Producer: Phipps Associates
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Author: T. Barber

Phipps made their name with The Knights Quest and have quickly followed it with many similarly presented pieces. This latest has you prisoner of the Germans in Colditz Castle.

The game uses the same split-screen graphics and scrolling text window technique as its famous predecessor and is yet, curiously enough, written by a different author. Unfortunately, it also retains the curious hold up in loading. The first section gives you the information, some of which is far too trivial to be included in the program and would be better placed on the cassette insert. You then start the tape once more to get the loading screen and the main program itself.

Many early Spectrum games had reams of information displayed on the screen and you'll no doubt remember how difficult it was to read - especially with a white background on a colour TV. I think the general shift from screen instructions toward more sophisticated cassette presentation is a good move. After all, the illegal copying of a tape isn't quite as effective if you have to forfeit the complex playing instructions left behind with the packaging.

The game takes a long time to load but the loading screen is very colourful depicting the sombre outline of a prisoner of war camp. On pressing a key you are asked if you are starling a new game. Perhaps it's just me being pedantic but I really had to think before answering yes. It may have been better to have had something like 'DO YOU WISH TO LOAD A SAVED GAME' . Perhaps again I'm just being awkward but I seem to have done a lot of button pressing and waiting to have the first frame in front of me.

Your mission is to aid the escape of a prisoner locked away in a solitary cell of the castle. You begin in the courtyard which has different graphics to distinguish between the NW, NE, SE, SW sectors.

The first graphic depicts the NW courtyard and you notice the high standard of the graphics, better than those in Knights Quest, but likewise tucked away in the top left corner. Although I have reservations regarding the artistic layout and impact of this arrangement (a darker background with light print may have, quite simply, lessened the gauche appearance) this method of display has one great advantage - it is fast. You can map out your tracks rapidly with the graphics, which are always displayed, acting as useful quick markers. Compare this to moving through a text-only adventure, especially one with a long scrolling list of location descriptions.

The beeps and squeaks the keyboard emits may seem a minor point but an experienced adventurer knows how important it is to enter without mistakes. Colditz has a good selection of distinguishable beeps. Each letter entry including the space key - a common source of error on the Spectrum - has a loud beep. When you are told of your inability to walk through doors or if the program needs you to be more specific a beep will draw your attention to the computers remark in the bottom half of the screen. The beep that tells you the program is ready for your next input is good but rather necessary as although the graphics are fast the program itself is a trifle slow. 'Machine coded to give fast responses to your commands' says the cover but not fast enough for my taste.

On delving deeper into the adventure the game becomes eminently mappable but the early impressive graphics dry up a little. At a guess I'd say that the number of locations with graphics falls well below 50 percent. This is somewhat counteracted by detailed descriptions and one doesn't expect miracles with only 48K but if you are new to the way in which adventures are marketed it may be worth noting in the text vs. graphics debate. Just for the record my purist instincts favour detailed word descriptions but with a colour TV an attractive, fast graphic never goes amiss.

The language used is basically Verb Noun with two steps to open a door - unlock, then push open. The usual direction abbreviations are, thankfully, provided: N, S, E, W, U, D. The first four letters define the other nouns. Verbs include look, quit, get, drop use, open, inventory and examine. Elsewhere the language can appear a little atypical e.g. LOWER ROPE rather than the more usual TIE ROPE. THROW ROPE and then you can immediately climb up!

By the way, although I try my best to complete a reasonable amount of an adventure in order to give fair comment, I am indebted to Phipps and Trevor Toms for providing what is indeed a 'Supa Solution' sheet. Not only does this put the reviewer into a favourable frame of mind but also allows people like myself to impress with the easy wisdom the sheet imparts. Colditz has fine graphics with many interesting, logical problems and is well worth the asking price.

