Top Ten Adventures @~To register your votes, just send in your choices, number them @~1st to 10th and preferably give brief comments on why you voted @~for each game. 10 points are awarded for 1st place down to 1 @~point for 10th place. @~Also if anyone would like to amend their Top Ten because of new @~releases/change of machine/whatever, that's no problem. Just @~send me your revised list and I'll dig out the calculator! James Judge's Top Ten --------------------- 1) Captive - Mindscape After buying this game last year it was an instant success. After three weeks of playing this game and none other it still kept its appeal. It may be a simple affair of wandering around bases blowing seven shades of sushi out of numerous monsters but the challenge is memorising the position of each monster and not getting lost. I still love having a bash. 2) Deuteros - Activision A much more sedate game than Captive and you need to be in a thinking mood for this one. It's such a huge game that incorporates seven solar systems, two distinctive races of aliens and many problems such as, how do you travel to the different solar systems? 3) Bloodwych - Image Works A game that draws you into its grasp until you have completed the darn thing. It hasn't got as good graphics and animation as Captive but it makes up for that in playability. Far better on the 16 bit than the 8 bit. 4) Populous 2 - Bullfrog A fun game with its own sadistic humour (when one of the enemy's men kills yours and gives you a malicious grin that just makes you want to destroy him). To begin with it is boring and slow but when you get a few hundred levels into it, the game becomes a frantic race to destroy each other. 5) Utopia - Gremlin Another one of those 'God' games I'm so fond of and this has the added attraction of having to fight ten totally different breeds of aliens, from beetles to geometric shapes! You also have the usual smattering of disasters and of course you must care for your colony - mustn't you. 6) Corporation - Core Design Limited Quite a new game to my collection but already it has got its way into my top ten. With its own unique(ish) true 3D view and a novel control system it's a pleasure to play. With sixteen levels of increasing difficulty how can you go wrong? 7) Lure Of The Temptress - Virgin Games The best point 'n' click adventure there is. It weaves an extremely detailed picture of life in a village under the iron fisted rule of the Temptress. Although I have nearly completed it it is a pleasure to play. 8) Knightmare - Mindscape After playing the old 8 bit game and yawning with boredom it was a breath of fresh air to see a quality game coming out of a mediocre T.V program. Graphically you can't fault it (well maybe just a bit) and the puzzles are fiendish enough to have you stumped for quite a while. 9) Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - Infocom. After wasting many hours and pounds on old speccy adventure games I was unsure about buying this but, after reading the "trilogy of four books" by Douglas Adams, I decided to buy it. It is a funny and well thought out game and the puzzles are quite infuriating, especially in the Vogon Hold and the Babel Fish (aaargh). 10) Dungeon Master - F.T.L. Once I'd completed this game relatively easily I bought the solution to see if I had missed anything. Unfortunately I had not. "Why then", says you "have you included it in your top ten, you pillock". Well, the simple answer is it is a GOOD game that has you hooked and won't let you put it down until you have killed Lord Chaos. My Top Ten Games For the ST - By JAMES JILLIANS ----------------------------------------------- Here is a list of my favourite games. 1st - LORDS OF CHAOS 2nd - Bloodwych 3rd - Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy 4th - Knightmare 5th - Fish! 6th - Captive 7th - The Maze 8th - Dungeon Master 9th - Mega-lo-Mania 10th - Exile REASONS: Below I have included a list of reasons why I like these games so much. LORDS OF CHAOS - The best game in the world !!! I love this game. There are thousands of things you can do. There are over 40 spells to cast, loads of puzzles to solve, plenty of exploring to do, intelligent computer-controlled opposition, both solo play and multi-player options, dozens of items and potion ingredients you can use and wizard designer option - wow! If you want to hear more @+see