[{"TitleName":"Heroes of Karn","Publisher":"Interceptor Software","Author":"David M. Banner, Terry Greer, Ian Gray","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0006431","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 13, Apr 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-03-21","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":74,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Munford\r\nArt Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nDeputy Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nProduction Editor: Louise Cook\r\nArt Assistant: Martin Dixon\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: John Torofex, Stephen Adams, Roger Willis, Dave Nicholls, Ross Holman, Kevin Cox, AM Grant, Colin Barnsley, PJ Simmons, Chris Wood, Clive Gifford, Toni Baker, Craig Rawstron, Sue Dehnam, Mike Leaman, AJ Unwin\r\nAdvertising Manager: Joe Harrower\r\nAdvertisement Executive: David Baskerville\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Jill Harris\r\nGroup Art Director: Perry Neville\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":"HEROES OF KARN\r\r\nInterceptor Software\r\r\n£5.50\r\r\n\r\r\nIn great contrast Imperial Software's Curse Of The Seven Faces (the other adventure reviewed here), this game is a highly professional affair, even though it's a straight conversion from an original adventure on the Commodore 64. The scenario isn't particularly original or even interesting, but the story on the back cover of the cassette is told with such flair that all but the most hardened adventurers will sit up and take notice! I won't go into all the sordid details, save to say that it involves you saving a kingdom from the shadow of evil. The usual stuff!\r\n\r\nOn starting the adventure, you're greeted with a splendid picture; in fact many of the locations have accompanying graphics that appear instantly and add greatly to the whole atmosphere. However, the descriptions are often too short, particularly where there's no picture to feast your eyes on.\r\n\r\nDespite fancy graphics and a few other innovations, an adventure stands or falls by the strength of its puzzles, and the flexibility and quality of response to your, hopefully, imaginative commands. Heroes Of Karn is a definite success in this context. The responses are varied and entertaining, and the puzzles are tricky and, in some cases, rather obscure! For example, I eventually managed to get past the Barrowright by attacking it with a Bible - which didn't seem the most reverant thing to do at the time!\r\n\r\nAlthough Heroes Of Karn supports a few commands five or six words long, it's predominantly a standard adventure. However, I'd recommend it to anyone fancying a crack at a 'classic', especially if you've got a few long evenings to spare while you try and solve it!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"25","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Clive Gifford","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Interceptor's Heroes Of Karn - a puzzling adventure that's destined to become a classic?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 38, May 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-04-18","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: Rob Cameron\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: Jim McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Maria Keighley\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\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\n91,901 Jun-Dec 1984"},"MainText":"Publisher: Interceptor\r\n48K Spectrum\r\nPrice: £5.50\r\n\r\nI loaded up Heroes of Karn from Interceptor with trepidation. I found the earlier program Jewels of Babylon about as exciting as Eastbourne on a Sunday night. Fortunately, the new adventure is a different kettle of fish, though with some reservations.\r\n\r\nThe setting is pretty typical - the mighty heroes of the title have been overwhelmed by the dark forces of chaos and magically imprisoned in various forms. You, a stranger from a world of thinking machines and the like, must rescue them from the thrall of darkness and restore them to their true likenesses. I'm unsure about the thinking machine bit but we all accept a modicum of poetic licence now and again, I suppose.\r\n\r\nThe game is a graphic adventure and there are some very smart pictures sprinkled around the locations - probably not as many as in the original CBM 64 version but beautifully drawn nevertheless. However, pictures still do not make an adventure.\r\n\r\nYou start in a field in a deserted landscape. Problems appear quickly and it is not too long before you run into what is undoubtedly the first of the metamorphosed heroes - a frog no less, who can be transformed in the time-honoured way after you have disposed of a particularly irritating swamp lizard. Within a score of moves you meet barrowights, venal castle guards, a pirate and even a giant clam.\r\n\r\nLike its bejewelled predecessor the program's general style can be aggravating. The description will scroll up, up and away as soon as you make an entry, making for a lot of retyping of 'Look' if you are of vaguely amnesiac dispositions. On the positive side, you can use prepositions such as 'with' enabling you to choose a weapon for a fight or offer items of bribery to creatures of all species.