Producer: Interceptor
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: David Banner

Eye, eye, no sooner do I mention the old Banner/Interceptor gang in the August editorial than, to and behold, up they pop after a year spent in the wilderness. Well all I can say is welcome back, all is forgiven, and don't get too worried about this review - after a year of Quilled games anything that isn't Quilled immediately gets pride of place these days.

David M Banner first worked with INTERCEPTOR on Message from Andromeda (CRASH Aug 84) noteworthy for its fast machine code response, silent key entry, lack of cursor, pernickety vocabulary, and good graphics which, already residing in memory, were quickly drawn. Apart from the improvement in graphics demanded by all games purchasers, very little changed through Forest at World's End (Nov 84), Jewels of Babylon (Feb 85) and Warlords (Sep 85), (these last two with Terry Greer).

Warlords had particularly short location descriptions but shared the series' distinction in needing prepositions with the input while all other adventures had coalesced down to a verb/noun understanding. The poor EXAMINE command was as constant as the price: £5.50. The review of Jewels of Babylon caused a stir in the INTERCEPTOR camp because they assumed the impressive graphics alone warranted a good review whereas I saw my task as to review the game as an adventure; after all, anyone could look at the screen shots and make their own minds up about the quality of the pictures (and they were, indeed, super). A criticism I made which now looks dated was that aimed at all these games using the same system with apparently no room for improvement. Dated now because that was a time when innovation and improvement were the name of the game (as in arcades) but the invention of The Quill put paid to any hopes of adventuring breaking new ground consistently. So now the tables have turned, and games like those from INTERCEPTOR are very much welcomed.

Having said all that, this latest release ending the year's hiatus, does actually improve the old system as here the text does not fly off the top of the screen on fresh input along the bottom so that all is readable in a very reasonable fashion. The pictures, so attractive in Jewels and Warlords, are almost as impressive. The story is probably the best in the series recounting the aftermath of a huge earthquake which rocks a city whose very heart straddles the faultline. The experts had only predicted minor rumbles for years but an underground nuclear test in the desert to the east activated the fault with dire results. Horrifying though the destruction to the city might be, it is its effects on the nuclear installation, for which you are responsible, that poses your immediate problems.

Having helped design the station you realise the importance of the failure of the coolant backup system before the earthquake, but now the quake has occurred, and you have been informed of the primary cooling system losing pressure and workers losing nerve. The urgency for you to escape your damaged office area and make your way to the reactor becomes all too clear. The fault has been traced to a switching valve in the backup system and you're the man whose job it is to ensure the valve works and the reactor is contained.

Playing Aftershock will be made much easier if you remember how this game's series often prefers you to be wordy with your input, with prepositions and so on sprinkled liberally for good measure. The first difficulty is met after only six locations. A chair, a pen and radio are picked up, along with some tissues from the washroom. The lift is inoperative and the stairwell from your office is filled with smoke and flames. It becomes pretty obvious that the chair is used somehow to escape and this is soon achieved if the program's propensity for long, exact sentence structure is remembered. After the claustrophobia of the first six locations the program runs wild with you being able to wander a great many locations without pausing for thought. Pause for thought you eventually must, however, when diverse objects are met: fruit and meat vie with the likes of diamonds and a television set, all looking for a problem as a home to settle in. The food is found just outside the zoo, home of lions, bears, reptiles, insects, and an elephant on a ramp. Something tells me there's a problem here somewhere, I wonder if you can spot it? One timely tip about this game - get into the habit of searching the artefacts of areas and don't just rely on the bottom line which tells of any obvious objects present. In this way you'll unearth even more objects looking for a problem to solve! On the technical side this program runs very well with instant high-res graphics and a sure-footed (if silent) entry system.

There's some confusion over who produced the fine graphics on this one: Robin Chapman is credited on the inlay but Terry Greer is once again cited on the loading screen.

