~The Adventurers Journal

By Martin Keen


Its been an unfortunately quiet month on the adventure game front but
there's still lots happening in this months Adventurers Journal. Step
this way for another look at the world of graphic adventures.


~The Ultimate Adventurers Companion

Even the best of us get stuck occasionally in the often illogical
world of adventure game puzzles. How on earth were you supposed to 
know to use the dog as a pair of slippers? Let these moments of
programmer's madness worry you no more with a new publication from
the makers of Cheet Sheets Monthly. The Cheet Sheets Adventure 
Special has solutions for just about every adventure game released on
the PC. Its the perfect way to get you off that puzzle thats been
bothering you for days and on with the rest of the game.

But the Adventure Special is much more than that. Its packed with 
reviews of graphic adventures too so you can pick and choose the games
you want to buy and know your getting opinions from a totally 
unbiased quarter - gamesplayers themselves.

Add to that a number of cheats for those who prefer to hack their way
through adventures, and a collections of interesting and informative
articles all about the genre of the graphic adventure. You'll even 
find a compilation of all previous Adventurers Journals.

The Cheet Sheets Adventure Special is available from just about all
the same places as you'll find this magazine. Dial up the Cheet Sheets
BBS, or contact Wayne Roberts by phone or post to get hold of it. The
Adventure Special is not only a vital resource but also a good read.


~Forthcoming Games

There's loads of games to look forward to being released in the months
ahead. Heres a look at two of the most promising:

~THE 11th HOUR - Trilobyte - Due Out: October

This is just about classified as a graphic adventure. It includes lots
of pointing and clicking and solving puzzles so it'll do for us. Its 
now been given a October 1995 release date but this game was due out
over a year ago when Trilobyte took out a huge advertising scheme. 
What they have been doing since then isn't exactly clear but the 11th
Hour is looking as impressive as ever. Its basically an extension of 
The 7th Guest but with forty puzzles, thirteen special quests, four 
secret passages, and a number of treasure hunts. Eighteen actors were
filmed in Oregon in sequences that when added together make up as much
live action as a movie. Maybe we'll be able to see for ourselves if 
all this mixes together into a decent game by the end of the month but 
don't bet on it.


~TOONSTRUCK - Virgin Studios USA - Due Out: February

Never has a game looked so gorgeous. The specs are impressive; all the
graphics have been drawn in SVGA and they include numerous background
animations on all the 100 locations the game includes. The main 
character animation sprite (which is voiced by Christopher Lloyd - the
doc from Back To The Future) has more than 50 animations cycles which
then have special morphing techniques applied to them between frames 
to create a smooth image. Thats all very well but games with specs
like that usually mean the designers have been so busy worrying how
the game looks they forget to add a bit of gameplay. That doesn't 
sound the case here, the engine is going to be a typical point 'n
click interface similar to Sam & Max and be interwoven with around 70
puzzles. Virgin USA aren't trying to create a new genre, just improve
on what LucasArts has done so far. You'd be mad not to keep a very
close eye on this one.


~Star Wars The Adventure?

We here at the Adventurers Journal have been trying to guess what the
next LucasArts graphic adventure will be after The Dig. I've been
playing a lot of LECs Doom beater Dark Forces this month for my review
and it struck me that its about time Star Wars made it out of the 
arcades and shoot-em-ups and into a graphic adventure. It could be
made to tie in with the new Star Wars triology Clone Wars and would
sell copies just by its name alone. And if LucasArts don't want to
do that then how about Monkey Island 3? They can't possibly leave the
series where it is at the moment after the amazing end sequence!


~Simon The Sequeller

While on the subject of end game sequences, what about Simon The 
Sorcerer 2? Without giving away what actually happens you're going
to be very unsatisfied by the ending of this. The storyline 
continues to unfold and just as you're expecting yet another huge
chuck of gameplay to open up the credits role, and the game says
"To Be Continued...". Its all very well leaving a story on a
cliffhanger until the next episode but if that episode is another
two years off (as was the difference between Simon 1 and 2) the
player soon loses patience and interest. Adventuresoft better be
damn quick in following this one up.


~"Captain - Gameplay left from shuttle bay 9"

Star Trek : The Next Generation continues to sell well in the shops
but after some extensive playtesting we're beginning to wander if its
really a game at all. At first the Star Trek atmosphere smothers the
player with charm while the graphics delight. Its all seems very 
non-linear too with a seemingly huge range of missions to choose from.

But a few hours later we began to wander when we got to have a go.
After a while the game decides you must be bored with all this 
tedious interaction so it does it all for you. Gaps of 10 minutes
without so much as pressing a mouse button are common the further in
you get. And as for the non-linearity, thats just a trick. If you 
don't choose the option the game wants you'll eventually be forced
to do it anyway. If you decide to go to Horst IV but the game wants
you to go to Hydoselic III you'll be interupted midflight with a
message from Star Fleet telling you to head back. 

Spectrum Holobyte are going to have to learn to add a bit more 
interaction into their next one if they want to equal the high sales
they got this time. But unfortuantely any game with a Star Trek 
licence is going to sell a certain number of games no matter how bad
it is. And thats further proof (if proof were needed) that Trekkies
are indeed a very sad bunch!


There'll be more again next month, but in the meantime contact me on 
the Cheet Sheets BBS on anything adventure related. Its real easy to
do; just mail a message to Martin Keen.
