mylgar, the jewel's guardian, has been driven mad by the crystal's radiance. If you manage to retrieve it, you will be given the chance to take his place.

As you explore a mysterious mansion, you are faced with the task of learning 18 magic spells. Shrieking mandrakes, howling werewolves, and mysterious skeletons shake your sanity and attempt to drive you, as well as Mylgar, mad. Map-making is essential; the environment is incredibly complex and demands hours of careful exploration. In fact, apart from the spells, exploration is about all there is to The Price of Magik. Plenty of adventurers will find this sufficiently stimulating in itself. Others might feel a little put off by the absence of really challenging puzzles.

All three adventures are distinguished by elaborate descriptions and some fairly uninspired graphics. As you'd expect from Level 9, there are plenty of superfluous locations with features that turn out to be 'just scenery' when you EXAMINE them. Considering that these are supposed to be improved versions of the original games. It would have been nice to have one or two extra responses.

The KAOS parser accepts most complex commands although there are one or two anomalies. Try and put anything in your backpack, for example, and you'll find the desired object lying on the ground. Facilities, though, are practically endless and very useful. You can turn off the graphics. determine the length of the location text (brief or verbose), switch EXITs on and off. SAVE, RAMSAVE and UNDO a foolish move. Apart from a GOTO or RUN command, you couldn't really ask for more.

As a compilation of rereleases, Time And Magik shouldn't be expected to match up to the standard of more recent Level 9 productions. Still - as a set of classic games which were initially released to rapturous acclaim, they're a must for every serious adventurer's collection. If you missed out the first time go out and buy them - just don't expect too much.

FAX BOX
Game: Time and Magik; The Trilogy
Publisher: Mandarin, Europa House, Adlington Park, Adlington, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4NP
Price: £14.95 (tape and Plus-3 disk versions)
Reviewer: Mike Gerrard

Mega-game status on Level 9's Magik trilogy without a doubt, and good to see all Spectrum possibilities being catered for at the same price... well, except for the 16K machine, that is, can't think why. The cassette version offers one adventure per tape, with 48K versions on one side and 128K on the other, though I haven't seen the disk version yet as that's just being finished off. The three games included are Lords Of Time, Red Moon and The Price Of Magik, and just like the Rainbrird trilogies before them, all the games have been put onto the latest version of the Level 9 adventure program. It's good to see an old friend like Lords Of Time in a shiny new outfit!

The games are still text-only, but the text has been considerably enhanced in he 128K versions, where there's also a RAMSAVE command as well as an OOPS feature that takes you back one move and which can be used several times in succession, depending on the circumstances. There's the now-usual Peter McBride story in the glossy manual, which also includes an intro to adventuring for beginners. Good move that, following in the footsteps of US adventuring giant Infocom, as is the new description of the games being 'interactive fiction' that's crept onto the front of the box.

The games aren't really a trilogy of course - the two Magik ones do continue a theme, but Lords Of Time was in no way a prequel to them. But who cares when you've got such good adventuring. The story that's been concocted is that these are the three key episodes in the struggle to defend creation. Blimey, what a responsibility! Yes, only you can save mankind from a fate worse than Wet, Wet, Wet.

Lords Of Time has its champions as one of Level 9's better games, and it has a neat idea which involves you in travelling to nine assorted time zones, in a time machine cunningly disguised as a clock. Turn the cogs inside and swing your pendulum, and there you are in a different time and place. Solving some of the problems will require you to transport objects with you from another zone - and the problems are very cleverly worked out. Sue Gazzard, where is your next game?

Red Moon introduced the idea of spell-casting to Level 9 games, as you attempted to retrieve the powerful Red Moon crystal. This was voted 'Adventure of the Year' in many places, as was the follow-up, The Price Of Magik, which had you exploring a dark and gloomy mansion in your battle against the dreaded magician, Mylgar. It was a real treat to have another look at this one, and renew my friendship with the werewolf and the giant slug. A thoroughly enjoyable romp, and a good 'open' game with lots to explore before you start getting stumped.

Three games worth getting then, definitely, even if you've already got one or two of them in their earlier versions. Magic!

