Producer: Firebird
Retail Price: £2.50
Language: Quill
Author: Peter Torrance & Colin Liddle

Sub Sunk is one of two cheap offerings from British Telecom's Firebird label reviewed this month. This is probably the better of the two as it concerns itself with just the one immensely engaging activity that of escaping from a sub sunk to the bottom of the sea by a surprise enemy attack.

You are Ed Lines a reporter from the Seafarers Gazette on board the Sea Lion assigned to write an in-depth insight into life aboard a modern working sub. An alarm bell rings and before the sub can submerge the crew are overrun by the enemy who fail to find our intrepid reporter hiding under a bunk in the wardroom. Your prime objective now is to get to the telex room to send the message that will bring a rescue party. The message is: sub-sunk.

Up and running, the program has an attractive appearance on a b/w TV, but bright white glares too strongly on a colour set. Since this review is on the whole favourable let's just say I played the remainder on a b/w set after the glare of the coloured instructions, and in monochrome, all looked well. For an inexpensive Quilled game the graphics are presentable and sometimes rather good (as in the sickbay and the cold store). What's more, in places like the control room, with its sonar display (and bleeps), and in the reactor compartment, the control panels show some life like the flashing control desks which lined every spare inch aboard the sub in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ("Captain, a huge octopus has grabbed the ship', 'don't just stand there, melt 10 lbs of oil and serve with a little garlic').

I must say, for the asking price I thought this game wasn't at all bad. The logic required to solve one or two of the problems was thin in some places and suspect in others but anyone who has played many adventures can soon get that self-congratulatory glow of satisfaction within a reasonably short space of time as problem after problem bites the dust. The balance between getting somewhere and solving problems is about right and on your travels you will find much to keep you interested and entertained. As you might guess the DDDeep FFFreeze CCCCompartment is rather cccold, so much so you are quickly returned back to the Cold Store before you freeze to a block. Most of the rest is freely accessible right from the off and almost all you care to examine, pull or otherwise fiddle about with causes something to happen, or gives an opportunity for the program to show off some new witticism. In the torpedo handling area PULL LEVER and 'whoosh! A huge column of air leaves the tube'. In the Control Room EXAM SONAR to find 'You're on the sea-bed matey!'. In the Navigation Area you can examine the map but the torn bits left reveal little that's intelligible. I can't remember a single location where something new wasn't discovered with only the most cursory poking around.

Sub Sunk is a much fairer attempt to bring adventuring to the cost-conscious consumer than, say, the offerings from Scorpio reviewed earlier this year. The graphics are by no means minimal in many locations they add to the atmosphere and make play more enjoyable. Almost everything can be examined and every lever pulled maintaining a high level of involvement throughout. Getting out of this submarine is a challenge and you could do a lot worse than devoting some of your Summer hols pocket money towards having a go.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: moderate
Graphics: on some locations, relatively simple
Presentation: poor, black text on white background and graphics scroll off with text
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: instantaneous
Special features: some sound effects

Publisher: Firebird
Memory: 48K
Price: £2.50

This month's final offerings are both produced by Firebird and written with the Quill. The first is Subsunk.

You are Ed Lines ace reporter for the trade rag Seafaring Gazette. Your assignment, to seek out the truth of life in a nuclear submarine, has run into deep trouble. A foreign power has attacked the sub, captured the crew and scuttled the vessel.

Your only way to safety will be to rig up some sort of aerial and send a distress message to Headquarters.

There are fast, bright graphics for many of the sub's numerous compartments, the occasional sound effect, and a friendly interpreter which gives information about even useless items. Add a few wry jokes and you have an enjoyable adventure.

You have to devise a way not only to sort out the radio link but also to send up the aerial on a float. One slip and you will depressurise.

I was initially put off on reading the cassette notes and thought I was in for another dose of rather dreary escaping. Not so, as the sub is interesting enough to take your mind off the lack of other creatures. Well designed and thoroughly enjoyable escapism.

Firebird, the BT company who made such an impact with their first collection of SW have added to their range with the introduction of seven new programs in their Silver, £2.50, series.

SUBSUNK is a graphic adventure in the standard format which presents many brain teasing puzzles, although not outstanding it is well written and is comparable to programs being sold at twice the price. Worth adding to your collection if adventuring is your forte.

Firebird
£2.50

The software arm of British Telecom has now moved into adventures with the inclusion of both Subsunk and The Helm in their range of budget software. Budget software does not always mean bad software and Subsunk proves this point being a very competent graphic adventure.

You play the part of a reporter from 'The Seafarers Gazette' with the highly unlikely name of Ed Lines. You are on board the Sea Lion, a submarine, researching an article about life onboard a modern working sub. Life, though, is not being kind to Ed Lines, as the sub is attacked by an enemy fleet while he is carrying out his research. The sub is overrun by the enemy, but Ed escapes capture by hiding under a bunk. The enemy leave and sink the sub with Ed on board.

At the start of the game, you are trapped in the sub on the sea bed. Your objective is to find your way to the sub's telex room and send a message to bring a rescue party. The message you must send is 'subsunk'.

This is not as easy a task as you may suppose, as it's rather a large sub for you to find your way around, and several problems must be solved before you can send the message.

This is a Quilled text adventure with graphics. The graphics are fairly simple, though the majority are not static pictures. Many feature flashing consoles and even a sonar. There are also occasional sound effects which accompany the pictures. The text descriptions of locations are fairly simple as well, being just the name of the room, the exits and anything of interest. Unlike Mordon's Quest, which had no graphics, this game lacks atmosphere. Everything is very stark and sterile.

It is, though, a very enjoyable game, mainly because of its sense of humour. As with Imperial Software's Clueso, which I reviewed last issue, Subsunk rises above its status as a standard Quilled adventure because it is quite funny in places. For example, if you were to examine the sonar, the computer replies with 'You're on the sea bed, matey!' There is also the result of pressing a button marked 'Galley'. You smell a burning noise, and upon visiting the galley you are attacked by a burnt slice of toast which escapes from the exploding toaster!

There are incidents at almost all locations, and messing around with levers, buttons and switches will always produce a response of some kind, the majority of them in a humourous vein.

The game is adequately presented and laid out, though much more cannot be expected of a quilled game. The graphics are of a simple nature, and scroll off the screen as you type your responses. The game supports a limited vocabulary of around 150 words, but that is large enough for the scope of the game.

As an attempt to supply budget price adventures, Subsunk succeeds admirably, as there are worse games on the market for double the price. Firebird are continuing in the adventure market with The Helm at the same price. If you want a cheap, but challenging, adventure then Subsunk is for you.