[{"TitleName":"The Rats","Publisher":"Hodder & Stoughton Ltd","Author":"Five Ways Software Ltd","YearOfRelease":"1985","ZxDbId":"0004039","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 21, Oct 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-09-26","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nProduction Assistants: Gordon Druce, Matthew Uffindell\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nSub Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone, John Minson, Mark Hamer, Gary Liddon, Julian Rignall, Gary Penn\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £14.50 post included (UK Mainland); Europe: 12 issues £21.50 post included. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nMICRONET:\r\nYou can talk to CRASH via Micronet. Our MBX is 105845851\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"THE RATS\r\n\r\nProducer: Hodder & Stoughton\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Five Ways Software\r\n\r\nThere is one thing which troubles me about writing this column. I have to weigh up how much I should go over the same old points I've made in the past and balance this with my rather low boredom threshold. However, to say 'for my views on this subject see CRASH blah blah issue pages x to z', seems too reminiscent of those pompous, stuffy academic reports so I think I'll settle for a little rehashing of old thoughts.\r\n\r\nThe point I'd like to make here is that publishing companies should be careful when producing computer software. This little industry has quickly come of age and the matching of what the public wants to see on a computer to what the public gets has come a long way some outstanding software has been produced. Programming skills on the Spectrum have improved to the point where there's little room for programming innovation; just about everything the Spectrum can possibly do, it now does.\r\n\r\nIf programming expertise is near its zenith then program design and implementation aren't far behind. It is in these fields that software producers must be very careful. When designing a board game, the questions at the end of the day are: can someone actually play it, given the instructions; and if they can play it, is it any good? The same must go for computer software. Can the games player play the computer game and if the player can, what does he she think about it? With this game The Rats, I can barely answer the question 'what did I think about it' because I could hardly play the darn thing and, after an (unfortunately) long while, I didn't much care one way or the other. No doubt many of you will buy it because of its interesting theme and slick presentation. It looks great. As a programmer, though, reviewing the game was disappointing as it drops too many own goals.\r\n\r\nThe way the game loads is clumsy and downright unfriendly. The instructions are all over the place and have that far from endearing quality that has even the most clear-headed reading paragraphs time and again. It interleaves garbled loading instructions with details on game play which don't fully explain exactly what you have to do. Playing the game does not make light of these instructions. For example, the system for deploying troops is clumsy and once they are deployed it's difficult to keep track of them. I'll admit you could direct many of these comments at other prominent pieces of software it's just that The Rats seems to embody all the worst aspects of clumsy design and implementation.\r\n\r\nThe problem of sensible input has been successfully tackled in the game by reducing the number of options available to the player at any one point to, at most, two or three. The result of this system is sensible input sure enough - the program always understands what you want to do as it itself offers the options - but sometimes the actions you are channelled into do not make much sense. It is a game for much to-ing and fro-ing and exploration as new avenues can appear almost unnoticed.\r\n\r\nThe Rats is based on the chilling bestseller by James Herbert. Although it is not necessary to read the book to enjoy the software I would guess reading it would greatly enhance the player's understanding and sense of purpose. The game details your struggles with oversized rodents, which you attack through the eyes of minor characters such as Paula Blakely, and major characters like Harris, Howard and Foskins; a resourceful and courageous hero, a young rat scientist, and an Under-Secretary of State respectively. These characters are introduced in a similar way to films eg Close Encounters. The game might cut away from Paula Blakely struggling with the rats on a very personal scale to Foskins whose job is to coordinate London's Emergency Forces from General Headquarters.\r\n\r\nRat-Kill, Police, Fire and Military forces can be deployed against the rodents along with equipment such as protective suits, chemical gas, flamethrowers, electric stun pods and Anti-Rattus gas. Marked on the screen map of London (which, unlike the rest of the presentation, is scruffy) is GHQ, Harris' flat, and the Research and Development Centre where the important work on the origin, nature and vulnerability of the super-rats takes place at the greatest possible speed as the security forces seem ill-equipped to quash the rodents' surge across London.