Producer: 8th Day Software
Retail Price: £1.99
Language: Quill
Author: 8th Day

There are two reasons why I am reviewing this 8th Day Software program, which I received way back earlier this year, here in this month's column. One is a recommendation from an avid adventurer to play one and the other is the news that they sell for £1.99. If this price is true then Quann Tulla would seem to offer good value for money as it is a very friendly program. It also has an interesting storyline which is not too difficult to unravel, as the game is easy, with few of the annoying complications seen in many a more awkward adventure.

The first thing to note is that this game is one of a series of text-only Quilled games with titles like Ice Station Zero, Faerie, Cuddles and Four Minutes to Midnight. These last two aren't exactly my cup of tea since Cuddles deals with the kiddies world of playpens etc, and Four Minutes deals with what you would do given the four minute warning before a rather large bomb dropped on your head. My advice is to be prepared and take a headache tablet.

Quann Tulla describes itself as being of moderate difficulty and has on its flip side detailed background information concerning games play.

Highly advanced robots, computer systems and automatic defence traps form the backdrop to this science fiction adventure in which the player takes on the might of the evil Empire on behalf of the ailing Federation. The battle takes place in the shattered hull of the flagship and finally to a desperate conclusion on a distant alien world. Secret manuals must be retrieved, an evil traitor dispensed with and a crippled ship destroyed before the Federation can govern in peace once more.

Quann Tulla is a long and reasonably easy adventure game with long, detailed location descriptions. It has a friendly vocabulary and fascinating plot. For £1.99 it compares favourably with other Quilled games on the market.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: easy - moderate
Graphics: none
Input: verb/noun
Response: instant

CRL
£9.95

It's a good job you have a strong sense of responsibility because once again the fate of the Universe lies in your hands. As a member of the Federation's secret service you have been assigned to the case of Erra Quann, the alien scientist who hijacked the Flagship Quann Tulla an order to sell the secrets of its engine plans to the evil Empire. Should he reach his destination, the Federation will be powerless to combat the forces of the Empire who can then step into dominate the known Universe.

The adventure begins in a leaking air bubble on hoard your ship. Sparks are flying from the instruments and black smoke obscures everything. You can't breathe, so your first objective is to find air. Once this initial urgent task is completed you must find your way through the shattered hull of the flagship and survive long enough to continue the investigation on a distant alien planet. The adventure winds through a series of cargo hays, control domes and futuristic corridors, and the suitably atmospheric descriptions are complemented by a small selection of graphics and a visible sci-fi score display.

At first, apart from a few surly droids (which must he treated tactfully) you are alone. Objects are scattered around to help you and range in complexity from a neon weapon to a humble tube of glue. The puzzles, mostly involving the use of these objects, are challenging hut not infuriatingly difficult. Sudden death is an ever-present danger but special commands include a RAMSAVE option.

The game has quite a large vocabulary and although it won't accept complex commands it does have one labour-saving feature (interestingly, one that is missing from the two highly sophisticated Magnetic Scrolls adventures reviewed this month). If, for example, you have the key to a box there's no need to go through all the rigmarole of saying UNLOCK BOX WITH RED KEY, you simply type UNLOCK BOX and the computer knows which key to use. This is particularly useful when you have to perform more involved actions with other objects (play the game to sec which ones). In effect it compensates for the parser's lack of complexity and eradicates the infuriating problem of knowing what to do with an object but not knowing how to say so.

CRL's version of the sci-fi adventure doesn't break any especially original ground but within the limits it sets itself it is a compelling and highly polished game.

Without doubt, the best game of the series is Quann Tuna, and I think this should be picked up by a major company. The story is of an evil empire that has fought a long and bloody war with the Just Foundation. The Foundation is losing, and your mission is to destroy some top secret manuals, kill a traitor and destroy a crippled space ship.

The game takes place aboard your flagship and progresses through space to a far distant alien world. This may prove too difficult for beginners, but the experienced Adventure nut will love it, especially its weird objects such as the lead ball and lighter-than-air docking badge! Great stuff!

Spectrum Cassette: £9.95
Amstrad Diskette: £14.95

Once upon a time in the golden olden days of adventuring when all that was required by the player was the old verb/noun input, there lived a software company that churned out games thick and fast - mostly written using Gilsoft's utility the Quill. Eighth Day Software produced some above average quests including: Faerie, Ice Station Zero and one of my all time favourites, Quann Tulla. Federation is a revamped version of the latter.

Quann Tulla is the flagship of the federation, unfortunately its designer, Erra Quann, has hijacked it. He pilots it to an outpost of the evil Empire where he hopes to sell the secret of its innovative engines. You take the role of a member of the Federation's elite secret service; your mission is to stop Quann.

