[{"TitleName":"Combat Zone","Publisher":"Alternative Software Ltd","Author":"Darren Hott, Jim Tripp, Kevin, Mike Talbot","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0001032","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 49, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-28","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Dominic Handy, Gordon Houghton, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson\r\nSubeditor: David Peters\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nPBM Writer: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Writer: Rosetta McLeod\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dave Hawkes, Nathan Jones, Nick Roberts, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nAssistant Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\nPlease address correspondence to the appropriate person!\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Competition entries and letters to the CRASH Forum, to other sections and to staff are always read with interest but cannot be acknowledged even if an SAE is included, and letters submitted for publication may be edited for length and style.\r\n\r\n©1988 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Alternative Software\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\n\r\nColonel Mentor, ace of air aces, has been ordered out of retirement to combat an enemy threat. Stretching out his arthritic limbs the old, bold Colonel goes to work, flying over alien territory.\r\n\r\nAs he moves onward, with the landscape scrolling vertically beneath him, the fighter pilot encounters hordes of enemy craft intent upon shooting him down. The Colonel's fighter is equipped with a basic blaster, aimed with a cursor, which can take out these irritating machines. For greater destructive power, Mentor can engage bombs which can destroy pulsing enemy ground installations.\r\n\r\nThis arsenal can further be increased if an enemy supply ship is captured by running into it. When Mentor does this, a hyper bomb becomes available. When the hyper bomb is detonated it destroys all enemy fighters in its vicinity.\r\n\r\nBut the fighter's fuel and the Colonel's lives are limited - this old soldier doesn't just fade away.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: none\r\nGraphics: cramped and confused\r\nSound: uninteresting\r\nOptions: cheat mode","ReviewerComments":["Yet more vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-ups... this one has cramped graphics, small, jerky, colourless and hard to distinguish from the ground. Good points are: no vile colours, and a useful aiming device.\nBYM\r\nBym Welthy\r\n64%","Combat Zone is enough to put anyone off shoot-'em-ups for life. The scrolling is very slow and there's no evidence of sound. The sight used to aim is no help whatsoever, and neither is the optional cheat mode - because the intolerable game is easy enough anyway!\nNATHAN\r\nNathan Jones\r\n21%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A poor monochrome shoot-'em-up.","Page":"28","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bym Welthy","Score":"64","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nathan Jones","Score":"21","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Arthritic: Combat Zone"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"52%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"42%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"42%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"25%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"43%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]