Fred 30

Issue 30

February 1993

Magazine

BM                         Editorial

February  1993  -  will  it go down in history as the month FRED
reached  the magic figure of 10,000 readers? Hah. Fat chance. It
will  be  remembered  as  the  month which followed January 1993
though,  which  not many other months can claim to have done. Oh
yes,  it might also be the month in which all you Outlet readers
out  there  receive  your  first  issue  of  FRED, so to any new
readers  -  welcome to FRED. You'll find it a little less formal
and  technical  than Outlet, but we think you'll like it just as
much.  Indeed,  we'll  be keeping quite a few of their features,
just to make you feel a little more at home...!

This  month we've got 3 games in total, one in Machine Code, and
two  classy machine code demos (which usually go down a treat!).
I usually just blether any old rubbish to fill these Editorials,
but this month I think it's worth mentioning that until recently
I  didn't  have  a clue how good the Spetrum 128 demos were. Now
that  the  craze has started for converting these to the SAM our
readers  can't get enough of them! Hopefully we'll see even more
of these in the future.
BM                         Editorial

Something else I didn't realise until the recent spate of Speccy
conversions  was just how good 128 music, when well thought out,
can be.  Some of the tunes in these are fantastic! It's a pity I
didn't get any of these demos back when I actually HAD a 128!

Moving on again from that, I'm really quite suprised at how good
some  of  the  tunes  we're hearing from Etracker are.  When you
consider  that the SAM can't handle samples, some of them really
are  incredible!  The  tune from Waterworks is just brilliant. I
suppose  with  the  Amiga,  ST and other powerful computers (not
that the SAM isn't, but you know what I mean) all you have to do
is  string together a couple of drum samples and the odd sampled
"Oh  Yeah!"  and  everybody  loves  it, but on the SAM musicians
really have to think about what their tunes are going to be. For
that  reason, I think some the actual TUNES are much better than
many  Amiga  ones.  Amiga ones might SOUND better due to sampled
instruments, but the tunes really aren't too hot usually.

End of waffle.
BM                            News

The  first,  and  biggest,  piece of news is that FRED has taken
over  Outlet  magazine. This will not be a SU/Crash type merger,
as  we  will  be keeping a significant part of Outlet alive. Now
you  can  get  the best of both magazines for less than half the
normal  price  (in  a  roundabout sort of way)!  More about this
from Colin later though.

By  now you should all have received your letter from West Coast
Computers,  and  so  should  all be aware of the developments in
progress.

As  there  are a lot of new readers who've just joined us, we've
put details of the massive FRED competition over the next couple
of pages.





BM               The Great Software Giveaway!!


Welcome.  Welcome  to  something  extraordinary. Something never
seen  before.  Something  that'll  blow  your  mind  -  the FRED
Software Giveaway...

Poncy  intro  eh? Never mind though, I'm sure you're all capable
of  ignoring  something  like  that.   So  what's  this software
giveaway thing all about? Good question and, coincidentally, one
which  I'm  just  about  to  answer. It's a competition (never!)
intended  to  give  those of you who were sensible enough to buy
either  Etracker,  Gamesmaster,  SCADs, or all three(!) an extra
incentive to "get creating".

What  we  want is for you to send in either a utility, a game or
an  Etracker  tune.  The  tunes  must  (obviously) be written on
Etracker,  and  the  games  must be on SCADs or Gamesmaster, but
utilities  can  be written on anything you want (as long as it's
on the SAM...!)

BM                        The Prizes!

Now  things  start  getting a bit complex (to a mere FRED editor
like  me,  anyway).  There  are  three  1st Prizes, one for each
category  -  utility,  game,  tune  - and three 2nd prizes. That
gives 6 sets of prizes. Each set consists of each and every item
of  FRED software yet released, except the Etracker tune writers
who  don't  get  Etracker  for  obvious reasons. The first prize
winners  will  also  get their piece published commercially, and
therefore be in line for a large wad of royalties!

As  well  as  that,  entries  which  don't win 1st prize will be
featured   in  FRED,  and  the  authors  will  be  appropriately
rewarded with either cash or free issues of the magazine.

Incidentally,  back  issues  are  NOT  included  in the software
giveaway  -  for a start you should all HAVE most of them! - but
the FREDatives, Rachel, and all the FRED games and utilities are
all there!!


BM                      A Bit More Info

Don't  be put off writing a game just because you're not too hot
at  graphics; we'll be judging the entries on much more than how
they  look  (which  is  quite important for the music entries!).
Originality,  effort,  depth, these are all things which will be
considered, but in the end it'll be the overall impression which
decides the winning entry.

Joint  entries  are  perfectly  acceptable;  if  you want to get
somebody  else  in to do some graphics for your game or utility,
then  that's fine, but we will only give one set of software for
each winning piece of software.

If for some reason you don't want your entry put on FRED, please
say so or we'll automatically consider doing so.

All entries must be with us by the end of July 1993.



BM                      A Bit More Info

If  we  get  numerous  brilliant utilities and games - and let's
hope  we  do!  -  then we might consider commercially publishing
more  than  just  the  1st-prize winner's item. Any other pieces
published will just miss out on all the software.

Hopefully  that  covers  everything. If you do have any queries,
though, you know the address to write to.

Well,  Colin  and  I  look  forward  to  seeing  all your games/
utilities/tunes.









CM                        Colin's Bit

It's  good  to see that Brian is settling into his job, and that
everyone  out  in FRED land is enjoying the discs brought to you
each and every month...so far!

As  I  said  in the issue 29 newsletter, there had been numerous
events  happening that I listed - and many more that I have been
sworn to secrecy about!

Just  the  day before FRED29 went out, the final contract in the
Outlet  takeover  was  signed, sealed and delivered as they say.
From now on, the best parts of Outlet will be merged into FRED -
resulting  in  a  magazine  more fabulous than ever before! This
month  does  not  see many changes towards Outlet because such a
big project is obviouslly going to take time.

I  have  been  speaking  to Brian Cavers about his continuing to
write  the  letters  section  -  for  those of you familiar with
Outlet,  you'll know that this section was one of it's strongest
points and provided a great service to all Outlet readers.
CM              Out The Window? Nope, into FRED

We  (as  in  me  &  Brian!!)  are talking about using the Outlet
Checkout  which  we feel was also a major contributing factor to
Outlet's success.

Items like the 'Outdex' will take a great deal of time to become
operational  in  future  issues,  so we're not sure when (or if)
this will start to appear.

We  shouldn't  have  any  problems  continuing with the clip-art
though!

In  order  to  make  FRED appeal to a wider audience, as well as
implementing  many of the "serious" parts of Outlet, other steps
have  been  taken  and we hope to see some big names writing the
occasional piece for FRED!

Naturally, I would particularly welcome anything from the people
that contributed to Outlet - I think FRED readers would too!

CM                  Have I lost more money?

Nope,  no-one  loses  out  of  THIS  deal! All outstanding, paid
Outlet   subscriptions   have   been   transferred   into   FRED
subscriptions  starting with Issue 29. All those of you that had
issues  due  from  both  FRED  and Outlet, you'll find your FRED
subscription somewhat extended!

