Previous Next

Mindshadow was originally released on disk only for the Commodore 64, an increasing trend for adventures originating from the U.S. It is very rarely that any game is reviewed twice in C&VG, but this release of Mindshadow in a cassette version, not only for Commodore, but also for both Spectrum and Amstrad computers, is unusual.

It affords the ideal opportunity to see how a game that reads in graphics from disk while it plays, turns out on tape. Such a comparison must also be a comment on the capabilities of the respective hardware.

To recap on the full review (C&VG July 1985) you find yourself stranded on a desolate beach on a tropical island, with no idea of who you are or where you come from. You take it from there!

The main drawback of the cassette version is that Mindshadow comes in two and a half parts. Part two of the game cannot be played until part one is completed - saved data must be loaded from one part to the other.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, it is standard procedure in large tape-original games such as Tower Of Despair.

However, for a faithful conversion from one original part, the plot must have a structure that prevents returning to locations appearing in part one, when playing part two. Mindshadow has this sort of plot.

The half-part is accounted for by the built-in tutorial, which is offered as an option as disk, but which must padd through the cassette head whether used or not, on the tape version.

In both tape versions, the loading instructions were incorrect. The Amstrad produced a "Memory full" error whilst loading the main program after the tutorial, using the quoted command Q. To overcome this it is necessary to power off before loading the main program.

The Spectrum had a worse problem. No warning is given in the instructions about the lack of motor control. To stop at the correct position to continue after the tutorial, it is necessary to stand by to stops the tape immediately the tutorial has loaded.

The command Q takes the computer back to READY, but the program name given to load the next part, MIND1, is incorrect.

This isn't important if you are at the end of the tutorial, since you can type LOAD"". But if you wish to bypass the tutorial altogether, you would need to type LOAD "PART A" (note upper case) at the outset.

This hassle apart, how did the tape versions rate in comparison with disk? I compared the graphics, and the response time in moving from one location to another, when the picture has to be redrawn and response is at its slowest.

The Amstrad beats the Commodore disk in response time; the graphics are not only faster to load/display, but more colourful, and have higher resolution. My only criticism is the use of red in place of brown, giving the pirate ship a rather gaudy appearance.

The surprise came in the response comparison of the Spectrum version. For most movements, the Spectrum is barely quicker than the Commodore; in some cases it is noticeably slower. And anything that is slower than a Commodore load is slow!

The pictures are as faithful a copy of the originals as I imagine it is possible to produce, given the different graphics characteristics of the machines. The text in all versions is, as far as I could tell, identical.

Here the Amstrad lost out a little, for in using the 80 column text mode, the text was a little difficult to read on an ordinary television set.

A feature now becoming popular in Adventures, is QUICKSAVE and QUICKLOAD - a boon to lazy adventurers (like me) who are about to undertake a risky move.

Usually, this means a save to RAM, as indeed it does in the cassette versions of Mindshadow. However, on the disk version, although the process is quick, it is far from instant, as the position is saved to the game diskette. So here, both the cassette versions won hands down.

In conclusion, these tape conversions show up in a good light against the Commodore disk version. You won't get anything less - even the 'change to full-screent text' toggle is provided.