** 1 page review / 950 words **

Diamond Ice

Martin Milner takes a look at STOSSER Software's latest gem...

Diamond Ice is a 'platform puzzler' style game and will be seen as a sequel to Heartland - their previous release.
Diamond Ice is joystick controlled and runs from both floppy or hard disk in ST low screen resolution on ST machines, Falcon owners can use Backwards (see boxout).

Sound is enhanced when running on STe or Falcon machines - even more so on machines with more than 1Mb of memory. The game comes with instructions on how to install and play it along with a feedback form to let the authors know what you thought of the game and encourage them to create future releases - they call it Commentware and it's the least you can do.

In contrast to Heartland, which was a fast, easy to play platformer, Diamond Ice includes puzzle elements, such as objects to find, pick up and use along with various interactive characters.

The plot runs as follows. Sissy and Sassy have just found the 13 hearts cards hidden around Heartland, but during that adventure someone sneakily stole the set of diamonds and encased them in a block of 'diamond-ice'. So the object of this game is to find the cards (easy enough) then find some way to melt the ice and retrieve the cards (not so easy).

Interactive characters abound with Eskimos, grumpy or helpful old men, talking Penguins and Snowmen! To interact with the characters pull back on the joystick while standing next to them and stand by for comments - which may be sarcastic, cryptic or helpful.

Mobile phones can be used to display a menu showing the current tally of ice cubes collected, an option to toggle the music on or off (STe/Falcon only), or reset the game.

Look out for bottles of red liquid which you can drink to replenish your health - you'll certainly need these if you walk over too many jets of water, and useful objects including carrots and candles can be picked up and used to progress through the level.

Joystick control is both smooth and responsive, press fire to jump and pull back on the joystick to pick up/drop objects and move the cable cars provided to cross voids.

The more I played, the more I appreciated just how big the play area is - you could spend hours just wandering around looking for the objects you need to complete the game or finding characters to ask for advice. One of the key skills is finding your way back to places - now where has that helpful Eskimo gone?
There's a nifty map viewing feature which allows you to use the cursor keys to scroll the map around but it only lasts a short while before jumping back to your character - so make the most of this feature while it lasts.

With judicious use of the map viewing feature, I did manage to complete the game (pause for applause) and I'll probably have another go soon - it's that sort of game. The graphics and animations are good, as is the dry sense of humour which pervades the game. Diamond Ice comes highly recommended.

** Playing tips boxout **
Playing tips
After several attempts, I managed to figure out how to get onto the second play area of the game and reached some snow covered steps up to a platform with jets of water.
Going in one direction allowed me to reach an area with three sets of ladder-like steps side by side where the only way on was up. At the top was a cable car which I couldn't get to move at all and to the right the first of two ascending staircases. 
The first staircase is very long with virtually no platforms between it and the floor a long way below. This means the slightest misjudgement in jumping from one step to another (and there are lots of steps) and you fall all the way down and have to start over again - this is extremely frustrating!

When you do finally get to the top (and maybe meet Phil and Grant), the next staircase leads off immediately and although shorter, has steps of different sizes and is even more difficult. Again there are very few platforms to stop any fall and again you have to restart at the bottom.
On the two occasions I made it all the way to the top I walked straight onto a slope that saw me back at the bottom of all three sets of steps - ARRGGGHHH! On subsequent attempts I avoided this area which proved to be much more fruitful.
** end boxout **

** boxout 2 **
Falcon compatibility
One problem became apparent when testing the game on my Falcon (TOS 4.02). Running off hard disk, the Game Over screen and Mobile phone Reset Game options wouldn't work and locked the machine up. I resolved the problem by configuring Backwards to ignore the internal hard drive and run the game from floppy disk.
** end boxout 2 **

** Product boxout **
Product name: Diamond Ice
Publisher: STOSSER Software
Contact: PD/Shareware libraries, online services and the official STOSSER web site:
** BC on **
http://www.airtime.co.uk/users/stosser/
** BC off **
Status: Commentware
System: All Ataris with 1Mb memory minimum
Pros: It's free! Lots to do, nice graphics and animation, game save/load options provided
Cons: Sound effects too quiet when the music is playing on a Falcon via Backwards, only one background tune - Jingle Bells!
Score: 85%
** end product boxout **

** Captions **
** INTRO.GIF **
Title screen showing the main character

** 2.GIF **
This is a talking Penguin and above him a spinning ice cube

** 3.GIF **
Up there is the snowman I want to talk to - unfortunately I'm rolling uncontrollably down this slope at the moment!