[{"TitleName":"The Runes of Zendos","Publisher":"Dorcas Software","Author":"Chris Dorrell","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0006912","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 12, Jan 1985","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1984-12-13","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":196,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nAssistant Editor: Kevin Foster\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nGeneral correspondence to: [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nGeneral office [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nPhotosetting by SIOS [redacted]\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £10.50 (UK Mainland post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £17.50 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"THE RUNES OF ZENDOS\r\n\r\nProducer: Dorcas Software\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Chris Dorrell\r\n\r\nDorcasia was a pleasant fertile land until the wizard Zendos cast the spell of darkness, plunging the country into perpetual gloom, forcing all the citizens of the tiny principality to pledge allegiance to him. A hero must take on the twelve different adventures and find and destroy the twelve runic hour glasses hidden deep within his magical castle, releasing the months and returning Dorcasia to the natural forces of the seasons. To protect the hour glasses and keep their runic inscriptions secret, Zendos has placed them in twelve separate rooms, each linked to an exterior gateway by a devious route. Each adventure has unique spells and problems to ensure a new challenge is provided on each occasion. The game features full animation, sentence input, sound effects and save game facilities to tape and microdrive.\r\n\r\nWhen the game loads you are at the start of adventure one. At any time you can switch to the start of a different adventure by entering, for example, 'adventure eight'. Status (or ?) gives information regarding the adventure you are in; e.g. Adventure 1, Strength 25, Provisions 25, Luck 10, Performance 80 (how much of the adventure you have completed). Further information regarding what you are carrying, the spells you know and what you are wearing is also detailed. You can wear one item on your head and one on your body; if you remove something you will then be carrying it. You begin each adventure with a supply of provisions eaten in quantities from 1 - 12 to increase your strength, e.g. EAT THREE items of food along the way replenishes strength depleted during fighting and running.\r\n\r\nVocabulary is surprisingly particular as you must type in the exact letters to make up the required words with only a few stock abbreviations for left (l), right (r), up (u), down (d), passage (p) and quickly (q). However, editing makes full use of the Spectrum cursor movement and delete functions which greatly facilitates entry. ENTER repeats the last command even after starting to type something else if this is first deleted. Input can be, and often must be, quite lengthy and involved, e.g. ATTACK THE GUARD WITH THE MIGHTY AXE and UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH THE GOLDEN KEY. The program will accept all words it has displayed.\r\n\r\nWhenever you meet a creature its strength and yours are displayed in a pennant at the top left of the screen. If a creature is very strong you will need more than your bare hands. Fighting is seldom the only option; often befriending a creature or casting an appropriate spell marks the way forward. To cast a spell you must have found it first and which therefore will appear in your knowledge list in the current adventure. Using charms and lucky items may improve your luck.\r\n\r\nThe Runes of Zendos is a very graphically entertaining adventure with smooth, scrolling animation sending your character left and right through passageways, up and down steps of ladders and striking blows in battle with the various zombies, skeletons, werewolves and all manner of exotic assailants. Much of the language is atypical of the arcade-adventure scene with l and r keys chosen for movement and TAKE with no GET option. The problems are logical, more so than in many text adventures, and the game is certain to take some time to complete as three hours were needed for the first of twelve sections. Although the game stands up as an adventure in its own right it is the superb animation which will be the more immediate attraction of what is a very fine game.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nDifficulty: quite easy\r\nGraphics: scrolling graphics with character animation\r\nPresentation: good\r\nInput facility: allows sentences. Vocabulary small and a little unorthodox\r\nResponse: reasonable, scrolling graphics appear a bit slow when in a hurry","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Good, I liked it a lot.","Page":"124","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Derek Brewster","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Atmosphere","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Vocabulary","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Logic","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Debugging","Score":"10/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall Value","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 