Producer: Mastertronic
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Clive Wilson & Les Hogarth

You might, like myself, be pleased to learn that MASTERTRONIC do not put out Quilled games in the belief that people, even at this price, expect better. Giving games players a little bit more is commendable as this offering not only has quite good graphics and a very readable redefined character set but also provides icon control over the common adventure commands. There are, unfortunately, a couple of things which let the side down.

The storyline isn't as appealing as it might be with the excuse that you're having a dream (see title) papering over a whole host of unconnected locations and problems. But by far the most damning fault of the game is the input system which almost defies a correct input. The auto repeat effect on entries and the curious DELETE system, which enters your input when you're trying to correct words, conspire against you to the extent where you feel like giving up before you've really started. On some occasions lines seem to enter themselves as if the computer was fed up with you struggling with the program's inadequate input routine.

The look of this adventure is really quite sophisticated for a £1.99 game. The icons are well designed and fit nicely around the picture, which, if not always detailed, is generally colourful. All of the compass directions can be chosen via arrow icons, cassette functions can be called upon via the quit icon and everyday adventure commands suck as LOOK, ENTER, LEAVE, GET, DROP, EXAMINE, HELP, USE and PAUSE can be called upon via shapes ranging from a clenched fist and magnifying glass to a bed (this last is for PAUSE).

You kick off in the place where every human being is at their best - safely out of harm's way, happily snoring in bed. Here though, 'happily' may not be the right word as it looks like another adventure nightmare. 'A sudden thirst awakens you and rising for a drink you fall out of bed into an ocean. The bed drifts away into the mist. You see shoreline ahead'. After struggling with the input system for ages you might pick up a spade, dig the sand and get a face smiling at you from a bucket. Avoiding the jaywalker's fate you might then get around to working out how the bike can be started, or perhaps you just push it away (well, I thought you deserve a clue if you've struggled with this input system for anything longer than five minutes). At the checkpoint you will no doubt meet the following: 'You step onto the gravel path but the crunch of your steps wakes the bandit and you are arrested for non-possession of passport. You are sentenced to hang from a tree until you wake'. Needless to say, any attempt to do something as useful as CUT ROPE comes up with the witty 'Your sword is being repaired'.

ZZZZ is not such a good game because it fails in the one area which is vital to smooth, unruffled adventuring - a competent input system. This game's entry system is fraught with difficulties (like the question of the comment which says you can 't go north when you had no recollection of attempting that direction). As such, the game's viability must be questioned even at such a low asking price.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: the most difficult thing is coming to terms with the atrocious input system
Graphics: alright for a cheap game
Presentation: good
Input facility: verb/noun and icon
Response: fast

Label: Mastertronic
Author: Clive Wilson and Les Vogarth
Price: £1.99
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

Not bad at all. Zzzz is, in its own quiet way, an attempt to bring some original touches to adventure game design. Fundamentally, it's what one can only call a graphics adventure but some of the more tedious aspects of playing adventures have been replaced by an option to use single-key, icon-based commands. Standard options like Enter, Save, compass directions, Get etc, are represented by a variety of icons which may be highlighted using the joystick rather than typing the complete command.

The centre screen shows the current location, graphics are quite simple but not without some charm, around Knight's Quest quality (for those who can remember that far back) and drawn instantly.

As an adventure, Zzzz has some interesting ideas. The first is the original premise - that all the events happen in your dreams and only dream logic applies. Your quest is to metaphorically cross the dream border post and wake up, the alternative is to remain lost in dream land forever. James Joyce would have been proud. Another nice touch is the Sanman, a peculiar character who pops up in unlikely places and makes curious observations that may or may not count as actual clues.

The opening of the game is packed full of promising clue-laden situations - your bed floats to a far shore, there you meet the Sanman for the first time under a bucket dug up in a beach, and you have both a bike and a bus to take you to other lands - but the opening screen has said you are thirsty and there is an ice palace that seems to be locked. Nothing makes any obvious sense but you can reason your way to some sort of solution.

For those who like their adventures without pixies, trolls or other mystical creatures the peculiar worlds and problems to be found in Zzzz may be a very challenging option. Particularly if you can assimilate shooting ducks, leading orchestras, London busses and the wild west and still hold on to your sanity.

SUPPLIER: Mastertronic
MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £1.99

Here is one of those strange adventures that accepts text-only input, but also has provision for joystick selection of a number of icons.

The icons represent some of the most common commands. Since it is necessary to input most commands in text, using the joystick means changing back and forth from the keyboard. For me this is no improvement over keyboard-only input. Changing over from one to another is an interruption in the flow of play.

As the game starts, the player falls asleep, and can then only escape his dreams by passing through a border post in the game.

The game is a jolly little affair, with a number of relatively unconnected problems, unlikely adjacent locations such as a beach and an igloo, and unrelated events.

Dig in the sand with the handily positioned spade, and from under a bucket will spring the Samnan (why not 'Sandman', for heaven's sake?) and he will run off into the igloo. See what I mean?

Starting off is the worst part, for the instructions on the inlay are almost microscopic in size. Were it not for the pocket magnifier helpfully supplied by The Fiend some time ago, to read his eye-straining letters, I'd probably still be struggling with the icons now!

Almost as bad is the keyboard response. The characteristics have been changed, and the rate of repeat is fast and unpredictable.

A short decisive tap on each letter is required, to ensure that only one character is entered. For some reason, apparently at random, the program takes it upon itself, every now and again to decide that ENTER has been pressed - usually when you are not looking at the screen!

This results in wasted split commands, but for some unaccountable reason, it does usually give a helpful list of exits!

Not a game to get up a good typing speed on, but fun nevertheless, and extremely good value if you've enough patience with its quirks.

Mastertronic
£1.99

You are trapped in your dream and must awake; though this game is more likely to have sent you to sleep in the first place. Dreaming could be the theme for an excellent adventure, but Zzzz fails because instead of capturing the weird nocturnal atmosphere or outrageous imagination of the best dreams, the authors have used the scenario as an excuse to fling together random and uninspired ideas. Also lacking is the warped logic which makes the wildest dreams feel continuous.

And Zzzz has many other faults, which is a shame because there are some good ideas. The best of these is the presence of icons replacing common commands (directions, GET/DROP, etc), while text input is retained for rarer words. Unfortunately, a massive bug means these have a life of their own and automatically select random commands, even while you are typing, making the game virtually unplayable. Furthermore, the delete key won't function as it's used for icon selection. John Wilson tells me that these faults disappear if a joystick interface is plugged in, but this is not mentioned in the instructions; besides, there should be no need. The instructions are dreadful by the way, picturing non-existent icons - they were written for the CBM version.

The non-icon vocabulary is small, and you are required to enter ridiculously obscure commands like THUMB A LIFT. Examine is usually unresponsive. The text is reasonable but some of the graphics are pathetic. The whole thing is horribly unfriendly and not worth your time or money.