The adventure begins inside a cracked life support bubble in the smoke-filled interior of your ship. The first problem is one of avoiding suffocation, but it is easily solved. The vessel is drifting close to the battered hull of the Quann Tulla, and pressing the blue button found in the cockpit allows access to it via an umbilical cord. Once these two initial problems have been dealt with the game is yours to explore.

WONDERFULLY WEIRD

Science fiction is usually a good topic for adventure games as it is only the author's imagination which limits the scope. All kinds of weird and wonderful objects and creatures may be incorporated in such adventures with no logical reason needed for their presence or role in the game. Quann Tulla is one such game which incorporates many futuristic/alien elements to good effect. The ball that changes size when picked up, the computer terminals, the shock-cape and the numerous hi-tech creatures found in the corridors of the great ship, all help to build up a believable atmosphere. Although most of the objects to be found may be alien to you, the EXAMINE option is sensibly implemented, helping explain, or hint at, the uses of most of them.

The screen layout is nicely done, with a small graphic representation of some locations displayed in the top left-hand corner of a well designed control panel. This also shows your score - 10,000 is possible - and the number of turns you have taken. Below, scroll the text descriptions.

Quann Tulla was a good game when it was first released all those years ago; its overhaul and new look modernise and help maintain its appeal, although the price is a little steep for a single-load game.

MAKER: 8th Day Software
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £1.99 each

Pure text adventures seem to be becoming a threatened species of late. There seems to be a general feeling that to sell, a program has to contain graphics. Doesn't matter how tacky, how irrelevant to the plot line, how much memory is wasted, we gotta have them pictures. A good counter to what I, for one, see as a pernicious trend is this collection of six pocket-money programs from 8th Day, a new Merseyside outfit.

The packaging is understandably minimal, a plain black wrapper in every case, although you do get a natty plastic rack if you purchase all six. There's nothing cut-price about the quality however. as far as I could see, each of these is a well-thought out, properly plotted adventure. Better still, every one is on a different theme. The nearest to the hackneyed old Sword-and-Sorcery schlock is Faerie, but this rests more on Celtic whimsy than conquering barbarians. The vital thing is to keep the fairies happy, one way being to swap a human baby for their changeling, a bit naughty this.

Four Minutes to Midnight seems to be the most advanced program, and pits you against a post-catastrophe world. The object is to rebuild civilisation from the ruins by assembling a team of capable and technically-skilled people. To my mind this goes one better than The Hobbit in terms of human interaction, and displays genuine originality. Cuddles is a bit on the cute side - you are a bored toddler and you have to escape from your cot and get past nanny to sample the delights of the outside world.

Ice Station Zero owes something to the dreadful Alistair Maclean story - for Zero read Zebra - it's a thriller set on the Arctic Icepack. The obligatory space adventure is represented in the form of Quann Tulla in which you have to get a crippled starship working again. In Search of Angels is a Fleming-style spy story full of the obligatory souped-up sportsters full of gadgetry.

A lot of ground has been covered here, all six packages taken together cost the same as two normally-priced Spectrum programs, but represent months of playing time. This is the first time I've encountered software at a reasonable price which sacrifices nothing in the way of quality. Surely this, and not peculiar security devices, is the answer to piracy?

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £1.75
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: 8th Day Software, 18 Flaxhill, Moreton, Wirral, L46 7UH

You might not have gathered this from the title, but Quann Tulla is a science fiction adventure in which you take on the whole might of an evil galactic empire. The name comes from the spaceship, the Quann Tulla, on which you are the sole survivor. You are about to be attacked by approaching alien vessels. Eventually, if you survive long enough, you may succeed in leaving your ship via a teleportation device. This will set you down on a remote planet for a final confrontation with the forces of evil.

Although the game begins, like so many space adventures, on a marooned spaceship, the atmosphere is vididly conveyed.

Like the other games in Eighth Day's series of cheap adventures this one was written with the Quill. Although the Quill format is recognisable the game should appeal to a good many adventurers at beginner and slightly more experienced levels. For the uninitiated side two contains a menu with options for the storyline, playing hints and descriptions of Eighth Day's other games. The hints are general and don't refer to any specific game, so no secrets are given away. This might seem unnecessary for the more advanced player but newcomers will find them very useful.

You can get a hints sheet which is a good deal more forthcoming than the help facility in the game as that only warns you not to use excessive violence.

This is a game with all the ingredients that a Sci-Fi fan could wish for: robots, force fields, secret missions, etc. It's certainly well worth £1.75, providing as much fun as some adventures I've played which cost three times the price.