This transfer of subscriptions was done on a one-to-one basis.

Because  Outlet was a commercial venture, another of it's strong
points   was  that  it  paid for it's contributions. And this is
something  we will continue to do - all contributions that get a
"main  menu"  spot will receive a cheque - at least £10.

I know £10 isn't a lot for the program you've been slaving over,
but  the  magazine  simply  doesn't have the funds to pay more -
attending shows, taking over Outlet, and honouring subscriptions
paid  before  the  price-rise  have  all  bitten  deep  into the
magazine bank balance - and I don't want my bank manager to moan
about that account as well!!!
CM                       All Straight?

OK - that's that explained! If you think you were owed issues of
Outlet  from  Chezron  and you haven't got a letter from FRED or
your  subcription number hasn't changed (it's the 6 digit number
on  the envelope your FREDs come in - the last 2 digits show the
last  issue of FRED you are due to receive), then just drop me a
line explaining the problem.

FRED  now  has  the  copyright of all the back issues of Outlet,
ranging from 32 (April '90) through to the last one, 65 (January
'93).  This  is  still  being sorted out and I'll announce later
when and how you can get them.

I would like to point out that this takeover and the transfer of
copyrights  pertains only to the SAM version of Outlet magazine.
None  of  the Spectrum versions of Outlet, or Chezron themselves
have been taken over by FRED.

And  if  you're  wanting  either  OutWrite  V2 or Style Writer -
they're still on the order form!
CM                  Problems, problems ...

Since issue 26, FRED magazine has been professionally duplicated
and on-body printed.

The  theory behind this was to save myself many hours of tedious
work, to make the discs look more professional and to reduce the
number of faulty discs.

Unfortunately, the company we were using, proved very unreliable
-  not  only on delivery dates and faulty discs (sometimes up to
10%  of  the  discs  were faulty !) but many other mistakes were
made by them in the short time we used them.

So,  now  a new duplicating company has been found - and this is
the  first  issue they've done. Unfortunately, I don't know what
the  discs are going to look like because the master disc has to
be  finished  almost  2 weeks before the discs are received back
from  the  duplicators! - Hence the usefulness of the Newsletter
for up-to-date news!

CM                Life's just one big hassle

As I explained - I can't tell if this company will make a better
job  of  the discs so I will continue to do what I've been doing
for  the  last  two months now, and that is to fully check every
single disc that goes out of here!

All  FRED discs done by the duplicator are individually verified
- I mean each and every of the 160 tracks is checked!

All  FRED discs copied "in-house" are fully verified and checked
at time of copying.

All FRED Publishing titles are individually loaded up and tested
before they are sent out.

This  has  meant  that  from  3 months ago when we would receive
several faulty discs every week, I now get none! The only faulty
discs  that get sent back now were either corrupted by the user,
or  they  were  sent  out  before  this testing scheme came into
action. That's a pretty good improvement!!
BM                      General Drivel

Yes,   Colin   there  in  exceedingly  good  spirits.  "Problems
Problems"  indeed. Very cheerful!

Anyway,  a  little  note  to  remind you all that if you want to
contribute  to  FRED,  but can't program/create music/draw, then
all is still not lost! You can of course buy software and review
it  for us, or you can write an article! You don't have to write
about  the SAM, or even about computers, as long as your article
is  likely  to  appeal to a reasonably wide audience (no tips on
how to maximise the offspring rate of ostriches please...).

I'll take this little space to announce that I've just seen what
could be the saddest thing EVER on television. Picture the scene
-  I'm sitting writing this in the middle of the morning, when I
get  the  urge  to  see  what's  on.  So, I reach for the remote
control,  press  "1",  and  see.......a  bloke lying doing bench
presses  with a broom handle, with water-filled balloons on each
end.  I  can't  believe  we  pay our licences to watch "exercise
guides" like that! NOTHING will EVER be sadder than that. Ever.
                   Welcome to Wayne's World






..where  all  the excellant things in life you only dreamt about
hang  out  in abundance (well for me anyway...).   Where all the
babes  are  'magically  delicious', where the tunes are so heavy
they're  unusual to the point where public safety is at risk and
where  life  is  just  one long amazing gig to which you have an
'Access All Areas' pass!








               Waynes Unusually Vital Statistics

Full Name          : Wayne Niblet Campbell
Sex                : Exsqueeze me?
Date Of Birth      : September 31st
Place Of Bith      : In the area of my Mother's undercarriage
Birth   Sign       : Leo. I  was  born  Libra but Leo's are
                     good leaders, fiercely loyal and moody
Parents            : One Mother, One Father.
Mom's Maiden Name  : Niblet
Height             : 4 feet and 20 inches
Weight             : 8 stone
Eyes               : 2, sparkling hazel
Hair               : Shoulder Length and dandruff free
Glove              : Size 7, 5 fingers
Residence          : Aurora, Illinois
Occupation         : Host  of  own TV show and international man
                     of mystery
Politics           : The One Humungous Party
Hobbies            : Electric Guitar, Parties
Currently Reading  : This article
                   Who's Who in Waynes World

Wayne  Campbell  :  See  the previous page for my most excellant
mentionables!

Garth  Algar  :  He is my best bud and co-host. We've known each
other for ever and he is possessed of many (although not all) of
my  heroic  qualities.  The most important quality that Garth is
blessed with is that his cousin Barry is a roadie for Aerosmith.

Mrs  Algar  (Garth's Mom) : I'm sorry but Garth has a babe for a
mom. He's such a lucky duck. She's a fox.

Beev  (Garth's  Dad)  : How can a dweeb like him be married to a
fox  like  Mrs  Algar? It is not natural. Does this foretell the
coming of the apocalypse? Will monkeys fly out of my butt?

Stacey : Ex girl-friend and psycho hose-beast. Like Madonna, she
still  has  the hots for me, the poor tortured creature. But you
know   I   feel   partly  responsible  for  her  self-nullifying
behaviour.
                          Who's Who...

Cassandra  : If I said she was a babe you'd say "No Way" and I'd
say "Way", then you'd say "Noo-oo Waa-aay" and I'd say "Waa-aay"
and you can see the infinite regression this would cause.

Glen  :  Runs  the  local  donut store where Garth's dream chick
works. Home of excellant munchables!

Benjamin  Oliver  :  An honest, upright and thoroughly excellent
television  executive  who  I would trust my girl, show and life
with...........NOT!

Claudia Schiffer : The Guess jeans girl....SCHWING!






                                                               .
BM                        On the Disk

Bet  you  didn't  know  Wayne  had  a SAM! Just goes to show how
popular the Coupe really is...

"Shares"  by  Darren Hubbard is one of the best games ever given
away  on  FRED.  No  doubt. After just one game on this I'm sure
you'll agree. Superb. Basically you've got to make £1,000,000 or
more  by buying and selling shares. Up to 6 people can play, and
it's brill. Full instructions are included in the game.

Wop  Gamma  is  an  exclusive demo of the new Revelation's first
game,  so  now  you can all see what to expect when you send off
your cheques to order a copy.

