Producer: 8th Day
Retail Price: £2.99
Author: Michael White, Martin Rennie

8th Day Software received some pretty fine reviews when they began their Games Without Frontiers series almost two years ago. Now these Quilled games are to be re-released for new computer owners, with many additional features which will make these cheapies even better buys. Obvious updates include the inclusion of graphics on some locations, and RAM save and load. Also, there is a text-only version of the game on the flip-side for ascetics who prefer a wordier approach. 8TH DAY are also considering rereleasing some of the other five games from their Games Without Frontiers label. These will be rated for difficulty (Beginner, Standard and Advanced), so a beginner can find a comfortable level from which to progress.

The first of these releases, Four Minutes to Midnight, was inspired by the Stephen King novel, The Stand, and follows you and your fellow survivor's attempts to come to terms with a bacteriological catastrophe which has devastated America, wiping out some 90% of the population. Why the other 10% can shake off the bacteria isn't yet clear, perhaps they're immune to the bug. They form groups to try and re-establish order from the chaos following the outbreak. Journeying across America you must find as many companions as you can, utilising their skills to help you overcome the many problems that litter the road to a more stable society. But there is more on your mind; wouldn't it be a good idea to seize the chance now to rid the menace of nuclear arms, now that the silos lie unguarded. Perhaps with a party of like-minded people, the warheads could be de-activated and a new generation spared another holocaust.

Impressive new features have been grafted onto these old adventures to bring them bang up-to-date. Due to the nature of the game, the command RECRUIT (DAVE) has been included, with PARTY giving the make-up of the team you have built up so far. A member is dropped with LEAVE, while FEED is used to direct food at those members most in need of strength. To help you decide who is most worthy the command, HISTORY gives you the low-down on a character's past, while STATISTICS give you a character's profile with all important technical, engineering, social and strength attributes. However, due to a reluctance of members to divulge their respective pasts, a psychic is needed to release these personal facts.

You kick off on the forecourt of a small gasoline station which is in a terrible, deserted state. But what's this? A car is careering down the road towards the station and if not stopped, will turn the whole scene into a blazing inferno. You're only given a few moves to resolve this situation, so you can see you have a very tough start to this one and the game's tag of Advanced Difficulty makes itself felt right from the off. Finding the members which make up your team isn't a picnic either, although Dave obligingly pops up from within the first few locations. At just about the time when things are beginning to run smoothly, the time element comes into play with the sun deciding its had enough for one day. SLEEP and WAIT are the obvious correctives, although a quick succession of LOOKS (L) does the trick along with just about anything else. Getting the BMX bicycle speeds you on your way, while entering every building or object will see you recruiting another member before your nerves crack.

Four Minutes to Midnight is available by mail-order from 8TH DAY, 18 Flaxhill, Moreton, Wirral L46 7UH. The games were well received on their first release some time ago and now, in their improved format, they represent good value for money. The difficult nature of the adventure, and its sophisticated commands such as RECRUIT, TIME, and HISTORY, should ensure a following amongst adventure buffs.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: not to be taken lightly
Graphics: below average
Presentation: okay
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: fast

FAX BOX
Game: Four Minutes To Midnight
Publisher: 8th Day, 18 Flaxhill, Moreton, Wirral L46 7UH
Price: £2.99

Good to see 8th Day emerging again, with its recent HRH and now this re-release of one of its original titles - if my memory serves me well, and it usually doesn't, wasn't this the first software house to put out budget-priced Quill'd adventures?

Two versions of the game are on this enhanced tape, with graphics on side one and without graphics but with expanded text on side two. Many new features have been added as well in this tale where you have to recruit a gang of helpers to save the world from the usual mayhem and destruction. Type in HISTORY (NAME) and you'll be given a potted history of the character named, while STATISTICS (NAME) gives you details of their skills and strengths. PARTY will let you know which characters you have with you at the moment, and you get people to join or leave you by using RECRUIT (NAME) and LEAVE (NAME).

The world's on the verge of destruction, as the title implies, and it's not a pleasant place to be. The lengthy descriptive passages include lots of gory prose along the lines of "the air is full with the stench of putrefaction" and "the strong sickening smell of death rises from all around." As with many of the 8th Day titles, the problems are sometimes cleverly worked out - and this one starts with you having just two moves to stop a car plunging into a petrol station and exploding in a ball of flame. Can you save the driver and make him your first recruit?

Then you make your way to the nearby city with its looted shops and rat-infested tunnels - and make sure you read your location text closely, as you'll need to examine some of the objects mentioned.

Graphics are very good, as far as I've seen, and beautifully detailed: flashing neon signs and lorries with indicator lights going. The text is livened up with the occasional UDG too, and all in all the program's nicely presented.

This game was written by Michael White and is concerned with events after a deadly virus is released into the atmosphere from a high security research station in America.

The virus has killed most of the world's population and only a few, seemingly immune, have survived, including you.

You must learn the skills of the old technology and recruit five members to form a team to travel across the States to disarm nuclear weapons which have been left unguarded and still threaten the remaining population.

