Producer: Scorpio Software
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Andrew Reed

Ruby Runabout describes itself as a crazy fun-packed adventure. The cassette cover depicts a scene of fun and frolic with larger than life cartoon characters. The game's price leads one to expect a very ordinary adventure and in many ways this proves to be the case.

You play Reggie the Ruby Robber, the alliterated antihero who has his sights set on the Rocksalmon Ruby, the most priceless gem in the world. He runs a garage, when he's not busy thieving, and your adventure starts at the petrol pumps. is this comment directed at garage owners I ask myself or is it just the crummiest plot ever to package a computer game? Your quest is to get to the ruby first, but if you take too long you may find it has moved, so don't waste time. Having played the game and discovered some of its more dubious secrets, I can reveal that I have not got the foggiest what these instructions are about. But if you endeavour to shed any light on this matter don't write to tell me about ft because this is the sort of game where if things don't quite make sense it doesn't really matter. It could be the price, or the thin plot, or perhaps it's the grievance felt when every programmer worth his microdrive is struggling with the limitations of 40K of memory, this programmer has, with an inefficient style, ventured to fill up as much possible with redundant code.

The game uses no memory saving techniques, and no wonder, since only 31K is actually used leaving 9K idle. Simple memory conservation could almost have halved the length of the program. To give two examples: variable names are up to eleven characters long while graphics use reams of Plot and Draw representing a vast waste in memory and is, these days, unacceptable in games thought to have any commercial value. Surely you expect a commercial program to offer something beyond that which the average hacker could achieve, no matter what the asking price.

Back to the cassette cover. You'll discover forty locations, twenty of which have graphic illustrations, and using your imagination and sense of humour, survive the journey to locate and remove Rocksalmon Ruby.

The only humour remarkable enough to remember is the comment that greets you when you examine the tape to be told - it's a Sony. That is unless you count the instant death meted out by the policeman should you be caught dropping a toffee wrapper. 'A policeman approaches you with a truncheon; you look at him so he hits you over the head with it for dropping litter.' Such occurrences are common, where attempting to kill almost anything will mark your early departure from the game. Anything from a park attendant to a lowly wasp can present a threat but could you really expect an altercation with a car wash to be fatal? At times it can seem that everything you try ends up killing you for little justifiable reason.

I admit it's just possible I may have missed some of the humour as my interest finally flagged before completing the game. As for using your imagination you will indeed need it since the game requires mental contortions to explain the odd juxtapositions of locations and objects. An oil rig lies directly south of a post box, a wigwam is in close proximity to an igloo, while by a building site - what's this? - The Suez. Oh! Uh? Many other locations are mysteriously unyielding. You seem unable to cross the budge or swim the river. Further, no access can be made to a single building you meet. As for the objects, would you really expect to find a blowtorch in a gym, or a file in a flower bed? You don't find the petrol at the petrol station but at the windmill. There is no strong storyline to explain these discrepancies.

Inserting a coin at the fruit machine thankfully does not result in death. In fact you win with your first attempt. Sadly you win on each subsequent attempt and you neither lose the coin you've used or gain the coins you win. You can sense any atmosphere fading away. Later the game has you scaring an elephant with a very elusive mouse and another scenario has you creeping over pressure pads sure in the belief that your step will be that much daintier dressed in slippers.

The graphics are simple but effective enough. So as not to hold up what is an entirely Basic program the graphics are marked out with simple Draw and Plot commands. The colour changes at every location but some of the colours used do not mix well. The bridge appears blank on a b/w TV and only reveals a black bridge against a red background clearly on a favourably adjusted colour set. A lot of input scrolls up to push the picture and location description up off the screen.

Ruby Runabout is a short and unimaginative adventure with a weak plot and no theme to speak of. There are too few problems and too many early exits. Good features include a pleasant intro tune and a very quick response time. This game is about a third of the price of many classic adventure games and I can't help feeling that here you get a third of an adventure, both as regards size and quality.

Difficulty: Moderate
Graphics: Small graphics in some locations.
Presentation: Average - Good
Input Facility: Spectrum input
Response: Quite fast

"A crazy fun-packed graphic adventure" is how Ruby Runabout is described on the inlay. Well, it wasn't enough to drive me crazy, for the problems aren't difficult. Come to think of it - what problems? And it is packed with about is much fun as a cemetery on a wet Sunday afternoon.

The author of Ruby Runabout has difficulty in expressing himself. "You are the Adventurer..." start the instructions. Well I never! They continue "...you play the part of Reggie the Ruby Thief and hope that you get to find the ruby first or you might find it has gone." Mindblowing, isn't it?

There are said to be 40 locations, of which 20 have a graphics illustration. Perhaps there is no room for further pics, though I doubt it. If so, then it is hardly surprising for a program that uses lashings of space on such variable names as REMOVECOVER and SLIPPERWEAR.

