The Autumn E.C.T.S Report By Richard Hewison The European Computer Trade Show has been held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London for the last few years but this year was the first time it has been held twice - once in April and once in September. As a V.I.P visitor to this trade only event, I thought some of you might be interested to hear what was on view in the Autumn E.C.T.S. for us adventure/strategy/role playing fans. Accolade's release of Elvira 2 for the Atari ST marks their final release for the machine. In a move being mirrored by many other software publishers, low sales have forced them to abandon the ST market completely. Mike Woodruff's next game will be called Waxworks and should follow a similar horrific theme as the Elvira series. It will be bigger and better with even more devious plots. Unfortunately I didn't get to see if this was actually up and running on the stand. The same can be said of Legend's Spellcasting 301: Spring Break which is a shame as I was looking forward to see how it looked. Accolade are also supposed to be distributing the graphic adventure game 'The Dark Half' which is based on the Orion film of the Stephen King book (which has been held up in the U.S for ages). Core Design are about to reveal The Curse of Enchantia, which promises to take Revolution's Lure of the Temptress and the entire Sierra series head on. The graphics certainly look the part with some very nice colourful backdrops. Core's other adventure related game is called Darkmere. This is an isometric arcade style RPG which has some very atmospheric looking location graphics. However, the style of the information panels tucked into the corners of the main display is almost exactly the same as those used in Cadaver. A blatant bit of plagiarism there. Electronic Arts had The Lost files of Sherlock Holmes on show, and the October issue of PC Review had a VGA PC demo disk stuck to its cover. This game is a graphic adventure set (as you would expect) in good old foggy Victorian England. Using a point and click interface, you must examine all the evidence and ask all of the relevant questions to discover the guilty party behind the grisly murders. One nice feature is the constantly updating diary of Doctor Watson, which automatically adds any vital clues, events etc. in its pages for you to consult whenever you wish to. I didn't get to see it, but Grandslam have an RPG lined up for early 1993 called Realms of Darkness. Gremlin have Daemongate in the works, which is a "huge state-of- the-art fantasy role playing game nearing completion" (according to their press blurb). I have to admit that despite trying to have a look at it, all I could see were their arcade platform and racing games on show. Gremlin also have big plans for the continuation of Hero Quest in the form of the Hero Quest master Series, which "takes the hottest fantasy role playing concept into a brand new world. A massive scenario with all new characters and plots". Hmm, why does that sound like one of their marketing people thought that up without knowing anything about the game? Ice (International Computer Entertainment) have risen from the ashes of Electronic Zoo Europe and will be releasing Abandoned Places 2 and a PC conversion of the original. Also due for release is a fantasy role playing game called Piracy on the High Seas. A quick word about Interplay, who had Battlechess for Windows running on their stand (which looked excellent) and Battlechess 4000 up and running at the E.A suite. I know a lot of adventurers like a game of chess, so keep your eyes peeled. Both were for the IBM PC. Konami Europe had a video of Elite 2 running. Although more arcade than strategy, this game looks spectacular. Anyone interested in astronomy along with any fans of the original should look forward to this release. The 3D graphics are excellent. Krisalis are touting the science fiction based follow up to Shadowlands called Shadoworlds, as well as the PC version of Laser Squad which should keep strategy fans happy. Whether the control system for Shadoworlds is an improvement over Shadowlands we'll just have to wait and see. MicroProse had a number of very interesting looking products on show. Darklands is their first attempt at an RPG and it should already have been out a while by the time you read this on the PC. The Legacy looks very interesting, employing 256 colour graphics and a very impressive 3D system. It really looks as if you are moving through a room and the effect is much more realistic than that seen in Origin's Ultima Underworld. It has been created by what's left of Magnetic Scrolls and is a massive departure from their usual style. The most spectacular product on view was the PC conversion of Formula 1 Grand Prix, but seeing that it isn't an adventure I'll mention it no more. Microplay in the States has Megatraveller 3: The Unknown Worlds almost ready for release and no doubt it will appear over here soon after. Millenium have Rome AD92, Pathway to Power. This is an historical adventure using a very impressive looking isometric display not unlike their own Robin Hood game or Bullfrog's Populous. Also due out before Christmas is the Daughter of the Serpents, set in Egypt and utilising "stunning graphics and a revolutionary new player interface". Mindscape International were showing the data disk to Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue (being explained by Lord British himself, Richard Garriott). Mindscape will still be the publishers in Europe as E.A's purchase of Origin won't affect their agreement until early next year. Also imminent are PC versions of Moonstone and Captive (the latter being converted to the PC by Tag, author of Legend). Ocean aren't exactly known for good adventure or strategy software, and their stand was more of a meeting room than a show stand. However, they should soon be releasing 'SimEarth' for Windows on the PC. Sierra On-Line