\r\n\r\nAllies can also be spoken to in an easier way than in truly 'interactive' games though the characters do not lead fully independent lives. I must admit that this is a bonus as I find the behaviour of characters in games like The Hobbit to be desperately unpredictable and annoying.\r\n\r\nAs far as action and events are concerned Heroes of Karn is an improvement on interceptor's earlier offerings. It does not compare in complexity with the Level 9 style but should be quite appealing to adventurers in their novitiate.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"113","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Richard Price","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Computer Issue 5, May 1985","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1985-04-18","Editor":"Toby Wolpe","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Toby Wolpe\r\nAssistant Editor: Meirion Jones\r\nProduction Editor: Ian Vallely\r\nSoftware Editor: Simon Beesley\r\nCommercial Software Editor: Paul Bond\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lee Paddon\r\nEditorial Secretary: Lynn Dawson\r\nEditorial: [redacted]\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Nick Ratnieks\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Julian Bidlake\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Nigel Borrell, Kay Filbin\r\nNorthern Office: Geoff Parker\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Maxine Gill\r\nClassified: Susan Platts\r\nPublishing Director: Chris Hipwell\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Shobhan Gajjar\r\n\r\nYour Computer, [redacted]\r\n©Business Press International Ltd 1985\r\n\r\nPrinted in Great Britain for the proprietors of Business Press International Ltd, [redacted].\r\nISSN 0263-0885\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Ltd, [redacted], and typeset by Instep Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: U.K. £12.50 for 12 issues.\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n\r\nABC 154,334 January-June 1984."},"MainText":"Spectrum 48K\r\n£6.50\r\nInterceptor Micros\r\n\r\nHeroes of Karn is a text and graphics adventure that first appeared for the Commodore 64. It proved to be very popular and has now been translated for the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nAlthough the plot and puzzles are identical to the 64 version, the Spectrum program wins hands down in the graphics department, has a small edge in the text input contest but, naturally enough, loses by a mile in the music stakes.\r\n\r\nUnlike the 64 version, not every location is depicted graphically but those that are included are magnificent. Credit for the superb computer artwork goes to Terry Greer, as credited by the cassette inlay. The pictures appear instantaneously and are beautifully drawn using colourful high-resolution graphics.\r\n\r\nThe Spectrum's lack of sound capability means that the impressive music of the 64 version has had to be foresworn. However, the input parser has been tidied up making the acceptance of more complex commands much easier to use.\r\n\r\nThe plot involves you searching a fantasy land for not one but four lost heroes. The adventure has a host of puzzles, most of which involve hitting on what object to use with what item. The heroes themselves have different capabilities and in certain situations can do things that you could not do by yourself. It is therefore essential that you locate at least one of the lost heroes quite quickly. Finding the first lost hero, Beren, turns out to be quite easy, fortunately.\r\n\r\nA thoroughly enjoyable adventure with some of the best graphics on the market.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"47","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Hugo North","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Micro Adventurer Issue 17, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-21","Editor":"Brendon Gore","TotalPages":44,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Brendon Gore\r\nAssistant Editor: Martin Croft\r\nProduction Editor: Barbora Hajek\r\nSoftware Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nMaster Adventurers: Tony Bridge, Mike Grace, Ken Matthews\r\nEditorial Secretary: Geraldine Smyth\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: David Lake\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Langston\r\nAdministration: Theresa Lacy\r\nManaging Editor: Brendon Gore\r\nPublishing Director: Jenny Ireland\r\nTelephone number (all departments): [redacted]\r\nUK Address: [redacted]\r\nUS Address: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: UK £10.00 for 12 issues, overseas surface (excluding US and Canada) £16 for 12 issues, US and Canada air-lifted US$33.95 for 12 issues.\r\n\r\nMicro Adventurer is published monthly by Sunshine Books, Scot Press Ltd. Typesetting by In-Step Ltd, [redacted]. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd, [redacted]. Distributed by SM Distribution, [redacted].\r\n\r\nISSN 0265-4156. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper.\r\n\r\n© Sunshine Books 1985"},"MainText":"[ZXSR: These are reviews for the C64 version but could easily be a Spectrum version review]\r\n\r\nOUTWARD BOUND IN KARN COUNTRY\r\n\r\nBarbara Conway goes on an adventure holiday in Interceptor Micro's Heroes of Karn and Empire of Karn.