Kreuzen (pronounced Kroy Tsin - German for "cross" - I think) is
a  full  machine code game, written by the gent responsible also
for the item above. What a busy lad. Anyway, instructions aren't
included on this game, so we'll give you some here. The controls
seem  a  good  a  place  as  any  to begin with, so use either a
joystick, or the corresponding keys (67890).
BM                        On the Disk

When you begin the game, you'll see a board of coloured squares,
a  timer,  a target colour and a percentage meter. What you have
to  do  is  convert all the squares (100% of them - that's where
the  %  meter  comes  in,  as  if you couldn't guess...!) to the
target  colour,  which I think is red on the first level. You do
this by surrounding a square by
four squares of the colour that    To Convert Blue to Red...
you  want to convert the square
to.  If  you  want to convert a              RR
blue square to red you surround           RR bb RR
it  with 4 reds as shown in the              RR
diagram. Simple, really.

To move the squares around, you hold down FIRE and then push the
joystick in a direction. If you press up or down then the column
of squares will move up or down. If you press left or right then
the  row will move left or right. And that's all there is to it!
An  intriguing  little  game this, and a good tactic once you've
got about 25% is to hold fire and press left and up a lot.
BM                        On the Disk

This hopefully converts loads more colours to the target colour,
but  if  it doesn't just convert a few more squares the "proper"
way and then try again. Eventually the whole row and column will
turn to the target colour, and then you can move onto a new one.

After   Kreuzen  comes  Space.  This  contains  two  demos  both
featuring  space in some way, hence the name. FRED is not really
known  for being cryptic... One is by Marc Broster, the other by
J Patrick.

Machine  Code  part  21  follows  that,  and this month is about
programming  style  -  what  to  wear  for  those long computing
sessions.  Steve  Taylor  takes  a look at the new £800 posh Pro
Assembler range of typing gloves, and asks the question "Do they
really need to have built in smoke alarms?" Unless of course you
HAVEN'T  been  on hallucinogenic drugs, in which case it's about
something  completely different - amateur dramatics in the Outer
Hebrides...

BM                        On the Disk

Etunes,  our  usual  music  section,  this  month has some tunes
written  on  Etracker,  which  we  thought might make a pleasant
change to erm, tunes written on Etracker. Yes. Fine.

Wombles  is  a  pleasing  little  demo  written  by  some  young
hooligans  claiming to be the Wombles. Ha. But we're not fooled,
are  we?  We  all KNOW that the wombles actually live in Downing
Street...  A subtle hint: try pressing the NMI button!

Shock!  is  a  converted  Speccy megademo, featuring a number of
very  impressive  sections including a perspective spinning pair
of  chessboards.  Definitely  worth  a  look.  Thanks  to Stefan
Drissen for this.

DOS  Editor.  Now, we've all known for ages that it doesn't take
much to fiddle about with POKEs and things to alter the SAM Dos,
but  this  little  prog  from  P  Larkin eliminates the need for
looking  up  variables  to mess around with, as it is fully menu
driven and makes life that little bit easier.
BM                        On the Disk

Adverts? No. I refuse to explain this.

                       -- Bits N Bobs --

New  York  Game  is  from Chris Ainsley, and is based on the old
favourite  where  you drop bombs onto buildings to clear a space
to  land  on.  Controls  are  P = up, L = down, SPACE = drop yer
bomb! Great fun.

Repay is to help you work out how much you need to pay per month
on  the  things  like  Hire Purchase, mortgages etc. It's fairly
self  explanatory, so we won't go into details here. David Joyce
is the talented bloke responsible.

Address  Printer  from  Marc  Rickard is a program that lets you
print  an  address  directly  onto  an "A4 folded in three" size
envelope,  as  he  so  delicately  puts  it!  It's  been written
specifically  for a Citizen 140 or something, so it may not work
with all printers - just try it and see.
BM                        On the Disk

Demo  Patches.  These,  supplied  by Stefan Drissen, are for the
demos  Signal  and  Interlaced. They basically enhance each demo
slightly.  You  will  need  the  original demos, by the way. The
Patch does not overwrite the files on the disk, so the change is
not permanent.

Clip  Art  is  a screen of clip art (surprise, surprise), and is
just  one  of  the  features  of  Outlet which we're going to be
keeping.  Just  use the stuff on the screen as you like: load it
into  Flash,  GRAB sections from BASIC, whatever. As long as you
don't  alter  it  to  pictures  of illegal sexual acts involving
animals, and distribute printouts among your community, we don't
really  mind!  Just  in  case  though: we at FRED cannot be held
responsible for you being arrested for doing things with obscene
material...




BM                       A Plea or Two

Some  the  newer  readers  (ie  those who've just joined us from
Outlet)  may  not  be aware that FRED now pays for contributions
which  are used on the main menu, so please send in any programs
which   you   might   have   lying   around.   Without  readers'
contributions, remember, FRED can't really do an awful lot...

         And Now for Something Completely Different...

Does  anybody  else  get  annoyed  with having to change aerials
around the whole time? It's not so bad with just SAM and TV, but
with an Amiga and video to worry about as well, it seems I spend
most of my life switching aerials around.

So, does anybody have one of these little gadgets that allow you
to  put  in  three or four inputs, and then select the right one
using  a  switch to spare? If so, please get in touch, and state
how much you want for it. Thanks.


BM                          Credits

Editor: Brian McConnell

Thanks  to the following people, without whom this issue of FRED
would be about as exciting as a game of Sphera...

Marc Broster           J Patrick         Stefan Drissen
Darren Hubbard         P Larkin          David Joyce
Chris Ainsley          Marc Rickard      David Simmons
Howard Price           The Wombles       Barry Spencer
Steve Taylor           Ian Slavin
Mike Patten and the rest of Faith No More for being great!

FRED Publishing,                        Phone [redacted] at
[redacted]                              any REASONABLE time!


                                     >>> Music and Wrestling >>>


BM                       Music Reviews

Albums reviewed this issue:

                   New Model Army - Impurity
             Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Mother's Milk
                  Superchunk - Tossing Seeds
                Buffalo Tom - Let Me Come Over
                     Nirvana - Incesticide  (by Howard Price)

As  you can see, this is the first month that somebody's written
in with a music review of their own, so Hurray! for that!

Before  we begin this month's section, a brief mention that next
month  will  be  a  bit  of a Dinosaur Jr special - we'll have a
review  of  their  new album "Where You Been?" PLUS! a review of
their  UK  concert  as seen at the Glasgow Barrowlands! (Bet you
can't  wait!).  Hopefully  this  concert will be a little better
than the last time they played Glasgow, when one of band decided
to  be  asleep  in  his  hotel  at  about  the  time  he was due
onstage...
BM                      NMA - Impurity

I only got this recently because I was at a party a couple weeks
back and it got played a lot and basically I liked it and bought
it the next week! It's not that old anyway; 1990 it came out.

There  are  12  tracks  on this CD, and it lasts 49 minutes. The
style of music's also fairly difficult to categorise, but it's a
bit like the Levellers, with a bit more of a Metal influence, if
that helps any...?