35, Feb 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-01-17","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne, Clare Edgeley\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: James McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Claudia Viertel\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nAssistant Publisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\n96,271 Jan-June 1984\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nEditorial and advertising departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles:\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 the copyright of each program published and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nAll subscription enquiries to\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Peterboro' Web, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd."},"MainText":"THE RUNES OF ZENDOS\r\nDorcas Software\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\n\r\nDorcasia, like Camelot, was a fairly well regulated place until the evil Zendos threw the main switch and plunged the country into perpetual darkness. The 'spirit' of each month of the year was trapped in a secret rune and then tucked away in the depths of his castle.\r\n\r\nAs might be expected you must search the castle and destroy the hour glasses which hold the months. There is also a runic inscription on each glass and you must decipher that to exorcise the spell on the month.\r\n\r\nAs there are 12 months there are 12 separate quests, all of which interlink to some extent. To solve the full puzzle you must break a number of codes and the game becomes more difficult as you progress.\r\n\r\nLike its predecessor, The Oracle's Cave, the game features animated graphics. The explorer walks and climbs from location to location encountering various monsters and magical objects. Those are finely drawn in attractive colour and are an improvement on the Cave's rather monochromatic pictures.\r\n\r\nText can be used as in a standard adventure and the buffer will accept reasonably complex sentences, including some adverbs.\r\n\r\nThe Runes of Zendos is carefully produced and will have considerable appeal to amateur cryptologists.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"26","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Richard Price","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Big K Issue 12, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-20","Editor":"Tony Tyler","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tony Tyler\r\nAssisted By: Richard Burton\r\nArt Editor: Ian Stead\r\nFeatures: Nicky Xikluna\r\nSoftware: Fin Fahey\r\nContributors: Steve Keaton; Kim Aldis; John Conquest; Bill Bennett; Gary Liddon; Sean Cox; Richard Taylor; Alex Boitz; Richard Cook; Andy Green; Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoonists: Tony Benyon; Steve Way; Rogers Wade Walker\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Erica Vickers [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Executive: Gareth Cooper\r\nGroup Advertising Controller: Luis Bartlett\r\nPublisher: Barry Leverett\r\nPublishing Director: John Purdie\r\n\r\nAddress: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished approximately on the 20th of each month by IPC Magazines Ltd. [redacted]. Monotone and colour origination by G.M. Litho Ltd [redacted]. Printed in England by Chase Web Offset, Cornwall. Sole Agents: Australia and New Zealand, Gordon& Gotch (A/sia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. BIG K is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold or hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated constitute or any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. © IPC MAGAZINES 1985."},"MainText":"DIRTY DOZEN\r\n\r\nMAKER: Dorcas\r\nFORMAT: cassette\r\nPRICE: £7.95\r\n\r\nSequel to Oracle's Cave, perhaps the first animated adventure, Zendos is a series of twelve adventures working on two different levels. On the simpler level, it presents a series of problems to be solved as your man roams corridors, climbs ladders and confronts various animate and inanimate obstacles. The same problems recur in different sequences in each adventure so, in theory, once you've solved them in one adventure, you can deal with them pretty handily in all the rest. However, on another level, your task is harder. At the heart of each adventure is an hour glass in which Zendos has imprisoned a month, disrupting his neighbours' lives no little. To release them, eventually getting to the final screen, you must translate the runic inscription on each hour glass. In other words, what you get is a neat, if fairly simple, animated graphics adventure combined with a rather less simple job of code-breaking.