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. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Sue's Top Ten œ5.00 œpayable No-one else has sent one in this issue and I guess it's about time I updated mine which I do every other year. Some of my choices have been in the list before but they've swapped places. Some games that we remember fondly end up looking crass while others improve in the memory as time passes. @~1. TimeQuest - yes, it's still number one in my list and if I @~hadn't sold it, I'd play it again! I loved its intricate puzzles @~through a range of time zones and places. It didn't, strictly @~speaking, have a large number of locations, but the permutations @~of era and area gave the same effect. I enjoyed the way places @~changed from era to era and how one's actions in one could affect @~the outcome in another. Legend's best game in my opinion. @~2. The Might and Magic series, Isles of Terra, and World of Xeen (Clouds plus Darkside) - okay, I'm cheating by not picking one from 3, 4 and 5. Well, I haven't finished 5 yet (it's next on my list after the add-on Swords of Xeen ... nice game, shame about the bugs). I didn't complete M&M2 which I started playing on 5 1/4" disks on the laptop; it was promising but had some unfriendly aspects. The engine was changed for 3 and the same one, near enough, was used for 4, 5 and Swords. The games are very playable, nicely balanced in difficulty and with the choice between adventurer or warrior level which gives fewer or more fights. The animation of the monsters is good too. Very atmospheric with good puzzles. 3. Magic the Gathering - this will no doubt be higher next time I do my Top Ten! How could it NOT be included? I think I get on better with the computer version than I would with the `real thing' because the computer keeps track of a lot of the upkeep and doesn't let me forget to untap cards etc. Once the add-ons and multiplayer capabilities appear, this will be my game of the 90s! For now, I'm still getting into it. @~4. Zork Zero - my favourite Infocom. Like TimeQuest, it is a very convoluted game with some great puzzles. It had the occasional graphic but basically it is a text game. I first played it on the ST under emulation, then later saw it on the PC. Excellent. 5. Toonstruck - I only just finished playing this game and I loved it ... and not just because it starred Christopher Lloyd and Tim Curry, two of my all-time favourite actors. The animation is pure cartoon, the voices excellent, the whole game gels from start to hilarious finish. Maybe a tad easy but I don't mind that. Bunnies and ten pin bowling will never look the same again. 6. Settlers 1 and 2 - especially 2 which I've spent more time with. Cuteness personified (except for the hunter who bumps off the little bunnies and deer. Shame.) Another time waster of a game as you try to beat your opposition and take over the world. 7. Lands of Lore - a very playable RPG. Not much storyline but the screen display and graphics were good. The worst bit was the inventory management ... you just had to scroll back and forth trying to find what you wanted. A good RPG for those who hadn't played one before. Can't wait for the follow-up, due RSN. 8. Transport Tycoon - this took over from Railroad Tycoon as my favourite strategy game though it's a close call. We tried playing a two-player game using a null modem lead but the set up was rather fragile. It's a less complicated game than RT so it's easier to keep track of your routes. Good fun. 9. Shadow of Yserbius - it may be bugged but I stuck at it until I finished it. No, I still haven't done the other game in the package, Twinion ... A very basic RPG but I enjoyed it. If you can lose yourself in a game, it's the mark of a good 'un. @~10. Fool's Errand - Alan and I played this together over several weeks. A good mix of puzzles built around a basic storyline. I am looking forward to the forthcoming game from the same author ... can't remember its name for the moment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ @~The Top Ten for 1996/97 is, so far: 33 pts Dungeon Master 24 pts Lands of Lore 23 pts Secret of Monkey Island 18 pts Chaos Strikes Back, Civilisation 16 pts Ultima Underworld II 15 pts Might and Magic series 14 pts Secret of Monkey Island 2, Ultimate Doom (Doom/Doom 2) 11 pts Stonekeep 10 pts Gabriel Knight 2, Ultima VII:The Black Gate, Sentinel, Mordens Quest, TimeQuest 9 pts Day of the Tentacle, Aliens, Betrayal at Krondor, Descent, Ultima VI, Anvil of Dawn, Prisoner of Ice, Bard's Tale 8 pts Dungeon Master 2, Guild of Thieves, Ultima V, Lords of Time, Colossal Cave, Magic the Gathering 7 pts Ravenloft 2: The Stone Prophet, Lurking Horror, Jet Set Willy, Hammer of Grimmold, Sam and Max, Zork Zero 6 pts Ishar 2, Elite, Frontier:Elite 2, Discworld, Veil of Darkness, Pirate Adventure, Toonstruck 5 pts System Shock, Nord and Bert, Colonization, Ultima Underworld I, Eye of the Beholder Trilogy, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Zork 1, Settlers 1 and 2 4 pts Ultima 8: Pagan, Populous, Lords of Midnight, Ravenloft 1:Strahd's Possession, The Dig, The Four Symbols, Black Dawn 2 3 pts Little Big Adventure, Wolfenstein 3D, Ishar 1 Simon the Sorcerer, Full Throttle, Transport Tycoon 2 pts Bloodwych, UFO:Enemy Unknown, Sim City, Drakken, Gabriel Knight 1, Death Gate, Eric the Unready, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Shadow of Yserbius 1 pt Multi-dimensional Thief, Captive, Emerald Isle, Midwinter 2, Larn, Fool's Errand @~Votes so far by Alex van Kaam, Laura Duncan, Adrian Sill, @~James Judge, Greg Lord, David Stocks, Arnie, Steve McLaren, @~John Ferris and Sue Medley.- o -