The  album  is  one  of  these  that takes a fair few listens to
really  appreciate;  at  first there are about 3 tracks that you
like,  but  gradually you get used to more and more of them, and
after  about 8 or 9 plays you'll like just about all the tracks.
This  is the first NMA album I've bought, but on the evidence of
this I'd say I'll definitely be buying more. 7 out of 10.




BM              Chilli Peppers - Mother's Milk

This  is  an  album  I've been meaning to get for AGES, but have
never  got  round  to it. Until now, and it's a top album; their
best, some say. It's 44 minutes long, with 13 tracks.

The  Chilli  Peppers  are  a  mixture  of rap and "modern" heavy
metal   (they're   also   American,  in  case  that  matters  to
anybody..?).

The  best  track  by  far  is  "Higher  Ground"  which really is
amazing!  It's fast, it's got a great tune, and it's um, a cover
version  of  a  song by Stevie Wonder... Yup, I was surprised by
that  too! It's class though. The first few tracks are the best,
with  the  last  couple being a bit naff really.  There's a song
taking  the  mick  out of the corporate music, and one all about
the Lakers, the bands favourite basketball team I'd imagine.

Overall  I  can't  say that this is their best album - I've only
got  two of them - but it certainly is a damn good one! 8 out of
10.
BM                Superchunk - Tossing Seeds

This  is  the  collection  of  all Superchunk's singles, none of
which  even  came  close  to  making  an impact in the UK chart!
Superchunk,  whose  album  "No  Pocky for Kitty" I reviewed in a
previous issue, are one of these American indie/metal bands, and
one of best in my opinion.

This  collection  of singles, 13 tracks lasting 40 minutes, is a
fair  mixture of songs. Some are brilliant, like the offensively
titled  "Slack Mother******", others are just good, and some are
a  little  bit lacking.  There aren't that many singles so a few
of  the  songs  are  B  Sides; I've nothing against B Sides, but
they're rarely anything to get worked up about are they!

There  are  also  a  couple of cover versions, which are good to
listen to. Chances are if you liked ...Kitty you'll like most of
this,  but  buy  that if you want to see why such a fuss is made
about  the  band. 7 out of 10. Next month we'll have a review of
Superchunk's  NEW  album, as long as the Dundee record shops get
it in, that is...
BM              Buffalo Tom - Let Me Come Over

Buffalo  Tom are one of the most under-rated bands around today;
hardly  anybody  seems  to  have  any  idea  who they are! Well,
they're  a Boston band, and they're one of these bands that like
to  do  very  mellow  songs  with the occasional really fast one
chucked in.

This  is  a  fairly  good  length,  50 minutes or so, and has 13
tracks  on  the  CD  (the tape has only 12 for some reason). The
songs  range  from  good  to  utterly  brilliant. Unusually, the
lyrics  are  almost  always clear enough to understand, and some
are  very philosophical. If you don't care about lyrics (which I
usually don't) it's not too hard to ignore them though.

This  is  easily  one  of  the  best  albums  of  1992, with two
particular  songs - Taillights Fade and Porchlight - being among
the  best individual songs EVER! 9 out of 10 for this particular
album, methinks.

I'll now hand you over to Howard Price for Nirvana's newest.....
HP               Review - Nirvana: Incesticide

The first thing I noticed about this CD is the fact that Nirvana
have  this  unquenchable urge to stress that they're not out for
the  money - on the front of the box is a sticker saying this is
only a load of published bootlegs, not a full whack album.

The  second  thing you notice about it is that the cover's crap,
which  also  shows  up  on  what sort of budget this is produced
under  -  a  low  one  (reminds  me  of Sam game covers). A good
indication  of how much cash went into it is the amount of paper
in  the  front booklet (Madonna and George Michael get booklets,
while  you'd be hard pressed to find ANY Auteurs stuff with more
than 2 pages). So you get the picture. This isn't supposed to be
brilliant.  I  don't  know  why  I bothered with that qualifying
paragraph,  cos  it's blatantly obvious that most things on this
range  from  the just releasable to the downright naff, but it's
still brilliant. You've got stuff from the older versions of the
band,  different writers and extra players and BBC sessions from
Mark Goodier and John Peel.

HP               Review - Nirvana: Incesticide

It  really  makes  you  realise  how good their style is, cos it
shines through the most obscure tracks ("Big Long Now" is a good
example).

There are at least 4 hit grooves waiting to get out, which ought
to  sell  even  if  they  do faff aroud a bit every now and then
("Aneurysm").  The  arrangment  isn't  exactly variable but each
title  is  ideally  suited  for  the  grunge it's played on. The
recording  isn't  loud,  but  has the power of any Faith No More
song,  and  shows that they're capable of producing that amazing
feedback  when needed, not doing the feedback later on and using
another production track to get it right.

This is destined for fame, cos I'm giving it 8/10. Watch out for
Sliver  on the Chart show (Indie chart). Well worth losing hours
of sleep for.

(Read on for some wrestling news, from Darren Hubbard! - BRIAN)

DH             Darren Hubbard's Wrestling Update!

   All  yer usual news,  listings and tantilising  shocks in the
comfort  of yer armchair. (Unless, like  me, you have yer SAM in
your bedroom).  This month,  I  annouce the  main event  of  the
riveting,  ravishing and  rather canny  Royal Rumble and  I have
more Survivor Series results.