SPRING SURPRISES

There's always a fair splattering of compilations around, and never more so than in the Spring. Software houses finally realise that most of last year's games have come to the end of their lifespan in full price form, so they stall to think 'Why not make a few more god out of a product by putting it out on a compilation?' It requires no more programming effort, little PR and has a long lifespan on the shelves of any retailer. All that's required is to pay off the programmers - either with a lump sum, or royalties (a percentage of each unit sold) - and organise the duplicating, which, when it comes to compilations, is troublesome at the best of times. Then finally there's the name to come up with. Not necessarily in that order though - remember The Magnificent 7 (which is available free if you subscribe to CRASH this issue) with eight games!

Are these Great Games, as with Gremlin, or All-Stars, as in The Edge's case? Or perhaps they're just a Top Collection from Elite or could they be from an arcade, as with both US Golds releases this month, Whatever you call the anthology of amazing accomplishments (even Bogies Pick from Top Ten Software sounds interesting) its bound to appeal to the average street buyer. All those games for just X amounts of pounds, it sounds too good to be true. Be warned, though, most of the time it is - especially with cheap compilations. Take a good look at the versions of the games that you're getting - is that International Karate or IK+? Are you buying the best version of Uridium around? There's also a + version of Uridium! Are you going for a compendium of past blasters (like Four Smash Hits from Hewson), or some recent games (as in Ocean's We Are The Champions)? Or perhaps even a mixture, like The Edge's Easter offering, All-Stars (from the four year old Brian Bioodaxe to the four-month-old Inside Outing)? Be careful, and don't be totally convinced by voluminous packaging - it looks nice, but can be a real pain to store.

ELITE HIT HARD

Elite, who have been relatively quiet on the game front this year, currently have two compilations in the market place under the Hit Pak label. Top Ten Collection has been out for a while now, but it's still worth a mention - if only for the chocolate box that the four cassettes come in. Only a pound a game doesn't seem like bad value for money. After all you can play all your (very) old favourites like Airwolf (a CRASH Smash) and both the Saboteur games. The attractive Critical Mass is also in there alongside Thanatos, which is graphically impressive at first but lacks any compulsive gameplay.

If that's not enough of Elite games you can also get Volume 3 of the 6-Pak. Unless they bring out some more games soon they'll be hard pushed to produce a fourth volume! Anyway this months super six from Elite includes some real classics - and some real clangers. Let's get The Living Daylights out of the way first - it figured as one of the worst games of 1987. On the good side there's the tremendously playable Ghosts 'n' Goblins and Paperboy. You also get both of the Dragons Lair games - although Escape From Singe's Castle is the only one worth bothering with. Finally, we have Enduro Racer - one of the best race games of 1987.

Elite aren't the only ones out with ten games for a tenner. Gremlin Graphics are currently pushing the second in their 10 Great Games series. Arcade adventurers are well catered for with Auf Weidersehn Monty (voted Best Arcade Adventure 1987 by CRASH readers) Thing Bounces Back (before even appearing on the Spectrum - only the sequel was released) and Jack The Nipper II In Coconut Capers (a CRASH smash back in Issue 46). Cartoon fans can't complain at the inclusion of Basil The Great Mouse Detective or even at Mask. Beat 'em fans are also pampered with Death Wish III and Samurai Trilogy. Then, finally, we have the now obligatory 'previously unreleased game'. Is The Duct too good to release on its own? Or is it just not worth bothering with?

CHAMPIONSHIP SPRINT

Ocean's proud boast this month is that We Are The Champions (well they did gain your award for Best Software House 1987, so what do you expect?). I'm a bit confused, though. If Ocean are the champions then how come they only produced one (and that under their Imagine label) of the five games on their compilation of the same name. But don't say anything or you'll probably get beaten up, judging by the contents of We Are The Champions. The fabulous Renegade (whose sequel, Target Renegade, is reviewed elsewhere in this issue) appears alongside IK+ (that's the new version, which we smashed in the Christmas issue) and the controversial Barbarian (like Renegade, probably, also underrated). If that's not enough beat 'em up violence for you there's also Rampage, an arcade tie-in that, like its companion Super Sprint, sold surprisingly well. It may average at two pounds a game, but at least we can all remember what they're all about!

You may have seen the CRASH Smash, Gauntlet bundled in a Limited Edition with Gauntlet II for £9.99. But don't forget that it's also available on US Gold's Arcade Force Four collection, alongside two other Atari coin-op conversions, Road Runner and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. You'll also get Namco's Metrocross for the £9.99 asking price. All the games have initial appeal but the games are generally on the boring and repetitive side.