This game is well thought out, and quite difficult. At the start, you are standing at a petrol station. A few seconds later a car crashes into it and explodes. From inside the car you hear screams. If you manage to rescue the occupant, he will help you with your mission.

The game continues along these lines and is quite fun to play.

MAKER: 8th Day Software
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £1.99 each

Pure text adventures seem to be becoming a threatened species of late. There seems to be a general feeling that to sell, a program has to contain graphics. Doesn't matter how tacky, how irrelevant to the plot line, how much memory is wasted, we gotta have them pictures. A good counter to what I, for one, see as a pernicious trend is this collection of six pocket-money programs from 8th Day, a new Merseyside outfit.

The packaging is understandably minimal, a plain black wrapper in every case, although you do get a natty plastic rack if you purchase all six. There's nothing cut-price about the quality however. as far as I could see, each of these is a well-thought out, properly plotted adventure. Better still, every one is on a different theme. The nearest to the hackneyed old Sword-and-Sorcery schlock is Faerie, but this rests more on Celtic whimsy than conquering barbarians. The vital thing is to keep the fairies happy, one way being to swap a human baby for their changeling, a bit naughty this.

Four Minutes to Midnight seems to be the most advanced program, and pits you against a post-catastrophe world. The object is to rebuild civilisation from the ruins by assembling a team of capable and technically-skilled people. To my mind this goes one better than The Hobbit in terms of human interaction, and displays genuine originality. Cuddles is a bit on the cute side - you are a bored toddler and you have to escape from your cot and get past nanny to sample the delights of the outside world.

Ice Station Zero owes something to the dreadful Alistair Maclean story - for Zero read Zebra - it's a thriller set on the Arctic Icepack. The obligatory space adventure is represented in the form of Quann Tulla in which you have to get a crippled starship working again. In Search of Angels is a Fleming-style spy story full of the obligatory souped-up sportsters full of gadgetry.

A lot of ground has been covered here, all six packages taken together cost the same as two normally-priced Spectrum programs, but represent months of playing time. This is the first time I've encountered software at a reasonable price which sacrifices nothing in the way of quality. Surely this, and not peculiar security devices, is the answer to piracy?

23.56

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £1.75
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Eighth Day Software, 18 Flaxhill, Moreton, Wirral, L46 7UH

A new strain of bacteria has been accidentally released into the atmosphere from a top secret research laboratory and the consequences are tragic. Ninety percent of the population is dead, but you are one of the lucky ones. Your task is to lead a party of five survivors across a devastated America in search of sanctuary.

This is the chilling scenario of Four Minutes to Midnight, an adventure-strategy game based on Stephen King's best-selling novel The Stand.

While loading, the screen shows a mushroom cloud overlaid with the hands of a clock pointing at exactly four minutes to midnight.

Indeed, time is a crucial factor in this game, as you will probably discover as soon as you begin to play. Standing outside a gas station, you see a car careering towards you. If you make one false move you're instantly killed in the ensuing explosion.

Once you've managed to free Dave from the blazing car you set off on a long trek to the city in search of survivors.

You can talk to Dave in a limited sense, although he doesn't usually say very much. Type 'history Dave' and he'll tell you a bit about himself but type 'Ask Dave' and generally the message is 'You are told nothing of interest.'

Soon day turns to night and surprisingly for a Quill-designed game, graphics are used to depict the setting sun.

Another mistake I made was to forget to read the several pages of instructions on side Two which describe the strategic nature of the game and explain some vital commands. Previously Dave kept moaning about being hungry and despite my numerous attempts to give him food he suddenly dropped dead in the street.

You get points for completing various tasks and these are awarded in four categories: Technical, Engineering, Social and Strength. When the rating is high enough you can achieve certain things; a high Engineering score enables you to mend machinery. However, you can only find out a person's statistics at night when a capable psychic is present.

This is an ingenious and addictive game which makes the most of The Quill. It might not have the sophisticated character interaction or real time of more expensive adventures but for £1.75 you won't be disappointed.

8th Day
£2.99

8th Day were one of the first companies to see the potential of The Quill for budget software. In 1984 they released six adventures, most of them very good for the time; adventures which I regard with particular affection, since they were among the first I ever reviewed (for the late Home Computing Weekly). Yet - despite the controversial and excellent, full priced HRH last year - 8th Day have never received the success they deserved.

Now the company is back with new versions of those original games. Graphics have been added, and text compressed to allow longer description. Players are offered a choice of graphics or an expanded text version. New features like RAMSAVE/LOAD are included and presentation has been polished. The updated games are being released at a rate of one per month.

Unfortunately, 8th Day have chosen one of the weakest games to start with. The plot: bacteriological warfare has wiped out most of the world's population. You and a few others were immune Find such people and together begin a safe new world, de-arm the local nuclear weapons to help this aim.

This scenario was not very well executed to start with, and the game has not been sufficiently revamped. The vocabulary is too tight, and you are far too limited as to what you can do. The graphics are poor, the description uninspiring and the other characters have virtually no life or independence.

Thumbs down for this one but I look forward to coming games, especially Quaan Tulla and Faerie. I just hope they are updated with more thought.