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Conquest","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/3"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"2/3","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"2/3","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"2/3","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/3","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Micro Adventurer Issue 15, Jan 1985","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-12-13","Editor":"Brendon Gore","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Brendon Gore\r\nAssistant Editor: Martin Croft\r\nSoftware Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nMaster Adventurers: Tony Bridge, Mike Grace, Ken Matthews\r\nEditorial Secretary: Geraldine Smyth\r\nAdvertisement 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 1984"},"MainText":"ZENDOS\r\n\r\nMICRO: Spectrum 48K\r\nPRICE: £7.95\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSUPPLIER: Dorcas Software, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThe Runes of Zendos is an interesting and intriguing new game that comes more in the arcventure category.\r\n\r\nUsing the Spell of Darkness, the evil wizard Zendos has cast the country of Dorcasia into eternal night until all pledge allegiance to him. The 'spirits' of the twelve months have each been trapped by Zendos within the Tempus Runes or Runic Hour Glasses and placed within his labyrinthine castle.\r\n\r\nOnce the game has loaded you can effectively choose twelve different starting points as each 'month' has been hidden within a different group of rooms. You can change adventures at any time simply by typing in the number of the one you wish to move to.\r\n\r\nEach screen is a high-res picture of a room, complete with animated characters representing you and, in most cases, a monster. There are large numbers of creatures and objects in each game and, although they are the same from game to game, they are 'shuffled round' so that a monster you'll meet at the end of adventure 10 might turn up near the start of adventure two.\r\n\r\nThe game has combat but this is not in real time so you have a chance to think what to do, say and so on. Simple but full sentences are understood and some abbreviations are allowed. A full dictionary of verbs or prepositions is given which is very useful. Saves are allowed on tape or microdrive.\r\n\r\nFighting is animated in a most amusing way, showing you and your opponent taking little 'digs' at one another until only one remains. Your respective strengths are shown and the first reduced to zero is dead.\r\n\r\nSome items you find in the castle aid your attacks or help you get rid of the monsters without violence. Some cunning traps are also included, like exploding clocks and hypnotising mirrors. Lost strength can be regained by eating your provisions or some of the items found in the castle.\r\n\r\nNow and again an object will add to your luck or reveal a mysterious spell or cryptic clue to aid you later on. Some objects carry mystic runes which must eventually be translated if you are to succeed in 'freeing' the months.\r\n\r\nAs a start I'd advise you to get as far as you can in each of the twelve adventures to build up a list of the creatures, objects, and spells to be found. Even being killed isn't all bad - you often get a clue as to how to deal with the monster after you're dead!\r\n\r\nOverall, I found the game good fun and quite addictive. I'm sure there are many, many hours of play before you find the final solution.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Sally Glover","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair Programs Issue 28, Feb 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-01-17","Editor":"Rebecca Ferguson","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nStaff Writer: June Mortimer\r\nDesign/Illustration: Elaine Bishop\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Howard Rosen\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Claudia Viertel\r\nSubscription Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nAssistant Publisher: Neil Wood\r\nPublisher: Gerry Murray\r\n\r\nSinclair Programs is published monthly by EMAP Business and Computer Publications.\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like your original programs to be published in Sinclair Programs, please send your contributions, which must not have appeared elsewhere, to:\r\nSinclair Programs\r\nEEC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included. We pay £25 for the copyright of listings published and £10 for the copyright of listings published in the Beginners' section.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair Programs\r\nISSN No. 0263-0265\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by: Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nAll subscription enquiries:\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business and Computer Publications\r\n[redcated]\r\n\r\nCover Design: Craig Kennedy"},"MainText":"PRICE: £7.95\r\nGAME TYPE: Adventure\r\n\r\nWhen Dorcas brought out their game The Oracle's Cave, it was very impressive. A fully animated adventure, with clear graphics, not tiny little characters! Very original, very good.\r\n\r\nTheir follow-up is less impressive, for the idea of the animated adventure has now been taken to greater lengths than Dorcas had imagined. The Runes of Zendos sees the player wandering around one of twelve different castle layouts, searching for a Runic Hour glass. Twelve separate adventures, although the problems which you encounter, and the characters you meet will be similar in each one.\r\n\r\nIn each location your options are limited. If you face unfriendly opponents without the weapon necessary to destroy them instantly you will have to fight them. The outcome relies on your strength and your weapons, but also on luck. Fights with a little luck involved are exciting, fights where too much of a random element is involved are frustrating and ultimately boring. Those in The Runes of Zendos fall into the latter of these two categories.