Crash


Time Quest

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Derek Brewster
Publisher: Scorpio Gamesworld
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Crash #25

Time Quest

It is the year 2997 and the world has become dependent upon nuclear energy. Vast banks of computers negotiate the world's business. People are relaxed and carefree and work of a manual nature is a thing of the past. The nations are united and there is no Nuclear Threat. Long ago man removed nuclear weapons and hid them in the corridors of time, their location a total secret.

Those who knew of the secret location of these weapons in time have long since died but one man now seeks to disrupt the world's tranquillity. He seeks the awesome weapons to hold the world to ransom keeping the peoples of the world under a dark veil of fear. This man, a former top NASA scientist, has created a machine to negotiate the frontiers of time. Edmund Madison, the name behind the threat, has already commenced his search for the hidden weapons of war and it is up to you, armed with a so far untried Time Pursuit Vehicle, to stop him. Your task, therefore, is to search the frontiers of time and locate Madison and his craft.

Needless to say, the above drivel wasn't written by me; you can expect to see these instructions on loading up the first part. I must admit, although the writing style isn't so hot, the story-line is at least coherent. Games-play consists of shooting around four time zones imaginatively labelled A, 8, C, and ID, which have a more than familiar ring to them having played the likes of Eureka! (which you can now pick up a bit cheaper for obvious reasons).

The most striking features of this game are the abysmally poor pictures squeezed into a small area at the top of the screen. Fair enough, this program retails at £1.99 but it's almost as if someone had gone out of their way to design some really disappointing and worthless representations of your current location. Honestly, it would be better to leave graphics out if they are going to be as poor as this. Not all is hopeless, however, as the program makes good use of the Spectrum colours and the problems are no better or worse than many types I have witnessed in more expensive games. Not bad for £1.99 but remember to pick up the laser gun lying in the Time Lab as it seems to disappear after a warp if you don't.

Comments

Difficulty: easy
Graphics: abysmal
Presentation: colourful text
Input facility: verb/noun
Response: very fast, as all Quilled games

Derek Brewster

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