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nDifficulty: may take some time to halt the rats\r\nGraphics: average\r\nPresentation: good\r\nInput facility: option-driven\r\nResponse: good","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Looks nice (apart from scruffy London map).","Page":"110","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Derek Brewster","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"If this rotund fluffy thing reminds you of your hamster then you've got problems. One of the not so friendly RATS."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Atmosphere","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Vocabulary","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Logic","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Quality","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall Value","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 21, Oct 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-09-26","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nProduction Assistants: Gordon Druce, Matthew Uffindell\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nSub Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone, John Minson, Mark Hamer, Gary Liddon, Julian Rignall, Gary Penn\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £14.50 post included (UK Mainland); Europe: 12 issues £21.50 post included. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nMICRONET:\r\nYou can talk to CRASH via Micronet. Our MBX is 105845851\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"THE RATS\r\n\r\nProducer: Hodder & Stoughton\r\nAuthor: GXT (Five Ways Software)\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\n\r\nA plague of rats is swarming through London at an incredible pace. The government refuses to face the seriousness of the problem and won't give you the resources you need. Stopping the rats is proving tremendously difficult you're racing against time and losing. The pace is electric but you wonder... are you likely to succeed in your task before you get sick to death of reloading the game...\r\n\r\nThere are several examples of computer games based on famous books on the market. The Electronic Pencil Company's The Fourth Protocol is perhaps one of the best examples of current success in this field, and now Hodder and Stoughton have released The Rats based on James Herbert's chilling novel. It is a fascinating mixture of semi-graphics adventuring and real time strategy. Unfortunately it is also a mixture of innovative successes and miserable shortcomings.\r\n\r\nThe title sequence is one of the most original and atmospheric ever designed for a computer game. A prologue is written out in bold white letters across a black screen to set the scene. A brilliant animation sequence follows, in which a pool of torchlight wanders around in the blackness before red eyes appear in the dark. Just as the light moves onto them, a superbly drawn rat pounces into view! Then you are presented with the main, blood-spattered loading screen. The pathetic little tune accompanying this is more amusing than annoying in the context.\r\n\r\nThe Rats is, to all intents and purposes, two games in one. The Strategy game involves stopping the spread of the rats from the city of London and eradicating them as soon as possible. The opening screen is a simplified map of London with an option window at the bottom. The main options are 'Report', 'Forces', and 'Research'. A flashing cursor on the map indicates rat activity, and you can call information on areas of activity, deploy forces, or ignore the cursor and work on research instead.\r\n\r\nIf you ask for a report, you will be prompted to define which area you wish to access information about. Moving your own cursor over the chosen area on the map and pressing enter, opens a smaller window on the screen which provides basic information such as 'Old lady attacked by monster rat'. You may then eliminate the window and move on.\r\n\r\nYou can also ask for reports from various groups you may have deployed in the field. Three icons on the screen indicate the R&D centre, GHO and Harris' flat (Harris is one of the major characters from the adventure section) and reports can also be sought from these places. It is fairly important to follow the reports so that you become aware of the nature of the attacks, but to concentrate too much time on them will leave you no time to allocate forces.\r\n\r\nThe deployment of the fire service, police and professional rat-killers is vital to your success - if you fail to contain the rats and they leave London you lose the game. The three types of forces have varying ability and choices of weaponry. Initially, weapons are fairly conventional, with dogs, gas and high pressure water hoses. You must equip a unit and then move it to the area where you require action (fortunately you don't have to figure out how many of what to give to whom; the limitations of each force are worked out for you). Later you may ask for that unit's progress report.