\r\n\r\nAdventures: Heroes of Karn, Empire of Karn\r\nMicro: Commodore 64\r\nFormat: Cassette\r\nPrice: £7.00\r\nSupplier: Interceptor Micros, [redacted]\r\n\r\nIn happier times the setting of Heroes of Karn may have been a Paradise for tourists, but it just so happens that when the game opens, being a mysterious Stranger drawn to that land is the start of rather more than a usual activity holiday., The problem is that all four of Karn's principal citizens have vanished and a Mug (er, Hero) is needed to lead the quest to restore them to their rightful places in society.\r\n\r\nHeroes is a graphic adventure, with plenty of locations all illustrated with an admirably executed once-only picture. But the puzzles are the thing and, although some of them are quite obvious (I found King Beren almost immediately by following one of the most basic fairytale tenets in the book, although the averagely macho adventurer may balk at this point) many are real brainteasers.\r\n\r\nThe territory takes a lot of careful exploring and Beren will prove an invaluable companion. In fact he's remarkably obedient for a King, but perhaps that's just because he's grateful for the rescue. Together you're looking for Istar the Wise, Haldir the Elf-minstrel and the dwarf Khadim. And I soon discovered that I wasn't going to get very far without the soothsaying aid of Anton the Gypsy King. He's very near the start of the game but since he's not a philanthropist and demands that his palm be crossed (twice) with silver, it'll take a bit of time to get him what he wants and gain the much-needed advice.\r\n\r\nMost of the nasties are either supernatural or zoological (one apparent nasty turns out to be one of the objects of your quest who has been horribly transformed) and even where it's possible killing is not always the answer. With a wide variety of instruments available, each of which has a specific property, at least one savage breast can be soothed long enough to set another hero free. Just be careful with the flute!\r\n\r\nThis is not, however, to suggest that Heroes is a pacifist adventure. There's plenty of opportunity for strewing the place with blood and guts and in one case I had, after learning the hard way, to ensure that a vicious enemy never had a chance to be born.\r\n\r\nFinishing the quest is an exhausting but enjoyable enterprise, with the added appeal that it is possible to accumulate large amounts of treasure which can, with the aid of a magic incantation usable in certain locations, be deposited right at the start of the map without inconvenience.\r\n\r\nIn fact this transportation can come in very handy throughout the game if used properly. By the time the Top People of Karn were back where they belonged, I had accumulated a tidy fortune in valuables.\r\n\r\nAs every Adventurer knows, there's rarely such a thing as a perfect world and, despite having ventured so nobly in Heroes, poor old Karn is soon in dire trouble again. For King Zheff, foul fiend that he is, is sitting in his fortress and plotting the worst and the noble emperor Callastheon needs at least one new champion to aid his faithful adherent Davin. Guess who it turns out to be?\r\n\r\nSo there I was, at the start of this sequel, in the emperor's hall after having watched a sinister loading screen (I suppose that unpleasant visage must be Zheff) accompanied by some adequate music. The hall itself was nicely depicted in Hobbit-style graphics but for details I needed the text window beneath the picture. That told me that there was a sword nearby, but a \"mysterious force\" prevented me from taking it. Be warned, unless you prise the cassette insert out of its cover and read it with care you won't get the sword at all and, at a later stage, you need it pretty badly. Check by asking for a \"list\" of your possessions at the start, you may get a surprise.\r\n\r\nAfter solving that problem I wandered out to find some transport to the main scene of the quest, which is a pretty murderous one as such things go. The aim is, simply, to kill Zheff and all his minions and there are 64 locations, each with its own graphic screen (which helpfully displays only on your first visit to it thus saving time and irritation) and a liberal number of objects to choose from. Virtually all of them will be needed but you can only carry eight at a time, so they have to be picked up and used in the right sequence.\r\n\r\nFrom the starting point I boarded ,my trusty ship and, after killing myself through a piece of unheroic carelessness, tried out the \"save\" facility next time. This is a highly efficient function with the welcome bonus that, although the game is on cassette, it saves equally happily to disc. Frequent \"saving\" may be a worthwhile exercise since quite a few lethal traps are sprung with very little warning.\r\n\r\nEarly on it becomes apparent that kindness to animals, with two exceptions, is well rewarded. Getting the cat purring takes some unorthodox action, but it's worth it. Incidentally one of the minor bugs (there are a few of them) in the program is that it doesn't warn you in advance that you'll be doing some night-sailing. Take appropriate precautions!\r\n\r\nOnce on Zheff's territory I and my companions (human and otherwise) had some intricate travelling to do. One useful principle to bear in mind is that, generally speaking, if someone sounds friendly then rewarding them suitably is worthwhile. If they don't sound friendly then varying degrees of drastic remedy are called for. There's no need to get tough with the hostile widow Nahzil (I got her out of the way very effectively even so) and devious - some would even say highly unpleasant - measures can be employed against more formidable opposition.