Again on the arcade tie-in front, and also from US Gold comes Data East's Arcade Alley - although this isn't quite as impressive. Only Kung-Fu Master, with 56%, gained over half a century in CRASH. It makes you wonder any Data East conversions will work on the Spectrum.

One good thing about a company producing many games for the Spectrum is that when it comes to compilation time (it hits all of us eventualy, the thought of something for almost nothing is too good to be true) they have a wide choice of products. Softek International are one such company. Now, with almost more labels than Debenhams, they've chosen to release their next succulent selection under the banner of The Edge. Their last compilation was supposedly a Collectors' Edition but this one should appeal to Softek fans even more - you can almost track the life of the Spectrum with it. From way back in '84 come Psytraxx and Starbike. 1985 brings us such memorable games as Brian Bloodaxe and That's The Spirit. 1986 was a very good year if I remember correctly - we had Bobby Bearing (which would still do tremendously well nowadays) and Mindstone, a credible adventure. And who could forget 1987 with such delights as Inside Outing and Xecutor. They're all here - good and bad, old and new - and for only £8.99 it's got to be worth it!

NOW WHAT?

Virgin Games's Now Games series enters its fifth episode next month. Now Games 5 also contains a good mix of games, old and new. The ageing International Karate (that's NOT the version in Issue 49) joins the likes of the riotous Street Hassle, fun-filled Kat Trap and Prohibition. For those who require more stimulation than blasting the heads off a couple of liquor-swilling punks then try Hacker II and Rebel - both are superbly puzzling games.

I spy with my little eye three great games from Databyte. Yes, the people that brought you the CRASH Smash, Spy Vs Spy and The Island Caper have finally decided to release the third game in the series, Artic Antics, in a special Spy Vs Spy Trilogy pack. All fans of the MAD magazine characters should immediately proceed to the nearest software outlet and purchase a copy - even at £9.99 (£14.95 disk) it's super value and unbelievable fun. All games are one or two player and feature Simulvision (a constant split screen display which displays you and your opponent - computer or human) allowing you to keep an eye on what your opponent is scheming.

Also in trilogy form is Time and Magick from newly-formed Mandarin Software. This time you get three Level 9 adventures: Lords Of Time, which is older than time itself (well, almost), Red Moon a cover Smash from Issue 20 and The Price Of Magick, also a Smash. £14.95 on cassette AND disk (strange, but true).

Budget compilations have never been impressive, some things never change. You'll now be able to get Four Great Games Volume 3 (no relation to Ten Great Games) from Tynesoft's Microvalue range. Nice to see Equinox on there - it was Raffaele Cecco's first game, before Exolon and Cybernoid - one for his fans only. Finally, Top Ten Software have Bogies Pick 1 and 4 for your delectation. Bogies first pick is pretty good, with Herberts Dummy Run and Black Hawk (both very old Smashes). But with the fourth I'm afraid Bogie's lost his touch. However, both are only £2.99.

CRASH Overall percentage and review issue numbers are given after each game. N/R denotes 'not reviewed'.

TIME & MAGICK
Mandarin Software
Lords Of Time - Issue 03
Red Moon - 9/10 Issue 20
The Price Of Magick - 94% Issue 30
cassette or +3 disk £14.95

Label: Mandarin Software
Author: Level 9
Price: £14.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: None
Reviewer: Sandra Sharkey

Time and Magic contains three of Level 9's finest adventures; Lords of Time, Red Moon and The Price of Magik. Having played these the first time around, I was curious to see what improvements, if any, had been made.

According to the accompany blurb each game, "has been enhanced and enlarged with more text than ever before - 60,000 mind-expanding words creating magik and mystery around every corner." Their modesty obviously knows no bounds.

For your money you get a pretty blue box, three cassettes (one side of each is for 48K Spectrums and the reverse side is for 128K), a novella which gives you full loading instructions, some hints on each game and a story to set the scene.

No piccies in these adventures, but if you saw the original graphics then you will realise that the extra text more than makes up for the lack of artwork!

In Lords of Time you get to travel through the ages inside a grandfather clock. You quest is to search through time to collect nine essential artefacts which, when combined, will protect Time and Magik and avert the evil being planned by the Timelords.

