News

There are two new PC TADS adventures available direct from High
Energy Software and a new version of PC TADS - v2.1. The two new
games are the long-awaited Unnkulia Zero from Adventions and
Perdition's Flames by Mike Roberts. Full details of Perdition's
Flames are given in the TADS press release in the Articles
section.  Unnkulia Zero is the latest in the popular series of
Unnkulian Unventures and is the biggest and best Unnkulian game
yet! The PC version is available now for $25.00 plus $4 shipping
from High Energy Software, PO Box 50422, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA.
Payment can be by cheque (US dollars drawn on a US bank), money
order (in US dollars), VISA or MasterCard. TADS v2.1 costs $40
plus $9 shipping including the manual. Registered users can
upgrade TADS for $4 (disk only) or $15 + $4 (disk and release
notes) and combination packages are also available. The other bit
of good news is that an Amiga version of TADS is on its way too,
done by a third party.

Stop Press! Just heard from Dave Leary from Adventions with a copy
of Unnkulia One-Half:The Salesman Triumphant for the PC, a new
freeware game, and a demo of Unnkulia Zero, both for the SynTax PD
library. He tells me they should have ST versions of everything by
July; TADS 2.0 for the ST is on its way. He also sent new versions
of the previous Unnkulia unventures and Mike Roberts sent a
shareware version of TADS 2.1.

Sierra have brought out two new packages and re-released two
others, to form their 'Discovery' Series. They are all available
for the PC and cost œ35 each. The re-issued games are
EcoQuest:Search for Cetus, age 12 upwards, under the heading of
Ecology, and The Island of Dr Brain, also 12 upwards, under
Science and Maths. The new programs are Turbo Science, 9-14, under
Physical Science and for age 10 upwards EcoQuest II:Lost
Secret of the Rain Forest comes under science and geology.

A few issues ago, Steve McLaren reviewed Pinball Dreams for the
Amiga. PC players will soon be able to check out the same game.
Coming from 21st Century, it features four tables and 256-colour
VGA graphics. Up to eight players can take part and it will cost
œ34.99.

Infogrames' latest adventure is Shadow of the Comet, a mystery
based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu writings and their follow-up to Alone
in the Dark. However, it uses the more traditional graphical
layout, not the 3D format of AITD. Set in 1910, your character
arrives in the town of Illsmouth to photograph Halley's Comet.
Something seems to be strange about the town and you'll end up
investigating events that took place in Illsmouth over 70 years
ago, when the comet last appeared.

If you've got loads of time on your hands and/or want to be
impressed by some truly amazing graphics, take a look at Stunt
Island for the PC. I recently bought this package and can't praise
it highly enough. Look out for a review RSN.

MicroProse's The Legacy is another tale of horror, but this time
it's an RPG, using standard first-person perspective, 3D display,
and a windows-like environment. It will take 25 meg of space on
the hard disk and needs VGA and a minimum 386/20MHz (a 33MHz 486
is recommended). The game was developed by the Magnetic Scrolls
team so now you know what they've been up to since Wonderland!

Lankhor are working on a new graphic adventure, called Black Sect.
It's set on the Yorkshire Moors and has you investigating the
village of Hobdale, where a dark secret surrounds the fate of
your grandfather and a mysterious book.

There's an article about the European Computer Trade Show
elsewhere in this issue. During the show, a series of awards were
made. A panel of 80 magazines was involved in the voting, together
with the readers of leading European magazines and viewers of BBC
TV's Going Live! programme. Secret of Monkey Island 2 was voted
best role-playing/adventure game, won the award for best sound
track and was Italy's Game of the Year. Alone in the Dark won the
awards for best graphics and for the most original game and was
France's Game of the Year. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
was voted best computer game and was Spain's Game of the Year.

Best simulation was Formula 1 Grand Prix. What did Britain pick as
Game of the Year? Sonic the Hedgehog ...

Recent Releases
---------------
(1) Software

Abandoned Places 2 - Ice (Amiga, œ35)
A-Train Construction Set - Maxis/Ocean (PC, œ15)
B17 - MicroProse (Amiga joins PC, œ35)
Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space - Interplay (PC, œ50)
Cohort II - Impressions (PC, œ35)
Dog Fight - MicroProse (PC, œ45)
Dune II - Westwood/Virgin (PC, œ36)
EcoQuest I:Search for Cetus (re-issue) - Sierra (PC, œ35)
EcoQuest II:Lost Secret of the Rain Forest - Sierra (PC, œ35)
Empire Deluxe - New World Computing (PC, œ45)
Freddie Pharkas - Sierra (PC, œ40)
Island of Dr Brain (re-issue) - Sierra (PC, œ35)
Legacy - MicroProse (PC, œ45)
Lemmings II - Psygnosis (PC joins Amiga, œ39)
Maniac Mansion - Kixx re-release (All, œ13)
Operation Stealth - Kixx re-release (All, œ15)
Pirates - Kixx re-release (All, œ13)
Reach for the Skies - Virgin (PC, œ36; Amiga, œ31)
Serpent's Isle:Ultima VII Part 2 - Origin (PC, œ45)
Spaceward Ho! - New World Computing (PC, œ45)
Spear of Destiny - ID Software (PC, œ40)
Stunt Island - Infogrames (PC, œ49)
Tegal's Mercenaries - Mindcraft (PC, œ40)
Transarctica - Simarils (ST, PC, Amiga, œ30)
Turbo Science - Sierra (PC, œ35)
Xenobots - Electronics Arts (PC, œ40)

(2) Books

Crusaders of the Dark Savant Cluebook - Sir Tech (œ13)