----------------------------------------------------------------
VIRGIL  250 lbs                                         Good Guy
   Former  bodyguard, under  Ted  Dibiase (last  month),  Virgil
"double-crossed" (american term - I use "been shan") Dibiase and
became a wrestler in his own right. Unfortunately, he isn't very
good. In fact, hes c**p! Wears red and white stripy  bottoms and
he looks a bit queer in them.
  Finisher - Snap Neckbreaker
----------------------------------------------------------------
YOKOZUMA  505 lbs  Managed by Mr. Fuji                   Bad Guy
  Take a look  at the weight! 505 lbs! 10 stone is only 140 lbs!
Thats over 36 stone of  lard you have there! (ahem) Yep, he is a
bit  on the  tubby side  because he  was a sumo  wrestler. Wears
bottoms which look like they belong to Santa. (They're wierd).
  Finisher - Banzai Splash off the second turnbuckle.
----------------------------------------------------------------
TATANKA  250 lbs                                        Good Guy
  Supposed  to be a  Lumbee Indian. I'm  not so sure.  Nice tan,
though.  Extremely  irratating voice  gets  on  my  nerves -  on
interviews he shrieks "Yee!-Yee!-Yee!-Yee!-Yee!-Yee!-Yee!" and I
feel like putting my foot through the telly. Undefeated.
  Finisher - Fireman's Carry
----------------------------------------------------------------
RICK "THE MODEL" MARTEL  234 lbs                         Bad Guy
  Former tag-team titleist in 88. Wears pink trunks, thinks  hes
really,  really fashionable  and  puts on  a fake  "Model voice"
whenever he talks.
  Finisher - Boston Crab
----------------------------------------------------------------
HIGH ENERGY 470 lbs                                    Good Guys
  "The  Birdman" Koko B.Ware and "The Rocket"  Owen Hart (Bret's
brother).  Quite possibly the  worst tag-team  ever. Koko thinks
hes really great  (wrong) and  Owen is  just, erm,  not all  hes
cracked  up to be.  Wears quite  possibly the worst  ring attire
too! They both wear this dodgy dungaree  things which stretch to
their armpits. As for the colour, well, lime green? (Vomit!)
   Finisher  - Dropkick off  the Top  Turnbuckle into  a pinning
combination.
----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADSHRINKERS  562 lbs  Managed by Offa                 Bad Guys
   Fatu  and Samu. Mad,  savage beasts from  Samoa. Likes eating
their opponents up - literally! They bite their opponents  faces
after their matches.
  Finisher - Sameon Drop
----------------------------------------------------------------
BERZERKER  320 lbs Managed by Mr. Fuji                   Bad Guy
  Thick massive bloke who wears Viking clothes when he wrestles.
Shouts "Huss!" as he wrestles. Hes not very good really.
   Finisher - He usually flings  his opponents over the top rope
but during recent weeks he has a new move which looks,  er, like
a belly-to-belly side powerslam (sorry, won't happen again.)
----------------------------------------------------------------
BOB BACKLUND  235 lbs                                   Good Guy
  Old timer who  used to wrestle over  nine years ago - hes  43.
Really boring. Dull in interviews, wears dull blue trunks and he
has no music introdution. Dull.
  Finisher - Roll Up and Bridge / Three Quarter Nelson with pin.
----------------------------------------------------------------
CRUSH  315 lbs                                          Good Guy
Very big  (6'9) very muscley  and very strong indeed.  One of my
favourites.  Undefeated so  far. Wears an  orange/yellow/blue or
purple outfit.
  Finisher - Cranium Crusher
----------------------------------------------------------------

                  MORE SURVIVOR SERIES RESULTS!

Continuing from last month...

                       VIRGIL vs YOKOZUMA

It was obvious  that Virgil was going to get beat. Yokozuma used
his weight to  beat over overrated (and  crap!) Virgil. Yokozuma
did an  impressive  legdrop  half-way through  the  match  which
neally  caved his neck in.  Now, the WWf may  be fixed, but that
must of hurt! Yokozuma won with a Banzai vertical splash.

                     TATANKA vs RICK MARTEL

Worst match  of the night.  Rick "stole" Tatanka's  sacred eagle
feathers  (sacred  my  eye! They're  piegon  feathers!)  and  if
Tatanka won the match, he would get them back.  He did so he did
(if that makes sense).

                   HIGH ENERGY vs HEADSHRINKS

This match didn't last long. First, High Energy took the tide in
their favour  then the  Headshrinks dominated  the  rest of  the
match. They  must have used a  blind ref for  this match because
the Headshrinker's manager,  Offa, snapped a  Bamboo stick  over
Koko's back in  full view of  the ref! Samu  pinned Owen with  a
Sameon Drop.

                   ROYAL RUMBLE 1993 PREVIEW!

The Royal Rumble  is probably  the best  WWF event  of the  year
because in the ring there are no rules! The rules are simple. It
starts off  with two  people in the  ring and every  two minutes
another person enters the ring.  The only way to eliminate  each
other is  to throw  everyone over  the  top rope,  and the  last
person left in the ring is  the winner. In addition, the  winner
of the Royal Rumble gets a WWF title shot at Wrestlemania IX.

  At  the time of writing (well  typing really) twelve wrestlers
have been signed to  battle in the Royal Rumble  (30 is needed).
They are - Ted Dibiase - Tatanka - Yokozuma - Bob Backlund - The
Berzerker  -  The Undertaker  - Ric  Flair  - Mr  Perfect- Randy
Savage - Virgil - Earthquake and  Crush. As well as this  event,
the WWF Championship will be up for grabs - Bret Hart (champ) vs
Razor  Ramon.  And a  match  between Big  Boss  Man and  Bam Bam
Bigelow.

   And here, from a (very)  reliable source, are the rest of the
contestants for  the  Royal  Rumble  - before  they  are  to  be
annouced!

Hacksaw Jim Duggan - Typhoon - El Matador Tito Santana - Nailz -
Koko B. Ware - Owen Hart - IRS - Nasty Boys - Papa Shango - Rick
Martel  - Headshrinkers - Repoman -  Damien DeMento - Jerry "The
King" Lawler - Carlos Colon and Tenru.

Plus  Marty Jannetty  will  challenge  Shawn  Michaels  for  the
Intercontinental Championship. Quick prediction time...

Mr Perfect or Tatanka will win the Royal Rumble
Bret Hart will beat Razor Ramon
and Marty Jannetty will beat Shawn Michaels to win the IC belt.

If you read this before  the event takes place (doubt it),  then
the Royal Rumble can be seen on January 26th on Sky Sports.

                  Exclusive - Steiners hit WWF!

  The best tag team in any organisation has came into the WWF  -
Rick  and Scott Steiner. They  have won amature wrestling belts,
the tag champs in Japan and the WCW tag belts twice! Not bad.
  The Steiners are just really great. Scott Steiner has probably
the best finishing  manuever ever -  the "Frankensteiner"  which
has to be seen to be believed. Honest. Its like a combination of
a vertical  headscissors, a monkey flip and a jump and Rick does
a canny belly-to-belly suplex.
  When the listings of  wrestlers get low, I shall  start  doing
listings of wrestlings manuevers, by the way, so you might start
to understand my jargon!
   Oh, the Steiners. Watch  out for them. They  will be fighting
the Beverley Brothers at the Royal Rumble (probably. It's just a
guess.

Stay tuned next month  because there will be more listings, more
news and the results of the 1993 Royal Rumble. Until then, I can
be reached at 10 Princetown Tce, North Moor, Sunderland SR3 1RL.
(an SAE ensures a reply, and put my name on the envelope!)

Letters & Reviews

BM                          Contents

01 - This page
02 - Letter from Howard Price
05 - Reply to Howard Price
06 - Letter from B Harriman
10 - Reply to B Harriman
12 - Letter from Barry Spencer
15 - Reply to Barry Spencer
17 - Erm, see for yourselves....
18 - Another Parallax review, by Diggory Gray
20 - A Small Apology
21 - Waterworks Review
24 - Spritemaster Review
26 - Dyadic Review
28 - Day Dream Review





                    Letter from Howard Price

Dear Ed/Col,

I'm  sorry if this has already been said, but the price raise IS
a good idea. And I don't care if no-one else thinks so. What you
have  at  the moment, at a guess, is hundreds, nay, thousands of
budding Sam users, who are busily saving up their pennies to buy
your excellant mag. Now, what does a price raise do? Well, let's
face it, 50p is not a lot of money, and it represents the chance
for  programmers  to  get  a  bit  of cash in. The standard will
increase, hence more people buy Fred, and you turn into a bigger
company.  You get better coders out of it, you inject money into
the  limbo that is the current Sam situation. I think that there
are  a very high percentage of Sam coders in comparison to other
computers  (if you want to play games, you'd get an Amoeba), and
everyone  could  write a main menu standard thingy once every 20
months  (yes,  that's how often you'd need to earn £10!!).On top
of this, probably more important than most of the other reasons,
it'd  be  more  difficult  to ignore this 16-bit standard, 8-bit
priced computer! Hurrah for that and an eclair for all of us.
                    Letter from Howard Price

As a programmer anxious to keep up with current 16-bit standards
(there's  that  word again), I'm rather interested in the wonder
known  as  the OVERSCAN. As far as I can tell, either the screen
area  is redefined, or the border colour is changed to look like
pixels. Result? No borders, and a BIG screen to play around with
great!  If  there is either some other way to do this or an easy
way to acheive this effect on the Sam, I would love to know it!!
This  is probably a quezzie for Col, as I'm not sure whether our
brand-spanking-new Ed has an Amoeba or STE.

