News Unnkulian Unventures - DA Leary and Dave Baggett -------------------- PC owners will have already seen the two Unnkulian Unventures, Unnkulian Underworld and Secret of Acme, in the SynTax Disk List. DA Leary and Dave Baggett, the authors, have kindly sent me ST versions of both games and those have been added to the ST list. All the games are shareware and text only, written using TADS. They also told me of a few more planned games for release this summer. These are Unnkulia One-Half: The Salesman Triumphant, a short freeware adventure that will serve as an ad for the forthcoming semi-commercial Unnkulia Zero: The Search for Amanda and Unnkulian: The Legend Lives. They are also releasing Horror of Rylvania, a gothic adventure that is unconnected to the Unnkulia series. More news as it comes in. In the meantime, I can thoroughly recommend the first two games. Both are well-written and extremely funny. InterAction Magazine - Sierra -------------------- A large envelope crashed through the letterbox a few weeks ago and I was surprised and delighted to see that it contained the first two issues of a snazzy magazine called InterAction. This turned out to be the new version of the Sierra/Dynamix magazine and most impressive it is too. You wouldn't think you could fill over 80 A4 pages, purely with Sierra products, news and articles, would you? (Well, barring a few ads for other companies). The current issue contains three articles on EcoQuest, two on game development (looking at Conquests of the Longbow and the forthcoming second Laura Bow mystery, the Dagger of Amon Ra), game strategies, info on new games and much more. Planned Sierra releases for the coming year include Colonel's Bequest 2 (mentioned above), Quest for Glory 3, King's Quest VI, Mixed-up Scary Tales, Dr Brain 2 and Codename Iceman 2 with Willy Beamish 2 scheduled for 1993. Phew, I think they'll need a bigger magazine next issue! Hook - Ocean ---- The film may not have gone down too well (personally I can't wait to see it) so maybe the adventure game will be better received. Originally planned for an April release from Ocean on all three formats, ST and Amiga versions needing 1 meg memory to run, it hasn't appeared as I write. The screenshots show a graphic adventure similar to the Lucasfilm/Sierra games though more like their earlier releases than the current ones. There will be various icons on the screen to cover actions such as look, talk, pick up, use and give. The planned price is around œ30. The Hand of St James - Impressions -------------------- The next release in Impressions' IF range will be familiar to bookworms and movie buffs, being based on one of Umberto Eco's books, The Name of the Rose, which was made into a film starring Sean Connery. The game will be retitled The Hand of St James and will feature a point-and-click interface. A-Train - Maxis ------- I like the sound of this one ... a cross between Sim City and Railroad Tycoon, two of my favourite games. The game first came out in Japan back in 1986 and has been selling like crazy. Ocean will release it in the UK during the summer, PC first followed by Amiga. It features 3D isometric graphics, city building, track laying, train scheduling, all accompanied by seasonal changes and daylight changes as night falls. Money earned from your rail networks can be used for city improvements such as ski resorts and manufacturing businesses. A terrain editor will follow about 2 months after the game itself is released. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes - Electronic Arts --------------------------------- Planned initially as a 256-colour PC version, this will be based around Holmes' search for the murderer of a young actress ... did Jack the Ripper kill her or was it someone else? There will be more than 25 characters and over 50 screens in the game and, like so many other games, it will have a point-and-click interface. Ishtar:Legend of the Fortress - Silmarils ----------------------------- First there was Crystals of Arborea, then there was Storm Master. Silmarils' next release will be a 5-character (chosen from a list of 150) RPG taking place through forest and fortress as you seek to bump off the inevitable bad guy. It should be out soon on all 3 formats. Global Effect - Millenium ------------- Now this sounds like a cross between Civilization, Sim Earth and Sim City as you try to save a world from man made crises, build a world from day 1 with a choice of several different worlds such as those featuring earthquakes, snow and ice, desert or whatever. It will be available in late spring for ST, Amiga and PC, price œ29.99-34.99. Kyrandia - Virgin -------- This is a graphic adventure, programmed by Westwood Associates who brought you Eye of the Beholder 1 and 2 (among others), it should be out in late summer on the PC, early autumn on the Amiga. Again, it's got a point-and-click interface. Delays: ------ Gateway, the next game from Legend, should be out sometime after mid May. The UK version of Lost Treasures of Infocom has been delayed until June while Indiana Jones 2 and Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2 aren't now expected to be released over here until September/October. Bargain Basement: Gremlin have re-released HeroQuest complete with ---------------- the Return of the Witchlord data disk on all three formats for œ29.99-34.99, a mere fiver more than the original game cost. AGT Update: The Grue tells me that there is a slight delay on ---------- registration of the Amiga version while some minor bug-hunting goes on at Softworks. He was also told that compiling time can be speeded up considerably by compiling in RAM and that AGTBIG won't be out on the Amiga for a while. Some recent releases (1) software: --------------------------------- Black Crypt - Electronic Arts - Amiga, œ26 Covert Action - MicroProse - Amiga, œ35 Dark Spyre - Amiga, œ30 Elvira II - Amiga, œ35 Eye of the Beholder 2 - Amiga, œ36 Flames of Freedom (Midwinter 2) - PC, œ45 Gateway to the Savage Frontier - SSI - Amiga, œ31 Geisha/Emmanuelle/Strip Poker Triple Pack - Amiga/PC Knights of the Sky - MicroProse - ST 1 meg, œ35 Larry 1 - improved version for Amiga, œ35 Magic Candle 3 - PC, œ35 Might and Magic III - Amiga Pacific Islands - Empire - ST/Amiga, œ30 - PC, œ35 Panzer Battles - SSG - Amiga, œ26 Pools of Darkness - SSI - Amiga, œ33 Rocketeer - Infogrames/Disney - PC, œ31 Samurai, Way of the Warrior - Impressions - PC, œ35 Secret of Monkey Island 2 - ST Sim Ant - Amiga œ35, MAC/PC œ45 Space Quest IV - Amiga (fast Amiga recommended), œ35 Special Forces - MicroProse - Amiga/ST, œ35 Steel Empire - Millenium - œ30 Storm Master - Silmarils - ST/Amiga/PC, œ30 Treasures of the Savage Frontier - SSI - PC, œ33 Ultima VI - Amiga, œ31 Vengeance of Excalibur - Amiga/ST œ31, PC œ40 (2) Cluebooks: ------------- Eye of the Beholder 2 cluebook - œ10 Secret of Monkey Island II cluebook - œ10