\r\n\r\nThe graphics and animation are good, but not spectacular. The problems are monotonous: find the correct objects in the right order and use them in the right way. The fight scenes are tedious. Runes of Zendos suffers more than most games from the rivalry of other programs released at the same time. It is a moderately enjoyable adventure game, but is certainly not the best of its type on the Spectrum market this Christmas.\r\n\r\nProduced for the 48K Spectrum by Dorcas Software.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"19","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"June Mortimer","Score":"67","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Rating","Score":"67%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Computer Issue 3, Mar 1985","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-21","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\nSub-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":"48K Spectrum\r\n£7.95\r\nDorcas Software\r\n\r\nZendos is an animated graphics and text adventure with some similarities to its predecessor, Oracle's Cave. If you liked that, then chances are you will enjoy this one.\r\n\r\nThe screen is divided into two, the top half displaying a side-on view of part of a room which scrolls horizontally or vertically in response to your chosen movement. The lower half is used textual commands and responses. Commands can range from the terse - L for go left - to the verbose - attack the guard with the mighty axe.\r\n\r\nYou are shown as a small white-clad figure whose mission it is to seek our and destroy the wicked wiazrd Zendos. He has separately imprisoned the spirit of each month - you must find and release all 12 spirits. Each auction of the castle is split into several chambers.\r\n\r\nSince each of the spirits is located in a different section, the program kindly lets you move instantaneously from section to section with a single command. Effectively, you get to play 12 connected sub-adventures.\r\n\r\nApart from you own walkabouts, the animation mostly comes from simply stylised battles with many of the characters you meet. These characters, as in Oracle's Cave, are solidly presented an imaginatively designed. As well as fighting, cracking runic codes and casting spells are other major activities.\r\n\r\nAs an animated adventure, Zendos works out very well. If you want a change from text only adventures, this should fill the bill.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"45","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Hugo North","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 93, Jan 1985","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1985-01-05","Editor":"Peter Worlock","TotalPages":54,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Peter Worlock\r\nDeputy Editor: David Guest\r\nProduction Editor: Lauraine Turner\r\nSub Editor: Harriet Arnold\r\nEditor's Assistant: Karen Isaac\r\nNews Writer: Ralph Bancroft, Sandra Grandison\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPeripherals Editor: Kenn Garroch\r\nHardware Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nPrograms Editor: Nickie Robinson\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: Dave Alexander\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Tim Brown\r\nLayout Artist: Bruce Preston\r\nPublisher: Cyndy Miles\r\nPublishing Assistant: Tobe Bendeth\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Peter Goldstein\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Bettina Williams\r\nAssistant Advertisement Managers: Laura Cade, Claire Rowbottom\r\nSales Executives: Claire Barnes, Phil Benson, Mike Blackman, Steve Corrick, Tony Keefe, Andrew Flint, Christian McCarthy, Isabel Middleton, Sarah Musgrave, Tony O'Reilly, Anita Stokes\r\nProduction: Richard Gaffrey\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Jan Moore\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":"HOURGLASS RHYMES\r\n\r\nMike Gerrard fumbles around in the darkness of Dorcasia, in search of a dozen ways to die.\r\n\r\n'Success depends on good fortune and a lump of meat.' No, this isn't subtle propaganda being put out by your local butcher, but one of the messages you get to explain why you're dead yet again in The Runes of Zendos, the latest animated adventure release for the Spectrum (£7.95) from Dorcas Software, whose earlier Oracle's Cave proved so popular. But death comes in a variety of ways - in fact as there are 12 adventures in one, it comes in an almost infinite variety of ways.\r\n\r\nThe mid-ground between adventure at one extreme and arcade at the other is a rather hazy area, but this animated effort is definitely at the adventure end of the market. No need for a joystick option, it's keyed in commands all the way.\r\n\r\nAny adventure with the word 'runes' in the title tells you that it's going to be set in some mythical land, whose peaceful existence has been or is about to be threatened by some evil Ewen in this case the land is Dorcasia, and the evil power belongs to Zendos the wizard.