Red Moon gives you the opportunity to bash a few beings and cast a few spells in your attempt to rescue the power crystal.

You'll begin the final game, The Price of Magik, with all your marbles, but you'll soon start losing them as the game progresses! But don't worry, for the madder you get the better you'll do when you finally confront the dreaded magician, Myglar.

Using my old maps and notes, I worked my way through the games and found that nothing much had changed. The text was indeed enhanced but the puzzles and problems were virtually the same as in the original versions.

Be prepared to use up lots of paper when you map these games as the playing area in each is huge. If you enjoy exploring, then you'll be in your element wandering around each of the games.

If you've played all these adventures before then I don't think there are enough changes to warrant buying them again - unless you're into nostalgia!

However, if you haven't seen 'em before, then I wouldn't hesitate recommending that you get your money out. No self-respecting adventurer's collection would be complete without these great masterpieces.

Level 9/Mandarin finally get it out...

There have already been two Level 9 compilations, released by Rainbird, offering "updated and expanded" versions of their earlier games. Now the popular "Time and Magik" Trilogy, featuring Lords of Time, Red Moon, and The Price of Magik, has been given the same treatment - but exactly what sort of treatment is it, and does the compilation deserve your hard-earned cash?

First, you have to remember that Level 9 wrote all their games, initially, for a cassette-based market dominated by micros with 48K (or even less) usable memory. This put the company in a bit of dilemma when it came to re-releasing compilations of earlier titles: the market had changed and now many users have access to disk and own computers with 128K memories or more.

What's more, with graphics in adventure games becoming increasingly sophisticated, the earlier text-only games produced by the Austin family were beginning to look decidedly old-fashioned. Obvious solution: reprogram the games, adding greater vocabularies, better parsing, and pictures.

However, Time and Magik falls into a slightly different category here. With the exception of Lords of Time, the games featured are later Level 9 productions that featured graphics in the original versions and - in the case of Price of Magik - improved parsing and vocabularies as well. This means that if you already have copies of these games, it isn't going to be worth shelling out for the new compilation - although the graphics have been improved and the games polished up, they don't improve sufficiently on the originals to justify buying a second copy.

On the other hand, if you've only got one of the games - and particularly if that one is Lords of Time - then this selection obviously represents excellent value for money. Apart from the new digitised graphics the best thing about the upgraded versions is RAMsave and RAMrestore, features which the Pilg now reckons to be indispensable. Now all we need is a compilation of The Pawn, Guild of Thieves, and Jinxter for £19.95 and well all be laughing...

Reviewer: The Pilgrim

RELEASE BOX
Spec, £14.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
C64/128, £14.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
Ams, £14.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
Atari ST, £19.99dk, Out Now
Amiga, £19.99dk, Out Now
IBM PC, £19.99dk, Out Now

SUPPLIER: Mandarin/Level 9
MACHINES: Disk: Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, Amstrad CPC 6128, Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari XE or 800XL, BBC Master or 128K, Commodore 64, Mac, Cass: Spectrum 48K and 128K, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Atari Xe or 800XL
PRICES: £14.95

Time and Magik, at one time under contract to be published by Rainbird, has now been released by the new Mandarin Software, following a reportedly acrimonious parting of the ways between Level 9 and Rainbird.

The package is a revamped version of three of Level 9's earlier games, Lords of Time, Red Moon, and Price of Magik. Of these, Lords of Time is something of a classic, dating back to the days when Level 9 produced text only adventures. Red Moon won the C+VG Golden Joystick: for best adventure of 1985.

Now, all of three games have been given a facelift, with enhanced text and game features. The ST version, for example, has a facility for changing text size, for added legibility when using a TV (a feature I found almost essential) a picture cache, (to avoid unnecessary disk loads), and last command edit.

Unfortunately, with no mention in the manual of how to bring back the previous command into the input field, I was unable to use this feature, despite experimenting with many combinations of keystroke.

On the ST, the new features such as text sizing, can be used with existing copies of Knights Orc, by copying bits of both onto one disk.

All three games now have graphics on disk versions, and the old graphics of Red Moon and Price of Magik have been replaced with 'real' pictures. However, on the ST, I could not help comparing a thatched cottage in Lords of Time, with a similar thatched cottage in Jinxter - and Jinxter won hands down.