The locations seem linked only in the sense that one leads to another - from a petrol station to an arcade, a gym and an oil-rig? Objects are found in all sorts of unlikely places - any location convenient for them to be left lying around. And, of course, it is a sudden death game. "You have the lit blowtorch here. This house is made of ice. The roof falls on your heads..." What, all four of them? "You pick up the letter and it blows up in your hand. It was a letter bomb!"

I suspect that the author had a traumatic experience at the hands of authority in his youth, for he has a policeman batteting the poor Adventurer to death with his truncheon for dropping an object (litter lout!) and a park-keeper turning vicious and calling his killer guard-dog.

Still, there's fun to be had reading some of the replies! "You cut the wire and dissemble the alarms," is one of the more classic examples. How it is possible to disguise alarms in this way I'm none too sure - I would have thought that cutting the wires would more likely dismantle them.

Ruby Runabout is typical of poor quality Adventures that, for some reason or other, tend to flock to the Spectrum more frequently than other computers. I suppose that if you do buy this inconsequential software yourself, you can re-use the tape and you won't be too much out of pocket.

Ruby Runabout, priced £1.99, is for 48k Spectrum from Scorpio Software.

HOT ROCK

MAKER: Scorpio Software
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £x.95

Reggie the Robber is a nasty piece of work. He'd sell his pet hamster to Pedigree Chum if he thought he'd make a bob or two. So imagine his delight when he hears of the fabulous Rock Salmon Ruby, a hefty hunk of stone worth more than the monthly pay packets of both T. Tyler and R. Burton combined! (Cheap humk of rock, huh? - Ed & Asst Ed).

Thus the scene is set for your adventure is set. You must aid Reg the tea-leaf in his attempt to purloin the gem and abscond to foreign parts. However, it's unlikely that this task will take very long. The game features only 40 locations, 20 of which are neatly (and quickly) illustrated. Hardly a challenge by current standards. There's little freedom of input for the player. Experienced explorers are unlikely to find the game of much interest.

Still, response times are good and the demeanour of the piece is bright and colourful. I guess if you wanna buy a prog for your kid sister this could be the one to go for.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £1.99

I was tapping my wand impatiently as I strode from location to location in search of excitement in Ruby Runabout from Scorpio Software (for 48K Spectrum).

The locations have the briefest of descriptions, but the occasional graphic illustration brightens things up a bit. The locations however are very oddly placed. One moment you're standing by a postbox, and the next minute you're (presumably swimming) by an oil rig out to sea.

Your objective in Scorpio's game is to search for rubies, which you do with the aid of a rather limited vocabulary. Its one of those games where in order to succeed you must simply visit every object. There are numerous spelling mistakes, and the occasional attempts at humour are not entirely successful.

However, Ruby Runabout will only set you back £1.99 which makes it one of the cheapest adventures I've ever played. At that price one doesn't expect too much, so the White Wizard is content to grant this game a place on the shelf rather than in the bin.

REGGIE'S RUBY

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £1.99
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: Scorpio Software, 147/155 Corn Exchange Building, Manchester 4

With a title like Ruby Runabout, you might have expected a fast arcade-style adventure along the lines of Jet Set Willy. In fact, what you get is a mildly amusing text and graphic adventure of the more traditional kind - forty locations to explore, half of which have graphics, puzzles to solve and lots of objects to pick up and try and find a use for.

You are Reggie the garage owner, who is desperate to own the world's most precious gem, the Rocksalmon Ruby. Your objective is to retrieve the ruby and take it home. But there's no time to lose, for if you delay you may find it has moved.

To accomplish this task you have to avoid numerous hazards which may hinder your progress or even terminate it altogether. There are lots of red-herrings; in fact you are likely to spend most of your time trying to decide what on earth to do with the odd collection of objects in your possession.

Some locations are also potentially dangerous to explore. On a few occasions your path is blocked by a person or an animal and excessive violence against either is not tolerated, so beware.

Mapping is straightforward and the screen presentation is clear and simple, although the descriptions are minimal 'a garage', 'a bridge' - while the inputs are of the basic verb-noun type.

Unfortunately, there appear to be several strange anomalies in this game. For example, although the verb 'light' is accepted, I can't find anything to light. And the request to 'open door' merely brings the response, 'the key isn't in the door.' If it's not in the door, then where is it?

One or two locations stand out as being rather out of place in this adventure, which generally takes place in familiar every day places. Take the oil rig, for instance. How many of those do you see when walking down the street? Then there is the bridge, which the screen shows as nothing but a black rectangle.

For me, though, the most infuriating feature of the game is the inadequate help facility. This is extremely short on replies, some of which are obvious if you've read the documentation, while others don't provide any clues other than telling you what you are trying to do already. One response simply says 'I'm as lost as you are', which may be funny once, but becomes tiresome after half a dozen times.

Despite these criticisms, the game offers a challenge which should keep players busy for hours. Even though I've examined and tried to pick up, open and light just about everything possible, I've still only scored 30%. So now I sit and think, wondering how to grasp that elusive ruby...