Wasn't  the  on-disc printing a clever feat!? It must've taken a
bit  more  than  shoving  it through the printer! My only gripe,
which  really  isn't too much of a problem, is the fact that the
issue  number  doesn't appear on the top edge. Still, it's these
sort  of professional touches which shows exactly how stable the
Sam  market is, when done well (it's no luck that Fred is number
1!!).


                    Letter from Howard Price

Can I just  say, in response  to a  remark I made  a while  back
about  scrolling, and in particular,  Sonic. I still think there
is a VERY easy way of getting smoothish scrolling on the  Sam. I
will explain.  Use two screens. Also, I may as well say that the
Sam has  more than just  mode 4,  which means it  can do  things
extremely quckly  in mode  2, for  example. Perhaps  we can  get
another OCTOPUS quality prog for mode 2.(by DAX) Only hoping..

And  now,  a  last  word to all Sam coders and supporters, let's
keep on producing stuff PLEASE, things like the B&B menu and the
letters  page are getting a little bare!! (if I see that 4 lines
thing  again  I shall write a program where you shoot discs with
it on then assasinate Ian Slavin!! (Hi, no hard feelings??!)

  from..   Howard Price

PS Shall we concentrate our All formats trips to Birmingham? HP


BM                   Reply to Howard Price

BRIAN:-  Thanks  for  the letter Howard, and for your support of
the price rise. 50p isn't much, as you said, but it allows us to
onbody  print (you're right - it IS more complex than putting it
through  the printer!), get FRED properly duplicated, as well as
pay  programmers such as yourself. It's worth noting that so far
almost  everbody  who's  written  says  the price rise is a good
idea.  As  from  next  month,  therefore, FRED will be £9.99 per
month (joke...).

As  to  your next point, I DO have an Amoeba - that's what I use
to  do  my graphics on - but I don't have a clue about overscan,
other  than  what it does. I don't know much about the technical
side  of  the  SAM,  but  I think it's safe to say you can't get
overscan on them. Unless somebody knows otherwise...?

A  small  tip for your disk dilemma - put a small blob of Tippex
on each issue which is a multiple of 3 (like this one) which you
can  then use to spot the issues quickly and easily. (FRED can't
take responsibility for any disks corrupted in this way though!)
                     Letter from B Harriman

Dear Colin,
                        HAP-PY NEW YEAR!

And  hello  again.  If you remember , I spoke to you (one of the
few!  eh!),  in the Northumbria Centre,Washington (early October
'92)  at  the All Formats . I am referring to "Have you heard of
the  program  that  was reviewed in an Amiga (spit!) publication
but is written in SAM Basic?"

Well,  the  program is called "Video Studio 3" and I have traced
it to the "Amiga (spit!) Format",issue 39,October '92.Page 159.

On  reading  the  article, I picked out "ZVP, phone 0268 411719"
and  that  was  when  the  angry newsagent gave me the look what
said,"BUY OR GET OUT!".I'm sorry I couldn't get any more.I tried
to phone but didn't connect or something.

Anyway, that's my bit of sleuthing done on that subject.

                     Letter from B Harriman

This  letter  is purposefully (??) on disc so you can edit it to
put into the letters column on a FRED disc.  (Ta muchly - BRIAN)

First, could YOU convince ZVP to bring out "Video Studio 3" as a
working title on the SAM. I am prepared, as I'm sure the rest of
your  readers are, to back you up for sending letters to ZVP (or
any other suggestions).

Second,  any  budding  artists  (I'm not),out there,could design
title  screens  to  build  up  a  vast  library  for any budding
director  or "videographer" to use in any up and coming epic. As
a few suggestions :-

Months  of  the  Year  Eg.  Flaming  June,  Mad  March etc., Our
Anniversary,  Champagne  glasses bubbling, Christmas Day, Summer
Holidays,   Holiday  Destinations,  eg  Butlins,  Greece,  Miami
etc.,etc.


                     Letter from B Harriman

Third,  as  featured  on  other Fred Disks, the MASTERS OF MAGIC
(upon  reading  this  )  can bring out user friendly versions of
their  wonderful scrollys, eg Kind of Magic, Fred Iss. 12. I say
user  friendly  by  the  fact  they  can be made to 1st, input a
message;  2nd,  select a background screen; 3rd, select a font ;
4th  ,  select  time  on  screen ; 5th , type of fade-in/out and
finally  PRESTO!  A  nice  video  titler.  Credit to Simon cooke
(Fancy Fonts, Fred Iss. 14), he can have a bash too !

I know my requests seem one sided but if you or anybody else for
that  matter,  takes  a look through the camcorder mags then you
will  see that any titler other than stick on letters, is way up
and above the £140 mark.

Fourth, lets have a good set of screen routines for fade-in/out,
screen  dissolves,  wipes,  fades  from one screen to another. I
know I'm asking a lot but, are we, the Sam Users, just gonna sit
and wait for somebody else to do something?

                     Letter from B Harriman

                        KEEP THE FAITH!

                Yours Faithfully, Brian Harriman


P.S.  I  enjoyed using Spell Master but does nearly every plural
have  to be checked? I also have added more cash to the cheque -
see order form.

P.P.S  Has any "codies" came up with a way to pick the codes (in
Speccy 48k games via an emulator) which use a 128k sound chip if
played  on  a  128k,  +2  etc. These codes can then be re-coded,
re-diverted  to the Sam sound chip. I wrote a letter to MGT with
this  question  for inclusion on the next newsdisk way back, but
as you know...... Well anyway, I know somebody is thinking along
these  lines  cos  I've  just read Sam Centre in Iss. 86 of Your
Sinclair (Feb '93) Wish I knew Machine code.


BM                    Reply to B Harriman

BRIAN:- Hmmm, interesting about that video studio thing. Are you
sure  it  was  in  SAM  basic  and not just some other, similar,
language?  Unfortunately, I don't think that even the wonderful,
Godlike  FRED  could persuade a company to publish a product. If
users  do  want the product they should write themselves though,
and let us know what happens.