Aftershock is something special in these days of Quilled adventures. The storyline, and pictures which illustrate it, are really fine things to behold at a time when good new adventures are thin on the ground. If you hanker for the days when adventures were stimulating, thought-provoking and imaginative, have a look at this one, and fill a large black refuse sack with all the Quilled clones released, because that's what I've done.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: once vocabulary is grasped progress becomes easier
Graphics: a few locations, very crisp and clear
Presentation: Spectrum character set but overall alright
Input facility: well beyond verb/noun, and v/n often not good enough on their own
Response: very fast

Title: After Shock
Publisher: Interceptor
Price: £9.99

Aftershock may not quite be a shock, but it certainly comes as a surprise if you've been following the Interceptor adventures from Banner & Greer. And it's a pleasant surprise in some ways, though I certainly don't include the price in that. At £9.99 it's unbelievably high for what seems to be a pretty conventional adventure.

Dave Banner's text has never exactly been in danger of filling the screen. His ideas of atmosphere is, 'You are in a green room' rather than, 'You are in a room'. That's all changed now, though. What's this we read in the first location? A shattered city...distorted shapes... fires blazing out of control... sirens... and so on for a screen's worth. Not bad at all.

The reason for the fires and sirens? A series of earthquakes, perhaps prompted by underground nuclear tests. You are the bod who helped design the local nuclear power plant that's in danger of exploding thanks to a fault in the cooling system. Where are the plant's loyal and faithful staff? Buggered off at the speed of light, that's where. So who has to fix the fault? Got it in one.

Your first problem is how to get out of your office, as there's been a power failure in the lift system and the stairs are blocked by flames. Well, the text might be longer but it seems to be the fussy old Interceptor parser we know and don't love. In your office there's a pen on your desk. GET PEN. 'Try another command.' TAKE PEN. 'Okay' Come on chaps - even with Greer's greedy graphics there must be room for both GET and TAKE. Search the lift and you discover a panel in the ceiling, too high to reach but a nearby chair can be dragged over to assist. Having removed the panel, the text doesn't tell you what's revealed. is it a hole, a passage or what? I sat for several yonks typing GO HOLE, JUMP UP, CLIMB UP, GO PASSAGE, ENTER PASSAGE, LEAVE LIFT before hitting the right combination of words. As I've passed on the solution to a few friends unable to get beyond this point, I think it fair to tell you that the right phrase is: TFIL FO TUO BMILC. Easy when you know it, but it takes a long time to find.

Thankfully, the adventure then opens out, as you roam around the city streets, down the flooded underground, into the storm drain and the maze of sewers, walking cautiously round the zoo.

The graphics I've seen have proved to be a mite disappointing from the usual impeccable pen of my hero Terence Greer. They concentrate more on detail than effects, but this is definitely one of those adventures I'll plug away at, rather than put away after reviewing. Pity 'bout the price, though.

Label: Interceptor
Author: David Banner
Price: £9.99
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Gary Rook

After Shock is Interceptor's latest and confirms the firm's position at the top of the adventure tree. After the mythical Karn trilogy and the Forest at World's End, After Shock is a return to reality and the troubles of today.

So what's going on. You kick off in the streets of a city in a state of advanced demolition. A nuclear test has triggered a huge earthquake and a large part of the city has been either reduced to rubble or damaged beyond repair.

You also know that the nuclear power station on the edge of town is about to make like a mole and head for China. Unless you want to be part of the meltdown you'd better do something - and quick.

The first graphic in the is, to my mind, one of the best. It shows a modern office, with just what you'd expect to find in one. Yes, it's a PC (probably not an Amstrad though). On the wall is a map of the nuclear power plant, and out of the window you can survey the wreckage of downtown wherever-you-are.

Not every location has an associated graphic, but that hardly matters as the location descriptions are pretty full. They are also highly atmospheric. In fact, they're so good that the game would be excellent without the graphics - with them it's even better They're by Terry Greer whose adventure graphics are legendary.

