[{"TitleName":"Temple of Vran","Publisher":"Incentive Software Ltd","Author":"Richard A. McCormack, Kimberley Gunn","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0007080","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 5, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-24","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":126,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial/office [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [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 Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"TEMPLE OF VRAN\r\n\r\nProducer: Incentive Software\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.50\r\nAuthor: R. A. McCormack\r\n\r\nTemple of Vran is the second part of the Ket Trilogy from Incentive Software. Your mission in this part of the trilogy is to enter the temple and once there to put an end to all of its evil occupants.\r\n\r\nYou start the adventure with a sword, some armour, a ring and, of course, Edgar, your friendly assassin bug, who can be trusted to sink his poison fangs into your neck should you decide to shirk your quest. This is a classic style text-only adventure with a large number of locations and many problems to solve which could take weeks to complete.\r\n\r\nYour travels will take you across the plains of Ket, into the depths of the Wart's Lair and ever forward in time to the years 1940 and 2300 before returning for your final confrontation in the Temple of Vran.\r\n\r\nThere is a good number of useful (and not so useful) objects scattered around. Care must be taken not to waste useful objects or leave them in another time zone.\r\n\r\nThe locations are lucidly described and are consistent in creating an exciting and credible atmosphere. Input consists of Verb/Noun couplings which is adequate although limiting when communicating with other characters. The vocabulary is quite flexible but there are a few annoying omissions and the use of the verb 'examine' is confined to those occasions when you are actually carrying an object.\r\n\r\nCombat is much more sophisticated than in most other adventures, giving your statistics for Prowess, Energy and Luck. Prowess is your skill in combat. Energy indicates your state of health and Luck your fortune in combat. The tussles take place in rounds in which either you or your opponent is hit. If you are struck you are given the option of running or continuing to fight. Running can often prove to be the most dangerous as you can be struck from behind. All this adds up to make a more interesting game charged with atmosphere.\r\n\r\nOne small bug I encountered occurred during one moment of gratuitous violence. I was involved in a fracas with a mouse in the same location as an elephant. To my horror the combat status appeared with the mouse having an energy of 20 compared to my meagre 10. In the ensuing battle, which lasted nearly 20 rounds, I was knocked over and kicked several times and brought to the verge of death. Quite a blow to one's delusions of heroism.\r\n\r\nOverall an excellent game which can be heartily recommended, particularly for novice adventurers as the problems are not too difficult.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"74,75","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Derek Brewster","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Difficulty","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Atmosphere","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Vocabulary","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Logic","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Debugging","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall Value","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 8, Oct 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-09-20","Editor":"Roger Munford","TotalPages":90,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Munford\r\nManaging Editor: Bruce Sawford\r\nDeputy Editor: Tina Boylan\r\nTechnical Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: Ron Smith, Leon Heller, Stephen Adams, Dr D C Threlfall, Simon Goodwin, Peter Freebrey, Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls, Mike Leaman, Bill Shaw, Penny Page, The Saltcoats Computing Club, Mark Roberts, Sue Denham\r\nArt Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nArt Assistant: Steve Broadhurst\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Jill Harris\r\nAdvertising: Shane Campbell, Nik Saha, Dave Baskerville\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Art Director: Perry Neville\r\nPublisher: Steven England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [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 ©1984 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.\r\n\r\nCover photography by Ian McKinnell"},"MainText":"TEMPLE OF VRAN\r\nIncentive Software\r\n£5.50\r\r\n\r\r\nOn the eve of your execution, having been framed for murder, you're given the chance to either do or die. You're sent on a mission with an assassin bug called Edgar hanging on to your neck; he'll sink his fangs into you if you do a bunk.","ReviewerComments":["This adventure is a follow up to the Mountains of Ket, and extends an originally good idea even further. The fact that it's text-only doesn't matter in the least, because the content is so good that it just makes you want to play on and on. However, you need to be a bit of an adventure nut and I suspect it could take a very long time indeed to succeed. Good game, very addictive, and should provide aeons of fun.\r\r\r\nAlex Entwhistle","It's full of the stuff adventures are made of, but tends to offer just a little bit more. Like having to battle against extremely vicious warts and having Edgar on your neck certainly prevents you from doing anything crafty. The actual aim is to find the Temple of Vran and destroy its evil inhabitants, a task for which you are suited - you're convicted of murder, remember?