\r\n\r\nThe problem? Perpetual darkness. Where do you confront Zendos? Deep within his mysterious and magical castle. What's he done? Trapped the spirit of each month of the year in a runic hourglass and hidden them all. What do you have to do? Seek and destroy, dear hero, seek and destroy. How? By reading, deciphering and incanting the mysterious runic inscription round the base of each hour glass.\r\n\r\nWhen you load the game up you automatically begin with adventure one, discovering that 'You are in the January hallway where you find a skull and crossbone key'. At any point, though. If you want to go to one of the other adventures you simply type ADVENTURE TWO (or whatever) to take you to the appropriate hallway. You can't leave an adventure half-completed and return to it, however - if you go back to adventure one then you begin again in the January hallway. You can, though, save your progress to tape or Microdrive at any stage.\r\n\r\nThe top part of the screen is given over to the graphics. You, the hero, seem fetchingly clad in a romper suit, which doesn't altogether inspire much confidence in your fighting abilities. Beneath the picture is room for up to seven lines of scrolling text, and another couple of input lines for you beneath those. To move around, you press the initial keys for left, right, up and down, toddle along or climb ladders as appropriate. The movement is reasonably smooth, but slow.\r\n\r\nEach room you come to will present you with a new object or objects, though the majority of them have some obstacle in the way - dragons, dwarves, cooks, butlers and even singing birds. For example, taking the key from that first room and climbing up brings you to a room where a nimble, cheeky elf is guarding a tiny stone tablet. The commands that are understood allow you to ATTACK ELF, if you wish, or GREET ELF if you're feeling more friendly, or even GIVE KEY TO ELF if you're in a really generous mood.\r\n\r\nIn the top left of each screen are two figures showing the relative strength of you and the other character. So the approach you take depends on that, and whether they appear friendly or not, what weapons you have, whether you have any other objects that might appeal to them, and so on.\r\n\r\nYou start with 25 units of strength and 25 of provisions, with a luck factor of 10. To build up your strength you can eat your provisions. As you proceed you'll find edible objects lying around: apples, cheese and sandwiches, for instance.\r\n\r\nMUFF JOB\r\n\r\nRunes works in adventure fashion. In that if you want to get past the bird whose shrill singing pierces your ears, you have to get the ear muff from somewhere else. You also soon learn that ticking clocks are to be left well alone. The size of each adventure area is not enormous, about eight rooms or so, but you need to play through them all in order to pick up clues, which you also get from reading assorted scrolls an parchments.\r\n\r\nOther clues are obtained by making a reckless assault on some powerful individual - death is never in vain, as you're frequently told what it was you were lacking, such as the lump of meat mentioned above, or the corkscrew when you try to get past the butler.\r\n\r\nYou must start piecing these together, and working out which keys open which trapdoors and gateways. The problems aren't tricky, for the most part,but making sense of everything is another matter.\r\n\r\nVERDICT\r\n\r\nIt's a game that younger players would get a lot of pleasure from.and the graphics are quite well done, especially in the fight sequences. There are also a few amusing sound effects. The avid adventurer might demand a little more, but I found myself happily engrossed in it for a few hours.\r\n\r\nOne glaring problem, though. Is the lack of a REDESCRIBE or LOOK feature. By the time you've seen off a beast, the location description will have scrolled off the screen and it's all too easy to forget what it was you were originally after - the graphics aren't that good, and daggers and swords tend to look similar.\r\n\r\nThe only solution is to leave the location and come back again, and that means a lengthy wait.\r\n\r\nThese snags apart. The Runes of Zendos is still one of the more successful attempts at animated adventure.\r\n\r\nHELP SPOT\r\n\r\nRather more complicated problems are to be found in the land of Valhalla, as reader Richard Henriques of London SW 16 has discovered.\r\n\r\nRichard's question was 'What do I do to find the quest objects?'\r\n\r\nSo far he's mapped out an 8x8 grid, and surmised that the bottom right-hand quadrant is 'Valhalla'. All I can say is that the completed map is a 9x9 grid, and Valhalla itself is a single location in that grid. If you say where the first quest object is located then that gives the game away completely, but you can make helpful general advice - such as stock up on food and wine to keep your strength up.\r\n\r\nAny you can't carry or eat and drink yourself, summon a good character to carry for you, then summon them again when you want to get the food or wine off them. This also applies to weapons - and even the quest objects. Stay on the side of the good guys... end of this week's sermon.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"34","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Gerrard","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'You are in the January hallway..."},{"Text":"Zendos and seasonal spirit-glass."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]