[{"TitleName":"Kingdom of Hamil","Publisher":"Topologika","Author":"Jon Thackray, Jonathan Partington","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0009880","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 53, Jun 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-05-26","Editor":"Steve Jarratt","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Steven Jarratt\r\nSoftware Editor: Dominic Handy\r\nStaff Writers: Katharina Hamza, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram, Mark Caswell\r\nTechnical Writers: Jon Bates, Simon N Goodwin\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Julian Rignall Paul Evans, Roger Kean, Raffaele Cecco, Rosetta McLeod, Brendon Kavanagh, Paul Sumner, Robin Candy\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nAssistant Art Director: Wayne Allen\r\nDesign & Layout: Yvonne Priest, Melvyn Fisher\r\nPre-Print Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics/Film Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard, Ian Chubb, Robert Millichamp\r\n\r\nPublishing Controller: David Western\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Frances Mable a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\nTotal: 96,590\r\nUK/EIRE: 90,822\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"KINGDOM OF HAMIL\r\n\r\nTopologika\r\n£9.95\r\nAuthor: Jonathan Partington\r\n\r\nTopologika's second slot this month concerns a troubled and divided kingdom. As the rightful heir to the throne of Hamil, you were kidnapped in early infancy. As you grow older you are able to devise plans for escape and, following a long and exhausting journey, finally reach the shelter of a primitive chapel within the confines of your disinherited land. It's not long before you fall into a deep and dreamless sleep.\r\n\r\nAs you awake you realise that the chapel is surrounded by enemies on all sides; to leave it would mean almost certain death. You notice a metal rod, a piece of slightly whiffy steak and a bicycle lamp. Perhaps there is more than one way of getting out of the chapel...\r\n\r\nThe kingdom of Hamil turns out to be far from ordinary. In addition to the inevitable castle, it hides gigantic fountains, a bizarre museum and a complex system of underground caves. Exotic prehistoric time pockets are situated only a few steps away from treacherous mazes concealing untold treasures. Avoid sudden deadly rockfalls, try not to get cut off in a dead end and the crown jewels of Hamil may come within your legitimate grasp.\r\n\r\nLocation descriptions are suitably atmospheric and often extensive. Success depends on careful mapping and re-mapping of the environment; of many possible routes only one or two will lead you to safety. Being buried alive in a chamber of the maze of Hamil or failing to negotiate prehistoric paths only to plunge to your death to become a tasty pterodactyl snack are occupational hazards.\r\n\r\nIngenious variations on the labyrinth theme are designed to delight and frustrate. Maze lovers will spend hours mapping, saving to disk, checking and rechecking; lesser dedicatces might just take a peek at the inbuilt hint system, clues from which come in graduated form ranging from cryptic hints to full-blown solution.\r\n\r\nAs the future king of Hamil, you find a host of hostile and dangerous subjects. Pause for too long in one place and a huge rat, crow, aardvark or hat sweeps into gobble you up: This lays obvious difficulties in the way of making a map but is also one of the easier hazards to avoid. As long as you keep moving you're unlikely to end up on the menu of a gigantic mutants' feast. A tyrannosaurus trampling towards you, a blood-thirsty vampire, a vindictive hobgoblin and a sobbing hexapod require a little more care. In some cases escape is the best (and only viable) policy; in others a little devious dealing might be of more help.\r\n\r\nSudden death is obviously a constant hazard. RAMSAVE would have been a useful facility but on disk it's not that sorely missed.\r\n\r\nJonathan Partington teaches Mathematics in a Cambridge college and insists that his adventures have an inner logic of their own which isn't always immediately obvious to the player. Kingdom of Hamil certainly creates a very bizarre, unpredictable atmosphere which makes its problems all the more challenging to solve. Topologika rates the difficulty level as medium. Although at first the puzzles might seem more baffling than that, they become more manageable once you've mastered the adventure's slightly idiosyncratic tone.\r\n\r\nThe parser is of standard Topologika complexity with the usual acceptance of commands connected by AND or including ALL and EXCEPT. This is my third Topologika adventure and I still haven I got used to the absence of the EXAMINE command. A program that only responds with 'I don't understand' when you attempt to look at an object more closely gives a constant reminder of its own limitations. All the potential for encoding clues in object descriptions is lost and there is no scope for further development of the atmosphere. In an adventure filled with bizarre creatures and even wilder landscapes, extra detail could only have been a bonus.\r\n\r\nA maze-based adventure with a difference, Kingdom of Hamil is bound to appeal to avid mapmakers. Others will be attracted by the off-beat scenario, the combination of prehistoric and magical elements as well as the promise of an array of weird and wonderful Hamiltonian beings. Available from the same address as Acheton, Kingdom of Hamil retails at £9.95.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Kati Hamza","Score":"78","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"78%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 10, Sep 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-08-18","Editor":"Jon Rose","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jon Rose\r\nAssistant Editor: Nik Wild\r\nSoftware Co-ordinator: Richard Eddy\r\nNews Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writer: Robin Hogg, Stewart Wynne\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Robin Candy, Mark Caswell, Mel Croucher, Robin Evans, Roger Kean, Warren Lapworth, Nick Roberts, John Woods\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nArt Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nAssistant Art Director: Wayne Allen\r\nProduction Team: Matthew Uffindell, Ian Chubb, Yvonne Priest, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Robert Hamilton, Tim Morris\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMAIL ORDER\r\nCarol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nDenise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of THE GAMES MACHINE. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Fran Mable a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into THE GAMES MACHINE - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©Newsfield Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum +3 Diskette: £9.95\r\n\r\nHamil is a land of sorcery and romance: of strange beings, immense fountains, castles and kings.\r\n\r\nYou are the rightful heir to the throne of Hamil, stolen away as a child, you return to face unknown odds and reclaim your rightful inheritance.\r\n\r\nAlthough not a bad game, this is the worst of the Topologika quintet, even the better elements such as location and object descriptions are none too thrilling. The characters are fantastic and quite unbelievable - even for a woPld of fantasy. Vampires, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hobgoblins and Snarks all inhabit the game - although ways to their demise are fairly easily found if thought about.\r\n\r\nYou begin in a chapel, the only way is down and puzzle of the slab should not hinder progress for too long. Once in the complex below ground, the problems get tougher. A vampire is resting in his coffin and he has something you want, getting it without blood-loss is not that simple. Somehow you have to find sunlight to prevent him being a pain in the neck. South of the Crypt sits a strange old woman seemingly guarding a silver goblet, try to take it and you discover she is in fact a Hobgoblin as she proceeds to carry out one of the many instant deaths. No warning is given of what she is or that she will kill you only that she looks odd. Some use of the examine command would have been welcome here.\r\n\r\nOnce you get into the habit of saving your game before turning a corner, the game becomes a little better - but tedious. If you expect the unexpected and don't require too much logic plot-wise, Kingdom Of Hamil could be just the adventure for you.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"80","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rob Steel","Score":"48","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Atmosphere","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Interaction","Score":"49%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"48%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]