CODE-CRACKING WINS CONTEST

The Krakit competition, launched in England by Artic Computing and in the U.S. by an American publishing firm, has generated a good deal of interest in the software business.

The program you have to buy to enter the competition is different from any other we have reviewed, because it lists only a series of riddles and allows you to store the answers which you have for them.

The ZX-81 version is loaded in two parts. The rules are given first, along with a fairly impressive graphic animation display of a key turning in a lock. The computer shows a menu to the competition entrant, from which you can find how to fill in the entry card you receive with the package, see an example riddle and how it is solved, or go to the second part of the program which lists the riddles.

The second part reveals the 12 clues. The entrant will need to find the name of a country, a name for a town and a number.

We looked at all the questions and the easiest seemed to be question two which, with a little help, we think we have solved.

Krakit is available from Artic Computing, 396 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull, North Humberside. The program is available for the ZX-81 and the Spectrum at £9.95.

THE PRIZE OF YOUR DREAMS

Our reviewer, James Walsh, looks at the latest offering from Artic Computing and tries to win himself £10,000

KRAKIT is a new program from Artic Computing which claims to be the ultimate adventure for the Spectrum/ZX81 with the added bonus of a generous prize if you should be the first to 'KRAKIT'. Retailing at £9.95 in this country, it certainly isn't cheap - but is it worth the cash? There is only one way to find out - cassette in, LOAD "RULES", press Play, sit back and wait.

Because of the complexity of the program, the rules and clues have been split up into two separate programs on the 16K ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. So, while we are waiting for the program to LOAD, I'll tell you something about the package itself.

THE STORY SO FAR...

The story is that your eccentric father has left you £10,000 in his will, but (and it is a big but) to claim the money, you must first solve 12 clues before you can gain access to the bank account in which the money has been placed. The prize money actually exists and just to make things completely fair, Artic Computing have released the program simultaneously in America to run on the Timex 1000. Artic are quite definitely going all the way to make it successful and fun - not only has there been a lot of press on the package, but Artic have set up a 24 hour telephone answer line so that contestants can keep themselves informed about the status of the contest and the amount of prize money now available (if the prize is not claimed the amount of money is increased on a weekly basis).

OK, it looks as though it has almost LOADed. Hurrying to get my registration form so that I can quickly claim my prize, I sit down waiting for the program to begin. You are first greeted with a menu which offers you five options: how to register, rules and play, see a sample clue, how to claim the prize and see the real clues.

ALL CLUED UP?

The rules program is good. There is a nice sequence of graphics to start - a key moves across the screen and turns in a lock. After reading the rules, I pressed for option 3 and had a glance at the sample clue. After the solution has been explained to you, you are ready (?) to start on the real clues... which I did. So, LOADing the clues program, after a couple of moments (in ZX time, of course) up comes the title page:

WELCOME TO KRAKIT, THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE

This certainly looks promising! Then it's down to the real work of this program - the clues themselves. Their difficulty ranges from moderately difficult to downright impossible, but they are not all along the same lines as is so often the case with games.

Now for the one disappointment of the program - there are no graphics at all. Surely they could have 'jazzed' up the clues a little with some animated diagrams or moving pieces. That might sound a little silly, but it would be nice and would certainly brighten up the game. As it is the program has been writien almost entirely in BASIC, which seems rather wasteful of space and time, though fortunately (as you will soon find out) the time factor is not so important!

Actually playing the game is quite fun, but I fail to see the need to take the trouble to put on a cassette and load it all in and spend hours staring at a TV screen, when it could quite easily have been written out on a few pieces of A4 paper and sold for a tenth of the price.

As for the game itself, it is definitely good if you are into cryptic clues and mind-bending puzzles, but I would not say it was for the majority of games players. Needless to say, I have not filled in my registration form yet!

KRAKIT is priced at £9.95 and is available from Artic Computing Ltd, 396 James Reckill Avenue, Hull, North Humberside HU8 0JA.