\r\n\r\nYour forces are very limited and trying to stop the rats with them is in fact impossible. What you need to do is delay the rodents for as long as you can and eventually, the army will be brought in by the hopelessly reluctant government, thus giving you a second lease of life. This does not happen for some time however, and there's plenty to keep you busy beforehand.\r\n\r\nIt's also vital to devote resources to research, but you have finite resources and must decide how to use them to best advantage. The areas for research are origin, nature, offence and defence. Spending points on offence and defence will help develop more potent weaponry to use against the rats but making discoveries about their origin is fundamentally important to the adventure game.\r\n\r\nThe adventure game, like the strategy, is real time. You are shifted to the adventure section at random intervals throughout play. Each entry into the adventure section, which is really a series of mini-adventures involving various minor characters' encounters with the rats, is precluded by an alarm sound from the computer. Don't worry if you lose minor characters as you often will to start with. Allow a major character (such as Harris) to bite the dust, however, then you've had it!\r\n\r\nThe format of the adventure is excellent. A large window on the right of the screen contains all the text output in slow-scrolling format, which helps emphasise the real time aspect of the game. At the bottom of the screen is a small window with three major command options which give access to further sub-options presented in the left hand window.\r\n\r\nA heartbeat sound (at least it's supposed to be heartbeat) accompanies the text. As the situation becomes more tense, the heartbeat speeds up, adding greatly to the atmosphere. Because the game uses options instead of text input, conversations with the computer can't be ambiguous, which results in very fast and efficient play. Occasionally a new option will appear in the window, implying an impending application - sometimes using it will not help, but generally the appearance of new options works like an inbuilt hint sheet!\r\n\r\nIf you lose an encounter with the rats, the page seems to tear open and a rat pounces out at you. The use of a simple scream sound is quite effective here too. This is definitely one of the highlights of the game. The narrative quality of the text is superlative and gory, in true Herbert style. Definitely not for the squeamish, this.\r\n\r\nThe two games integrate perfectly, with good strategy needed to keep going and good adventuring necessary to finally subdue the oversized vermin. With automatic returns to the strategy game after completion of the 'mini-adventures', this smooth play must be credited for the faultless piece of design it is.\r\n\r\nThe 'miserable shortcomings' of the game already mentioned don't really exist in the game, but rather around it. The loading sequence is very unfriendly: the tape has to be stopped during the animation sequence. Although the instructions mention a way to skip the animation, it didn't want to work, and very little leeway is left between loading sections. When the animation ends you do not receive a prompt to restart the tape, but have to wait for the tune to finish and press play. Problems arise which could easily have been avoided.\r\n\r\nWhile the game is loading it is easy to believe that an error has occurred - the tape error warning used in the sequence is totally useless and it's difficult to tell whether the program is being received. This problem is aggravated by the disablement of the speaker, and for some totally inexplicable reason, some of the blocks are not actually received at all, to judge by the border during loading. It is natural to assume that the system has crashed - but if you leave well alone, the game loads perfectly in the end. This weird pretence of failing to load is very annoying - particularly since it isn't referred to in the instructions. Very unfriendly.\r\n\r\nOnce loaded, it's wise to save the game as soon as possible as as there is no restart facility because the program possesses massive data files and the game itself continues on the second side of the tape. If you haven't saved a game, you will have to load the entire thing from scratch! There is no menu of options to help clear up matters, and the instruction booklet is misleading and practically unintelligible.\r\n\r\nThese are major faults, considering the size of the game. On any other game they would be totally crippling, but because of the input format, even badly explained sections can be picked up fairly easily.\r\n\r\nThe game's percentage based scoring system is silly. We scored 35% for playing what was apparently a good game, full of successes. Yet on a new game where the computer was left to win without any player input, the final score was 21%! Also, when in the adventure section and the pace gets fast, minor system crashes seem to occur in the form of text character decay and randomly appearing multi-coloured blocks, though these do not seem to affect play.