Ltd. continue to produce graphic adventure games. Among the newest is King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. In this latest instalment, Prince Alexander is back, longing for Cassima. He is shipwrecked and must make his way through a series of islands, each with its own unique look and cast of characters. Different landscapes range from the amusing to the terrifying. The game employs extensive video-capturing of actors, each one artistically enhanced and fully animated. Other Sierra releases will include the second Laura Bow adventure - The Dagger of Amon Ra, Space Quest V: Roger Wilco in the Next Mutation, Quest for Glory III: The Wages of War and Dynamix's first fantasy role playing game, Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Legacy: The Betrayal of Krondor. The graphics in the one location I saw in this game looked amazing. Willy Beamish will appear on CD Rom in the future as well as on the new Sega CD drive. A new game specifically for the latter machine is currently in development called 'Rise of the Dragon'. The original Quest for Glory (part I) has been updated to include computerised colourised claymation on all of the monsters. Police Quest has also been updated to 256 colour VGA graphics. More titles will be added to CD Rom in the future. U.S Gold have fallen head over heels for adventure and RPG product in the last few years. Not being satisfied with distributing in Europe all of Lucasarts graphics adventures and S.S.I's AD&D releases, U.S Gold have now bought Sir-Tech (creators of the Wizardry series). Their next release will be Crusaders of the Dark Savant, which uses a DM style first person perspective. It has three levels of difficulty, from novice to expert, 11 races, 14 different disciplines, the chance to import characters from 'Bane of the Cosmic Forge', automapping, multiple save facility, and much more - including an Amiga version to go with the initial PC release. Also on display was Legends of Valour, written by Kevin Bullmer whose last attempt at adventure resulted in Corporation for Core Design. The speed of Legends of Valour was very impressive and the graphics were bright and colourful. The system appears to be very close to Ultima Underworld, which is a band wagon that a lot of companies are trying to jump on at the moment. It will be released on ST, Amiga and PC. A very successful German role playing series will appear on ST, Amiga and PC called Blade of Destiny. It incorporates first person (a la Dungeon Master) and isometric views and again the graphics look rather good from the glimpse I saw. S.S.I have Dark Sun, Spelljammer and The Summoning on offer. Dark Sun is the first in a new series that incorporate TSR's role playing series of the same name. A new graphics system has been included which looks infinitely better than the poor visuals seen in the previous AD&D releases. Dark Sun will only be available on VGA PCs with high density drives. Spelljammer is an AD&D science fiction adventure which will be available on Amiga and high density VGA PCs. There weren't many details on The Summoning available at the show, but the graphics looked a bit poor in comparison to the other two S.S.I games already mentioned. Delphine's Flashback is the sequel to Another World and this too will be distributed by U.S Gold. It will be available on ST, Amiga and PC. Virgin Games have a few adventure, strategy and war games of note coming out before Christmas. The 7th Guest has been in development for ages and was running on a PC off of a CD-Rom drive. The look of being in a real room and moving forwards through the room is astonishing and seems at first glance to be far more impressive than the system used in Ultima Underworld. The scrolling when looking left and right is very jerky though in comparison. Digitised video images are used throughout the game. I saw one scene with a talking head appearing out of what looked like a pot and scaring a rather old looking woman dressed up as a maid. I don't know if the actual game is very good but technically it looked quite impressive. Virgin also have Dune II lined up from Westwood Associates. This also concentrates on the first book in the series but is a much more strategic affair than the first Dune game that they released earlier this year. Again it will initially appear on the PC. Westwood Associates also have The Legend of Kyrandia which is an adventure similar in style to Monkey Island and is the first in the Fables and Fiends series. Be warned that if you see this game in the shops check that it is the Virgin release and not an import from the U.S. Apparently there are a few bugs in the American release version which thankfully won't be present in the Virgin version. The developers of the first Dune game - Cryo, have written a new graphic adventure for Virgin called KGB. This is a highly researched adventure with you taking on the role of a KGB officer who works for the Russian equivalent of Internal Affairs. Something is going on and you must find out what and by whom. The game is based on a novel specially commissioned by the developers, but I don't know if it will be packaged with the game or not. The music is good (if very un-Russian) and a cover disk demo appeared on the October issue of The One magazine for the Amiga. As you can probably tell, the 256 colour VGA PC seems to be the most catered for machine for new adventure/RPG/strategy releases in the run up to Christmas and beyond. There were a lot more products relevant to us adventurers than I was expecting, so from that point of the view the show was very interesting. Technically I'd have to say that at first glimpse MicroProse's The Legacy looked the most impressive product on show. Only time (and shifting release dates) will tell which of the products mentioned here will turn out to be any good. Here's to the next ECTS in April '93! @~A few of the games mentioned have since been released - Sue