Producer: Artic Computing
Retail Price: £6.95
Author: Colin Smith

Artic Computing is a company that made its name with its very popular yet difficult range of adventures. This adventure differs from the A-F series in its friendliness and extensive use of examine, and in its making use of The Quill.

The adventure is based upon the events leading up to a nuclear attack on Britain. International tension is at its greatest for many years and conventional armed conflict may well spill over into a full scale nuclear confrontation. Law and order is breaking down and those who are to survive face a tough battle in the remaining few moments of confusion and chaos. To set the scene the program reminds you this is an adventure which one day we may well all have to face for real.

Nuclear war is a harrowing thought and to strike home the idea the game has a suitably nauseating loading screen wit a large flashing detonation plume. Stare at this screen too long and you could become a psychotic civil defence volunteer.

You find yourself in the lounge of a typical suburban semi with floral wallpaper, foam-cushioned three piece, ornaments and a television, which, if it is your wish to turn it on, provides a tricky first problem. The game professes to be verb/noun but I'll save you some time if I tell you that on this occasion the program treats television as the verb and the next word as a proposition. I don't mind being so heavy-handed with this due because a good adventure should go far beyond simple word-matching. Once you have the television on it receives a news bulletin which gives you the dues to your survival. These loosely follow those given in that suspect government handbook which has had us all lavishly furnishing our broom cupboards. There's a humorous end to the message - 'There now follows a cartoon'. Sadly the picture fades before you can check to see whether it's vintage Tom & Jerry or not.

No sooner do you leave the entrance hall outside the lounge when the phone rings. Recent research suggests that the phone rings either when we're in the bath or when we are doing things like hurrying around collecting items for a makeshift nuclear shelter before the bomb drops. More research suggests we need more phones around the house but another solution is not to have one at all and this turns out to be the case here. A mechanical voice says 'Normal telephone services have been discontinued. Please refer to public broadcasts for further information.' Better start looking for a battery for that radio right away.

The first few frames of the game have you searching the house using examine extensively whereupon you soon obtain most of the items mentioned in the TV announcement. Other items you come across are believable, everyday items you might find around the home are refreshingly useful objects such as knives, banknotes and food rations. These objects are sensibly disposed about your abode with a knife in the kitchen and a mattress in the bedroom.

Moving around outside the house is more fraught with danger as a trip out on the bicycle will soon prove. It's chaotic outside with troops everywhere trying to impose some semblance of order and many directions you attempt end in displays or an early exit.

Ground Zero is a Quilled, text-only adventure with a harrowing theme. Like myself you may find the theme uninspiring as the thought of building a small, poky shelter in the home is probably the largest single factor to explain why most people would rather not survive a nuclear attack. However, survive you must in this game and once the task is taken up the story flows along if not merrily, then consistently enough to have you thinking on just how you might build a shelter were the worst to happen. The extensive use of examine, clear presentation and believable plot make this a fine adventure - if you can stomach the theme.

Difficulty: Average
Graphics: None
Presentation: Good
Input Facility: Verb/Noun
Response: Very fast
General Rating: Good

International tension is rising and already law and order are breaking down. It's every man for himself. There are queues outside food shops, and if you join one you'll be told to clear off. Squads are out with rifles ready to shoot anyone caught looting. Nuclear war is imminent.

Your objective is to survive the attack and its aftermath using a number of potentially useful items lying around your house. How and where to use them to shield yourself is the problem. Should you risk a trip into the town to try to get in some supplies, or should you get on your bike and pedal away as fast as you can?

This is a text Adventure with two-word input and fast response. As well as the overall strategy you must develop to survive, the plot hides other little problems which, pleasingly, the adequate vocabulary allows you to unravel without the frustration of word-hunting.

Although a well-written game, I found the subject too depressing to be enjoyable. Nuclear war is hardly a subject for humour, and I didn't find any in the game. I do enjoy a bit of fun in an Adventure, which I think should be for relaxation and escapism through fantasy. This one seemed too much like a grim possibility - some would say probability. I know we should all be aware of the horrors that would ensue, but a game is not the right vehicle for this sort of education.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
FROM: Artic, £6.95

First Ground Zero. Artic have already gathered a reputation for trick text-only adventures with their Island of Death series and other games. These programs have been the cause of many a nervous breakdown and Ground Zero is no exception. Who wouldn't have a nervous breakdown when the three minute warning goes, I'd like to know?

Your objective is to build a nuclear shelter from available materials and gather rations and water to enable you to survive until it's safe enough to come out into the open again.

To make best use of the limited time available you are advised to travel from location to location by taxi - and make sure you remember your Highway Code.

Looters, dozy neighbours, sirens, and ringing phones all help to make this an enjoyable but very tricky game - typical Artic fare.

Artic's game is two-word input only, but Richard Shepherd's Peter Cooke (programmer of Urban Upstart) has gone on to greater things with complex input and interactive characters.

APOCALYPSE APPROACHES

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £6.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Artic Computing, Main Street, Brandesburton, Driffield, YO25 8RG

Pack away your wands, elixirs and double-handed enchanted swords and step into the less esoteric, and ultimately more frightening world of Artic's Ground Zero. Set not in Middle Earth, but in the very real world of nuclear Superpower conflict, you are Mr Average, residing in 'Dunroamin', in quiet suburbia except that the world is in a grave period of international tension, with the threat of a holocaust looming high.

At the start of the adventure, you are placed in your semi in a lonely cul-de-sac. On switching on the TV, you break into a civil defence warning. The telephone rings to announce the loss of all services. On exploring the house and garden, you find various essential objects, such as keys, a knife, a mattress and an old door to construct a shelter against the blast with, and, in the kitchen cupboards, some food, but with the ominous label "a week's rations". The temptation is to sit around and wait for the worst, but, against the advice on the TV, I went out to explore the town, pausing only to restart the game after being trapped in the neighbour's garden.

Outside, the situation is grim, with riots in the High Street, hoarders queuing at the corner shop and trigger-happy soldiers guarding the motorway. The atmosphere created by the program is first class, encouraging the player to feverishly type in commands before the bomb drops. This scene-setting is done with no graphics and fairly short descriptions. Technically, too, the game is of a high standard, with an instant response to input and a very large, and wittily used, vocabulary, although on most occasions it does only accept the traditional Verb-Noun format. Essentially, a save-game facility is provided.

The object of the game is Protect and Survive, and, with the grim setting, it will provide quite a challenge to those tired of the more arcane adventure scenarios and has to be recommended.

Spectrum 48K
£6.95
Artic

International tension is at an all-time high. At home, law and order is beginning to break down as the ever-present threat of nuclear war looms clooser.

This text adventure kicks off with a more comfortable cosmetic scene. You're in the lounge of a typical suburban semi which comes complete with floral wallpaper, foam-cushioned three-piece suite and a TV. Turn on the TV and you'll be given some alarming advice - build a nuclear fall-out shelter! Picking up the phone, you are told that all public services have been suspended.

By now, you're really getting worried. Exploring the house will reveal plenty of useful material for what looks like an emergency situation. In the garden, a high wall prevents you seeing further. However, if you shin up an apple tree, you'll spy, on the far side of the wall, old Mr Hodges, sitting in a deck-chair and staring up the sky!

A bike in the garage might come on handy but you've got to be careful where you ride it. Out side the house, all is strangely quiet though if you venture up the High Street, sounds of rioting and looting will reach your ears and you'll see soldiers walking about with rifles!

An interesting and challenging adventure with plenty going on. Response to input is instantaneous and the vocabulary seems pretty extensive.