\r\n\r\nIf Hodder & Stoughton had ironed out these faults, the game would have been declared perfect. However, its shoddily finished format may detract from the success the game deserves.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"122,123","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Sean Masterson","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"If this rotund fluffy thing reminds you of your hanster then you've got problems. One of the not so friendly RATS."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"66%","Text":"Some prompts in the game would have raised this rating. And the instructions were ambiguous..."},{"Header":"Rules","Score":"90%","Text":"...Having said that, once you pick them up, they're very clever!"},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"90%","Text":"Very fast and smooth - especially with a joystick"},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"90%","Text":"Almost as good as they could possibly be in this kind of game."},{"Header":"Authenticity","Score":"90%","Text":"Fair play and very close to the book. Impressive."},{"Header":"Value","Score":"80%","Text":"You do get a lot of game for your money."},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":"The game is let down by the loading problems and a lack of a restart facility."}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 20, Nov 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-10-17","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":74,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nArt Editor: Phoebe Evans\r\nDeputy Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nProduction Editor: Louise Cook\r\nDesigner: Martin Dixon\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: Stephen Adams, Ross Holman, Tony Samuels, Penny Page, Alan Trevartha, Dave Bishop, Teresa Maughan, Keith Symonds, Iolo Davidson, Steve Cooke, Chris Wood, Rick Robson, Dougie Bern, Max Phillips, Phil South, Dave Nicholls\r\nAdvertisement Manager: David Baskerville\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Chris Talbot\r\nManaging Editor: Roger Munford\r\nArt Director: Jimmy Egerton\r\nPublisher: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [redacted]\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Spectrum ©1985 Felden productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Spectrum is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"DOWNTOWN RATS\r\n\r\nThey were big (well, ish!). They were black. And they were ugly. Soon there were swarms of them. They teemed into the shops and took over people's homes. They were The Spectrums. Now Hodder and Stoughton has released a new game designed to tame them. YS Pied Pipers, Peter Shaw and Penny Page, have joined The Rats race...\r\n\r\nOnce again, London is at war. But this time the enemy is already within its walls... waiting, waiting, for just the right moment. And then the black army emerged from the dark recesses of the sewers to do battle. First, they were like shadows unsettling a sunny day - black and swift but seldom seen. Soon though, they were everywhere - rats, giant rats driven on in a frenzy by an obscene craving for human flesh...\r\n\r\nIt's your task to staunch their crazed bloodlust - to stop the horrific slaughter and mindless massacres. The gravity of the situation calls for a three pronged attack. Howard is in charge of Research and Development working round the clock in a bid to create a weapon that'll get the rats on the run. To Foskins falls the unenviable task of deciding where the meagre resources he's been allocated should be deployed. Both of them are generals in the war, initially isolated in offices and distanced from the battlefields. Harris, however, is in the thick of it - he has come face to face with the monsters, seen how swiftly they can devour a human body leaving only bloodstains and polished bones. Above all, he knows what it is to face death and feel fear...","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"36,37","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Peter Shaw","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Penny Page","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"All over the city, ordinary men and women were having their lives completely changed by chance encounters with the black menace. And sometimes were those lives were brought to a bloody end...\r\n\r\nYou are Harris, on a mission to capture a rat.\r\n(At intervals throughout the game, you'll find yourself in the shoes of someone who's about to come face to face with the rats. It's your job to make sure that that someone doesn't become another statistic with a closed file labelled Deceased.)\r\n\r\nYou are in the Rat-Kill van.\r\n(I'm only here for the ride - this one's strictly for the professionals. No sir, Ferris calls the tune - he's being paid to be the Pied Piper!)\r\n\r\nFerris is with you, carrying a wire cage.\r\nObjects present:\r\na lit torch\r\nTake torch\r\nFerris gets out saying, \"Come on mate, scared of a load of overgrown mice?\"\r\nLeave van\r\nYou are on the waste-ground near the van. Ferris goes into the graveyard whispering, \"Wait here\".\r\n\r\nYou are in the graveyard.