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THE FIRST word processor to be produced for use with the 48K Spectrum is from Tasman Software and called Tasword. It includes most of the facilities available on larger machines, such as automatic word wrapping, left and right justification, insertion and deletion of lines and words, and cursor-controlled editing.
Text files can contain up to 900 lines and each text file can be saved independently of the program. It is also possible to merge text files if sufficient room exists within the program. The program has an example text file saved after it on the tape. That allows the user to precise with the control key before typing-in a new text file.
The user manual has been set using the justified print of the ZX printer and is very easy to read and understand. Unfortunately that only shows the inadequacy of the Sinclair printer and the word processor package needs a dot matrix printer to demonstrate its true value.
Tasword is to be upgraded when the Microdrive and RS232 interface arrive and that will be offered to existing owners of Tasword at a reduced price.
The package is worth the money and with the additional software to follow will prove useful to anyone with reports or letters to write. Tasword costs £7.95 and is available from Tasman Software, Leeds.
YOU MUST hunt down and destroy Count Dracula in this new adventure game, Transylvanian Tower, for the 48K Spectrum. There are five levels to Dracula's castle and as you move around each floor the rooms you enter are shown in 3D.
The first level of the castle is a simple maze. At any time you can call-up a floor plan with your present position and destination marked on it. When you reach the exit you can go up to the more dangerous level two.
Vampire bats swoop to attack you and you must kill them with your gun. Your shots must be accurate as you have only 10 bullets. You can also kill bats with the objects you will find scattered about the place.
On level two you can ask for a floor plan only when you kill a bat. To get through this level you need to kill plenty of bats.
Level three is the same as level two but the bats must be shot through the heart; level four is the same as level three. Level five is the most important and dangerous one. Here you must hunt the dreaded Count. Only one of the objects which you have collected from the other floors will kill him. The rest are useless but you are not told which is which.
When you have killed Dracula you are given a map on which is marked the location of his treasure. You must still tread carefully as the bats are furious with you for killing their master.
This addictive game is available from Richard Shepard Software, Berkshire. It costs £6.50.
ZX BUG is a machine code monitor and disassembler for the 16K Spectrum. The program uses hexadecimal, base 16, to display numbers such as addresses and operation codes. That makes it easier to program in original code but a hex to denary, base 10, converter would have been helpful in the package.
The disassembler displays information in a series of fields, or areas, on the screen. The address of an instruction is displayed first, followed by the hex representation of operation and operand, the number to be processed by the operation. On the other side of the screen the hex is translated into mnemonic form.
The monitor part of the program will translate messages into hex and store them in memory, display register and alternative register pairs and run machine code programs.
The program is ideal for machine code beginners as it is simple to use. It is available from Artic Computing, Hull. It costs £6.95.
SUPERBALL is a very colourful development of that old arcade game Breakout for the 16K Spectrum. You are given three black balls and have to break through the wall of red and yellow bricks to unlock two gates on the other side of the wall. When you have penetrated the brick defences you have to hit the ball at such an angle that it will hit the side of the game board where the small black gates are. There is one gate on either side of the board.
When you have cleared the bricks and opened the left-hand gate you earn a second ball. That means you have to keep both balls in the air at the same time. If you are able to do so you will be given a third ball which joins the other two balls to make life impossible for you. You can leave the extra balls but you should keep the black one in the air to continue playing.
Labyrinth is a 3D maze game, also for the 16K Spectrum. You must find your way around the maze and the quicker you do it the more points you score. At any time during the game you can ask for help and a map of the maze is shown, with your position and those of the entrance and exit on it.
At the end of the game you are asked if you want to see your path through the maze, again using the help map. You can also see it in fast motion if you hold down one of the keys on the keyboard.
Labyrinth, and games like it, were interesting and had amazing graphics for the ZX-81 but they are mediocre on the Spectrum.
Superball costs £4.95. and Labyrinth £4.95. They are available from Axis, Leics.
FOR ANYONE who likes playing sub-chase arcade games a new game for the 16K Spectrum, Sub Track, is ideal. You are the commander of a ship which sails from right to left across the screen. Lurking in the sea beneath you are submarines which release their mines trying to destroy you. You have 90 seconds in which to dodge the mines and to drop your depth charges on the submarines.
The game has a definite arcade feel to it and Sub Track costs £4.95 from Amba Software, Cambridge.
A NEW TYPE of database has been produced for the 48K Spectrum by MiCROL, a company which deals in quality business software. The database is particularly interesting because it does not use a menu in the central control structure.
As a result of that it is important that the user reads the manual which is issued with the system. The manual is simple to understand and will have users storing information in the system in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately in the beginning users may have to refer to the manual for command words, as the program has no help page. That is not a major problem and once the system has been used twice, it is easy to remember the commands.
It is possible to store several blocks of information, called documents, in one file. Each document can contain 999 lines of data. The number of lines left is displayed at the bottom of the screen if the user needs it.
It is a brave attempt at trying to change the concept of a database and we think that it has worked. It is available from MiCROL, Cambridge. It is excellent value at £9.95.
SPEECH SYNTHESIS is becoming a well-researched area on the Spectrum and the Quicksilva digital speech package Speakeasy is a quality software device which enables a user to program a voice or music into home-made programs.
The program is loaded and a tape is made of the speech or music needed. That is then played into the Spectrum, using the load leads, while the program is in 'record' mode.
When the playback key is pressed the sounds will emerge from the Spectrum speaker or through a loudspeaker. The user may have to 'record' the sounds several times for a good-quality voice tone through the computer speaker.
When the quality is satisfactory, the sounds can be edited and specific sounds can be isolated using the start-of-sound and end-of-sound commands. The voice routines can then be put into ordinary Basic programs.
Quicksilva is at Southampton. Speakeasy costs £4.95 and L-Game £3.95.
SPECTRES is a game with an original approach to the Pac-man concept for the 16K Spectrum. In this excellent game the ghosts are of the white sheet variety and the player takes the part of an electrician putting light bulbs around the haunted maze. The bulbs are lit when the electrician, Eddie, reaches one of the generators set in the corners of the maze.
The light generated in the maze weakens the ghosts and gives the electrician more time to plant light bulbs.
Spectres is available from Bug-Byte, Liverpool. It costs £5.95.