The Level 9 graphics are far better than they used to be, but I had the constant though they are much crisper.

I dug out my original BBC copy of Lords of Time, and urge to remove and polish my specs - they still give the impression they are being viewed through an obscure-glass window. On a hi-res mono monitor, during the six or seven minutes it took to load, I nostalgically listened to the music coming from the Beeb's speaker, once a feature of Level 9's BBC cassettes. I played both versions of the game side by side for a while, and came to the conclusion that since the basic adventure had not been altered, the additional text was irrelevant, and time-wasting, and the multi-word parser redundant. After all, if the puzzles are two-word puzzles, why mess around typing whole sentences?

Time And Magik comes in a slide-out box, complete with 23 page manual which includes three short stories.

Amiga Diskette: £19.95
Atari ST Diskette: £19.95
IBM PC Diskette: £19.95
Amstrad CPC Diskette: £14.95, Cassette: £14.95
Commodore 64/128: Diskette: £19.95, Cassette: £14.95

Level 9 have long shown the way for British adventure companies to succeed. From the verb/noun days of Colossal Cave and Adventure Quest, this small publishing house has been the flickering torch spreading fingers of light throughout the cold, dank world of utility-created adventures. Recently their output has been almost non-existent, the last game being the sub-standard, Knight Orc, on the Rainbird label. Level 9 have now severed their link with Rainbird and subsequently merged with the new marketing force, Mandarin Software. The first release from this new partnership is a trilogy of revamped adventure oldies; Lords Of Time, Red Moon and The Price Of Magik, collectively titled Time And Magik.

LORDS OF TIME

It was a long time ago when first I delved into Sue Gazzard's world of time and hourglasses. In the days of the text-only, two-word-input adventure, when men were men and Balrogs were rife, I spent many a happy hour journeying through various time zones in the magical grandfather clock.

The innocent examination of the picture in your living room is sufficient to involve you in this adventure in time. You discover from the old man depicted therein that the Timelords are planning an evil future for mankind. You have been chosen to avert this madness by travelling through time and collecting the nine items which make up the formula needed to defeat the enemy. Once found, the ingredients must be mixed in a cauldron which is guarded by the Timelords.

Lords Of Time is an excellent adventure, consisting of the one main element which all good quests should include: that is to allow the player to travel around, exploring, pondering and experimenting befoee settling down to crack the game. The old grandfather clock enables you to journey through nine time-zones searching for, and hopefully finding, solutions to the many puzzles encountered.

RED MOON

In a time when magik still worked and mythical monsters guarded fabulous treasures, you are charged with the task of rescuing the stolen Red Moon Crystal, the only source of magik in the land. Many weapons and spells are made available to aid your questm and you will need all the help you can get.

As soon as Level 9 began incorporating magik into their adventures, their games lost something. Originality and the depth of play decreased and the once-present addictiveness faded. Red Moon still evinces some better traits of the Austins' earlier offerings but was, and is, a definite indication of the poorer games that were to follow. The main aim of Red Moon is to find magikal items with which to cast spells on certain characters to clear a path to the crystal.

THE PRICE OF MAGICK

The house of the Red Moon is a weird place, haunted by arcane powers from the mythical past. It is only place where one might rise from sorcerer's apprentice to powerful wizard, yet cheat the price of magik.

Rummaging in the attic, you discover a wrinkled balloon with tiny writing on it. Intrigued, you blow and the balloon swells like a globe then bursts. As the echoes fade, you reopen your eyes and find yourself in a bleak landscape, outside the house of the Red Moon. The way back is to find the thief Myglar, the stolen crystal (again) and master 18 magik spells, all without paying the price.

I didn't like this game when it was first released and still don't. There is nothing to bind the adventure together, it is simply a number of rooms containing unexciting creatures, clues to one of the 18 spells or nothing of interest. The effort required to map the game and indeed to play it to any extent soon became too much for the rewards received.

The graphics on the updated versions of all three games are well done and although adding little, they are enjoyable - even though some are used in more than one game. The enhanced text tends to stick out as an add-on - the original descriptions were sufficient - but the many useful features such as the UNDO command, the RAM save/load option and the ability to edit previous inputs are a welcome development.

Time and Magik is good, not all the components are particularly impressive, but the complete package makes a worthy addition to your collection - especially if you have not played the games before.