\r\n(Eeyah, this graveyard is really spooky. I ain't afraid of no ghost - it's the rates that give me the creeps.)\r\n\r\nOne of the tombs has cracked open.\r\nFerris walks towards the tomb and bends to look inside.\r\n\r\nA huge rate springs at him. Ferris screams and falls back.\r\n(It's a bit of a shame if the various people you're looking after become victims of the rats but it's not the end of the world. If you lose Harris, however, it is - or at least the end of the game!)\r\n\r\nDropping the cage he claws at the wriggling creature.\r\n\r\nHorrified, you watch as he is dragged into the tomb.\r\n(Oh my God... Ferris... no, the horror, the horror... he's dead... mustn't look, mustn't be sick... just take the cage...)\r\n\r\nTake cage.\r\nEnter tomb.\r\nYour are in the tomb.\r\n\r\nA bloody trail leads to the tunnel in the back wall.\r\n(Often your first reaction i situations like this is to turn tail and run for it. Better to keep your nerve and press on - remember that there's only one course of action that'll see you safely through and it's not always the most obvious or pleasant one.)\r\n\r\nEnter tunnel.\r\nYou are in the tunnel.\r\nObjects present:\r\nthe van keys\r\na rat gnawing on a piece of Ferris' body\r\nA single monster rat sits gnawing Ferris' body\r\nA single monster rate sits gnawing Ferris' chest.\r\nSmall boons crack under your feet.\r\nTake keys\r\n\r\nGrab rat\r\n(If R&D are to come up with the weapons you need, then they're going to need all the information they can lay their hands on - only this time, you've got to lay your hands on a big black rate first. Yeuch!)\r\n\r\nYou are holding the feeding monster but it will soon finish the piece of flesh.\r\n(Aaargh... this monster's so strong... not sure if I can hold it... s'like wrestling the devil... get in there... one last... eergh... got 'ya!)\r\n\r\nPut rat in cage\r\nGo back\r\nYou are in the tomb.\r\nGo to graveyard\r\nYou are in the graveyard.\r\nGo to van.\r\n\r\nYou are on the Rat-Kill van.\r\n(I've got the keys, I've got the cage an' I've got the rat. Looks like there's only one thing left to get - the hell out of here!)\r\n\r\nClose van\r\nStart van\r\nThe engines start, you plough through the vermin to safety.\r\n\r\nTHE BLACK DEATH\r\nAnd then the black, writhing carpet engulfed him, knawing at his bones, ripping mouthfuls of hair from his scalp, gorging themselves on great gobbets of living flesh and gulping down the blood...\r\n\r\nThe game uses a unique method of instruction entry to save you having to type in your commands. You're given a menu of options at each location and when you choose one it branches out into a sub-menu.\r\n\r\nThis is the gruesome scene that faces you if you let the dirty rats get on top of you. Sometimes the rats spring from the screen and there's nothing you can do but thank God that it was all over in an instant. More terrifying are the rats gnawing through doors as you wait in vain for help to arrive. At least it gives you time to appreciate the way the text on screen is corrupted to simulate the scratching of the rats' claws. A nice touch that.\r\n\r\nUnless you're one of the three main characters, you can continue the game despite losing a life. But if you do survive, a message is automatically sen to the R&D Centre containing information that helps in the development of the superweapon."},{"Text":"Day and night, Howard and his team toiled in their bid to develop an antidote to the rats. But the poison was\r\nspreading - and time was running out...\r\n\r\nAlthough you have weapons from the beginning of your struggle, you'll need specially designed equipment if you're to stand a chance. First, the boffins will come up with sonic scramblers followed by ultrasonic rat detectors, stun prods and anti-rattus gas.\r\n\r\nYour research and development resources are limited. The temptation, of course, is to slap the whole shebang onto research into defence and offence. Don't! Without background knowledge on where the rats are coming from, you'll never be able to develop the weapons to wipe them out.\r\n\r\n\r\nTry out all the different combinations of deploying your scientific resources until you come up with the one that yields the best results. For us, one man an' his microscope digging away at the origin of the species, another researching their nature and the rest employed on weapons development has proved successful in the field.\r\n\r\nAs the battle develops, the backroom boys at the R&D centre will send you newsflashes at the top of the screen. Read them to keep abreast of all the latest research."},{"Text":"Foskins and the other bureaucrats weren't too worried at first. After all, how could a few rats take over London - the idea was laughable. People do panic so! The pest control would come in and it'd be all over in a week. The papers would have found somethng else to sensationalise. It just goes to show how wrong you can be!\r\n\r\nAs the true scale of the threat comes home to the politicians, you'll be given reinforcements - in the main, police and firemen. Now it may sound callous, but use the firemen at this stage as they're expendable.