my 'Lords of Chaos' review. ~(In the next issue - Sue) BLOODWYCH - I think Bloodwych is the best R.P.G. out so far. The game progresses at a fast pace and there are many different ways of completing it. There are puzzles and monsters by the hundred and a large range of spells. It is certainly better than the tediously slow Dungeon Master and Ishar! HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - If you have ever read Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker Trilogy you will know why I like this game. It is by far my favourite type-in adventure. It is funny and is pitched at exactly the right difficulty level. The game compliments the Hitch Hiker books perfectly. It is almost like another novel - but better! KNIGHTMARE - Another great R.P.G. There is a great choice of items and weapons to use and the game has many puzzles to solve. The graphics are very good but sometimes a little too complicated. You can move as quickly as you can press the keys so there is none of Dungeon Master's slowness. FISH - Fish is the best of the games on the Magnetic Scrolls Collection. The different menus and utilities are easy to use and enhance the game ten-fold. The game itself is extremely witty and well thought out. Fish! is easy enough to be fun rather than frustrating. CAPTIVE - Captive is similar to Knightmare but is set in a different time era. It doesn't have enough puzzle solving in it to be my favourite R.P.G. but it still rates highly because of the mammoth number of weapons and gadgets that you can try out. The graphics are marvellous too - apart from Ishar's graphics they are the best I've seen on my ST. It is, perhaps, slightly too difficult. THE MAZE - The Maze is the only P.D. game I have included in these listings. It is based upon the Channel 4 game show, 'The Crystal Maze' and was made using the 3D Construction Kit. The puzzles in the game are just as good as those from the show. Hours of fun! DUNGEON MASTER - The classic R.P.G. that so many people love. It's a great game with plenty of puzzles, monsters and traps. It is a bit too slow to play - nearly as bad as Ishar! - and I found it slightly too hard. Although many people would disagree, in my opinion better R.P.G.s have been produced. MEGA-Lo-MANIA - I'm not sure if this counts as an adventure but it is certainly a great game (while it lasted). It is the best god-game that I have played but is too easy by far. Its brilliant presentation and great sense of humour make it a game not to be missed. EXILE - I thought this platform/adventure game deserved a mention. Although the puzzles are too difficult to be solvable the game is still quite good. The control system is marvellous. Your hero can dive around and perform all sorts of stunts with his jet- pack. The atmosphere of the game is great - you really feel involved, I just wish I could get a bit further! @~The running total is: 105 pts Dungeon Master 45 pts Chaos Strikes Back 41 pts Lurking Horror 37 pts Enchanter 36 pts Trinity 33 pts Wishbringer 28 pts Leather Goddesses 25 pts Loom 24 pts Hitchhikers' Guide 23 pts Guild of Thieves 21 pts Captive, Beyond Zork, Demon's Winter 20 pts Planetfall 17 pts Bloodwych, Jinxter, Sorcerer 16 pts Ultima IV 15 pts Fish!, Bard's Tale 1, Stationfall, Xenomorph 13 pts Infidel 12 pts Larry 3, Drakkhen, Time and Magik 11 pts Phantasie III, Spellbreaker, Zork II, Manhunter San Francisco 10 pts Knightmare, Lords of Chaos, Lords of Time, Eye of the Beholder 9 pts Monkey Island 1, Deuteros 8 pts Pirates, Zak McKracken, Bard's Tale 3 7 pts Corruption, Humbug, Price of Magik, Monkey Island 2, Ultima V, Sorcerer, Ingrid's Back, Populous 2 6 pts Lost Files of Sherlock Homes, Journey, The Four Symbols, Phantasie I, Utopia 5 pts Darkseed, Ultima Underworld, Manhunter New York, Jacaranda Jim, Dragonflight, Sleeping Gods Lie, Hammer of Grimmold, Bard's Tale 2, Suspect, Larry 2, Corporation 4 pts The Maze, Wonderland, Legend, Rigel's Revenge, Zork Zero, Lure of the Temptress 3 pts Fool's Errand, Mortville Manor, Cortizone, Ballyhoo, Deja Vu, Jade Stone, Witness, Wizard's Crown, Space Quest 1 2.5 pts Zork I 2 pts Spellcasting 101, Red Moon, Phantasie II, Infestation, Legend of the Sword, Camelot, Bureaucracy, Operation Stealth, Mega-lo-Mania 1 pt Colossal (Level 9), Plundered Hearts, Future Wars, Wizard's Tower, Jade Stone, Football Director II, Exile 1/2 pt Zork III