\r\n\r\nAfter collecting a new companion shortly after landing I found myself at the Great Gateway of the city of Ivshem, Zheff's capital.\r\n\r\nA quick recce round the bazaars showed that I was obviously going to need something in the way of money (I seemed to have carelessly started this quest without my wallet and the instruction \"give American Express card to Apothecary\" just goe me \"sorry I don't understand\" instead of \"that'll do nicely\") so I tried the neighbourhood of the City.\r\n\r\nI'd already been in one direction, where I got the new companion for what seemed (at the time) a remarkably reasonable price, so I tried the only other one on offer. This got me to a pyramid and a series of one-way rooms whose contents included some of the necessary valuables and one forceful reminder that an adventurer's best friend isn't necessarily his/ her mummy. Incidentally, although this is the desert, water can still be a hazard. Make sure you have something buoyant with you.\r\n\r\nBack in Ivshem the job was to accumulate all the necessary items for the sneak attack on the palace. It's important to remember that, when there's an object around and you can't get it for any reason other than that you're already carrying too much, somebody else will probably be able to get it for you. One of my companions was very good at carrying heavy or awkward objects and proved to have one other, rather less innocuous, use towards the end of the game. Having accumulated various essential articles (remember, if it's movable you'll probably need it at some point) and survived a murderous attack thanks to prior precautions, I had to get myself and my party into the palace grounds.\r\n\r\nMagical assistance was required but just getting to the necessary magician required a well-known trick on the part of one of my companions whose musical abilities seem to have been gained in India. This route is also one-way so make sure that you have all, eight of the unused items with you.before you take advantage of it. That means you'll have to have explored Ivshem thoroughly by that point.\r\n\r\nThe magician helpfully gave me the means to complete the main part of my task (and for free!) and transport was then needed from the only available source to get into the palace grounds. Once there, livestock started to play an important part in the plot again and I discovered, fatally, that just as it was a mistake to try to take the wrong items with me (be careful - four of them are used more than once) it could also be a mistake to assume that just because some,- body had helped me he was my friend. And getting rid of him wasn't as decisive as it seemed.\r\n\r\nThe final stage, eliminating the forces of evil, requires considerable ruthlessness. By the time I'd finished and made my getaway (remembering how you survived in the pyramid will help here) the castle looked rather like Elsinore after the end of Hamlet with everyone dead apart from what seemed to be a remarkably stupid servant in the wine-cellar.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are attractive, although decoration is all they add. Instructions are generally standard verb/noun format, but can be more complex when you want to \"say\" something to someone or put an object somewhere specific. Things to watch out for include the fact that, when addressing or referring to another person, the program won't recognise the instruction unless you start the name with a capital letter, and the way that, when you \"drop\" an item, the text description does not always specify it, even though it will still be available.\r\n\r\nEmpire of Karn is, like its predecessor, an eminently playable package which requires alertness and ingenuity on the part of the adventurer, although some of the tests could have been more interesting. An enjoyable quest, but I still feel a bit queasy about the solution. If this is how the goodies act, the baddies must have been quite something!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"34,35","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Barbara Conway","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 103, Mar 1985","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1985-03-16","Editor":"Peter Worlock","TotalPages":58,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Peter Worlock\r\nDeputy Editor: David Guest\r\nProduction Editor: Lauraine Turner\r\nDeputy Production Editor: Harriet Arnold\r\nEditor's Assistant: Karen Isaac\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPeripherals Editor: Kenn Garroch\r\nHardware Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nArt Editor: Dave Alexander\r\nPublisher: Cyndy Miles\r\nPublishing Manager: Peter Goldstein\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Sarah Barron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Laura Cade\r\nSales Executives: Phil Benson, Mike Blackman, Jacqui Edmiston, Andrew Flint, Sarah Musgrave, Tony O'Reilly\r\nProduction: Richard Gaffrey\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Andrea Laurence\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper"},"MainText":"[ZXSR: Empire of Karn is not a review for the Spectrum version, but the C64's. Spectrum Heroes of Karn was reviewed at the same time and shares the exact same text, plus the C64 review could equally describe the Spectrum version. No scores are present for either review so would not cause score-skewing.]