\r\n\r\nJust like the movies, the cavalry arrives at the last minute - or in this case the army though they haven't turned up yet. Not that they're any guarantee of victory - these rats are more deadly than any Apache - but they'll give you the extra resources to rally against the enemy.\r\n\r\nIn the early stages, you'll have very limited numbers of troops. Best to use them in the centre of the city where the rats first crawl out of the sewers, remembering to keep some in reserve so you can stomp on any stray sightings in the outskirts.\r\n\r\nDon't spread your men too thinly. Far better to concentrate on key areas and clobber the critters as they come out.\r\n\r\nHere's your standard issue rat-killing equipment. It's not amazingly effective but you've got to make do until the R&D boys come up with the goods.\r\n\r\nAt the start, you'll have a team consisting of police, firemen and rat-killers. The police should form your main attacking force - send them in with guns a blazin'. The professional ratcatchers, on the other hand, are more useful in domestic situations and for defending strategic targets like Harris's flat.\r\n\r\nNow you might not think it's not that worthwhile saving somewhere like, er, Hounslow but once the rats get a foothold in the outskirts, you're in big trouble. It's only a matter of time before they're out of the metropolis terrorising England's green and peasants! And that means the game's up for you.\r\n\r\nThe sonic scrambler is the first of the specially designed weapons to leave the labs but only the Rat-Kill exterminators are allowed to operate them. Get them to the battle-grounds as soon as possible - they're doing no good tucked away in the armoury."},{"Text":"Protect Harris's flat at all costs - the rates seem to home in on it sensing a deadly enemy within. If you let them overrun the place, it's curtains for you!\r\n\r\nHere at the Research and Development Centre, the vital work to find a weapon that'll eradicate the rats is going on. You can do your bit to help the boffins by protecting the establishment from the rodents.\r\n\r\nThe rats are on the rampage all over the city. Keep track of them by constantly calling up the white squares for reports on sightings - and take note of what you're told so you can assess how dangerous the situation is on each square.\r\n\r\nThe yellow squares show you where you've deployed your troops. Move the cursor over them when you want to inspect their strengths.\r\n\r\nThe rats are fighting tooth and claw with your troops on the red squares - the most appropriate colour, after all.\r\n\r\nThis is the General Head Quarters manned by Foskins and the other Whitehall mandarins. Since we've payed our taxes to put 'em in jobs, it's an idea to make sure they're protected."},{"Text":"You'll also receive reports from the areas where your troops are under attack. If you're told that casualties are light, take it that you're doing OK, and press on elsewhere. As soon as you're told of a massacre, move in the big boys to that area. Like now!"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 43, Oct 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-09-19","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\nEditor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne, Clare Edgeley\r\nDesigner: Craig Kennedy\r\nEditorial Secretary: Norisah Fenn\r\nPublisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nAdvertising Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Shahid Nizam\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: Jim McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\n\r\nMAGAZINE SERVICES\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\n\r\nTELEPHONE\r\nAll departments [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Photograph: Henry Arden\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nOriginal programs should be on cassette and articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Peterboro' Web, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\n102,023 Jan-Jun 1985"},"MainText":"Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nJoystick: Kempston, programmable\r\n\r\nMan's worst fear waits eagerly in the darkness. The scent of human blood is overwhelming and the taste of cool, moist, rubbery flesh is still remembered and savoured. The time is near for the invasion of The Rats.\r\n\r\nThe game, from Hodder and Stoughton which publishes the book of the same name, is an experience as well as being a menu-driven adventure with a touch of strategy. It loads in sections, the first being a demo program with a nice line in cellar graphics. The sound is not too hot, but the excellent and superbly fast animation sequence, in which a torch scans a watery cellar to reveal hundreds of the plague carriers, is one of the best I have seen.\r\n\r\nOnce the demo is over, or if you break out of it, the main game is loaded from random routines on the first side of the tape. Loading is confusing as the main operating system of the game chooses the sections to be included within the program at random. Therefore, some of the code on the tape does not load and, if you are a first time user, you may think that the tape is faulty. It is not an error, the tape is loading in the random encounters for the game.