As a prisoner in the infamous Second World War camp, you must make your escape through the network of tunnels, rooms and chambers, all the time evading your captors.
Ian: The quarter screen displays of the graphics locations are often very detailed, and they're drawn in approximately one second — thanks to machine code. Also very rapid is the game's response to your commands, which all goes to make this one of the more enjoyable adventures around. 6/10
Jon: The colour used in this game is quite realistic, and both the drawing of locations and the command response time is surprisingly quick. 6/10
Simon: The game is nicely presented, with the instructions loaded from tape. Overall, it's a well-written, well thoughtout and enjoyable game. 8/10

Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

Adventure addicts should find plenty to occupy them in Colditz, a well-constructed game from Phipps Associates. The aim is to escape from the infamous German prisoner-of-war camp and at the same time release an eminent scientist whose knowledge is vital to the allied war effort.

The castle is a complex labyrinth of rooms, courtyards, crypts and tunnels. The adventure is liable to be terminated abruptly at any time by the arrival of guards, falling to your death, or being electrocuted on the wire fence, and there are also a generous number of useful objects to be found such as a glass, a hacksaw and a crowbar.

It is essential to keep track of your movements, as well as what the various objects can achieve, if you are to have any chance of finding the correct escape route and managing to bring out the prisoner.

Colditz features graphics which do not add a great deal to the action but fortunately do not slow it, as each new picture reveals itself quickly and efficiently. There is a HELP command and a SAVE facility if you feel that escaping from Colditz cannot be achieved in one day. TAKE ALL is another useful command enabling you to pick up all the objects found in one place without having to type in the name of each.

Colditz is available from Phipps Associates, Ewell, Surrey.

As a prisoner you must rescue a fellow inmate from the solitary confinement cell and lead him to safety from Colditz Castle, with the aid of your Spectrum.

There are many pitfalls in this adventure. In fact, you must be extremely careful to make the right moves - a false one and you'll be shot by the Nazis. On the surface, this looks quite realistic. After all, in the real thing you could get very near to escaping and get shot - alternatively, this might happen during your first moves. But it will make a lot of game saving necessary, if you are to piece the puzzle together and form an overall strategy.

Where the realism falls down a bit is exemplified by a little sequence in the parcel sorting office which has a 'wooden planked floor'. This is screaming out for attention, almost literally as it makes a noise when you walk on it. Pass through without solving the problem and a guard will hear you on the way back - fair enough. But it is impossible to examine wood, plank, or floor. You have to deduce that you must take a floorboard and it seems the board must be very wide or the room extremely narrow, for the description changes to 'a dirt floor underfoot'. Thus the guard can no longer hear you walking through.

Colditz has a fast response, even when displaying graphics which accompany some of the 70-odd locations in the game. A split screen layout is used, showing the picture and/or text description the location above a length of barbed wire and the scrolling conversation, which includes visible objects, below.

This is a competent adventure which will take some time to complete. I have a feeling that playing might be more enjoyable if those parts of the map that a prisoner is expected to know at the outset were provided with the game. This is an unusual thing to suggest, I know, but strategy could be planned from the start, rather than having to take a hit and miss approach all the way through.

Colditz is for 48K Spectrum from Phipps Associates, priced at £6.95.

This month we focus on a selection of games and on the new range of software for students of Shakespeare from Penguin Books.

Full marks to Phipps Associates for providing reviewers with a map of locations in its latest adventure game, Colditz. The map shows that escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp is possible but that there are numerous problems to be faced en route.

The game combines graphics and text to provide a clear description of the player's situation at each point.

The text often includes the sound made at a location and it is best to pay close attention to those descriptions, as any loud noise can alert the guards to the fact that a prisoner is trying to escape.

There are many objects to be collected and used, which creates problems, because there are limitations as to how many objects a player can carry.

Never assume that because everything which has been found cannot be carried at once that it is not all useful.

The game contains plenty of action. There are guards to avoid and kill, tunnels to dig, wire to cut, a prisoner to rescue, and the final challenge of making sure that the guards cannot follow once the escape has been effected.

It is an excellent adventure, well worth the time required to complete it.

Colditz is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Phipps Associates, 172 Kingston Road, Ewell, Surrey KT19 0SD and costs £6.95.