Your Sinclair


Four Minutes To Midnight

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Mike Gerrard
Publisher: 8th Day
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #18

Four Minutes To Midnight

Good to see 8th Day emerging again, with its recent HRH and now this re-release of one of its original titles - if my memory serves me well, and it usually doesn't, wasn't this the first software house to put out budget-priced Quill'd adventures?

Two versions of the game are on this enhanced tape, with graphics on side one and without graphics but with expanded text on side two. Many new features have been added as well in this tale where you have to recruit a gang of helpers to save the world from the usual mayhem and destruction. Type in HISTORY (NAME) and you'll be given a potted history of the character named, while STATISTICS (NAME) gives you details of their skills and strengths. PARTY will let you know which characters you have with you at the moment, and you get people to join or leave you by using RECRUIT (NAME) and LEAVE (NAME).

The world's on the verge of destruction, as the title implies, and it's not a pleasant place to be. The lengthy descriptive passages include lots of gory prose along the lines of "the air is full with the stench of putrefaction" and "the strong sickening smell of death rises from all around." As with many of the 8th Day titles, the problems are sometimes cleverly worked out - and this one starts with you having just two moves to stop a car plunging into a petrol station and exploding in a ball of flame. Can you save the driver and make him your first recruit?

Then you make your way to the nearby city with its looted shops and rat-infested tunnels - and make sure you read your location text closely, as you'll need to examine some of the objects mentioned.

Graphics are very good, as far as I've seen, and beautifully detailed: flashing neon signs and lorries with indicator lights going. The text is livened up with the occasional UDG too, and all in all the program's nicely presented.

Mike Gerrard

Other Reviews Of Four Minutes To Midnight For The Spectrum 48K


Six From Eighth
Mike Gerrard is left breathless after playing this latest batch of adventures.

Four Minutes To Midnight (8th Day)
A review

Games Without Frontiers (8th Day)
A review

Four Minutes To Midnight (8th Day)
A review

More Games Without Frontiers (8th Day)
A review

Other Spectrum 48K Game Reviews By Mike Gerrard


  • One Dark Night Front Cover
    One Dark Night
  • Quest Adventure Front Cover
    Quest Adventure
  • The Gordello Incident Front Cover
    The Gordello Incident
  • Last Sunset For Lattica Front Cover
    Last Sunset For Lattica
  • Haunted Hedges Front Cover
    Haunted Hedges
  • Scary Mansion Front Cover
    Scary Mansion
  • Android One Front Cover
    Android One
  • The Shard Of Inovar Front Cover
    The Shard Of Inovar
  • Boiler House Front Cover
    Boiler House
  • Retarded Creatures and Caverns Front Cover
    Retarded Creatures and Caverns