\r\n\r\nOnce the game is running you had better be prepared for some fast action. There are two levels of play, over which the computer has total control. The first level involves a number of scenarios which deal with minor characters. As in James Herbert's book, those people are expendable and can be sacrificed for information about the mutant rats.\r\n\r\nThose scenarios are heralded by a warning siren. The screen then splits into three windows, the largest of which displays the action as text. The long window on the left provides command options and the one at the bottom of the screen is your command window. Making your character act is simple - just construct a command sentence at the bottom of the screen using the options provided. The effect creates a feeling of tension as you do not know what options are available until a specific menu is displayed.\r\n\r\nIf you are unlucky enough to meet a rat, it can kill you in a number of ways. First it might rip through the screen and bite you or, alternatively, it could try to rip through the text with its claws. Once an attack is made, a human face, full of terror, is shown falling from the rip in the page.\r\n\r\nIt is possible to escape your fate as one of the minor characters. For instance, the little girl doing her paper round would be better off if she did not go into the house across the road, but then you would not discover the rats' secrets.\r\n\r\nThe major characters, including Harris and Foskins, are just as vulnerable to attack as the minor characters. In some situations, Harris must be mercenary and let the rats kill friends in order to gain information about their habits. For example, when he goes to capture a rat he must make sure that his companion leads the way - the leader becomes a rat victim.\r\n\r\nThe other part of the game is a contest between the rats and Government forces. You are in charge and must allocate resources on a giant map which shows the spread of the rats through London. If they go over the boundaries you have lost the game, just as you have lost if one of the major characters is killed.\r\n\r\nYou use icon menus to allocate forces and resources. Those go into action on the part of the map which you have indicated with your cursor. At the same time you must specify the research into the rats' behaviour.\r\n\r\nThe Rats is a complex and brilliant game with above average graphics - if minimal sound. I can recommend it without reservation to those with strong stomachs.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"21","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Classic","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 49, Nov 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-10-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nDesign: Craig Kennedy\r\nDesign/Editorial Consultants: Steve Bush, Vici MacDonald\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Paul Coppins, Simon Marsh, Jim Douglas\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Marcus Jeffery\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Marcus Rich\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Bernard Dugdale\r\nProduction Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\n...and the Bug Hunters!\r\n© Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE\r\nBy using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £15. Additional service information, including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Severn Valley Press. Typeset by In-Step Ltd."},"MainText":"The Rats is a game based on the book by James Herbert, in which giant killer rats threaten London.\r\n\r\nThe book isn't supplied with the game. And although the background of the story might make the game more enjoyable, having read it beforehand I can assure you that it is not essential.\r\n\r\nPlay alternates between strategy sessions and adventure \"interludes\", the objective is to organise your strategy in such a way that the Research and Development establishment comes up with super-weapons capable of destroying the rat population.\r\n\r\nIn the adventure episodes you take the part of various characters in the story.\r\n\r\nThe greater area of the screen comprises a text window, to the left of which is a vertical column. Below these runs a strip offering a choice of COMMAND, INVENTORY, or REDESCRIBE.\r\n\r\nThe mini adventure starts off by telling you where you where and what objects can be seen. By moving a highlighting cursor you can select one of the three options. The most frequently used option, of course, is COMMAND, which causes a list of verbs to be displayed in the column to the left of the text window. Only verbs which can currently be used appear in the list.\r\n\r\nNext the cursor must be moved over the verb required and selected by pressing the fire button. Options for the next command word will be displayed following this. In other words, the game is controlled by text icons, either through the keyboard or joystick. Thus a command sentence is built up by selecting a combination from the lists.