First you have to escape from your office building. This isn't easy. Speaking as someone who has spent some time living on the fault-line in California, if you didn't already know from watching Superman and View to a Kill, there are certain things you are advised not to do. Well, you're going to have to do at least one of them, and yes, you can expect to get shafted.

There are at least two items you have to take from your office. One you must have if you hope to leave the building. The other, which doesn't have any wires attached, may save you from a nasty death later. It could also be the cause watch out.

How do I know this? Because Interceptor, wise in the ways of reviewers who only have limited time and even more limited grey matter to review adventures, have provided a hint sheet. Let's face it, without it I probably wouldn't have made it off the floor I started on. Even with it I got stuck halfway through!

So if I tell you this is no easy game to solve, you'd better believe me.

And, not content with filling the game with some pretty ferocious problems, the author David Banner put a time limit on it. Remember? Yup, that's right: the nuclear reactor. And you're then only trained fission engineer around who may be able to save the situation. Take too long, and wham - you're Chicken Kiev.

But Interceptor's game writers are at least fair - most of the time. If you read the descriptions closely enough, there's usually a clue which can help you to avoid any sticky ends. Sometimes, though, you face instant-death just by entering certain locations, unless you are carrying the wrong object or objects.

The parser - the code which interprets your input - is good, and can handle a wide selection of nouns and verbs. In certain places though, you do need to find just the right combination to solve a particular problem and sometimes, the necessary words are prettyy obscure. You can usually work out what's needed, though.

I do have one major complaint, though. This is an adventure game - and it doesn't understand the word Get! You are only allowed to Take.

An adventure game without Get is like the Mona Lisa without a smile. It's just not on.

SUPPLIER: Interceptor Micros
MACHINE: Spectrum 48/128K, Amstrad CPC
PRICE: Varies

Shades of Chernobyl! As an engineer, presumably for a nuclear power plant, you have been organising the repair to its backup cooling system for the last few days.

A military underground nuclear test sets off a series of earth tremors, and the city is evacuated, but you remain in your office, which, for some reason, is on the other side of the city from the power plant.

The repair crew phone to say that the main cooling system is losing pressure, and the backup system repairs are not complete. They are pulling out - the reactor will explode in a few hours.

There is no alternative but for you to make for the plant, and carry out the repairs yourself. Here is where the adventure starts, and you find yourself trapped on the top floor of your office building. Everyone else seems to have got out. The building is deserted, and you head for the lift to make your getaway. But the power has failed, the lift is useless, and to make matters worse, there is a fire raging in the stairway.

What you do next, and how successful you are, depends very much on whether you hit upon the correct phrases. Much is made in the blurb about the full-sentence command analyser, and its rejection of grammatically incorrect input.

The trouble is, full sentences, not just two word commands, are needed to get over the first hurdle in this game, and they have to be just right.

That is not easy with a very limited vocab, and an uninformative YOU CAN'T response. So for me, the game soon resolved itself into a word and phrase finding exercise.

Having removed a panel in the ceiling of the lift, it took me some considerable time before I hit upon CLIMB OUT OF LIFT as the only way of escape. CLIMB OUT was not accepted with a PLEASE REPHRASE THAT. So what chance would I have out there, faced with the immense technical problems of making a nuclear reactor safe?

Once outside the building, I was in the ruined city, amid piles of rubble and devastation, which were described in a way that nicely built up the atmosphere, though many were "empty" locations where nothing much seemed to happen.

This is a graphic adventure, and although there are relatively few pictures, and not over-colourful ones at that, they are superbly drawn.

Some are very effectively animated; for example, there is one of an oil-tanker on us side, with oil gushing out. Another depicts a pile of rubble with an arm sticking out - watch carefully and you will notice the hand opening and closing, clutching at thin air.

The graphics clear for the yellow on black text display, which scrolls up from the bottom of a blank screen. Type-ahead makes replaying at speed that much easier - once you can remember the commands.

Could have been a VERY good game - pity about the vocab!