Your  second point about images for video titling is a good one,
but I don't think you'd find too many artists willing to develop
vast   amounts  of  graphics  without  some  form  of  financial
incentive. On the other hand, however, this month sees the first
in  a  regular  selection of clip-art images. As is discussed in
the  main  magazine,  FRED has now taken over OUTLET, and one of
their  features  which we'll be keeping is the clip art. You can
get  to  this via the Bits N Bobs section, and can just GRAB the
relevant  image(s) or load them into Flash! or whatever you want
really. How's that for prompt action!


BM                    Reply to B Harriman

If  the Masters of Magic and/or Cookie are listening - how about
it  then?  "The MOM Scroller Editor" is something I'm sure a lot
of people would find useful for their own demos as well as video
titling.

I  couldn't  agree  more  about  how useful a selection of fancy
screen  fades  would  be.  Another  one for the machine coders I
suspect...?

There  is  a  reason  why  plurals in Spell Master are queried -
memory.  When  you  think  about  it,  to include plurals in the
dictionary  would just about double the size of it, so only half
the  amount  of  words could be included.  It's just a matter of
compromise.

Thanks  for  that  Titler  program you included. It was far from
naff,  but probably not sufficiently widely-appealing to include
in FRED. Keep at it though!

                   Letter from Barry Spencer

Dear Brian,

May  I  first congratulate you on the continuing success of FRED
Publishing  during  1992. 1993 has started well for the SAM with
the  arrival of the West Coast Computers Newsletter, the release
of your game "Waterworks" and Revelation Software's 1st new game
"Wop Gamma". I've been playing Waterworks for some time now (I'm
stuck  on  level  13 (where else)) and it's certainly one of the
best FRED games so far. I'm glad to hear it's selling well as it
certainly deserves it.

As  always with SAM, any good news is tempered with bad; the bad
being  the  demise  of both Outlet and Enceladus. I know they've
been taken over or bought out but ask any CRASH reader what that
means (have you seen the state of Sinclair User these days?).

I  wasn't  a regular subscriber to Outlet (I purchased 8 issues)
but  I  found  it  an excellent magazine, especially the letters
section  which  was mammoth. The reason given by Outlet was lack
                   Letter from Barry Spencer

of  contributors.  Enceladus was another top notch magazine, and
as yet I don't know the reason for its ending. Graham Burtenshaw
was  spending a lot of his time on an art package for the SAM so
perhaps that has something to do with it.

These, together with last year's demise of Arcadia (a superb but
unfortunately  poorly  supported  mag)  and  the  closing  of PD
libraries  has  changed  the  make-up of the SAM world for 1993.
With  more  commercial  games  and  utilities being released, PD
Software seems to have run its course.

Also,  we  now  only have three regular general interest quality
mags  -  the  two  "veterans",  FRED  and  SAM Supplement, (both
excellent  if  different)  and  the  "newcomer" SAM Prime (shows
promise).   There   are  a  few  erratic  mags  like  SCPDU  and
Baktrak,  and  some  specialist  mags  such as the excellent SAM
Coupe Adventure Club mag.


                   Letter from Barry Spencer

Well, let's hope the good news outweighs the bad in 1993.

I've  included a PD game "Kreuzen" for possible inclusion in one
of  your issues. This was a freebie on the Your Sinclair Feb '93
cover tape, but reading comments in your and other mags it seems
most  SAM Users have given up on the Spectrum mags, and may have
missed this quite playable game.

                         All the best,

                         Barry Spencer








BM                  Reply to Barry Spencer

BRIAN:-   One  of  the  many  letters  we've  received  praising
Waterworks,   and  it's  only  been  released  a  few  weeks!  I
personally  can't  even  GET  to level 13, so I'm afraid I can't
help you there!

It  is  a pity that so many ventures go under or are taken over,
but  in the case of the FRED/OUTLET thing, it's more of a merger
than  a  direct  takeover. FRED will be the more dominant of the
two,  but  there's no way we're going to drop OUTLET completely!
We'll be trying to give you the best of both magazines.

The  SAM  world  in  general  does  look a bit like it's falling
apart,  but  the  way I see it, it's better to take these things
slowly.  It's all very well to have vast numbers of magazines in
circulation,  but the quality tends to suffer. Better to work up
slowly, building a good secure base, before flooding the market,
which  is  what happened before.  The fewer magazines there are,
the  less  likely they are to find themselves short of material,
and so the vast majority of users benefit.
BM                  Reply to Barry Spencer

Then,   when  there  becomes  too  much  stuff  and  not  enough
magazines, new ones will form.  With the SAM, it seemed that new
magazines  formed  without  really thinking where they could get
regular  material from.  The PD scene is another area where it's
better to have one really good library than 10 mediocre ones.

You  think  the  PD  scene's dead? Look at the Amiga scene; it's
thriving  despite hundreds and hundreds of commercial titles. It
hopefully won't be too long before a really solid SAM PD library
is formed, without all the problems suffered by the past ones.

Thanks  for the Kreuzen game - we've decided to use it this very
issue!  It  really is a brilliant game, and 100% Machine Code as
well!  Instructions  are  in  the  main  magazine  (in  the Disk
Contents section, believe it or not).




             Letter from "The Pot Smoking Hobbit"

Dear Nazis,

Well  thankyouverymuch,  I  dont  think.  Thanks for printing my
escapades  with  the  ole  "waccy baccy" (in SAM Trek, FRED 27 -
BRIAN)  I have now   been arrested, and heavily  booted about by
the boys in green (the hobbit cops).

They've told me I'll get at least 3 - 5 years, and its only fair
to say that its all your fault!

I hope all your hair falls out and your teeth turn purple,

                       An irate hobbit.


BRIAN:- Um. Well, what can I say? Except that I didn't know that
hobbits lived anywhere near Birmingham...


               Review of Parallax by Diggory Gray

Parallax  is  without  doubt  better then Sphera. My reasons for
this statment are;

1..Parallax has full colour sprites

2..You get explosions when you blow something up!

3..The  "one  bullet  at a time" basis stops the game becoming a
test of how fast can you press you fire button

4..Extra guns, speed, lives, and speed

5..A very hard game (Sphera was far too easy!)

But Parallax like Sphera is not quite as brilliant as some shoot
em  ups that I would like too see on the SAM (Xenon2!). Parallax
doesn't  have  any sound effects (SHOCK). The game's playability
is  very  good  but there needs to be more guns!! By this I mean
different gun types. If people (programmers)
                Parallax Review by Diggory Gray

were  to  mix together Xenon2, X-Out, R-Type and maybe a dash of
Parallax well then I would be "wow mega dude or what, you really
kicked their butts" (if my memory has called that up correctly).
Well  thats  it from me I'm running out of space on Colin's word
processor (FRED 5). BYE!



CM : Thanks Diggory - glad you liked the game. You made a lot of
valid points although if we did mix Xenon2, X-Out and R-Type,
not only would the game be produced on every single computer and
be one of the best selling games of all time, but we would face
one of the biggest court battles ever seen..... Hmmmm....

You used the thing on FRED 5? Wow....There's always a first!
There is a perfectly good word processor on FRED 19 which has
loads and loads of functions which I thoroughly recommend.


