1st December 2000Apologies in advance to those readers who bimble through this EUG disk on an ADFS system where PAGE is firmly fixed at &1D00. Unfortunately, both Codeword and Eternity require much more memory than this can spare so the Games Menu will be a little thin. Fortunately there's plenty to see besides them...
Contents/News
Big news as the Electron joins the porn industry (Yes, seriously!), EUG is told "see you in court" (Yes, seriously!) and the internet sites are boosted with rare text adventures.
Games
Bomber (All series)
Spend a few hours [Or minutes! - Ed] demolishing a city of tower blocks. That is, after you've cried out "Oh no, not another version of this!"
CODEWORD (All series. Requires PAGE at &1100)
A fantastic new piece of code from the legendary Chris Dewhurst, this simple yet easy-to-understand crossword puzzle game is played by substituting numbers for letters by trial and error until the board makes sense. An intriguing and very professional program debuting in EUG.
ETERNITY (All series. Requires PAGE at &E00)
Possibly the most difficult jigsaw puzzle ever produced, the Eternity board game promised a million pounds to the first person to solve it. We can't quite match that, or the intricacy of the original puzzle, but in another EUG machine coded masterpiece, you can certainly experience beaucoup de le hair-pulling et l'exasperation!
Powerball (BBC B, Master 128. But runs too slowly on Electron)
A BASIC Arkanoid clone, this and Bomber come from our new contributor James Watson, who seems to be creating his own versions of 'famous' coin-ops from the Eighties. He would appreciate some feedback too!
Demos
BONES II: DAY & NIGHT (All series)
The sequel to MRM's BONES demo (published in EUG #49), Mike Williams' dancing skeletons have moved to a more colourful and musical Mode. A visually stunning yet extremely trippy demo. It's for you to judge if it's better than the original.
EXILE RUNES (All series)
Exile, which is still available to buy new from Superior Software, remains one of the toughest arcade adventures for any home computer. Have you ever wondered what that eerie coded message on the back of the book means? This atmospheric demo features a 'subtitle'-style translation of them and some clever BASIC coding.
Utilities
CLIPART PICTURES (All series)
James Dale and Simon Pilley show us some amazing masterpieces the Acorn range can create.
HEADFIRST'S COPYING UTILITIES (All series)
A suite of programs from the HeadFirst PD stable allowing you to copy from one disk format to another by 'highlighting' files. Fully compatible with all BBC machines across the board with full documentation.
SCROLLING STARS (All series)
Chris Dewhirst guides the coders through a short routine that can be used to generate a screen to accompany your eerie music and "Space...The Final Frontier" commentary...
Reviews
Paper-based EUG #2 transfers to disk and the Dave checks out Shards' 'controversial' Whoopsy, Mastertronic's bug-ridden Spectipede and Bar Billiards from Blue Ribbon.
Adventures (All series)
CASTLE OF SKULL LORD Adventure (All series)
Best known for being a commercial release plagued with bugs, a rare 'amended' version found its way to EUG recently. You're unlikely to pick it up unbugged second hand so only here can you experience this very picky adventure which you'll never complete without a solution. Note it takes some time to appear on screen.
The Sea Queen Adventure (All series)
What's this? I'll tell you. It's a brand new adventure written with The Quill inviting you to play a fearless pirate under Captain Bandroll. A new release into the Acorn Electron PD section by Jonathon Oates.
Where's the Scott Adams solution?
Regretfully, EUG has reached an impasse with the latest part of this serialisation. Savage Island Part 1 it seems, cannot be fully solved on the Electron as a bug prevents you progressing to the "beach". The Haven does have a patchy solution to this but, as a working version is arriving soon, it seems best to postpone its appearance until it can be fully tested.
Mailbag
Ian Weber says his Electron is being abused by a Nazi, David Bradforth offers bargain bundles of SAM compilations (plus a brand new Superior Software game) and Chris Dewhurst and James Watson share some thoughts regarding EUG's present and future.
Plus!
This issue's opening screen is a Jigsaw frame to be used with the EUG game and editor published in EUG #46. Many more Jigsaw-pictures are now available and an updated Jigsaw suite is available from EUG HQ.