Amstrad CPC/CBM 64/Spectrum 48/128
Interceptor Software
Graphic/Text Adventure
£7.95

Interceptor Software has been responsible for many adventurers beating their heads and crying for help while playing some of its earlier releases - Heroes Of Karn, Warlord - but in Aftershock the problems and overall atmosphere generated in the earlier games seem to be missing. The idea of the game is sound enough. An earthquake has devastated the city. That was bad but not so bad as what is about to happen - a nuclear reactor is about to explode.

After being informed by your site foreman that a shut-off valve needs repairing and because it is potentially so dangerous nobody is prepared to stay around, your job, in time-honoured fashion, is to make your way from your office across the burnt and wreckage-strewn streets and finally repair the valve, saving the world and winning the game.

A city recovering from a massive earthquake and with the added danger of a nuclear disaster is a good idea but I feel the author has tended to be a little sterile in his descriptions of the ravaged city. The text seems to be bland and, after a time, becomes boring.

The problems are not difficult - more a case of find the correct word than solving a problem. In the beginning you must leave your office premises. A fire is raging below, so it is during a quick examination of the lift that you discover a panel in the ceiling. Returning to your office, you grab the chair and return to the lift. Standing on the chair enables you to remove the panel and climb out of the lift. Not very original, is it?

The adventure will appeal to novice adventurers and the graphics, some animated - one which portrays a hand poking from under a load of rocks was unnerving, especially when the hand moved hand moved - drawn by Terry Greer are excellent. Unfortunately graphics do not make an adventure.

Interceptor
£9.99

Interceptor have been quiet for over a year now, not counting the launch of their Players budget label. Aftershock sees the return of their familiar adventure author, David Banner, and artist, Terry Greer, who together created such minor classics as Forest At The World's End.

The scenario is reasonably original. Ground tremors alert a city, built on a geological fault, that an earthquake is imminent. Just as the city's population has been evacuated, the massive quake hits. This completely disables the already fragile cooling system of the local nuclear reactor, so it begins to overheat. You - a nuclear scientist, no less - must stop it doing so.

The game starts in your office, atop a blazing skyscraper. If you can escape - the stairwell is destroyed by fire and the lift inoperative - you face a virtually deserted, demolished city. The tube station is flooded, the zoo runs wild, looters and soldiers roam dangerously. The imaginary city becomes pleasingly realistic due to the minor details the author has put in, such as a statue at one point, and place names. Some buildings still stand and have to be investigated, including the long-deserted former home of a millionaire. Then there are the minor technical problems too, like how to defuse a reactor...

Much to my delight, David Banner has listened to the criticisms of his previous games, so making Aftershock his best yet. First thing you notice is the text. Previously there was hardly any, at best single sentences. He has now swung to the other extreme with lengthy and evocative descriptions on a par with the best mainstream games around. If there is fault to be found, it is his tendency to go over the top.

The excellent text is complemented by Terry Greer's stunning graphics. His work is unsurpassed on the Spectrum, and whilst this is not his best ever, each picture is a joy to behold. Eagerness to see the next micro masterpiece adds incentive to play. They are not numerous however.

Sadly, there are faults. Partly, I would guess, because the text and graphics took up so much memory, the game has an extremely fussy vocabulary. However, not only is there tack of synonyms (no GET), you are required to enter ridiculously specific commands such as BRACE STAIRS WITH BEAM; it must be those exact words! Unnecessarily poor programming. Also, EXAMINE is generally unresponsive.

Another possible flaw: some adventurers will find this too easy, if they are able to think of the right word combinations. There's not that much to do, though there's a good deal to see. Perhaps the author should have had less locations, and more problems with a larger vocabulary? The best solution would be more memory: I suspect Interceptor could produce a classic on the +2.

Generally, Aftershock is a welcome improvement technically on previous Interceptor adventures; whilst being as fun to play as its predecessors. Nothing special though, and reduced one in rating for being £3 too expensive (at £10 it's competing with Level 9).