\r\n\r\nHEROES' REINKARNATION\r\n\r\nThe hero returns in the second instalment of Interceptor's Karn series, but some of the pizzazz has gone out of the puzzles, says Bob Chappell.\r\n\r\nFans of Heroes of Karn should be pleased to hear of its sequel, Empire of Karn, whose style stays pretty faithful to the original's. The program, from Interceptor, runs on the Commodore 64 and costs £7.\r\n\r\nEmpire follows the current fashion for blending graphics and text. Each location is presented pictorially in the top half of the screen when you first arrive. Thereafter, the picture disappears but can be recalled easily. The graphics are fair, and swiftly drawn but add little to the game itself.\r\n\r\nBRIEF ENCOUNTER\r\n\r\nThe text is spartan, merely a terse description (two short sentences at most) and a list of any objects. In fact, the music that flares up at the beginning and at certain points thereafter is definitely the best feature. '\r\n\r\nWhat made the original Heroes of Karn so successful was the volume of puzzles to be solved. In Empire, this element is sadly lacking. In fact, I managed to score over 70 per cent quickly, and with little imaginative effort. Whether the tough stuff has been saved for last remains to be seen.\r\n\r\nSHIPPING LIST\r\n\r\nA sword was waiting right at the starting gate but a magical force prevented me from taking it. An inventory (LIST is the unconventional command used in this game) revealed that Darin, one of the heroes from the previous adventure, was with me. If I was too weedy to take the sword, Darin certainly wasn't.\r\n\r\nI grabbed myself a nearby Egan and tinderbox, and clambered aboard a conveniently moored ship. A wedged chest, powder keg, bottle of rum, date (edible) and a cat were obviously going to come in handy but where was the trusty lantern? You always find a lamp of some sort early on, so where was it? Aha! Way up in the crow's nest. Drat! It was nailed to the mast and no amount of pulling, pushing, kicking or swearing would budge it.\r\n\r\nAfter one or two unsuccessful launches, I piloted the ship to a sandy beach and thence to a desert. Not far away was a bazaar which housed, among its shops and stalls, a weaver, fortune teller, apothecary and belligerent widow. A nomad's tent was home for one Krizcokz the minstrel - the music in the game was supplied by Chris Cox.\r\n\r\nA trapdoor and a crack in a pyramid presented problems, as did a snake in a basket. But even without cracking those or extracting any joy from the weaver, apothecary and for, tune teller, my score indicated that I was almost three-quarters of the way through.\r\n\r\nWIPE OUT\r\n\r\nI didn't much like the Save routine either. If you opt to save a game straight to disk (which you can do only by first quitting the game), you can't name the saved file. This means that any previously saved game will automatically be overwritten. Tough luck if you've saved yourself in a room with no way out - you'll just have to start again from scratch.\r\n\r\nThe only way round this is to tie up several of your disks in a, grandfather, father, son type rotation.\r\n\r\nEmpire of Kara simply isn't as nourishing as its predecessor. The few exceptions to the general mundaneness of the puzzles just prove the rule. It's mostly a question of trudging around collecting bits and pieces, and no atmosphere prevails, mainly due to the impoverished text. Enjoyable enough in it's own right but I think Karn fans will be disappointed.\r\n\r\nHEROES RETURN\r\n\r\nA Spectrum version of Heroes of Karn, for £5.50, has also been released by Interceptor, with an Amstrad version imminent. The number of graphically depicted locations is restricted on the Spectrum, but those that remain are far, far superior in quality to those on the 64, thanks to the efforts of graphics designer Terry Greer. The pictures are pleasing to the eye and definitely add to the adventure. Terry Greer also did the excellent graphics for Interceptor's earlier Jewels of Babylon.\r\n\r\nThe command format has been tidied up, too. Instead of LIST, good old I (for inventory) is back, and you can address Darin directly.\r\n\r\nHeroes of Kern can still be confidently recommended, with its bags of puzzles spread evenly throughout. Shame the music's gone but the improved command analyser and the superb graphics more than make up for the loss.\r\n\r\nCHEAP THRILL\r\n\r\nJust room for a brief mention of Se-kaa of Assiali, a text and graphics adventure from Mastervision. This is a two-part 48K Spectrum adventure, all on the one cassette, featuring over 170 instantly illustrated locations.\r\n\r\nMany of the graphics are similar and simple, but colourful and effective, particularly those inside the castle where flickering torches deck the walls.\r\n\r\nYour mission as Se-Kaa is twofold. You must discover the whereabouts, within the Castle of the Dead, of three great artifacts and restore them to their rightful resting places.\r\n\r\nAlthough the adventure breaks no new ground and is fairly straightforward, it only costs £2.99, so must be considered a bargain.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"34","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Chappell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]