\r\n\r\nTo a certain extent you are playing blind. Supposing you had selected OPEN from the verb list - you would not know what things could be opened until after committing yourself to the verb, but then you would know exactly what was openable.\r\n\r\nThis is a novel way of entering commands in an adventure but gives the feeling that the options are more limited than in a conventional adventure and that you are being led by the hand.\r\n\r\nA mini adventure may end in success or failure, (usually a grizzly death being chewed to pieces by rats) and although the outcome affects the progress in the overall strategy, it is not fatal to the game as a whole.\r\n\r\nThe adventures, played in real time, rely on strategy in dealing with an urgent situation rather than solving problems. During play, parts of the text window are overlaid with graphics, to the accompaniment of sound. These depict attacks by the rats, and their horror-stricken victims.\r\n\r\nEven successful strategies in the adventures can lead to failure as there is a random element built in, and sometimes the rats are just too powerful, whatever action the player takes.\r\n\r\nBetween the adventures come the 'real' strategy parts of the game, during which the player can allocate his research resources to different aspects dealing with the menace, and as more information becomes available, deploy and equip his forces to defend the population and eventually annihilate the deadly creatures.\r\n\r\nThe strategy must be directed at containing the rats in the London area, for once they get out into the country at large the game is lost.\r\n\r\nAs with the adventure sections, the strategies are executed by moving the highlighting cursor.\r\n\r\nThe presentation of graphics and sound effects was rather disappointing as the semi-animated pictures didn't come up to the standard I had expected of the C64 version. I felt there was scope for them to have been far more dramatic.\r\n\r\nThe text, white on grey, called for a lot of fiddling with the colour, brightness and contrast on the TV set before it became easily legible. Even then it lacked enough contrast to make a comfortable read.\r\n\r\nMy other criticism is that once ended, no option for replay is given, and a complete reload is required, as the computer locked solid and has to be turned off before it is any further use.\r\n\r\nIt takes a little experimentation and practice to get the hang of playing the game, and to understand what is going on.\r\n\r\nThe Rats is a novel and entertaining game, and should be enjoyed by those to whom the format I have described appeals. On the other hand, I would not recommend it to someone looking for a mainstream adventure.\r\n\r\nThe Rats is published by Hodder and Stoughton and is available for the 48k Spectrum and Commodore 64.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"105","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Keith Campbell","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Personal Rating","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 22, Dec 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-11-28","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Cliff Joseph\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSoftware Assistant: John Gerard Donovan\r\nSales Executive: Alice Robertson\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\r\nPublishing Director: Peter Welham\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Garnett Print, Rotherham and London.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1985"},"MainText":"Hodder and Stoughton\r\n£7.95\r\n\r\nAn interesting program which combines strategy and adventure by the use of multiple choice input. The game is based on the James Herbert novel and it does help if you have read this book, however it is not essential and the game can be enjoyed on its own merits.\r\n\r\nYour prime task is to deploy your forces around London to contain and defeat the rats, this is done by moving a cursor around a map of the city and viewing appropriate sections. Once a section has been chosen, information on the number of men and their equipment is displayed. You can then modify this.\r\n\r\nEvery now and then the game changes into adventure mode where one of your characters, either one of the main four or one of the many supporting characters, is faced with a meeting with the revolting rodents. In this mode the text input is built up word by word from a bank of options.\r\n\r\nGraphics are used to good effect, when you make a fatal mistake the rat leaps through the text. The whole thing is quite an unusual concept and I enjoyed it greatly, however the vivid descriptions are quite gory and not for the squeamish. It will take quite a bit of playing to master this game, especially as the secondary characters load in a random fashion making plenty of game play variation.\r\n\r\nThis latter feature is not clearly explained and caused a couple of aborted loadings as I thought the program had crashed. If a block is not loading then leave it, it is probably simply not required for that variation of the game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"64","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]