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REVIEWS<br />
Readers<br />
Reviews<br />
Once more we open our<br />
pages to the people who<br />
use the programs the most<br />
— YOURSELVES!<br />
Advanced Tactical<br />
Reconnaissance<br />
And Attack Mission<br />
Atram<br />
Don Thomasson<br />
From the beginnings at the level<br />
of Ludo and Halma, board<br />
games have developed to a<br />
point where complex calculations<br />
on paper are needed to<br />
keep track of all the variables.<br />
Monopoly avoided this by using<br />
play-money and little wooden<br />
blocks representing houses and<br />
hotels, but a game like 1829,<br />
dealing with railway construction,<br />
needed something more<br />
flexible. It is not surprising that a<br />
small computerwas used to provide<br />
a solution. The program<br />
was home-brewed for an obsolescent<br />
machine, so it could<br />
not be made generally available,<br />
but it was inevitable that computer,•board<br />
games would even<br />
tually emerge asa variant of the<br />
existing range of formats.<br />
The first example to appear is<br />
not ideal. That it is a battle<br />
simulation is not, perhaps, in<br />
sympathy with current thinking,<br />
but there are more important<br />
problems. Each player has twen<br />
ty aircraft, two aircraft carriers,<br />
six missile batteries, a refuelling<br />
tanker and three airfields. Working<br />
out which piece is which is to<br />
some extent a matter of deduc<br />
tion, some being obvious,<br />
others not. The pieces are held in<br />
place magnetically, which is a<br />
nice feature. The game is for<br />
two players, though two others<br />
can participate as computer<br />
operators. Each player takes<br />
half of the playing board and sets<br />
up his forces, unable to see what<br />
the other player is doing, the two<br />
boards are then joined<br />
{magnetically), and a coin is<br />
tossed to determine which<br />
playerstarts! (Couldn't thecomputer<br />
do this?) The player in ac-<br />
tion makes his moves, which are<br />
reported to the computer, and<br />
the consequences appear on the<br />
screen. The other player works<br />
the computer, and likea snooker<br />
player, waits his turn. This may<br />
go on for perhaps half an hour!<br />
Then the roles change, and the<br />
attack swings in the opposite<br />
direction. It might have been<br />
better to alternate play more frequently.<br />
In terms of manufacture and<br />
general presentation, the game<br />
almost wins full marks, but<br />
slight changes to the rules and a<br />
clearer definition of the pieces<br />
would make it much better.<br />
Artie Chess II<br />
Artie Computing<br />
John Cooper<br />
The program comes neatly<br />
packaged in a cassette box with<br />
instructions on how to use the<br />
tape on the inlay card. There are<br />
two copies of AFtTIC CHESS II<br />
on the tape one on each side.<br />
The instructions are clear and to<br />
the point, so I had no problems<br />
using the program.<br />
Once loaded you are prompted<br />
to input P, A or L for PLAY,<br />
ANALYSE or LOAD. I decided to<br />
PLAY and was then offered a<br />
choice of colours (black or<br />
white) and a choice of levels to<br />
play on (0 -6).<br />
Having decided to play white<br />
on level one, I was presented<br />
with a large chessboard with the<br />
pieces set up in the starting position.<br />
I entered 'E2 E4' and to my<br />
delight the pawn at E2 was<br />
moved up to ' E4'. The program<br />
is in full machine code, so I did<br />
not have to wait long for a reply<br />
(onthis level it took one second).<br />
It is a good idea to have a<br />
chess set and board handy to<br />
start with until you get used to<br />
the screen display. On all levels<br />
except '0' the computer will<br />
recommend a move for you if<br />
you press "M' except in the very<br />
early stages of a game. Other<br />
options are as follows:<br />
(11 'T' saves the game on to<br />
tape (so it can be continued<br />
at a later date).<br />
(2 I 'Z' copies the position onto<br />
a printer.<br />
(3) ' S' pressed at any time during<br />
the game will return you<br />
to the PLAY ANALYSE or<br />
LOAD prompt. This can be<br />
usefully used for resigning<br />
and going into ANALYSE<br />
mode in which you can<br />
place and delete pieces as<br />
you want. I have one major<br />
quibble here, playing on<br />
from the set-up position.<br />
You have to press 'Z', and<br />
then you have to enter a<br />
move depending on<br />
whether you are black or<br />
white before going into<br />
ANALYSE mode, only then<br />
does it ask you what colour<br />
you want to resume play<br />
as, and at what level you<br />
wish to play.<br />
Overall, this is a superb chess<br />
game for the ZX81 with 16K<br />
RAM which plays a strong game<br />
with varied openings and I<br />
would strongly recommend it to<br />
anyone who wants a good game<br />
of chess.<br />
ARTIC CHESS II is available<br />
from: Artie Computing, for<br />
£9,95.<br />
SPECTEXT: The<br />
Spectrum word<br />
Processor<br />
McGraw-Hill<br />
Carol Brooksbank<br />
The impressive box in which this<br />
tape arrives claims that<br />
"SPECTEXT includes all The<br />
features you would expect in a<br />
professional word processor".<br />
This, I am afraid, is farfrom true.<br />
The word processor program<br />
is very disappointing. Although<br />
word wrap is included, the text<br />
is not justified, so the final appearance<br />
is no better than<br />
anything you could produce on a<br />
typewriter. There are no<br />
facilities for embedding printer<br />
controls other than 'newline'<br />
14 ZX COMPUTING APRIL/MAY 1985
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