{fh200AA00Quickie PD Game Reviews
{fb1000000
by Mike Williams

{fb1FF5555             FIVEDICE

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Michael Ellis

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 This is Yahtzee. Roll five dice and try to make various combinations.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 I suppose it plays about as well as you can expect for a game of Yahtzee. It's not really my sort of game.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 One to three players, who can be either human or computer. Multitasks. Lots of options.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 3 minutes.

{fb1FF5555             FLAG DAY

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Richard G. Hallas

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 This is the game of Minesweeper. Each square you expose indicates the number of mines in adjacent squares. You can place a flag on squares where you suspect mines to be.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Not too bad, but better versions of Mine- sweeper are available. The method of placing flags is a little awkward.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Multitasking. Four standard sizes of play area, plus custom sizes. High score (minimum time) saved to disk.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 1 to 10 minutes depending on size.

{n2
{fb1FF5555             FRUITMACH

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Alex Hopkins

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 It's a fruit machine.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Somehow I don't seem to be able to get interested in a computerised fruit machine. 

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Mostly borrowed from the Acorn sprite set.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Multitasks.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 Until bored.

{fb1FF5555             GHOULS
{sgg1
{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Julian Havercroft

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 It's a platform game. There are various things to jump over, and various monsters to avoid.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 To say that this game is extemely challenging would be a considerable understatement. It's im- possible. Imagine the most difficult level of any other platform game you have ever seen, then add ghouls which travel so fast that they're impossible to dodge if they happen to appear at an inconvenient moment, and awkward mouse control.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Reasonable.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 None

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 I last about 30 seconds before I lose all my lives.

{fb1FF5555             GNUCHESS

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Free Software Foun- dation

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 The game of chess.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 I can't really comment on the strength of the game it plays, because my chess playing ability is rather feeble. I think (but I may be wrong) that it plays quite a defensive game, once out of its opening book, particularly when in time trouble. It beats me convincingly even on what I think is the lowest setting.

The instructions are a bit minimal, and some of the commands for setting options are rather cryptic. There is a facility to set up a position, but I couldn't work out the syntax for doing it. Making moves with the mouse is simple and intuitive, and the computer's move is clearly indicated by flashing squares.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Simple.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Considerable (but cryptic) control over the computer's strength (time al- lowance, search depth control, and randomness), which can be changed mid play.

All games are logged to chess/lst so you can look at them later. You can switch sides, or get the computer to play both sides or give hints. You can undo the last move.

"Post principle variation" whatever that means.

It is possible to edit the opening book - for example it's quite easy to edit a chess/lst file into the format required for the book, or if you want to experiment with one or two specific openings you can edit out all the others.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 15 minutes.