\r\nAlan Grier","It's the content of this game which makes it better than most of the other adventures and the idea of displaying your statistics at the start of the game is particularly useful when you go into battle later on. Another nice feature is the way the objects you are carrying are displayed in simple block graphics. Some adventures are better than others; this is a better one.\r\nAlan Hunter"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alex Entwhistle","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Alan Grier","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":"MISS"},{"Name":"Alan Hunter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 35, Sep 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-08-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CREDITS\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAssistant Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nStaff Writers/Reader Services: Robert Schifreen, Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Mary Morton\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertising Executives: Bernard Dugdale, Sean Brennan, Phil Godsell\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nProduction Assistant: Roy Stephens\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND 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 AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £14. 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 Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd, [redacted]. Typeset by Camden Typesetters Ltd.\r\n\r\nCover by Blake Sears, Creative Consultants."},"MainText":"This is the second game in the Mountains of Ket trilogy and starts off on the far side of the mountain. To reach that point was (had you played it) your objective in Ket. However, it is not necessary to have played Mountains of Ket to be able to enjoy Vran.\r\n\r\nYour aim here is to reach and enter the temple and put an end to its evil occupants. You start off endowed with the three items you were carrying as you reached the far side the mountain in the previous game.\r\n\r\nOne hazards encountered is a right nest of nasty warts - creatures who are in the habit of throwing acid at you without warning. As in Mountains of Ket, there is a combat mode, though this time the rules have been slightly altered.\r\n\r\nSome of the things you may come across are an elephant, a huge pile of washing up, a kitten and a mouse. A small point of confusion arose when I tried feeding the elephant. Unless I was carrying a certain object, the reply came back WITH WHAT? and this was followed by WHAT NOW? It became apparent, when I had the right object, that the game assumed I meant to feed the elephant with the right thing and allowed me to, proving that WITH WHAT? was not really a question to the player, but a comment.\r\n\r\nTrying to be kind to the little puss, I tried to feed it whilst carrying the mouse, only to be rebuffed. Kitty was one of those two out of every ten cats who don't prefer Whiskas - this one's scene is Go Cat!\r\n\r\nVran follows the same format as Ket, being a text only Adventure (if you exclude the mini-pictures of some of the objects). The problems did not seem too difficult.\r\n\r\nAlthough I welcome a game that allows me to EXAMINE something, a feature I did not like was the fact that I was expected to be carrying it first.\r\n\r\nThat limited the use of EXAMINE to portable objects - it is somewhat difficult to carry an elephant or a hole in a wall!\r\n\r\nTemple of Vran is from Incentive Software for 48k Spectrum, priced £5.50.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"115","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Keith Campbell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Micro Adventurer Issue 11, Sep 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-08-16","Editor":"Brendon Gore","TotalPages":48,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Brendon Gore\r\nAssistant Editor: Martin Croft\r\nSoftware Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nMaster Adventurers: Tony Bridge, Mike Grace\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\r\n\r\nRegistered at the Post Office as a newspaper.\r\n\r\n© Sunshine Books 1984"},"MainText":"THE LAND OF KET\r\n\r\nMICRO: Spectrum 48K\r\nPRICE: £x.95\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSUPPLIER: Incentive Software\r\n\r\nMountains of Ket, Temple of Vran and a third adventure, entitled The Final Mission, comprise The Ket Trilogy, for which there is the incentive of £400 worth of video equipment. This prize is for the first adventurer to identify a message, a short part of which is revealed only on successful completion of each adventure.\r\n\r\nPrizes for computer games are not new, but this time it would appear that the identification of a winner is a decided possibility. The ridiculously high rewards offered by Pimania and Krakit are protected by equally ridiculous and, to date, impossible to solve puzzles. The Ket Trilogy offers a more modest prize and, on the evidence of the first two adventures, a hope of eventual success. Mountains of Ket opens the trilogy as a modest challenge with several interesting features, followed by the more difficult Temple of Vran. It is to be expected that the final adventure will continue this progression but remain within the bounds of possibility.\r\n\r\nIn the trilogy you assume the role of a wrongly-convicted murderer, offered a reprieve in return for the destruction of Vran Verusbel and Delphia, the leader and priestess of a cult of mad monks who are terrorising the Land of Ket. In order to ensure your loyalty, a magic assassin bug accompanies you and also provides details of anything you may encounter.