BM                      A Small Apology

A  slight  mistake  in  last  month's issue - I sort of credited
Darren  Hubbard  for  all  the  past  wrestling  articles when I
announced the return of the FRED wrestling expert.

As  a lot of you probably know, it was in fact Si Hindle who did
them  in  past,  so sorry to both Simon and Darren. We sincerely
hope  this has not resulted in any major loss of life, limbs, or
sanity,  and  are quite prepared to stand on one leg for a whole
minute if this will help...

               Normal service will now continue

(This month's wrestling IS from Darren Hubbard, and you can find
it  neatly  tucked away at the end of the main magazine after my
"crucial" music reviews)




BM                     Waterworks Review

Waterworks - you've seen the demo (on FRED 27), you've heard the
music,   you've lived on the edge of your seat waiting for it to
finally  be  released,  and  now,  at  last,  you're reading our
"official"  review  of  it. And you probably want to know, is it
any good?

Well,  yes,  to  be honest it IS good! I usually hate games that
require  more  than  a  bare  minimum  of  thought,  but this is
original  enough to almost fool me into forgetting it's a puzzle
game at all.

You,  the player (naturally), take control of a small helicopter
and  must  roam  around levels consisting of a number of screens
(from  1  upwards) using water pipes to get water to run through
switches,  opening  doors and allowing you to collect the key to
exit  the  level.  There's more to it than that, but you get the
basic idea.


BM                     Waterworks Review

What  makes  this game different from most other puzzle games is
that  there's  so  much  action in it. Your little helicopter is
nicely  animated, and there are various little aliens and spikes
and  other fatal obstacles that it's much more arcadey than your
average puzzler, which to me is a good thing.

Not  that  die-hard puzzle fans will be disappointed; the levels
may  start  off easy enough, but by 7 or 8 you really do need to
think  very  carefully.  The  game  allows  much  more scope for
creative  thinking  than  that  other  classic  puzzler Triltex,
because  it's  not  so limited. In Triltex it was pure trial and
error  really,  but in this it's possible, in fact essential, to
work  out  what will happen. There are some sections where trial
and error is all you can do, but these are used fairly sparingly
so they don't get annoying. With Triltex it wasn't long before I
got  a  bit  sick of starting from scratch, matching every block
with every other on the screen, but this is much better; you can
act constructively right from the start rather than just guess.

BM                     Waterworks Review

The  gameplay's  well  up  to  scratch  then.  So what about the
graphics?  No  worries  there,  believe  me. The graphics aren't
incredible  or  anything,  but  they're  well above average, and
there's  a nice crispness to everything which makes it very easy
to  see what's what. The sprites are large and surprisingly fast
and smooth. The collision detection is also spot on.

Sonically  the  game's  a  bit of a mixture. The main tune which
plays  at the start is easily a candidate for best SAM tune yet,
but  the  ingame  noise  is  limited  to a few short effects. No
problem though - just bung on a CD.

Overall,  I  think  it's fair to say that this has something for
everyone. If you don't usually like puzzle games, regard this as
being  worth  7 out of 10, but if you enjoyed Triltex you should
regard this as being a 9 out of 10 job. Brill.

Remember  kiddies  -  FRED welcomes all your reviews as well, so
send in your commments about Waterworks to the usual address.
BM                    Spritemaster Review

Unless  you read the News section in FRED 29, you might not have
heard  of  this  one.  It's  designed to help in the creation of
sprites, is published by Orb Software, and is available from:

                         Orb Software,
                          [redacted]

for the price of £6.95.

Right. Publicity over, on with the review.

The  first thing strike me when I got my little paws on this was
the  professionalism  of  it.  I  don't  think  Orb  Software is
exceptionally large, but Spritemaster comes with a comprehensive
manual,  only 10 pages long but full of concise explanations and
pictures of the particular icons being explained.
BM                    Spritemaster Review

But you don't buy a package just for the manual, so it's just as
well that there's a useful little utility here. It is aimed at a
fairly  narrow band of users, I suspect - unless you've all been
waiting for a sprite designer but were too shy to ask for one..?
Anyway,  if you do think a sprite designer would come in useful,
I  can  highly  recommend  this.  It  has  a  very wide range of
features,  including  redefineable  keys  or  mouse control, the
usual disk functions, alterable magnify size, alter sprite size,
rotate  sprite,  symmetry, OK, Undo, plus the option to save the
sprite as a GRABbed block or a code file.

There  are  also  full  instruction on how to use the sprites in
MCode and BASIC programs.

A  most  impressive program this, and one which fully deserves 8
out of 10.



BM                          Dyadic

Another  puzzle  game! This one is released by Pheonix Software,
and can be bought from:

                       Pheonix Software,
                          [redacted]

I'll  start  by  being  honest. This disk, with two games on it,
isn't  overly  good.  The games are both puzzle games of a sort,
the  first  one  involving  the player having to join up various
bits  of  wire  to  form  a  circuit  (I  think that's the plot,
anyway),  and  the  second  requiring the user to wander about a
maze  eating  dots,  and having to avoid running over your tail.
Neither  game  is  really  bad by any means, but there's no real
enjoyment to be gained from them.
BM                          Dyadic

For  a start they're both very much in the trial-and-error vein,
which  bugs  me  a  bit.  You  don't  have  to actually THINK to
complete  these,  just  try out numerous combinations using what
you think looks even remotely likely to perhaps succeed. There's
no room for any real inspiration, and as a result you don't feel
like you've really  achieved anything when you complete a level.

The  graphics  and  music are both good, and the presentation is
also of a reasonable standard, there just isn't much game there!

I  think that if these games were released as PD, they'd be very
popular  indeed,  but it's too much to sell them as a full price
package. Sorry, but only 5 out of 10 for this/these.






BM                     Day Dream Review

This  is  an adventure game. You're 4 inches tall, and must move
around  your  house completing tasks to allow you to get help in
returning  to  your normal size. The game costs £4.50 and can be
bought from:

Cheques                 Eureka Software,
payable                   [redacted]
to:

C.G. Williams

Adventure  games  are,  like  most  puzzle  games,  not things I
usually  enjoy playing unless they are noticeably different from
the  rest of the genre. This isn't, and I don't like it. The few
games   I've   had  have  led  nowhere.  It's  meant  to  be  an
introduction  to adventure games, but I still can't work out how
to  do  anything. It seems that there are a lot of locations but
nothing to actually DO in any of them!

BM                     Day Dream Review

This is extremely frustrating at times. For example, you're told
at  one  point  "You  see a tack" but when you try to "get tack"
it's  not  understood.  Also,  when  you  try to read a computer
screen  (which  you  are told has some writing on it) that isn't
understood  either.  Things  like  this  really  get  to me, I'm
afraid.

The  graphics  are  very poor, and typically consist of a simple
shape filled with a garish FILL from Flash!

If  you  think this WILL appeal to you, you know where to get it
from, but I can't advise it. 4 out of 10.







BM                      End of Reviews

That  rounds off this month's Reviews section. Please do send in
your  own  reviews of titles you've bought, from FRED Publishing
or  otherwise,  as  we  want  to give all our readers the widest
possible range of opinions.

Until next month then, good bye!