\r\n\r\nBefore you set out you are informed of the value of some vital attributes under the categories of Prowess, Strength and Luck. In any fight these attributes are compared with those of your opponent, over a series of rounds, in order to determine the victor. This combat feature injects a flavour of Dungeons and Dragons into basically standard two word input text adventures, and enhances the atmosphere of hidden danger.\r\n\r\nWith a sword in your possession, and this combat routine to be used, it is tempting to kill in order to obtain possession of vital objects. However, such indiscriminate use of your prowess is to be discouraged, unless there is no alternative.\r\n\r\nRIDING ALONG\r\n\r\nIn part one, the objective is to find your way to, and finally through, the mountains. The action begins on a road leading into a small village. You are informed that the mountains are a short horse-ride to the east. From this information, it is logical to assume that you will never reach the mountains without a horse. A short stroll around the village soon identifies the presence of a stable where the stableman demands four coins for the purchase of a horse. But you have only two coins! An increase in your wealth can be obtained by considering the shopkeeper as a friendly trader and providing the cartographer with the means to fight off the cold. A nice gentle start to the task, but the response to SCORE indicates that this initial success has barely scratched the surface.\r\n\r\nA short horse-ride does take you to the mountains and, once inside, the action gets more furious with many obstacles to overcome. In certain instances here, the sequence of commands is quite precise and in particular the problem of the hungry dog is inexorably tied to further progress.\r\n\r\nThe puzzles to be solved in the mountain caves are often inter-related, with some objects having a dual purpose. The empty bottle, for instance, can be filled with oil and magic elixir but what to do with either? Both have a purpose and the \"spring in your step\" after drinking the elixir wears off after a short time, making the choice of location for imbibing one plateau which must be scaled very precisely.\r\n\r\nBribery and gambling are both encountered and, although the former is quite newsworthy, the latter really is a gamble, so that before entering into the dice game it is wise to exercise the SAVE option.\r\n\r\nDelphia eventually proves to be a rather tame opponent, disappearing in a cloud of green smoke, only to re-appear in Temple of Vran.\r\n\r\nThe exit from the mountains is eventually discovered by dressing up as a wizard and solving the final HELP clue that wizards are totally magical. The word totally is the clue here for an action foreign to all underground adventurers.\r\n\r\nMountains of Ket is an enjoyable, not too difficult adventure, which should certainly encourage successful adventurers to move on to Temple of Vran. This can be played independently of Mountains of Ket but it is possible to carry forward your attributes if you so wish. Now on the other side of the mountains, your objective is to seek out and kill the occupants of the castle. The format is substantially similar to the first part, and again it is important to preserve your vital strength and luck points.\r\n\r\nInitial exploration reveals a large number of locations and strange objects with interesting possibilities. For instance, will the mouse waken the sleeping kitten or perhaps frighten the elephant into motion? Will the trampoline enable you to jump on to the elephant or up to a hole high in a wall? The kitten and mouse both ignore the offer of food but the elephant will follow you to the cliff top to get it.\r\n\r\nAs with Mountains of Ket, several items perform a dual purpose but after only a few false starts you should be swinging across a quicksand pit to meet the delightful Aphrodite. The reward of a key for the castle is offered for successful completion of tasks in two different time zones to which she sends you. The first is 1940 where you are subjected to exploding bombs and to the indignity of wearing a moustache (are all adventurers male?).\r\n\r\nThe second time zone is 2300 and, as with 1940, this should pose no serious problems as success is obtained by simply picking up, using, or wearing all of the easily found objects. However, it is imperative to return to the present time zone with any other objects for which there was no apparent use.\r\n\r\nRewarded with the key it only remains to find the castle. You know where it is and can see it across a stream of lava, but how to reach it? Once across the lava (no clues for how) you will discover one vital puzzle thrown at you. Final success depends on having eight objects with you but you can carry only seven and cannot re-cross the lava. Nice one.\r\n\r\nA QUESTION OF LOGIC\r\n\r\nAs with most good adventures the solutions to all the puzzles are maddeningly logical when they are finally discovered, although the two time zone sections of Temple of Vran are not of the high standard of the rest of the adventures.\r\n\r\nTwo minor criticisms are perhaps worthy of mention. The noun vocabulary could be more extensive - it does not even recognise the existence of your travelling companion, Edgar, and on a few occasions the response to an input (always a fatal one) is only fleetingly displayed on screen.\r\n\r\nDue to the prize on offer no HELP sheet is available yet from Incentive Software, but a careful re-read of this article may provide a few clues. The third part of the trilogy is due to appear in Autumn 1984. All those with the first two parts of the apparently meaningless message should be eager to explore The Final Mission.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"18, 19","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tom Frost","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Incentive's Steve Benfiels and Richard McCormack."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]