[{"TitleName":"International Tennis","Publisher":"Zeppelin Games Ltd","Author":"Brian Cross","YearOfRelease":"1992","ZxDbId":"0010537","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 85, Jan 1993","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-12-13","Editor":"Linda Barker","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"YOUR SINCLAIR\r\nABC 40,648\r\n\r\nEditor: Linda Barker\r\nArt Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nStaff Writer: Jon Pillar\r\nEditorial Contributors: Steve Anderson, Craig Broadbent, Dave Golder, Tim Kemp, Stuart Campbell, Simon Cooke\r\nArt Contributors: Nick Davies, Phil McCardle\r\nCover Artwork: Mike Roberts\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Jackie Garford\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Lisa Read\r\nProduction Technicians: Chris Stocker\r\nScanning: Simon Windsor, Jon Moore, Simon Chittenden\r\nPublisher: Colin Campbell\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director Chris Anderson\r\n\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: Future Publishing Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of W Scribo.\r\n\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair has got more gold glitter in its little fingernail than Commodore Format, Amstrad Action, Amiga Format, PCW Plus, PC Answers, Mega, Super Play, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Cycling Plus, Photo Plus, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format, Public Domain, ST Format, Total! and Today's Vegetarian put together."},"MainText":"Zeppelin\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\n[redacted]\r\nReviewer: Linda Barker\r\n\r\nAs I write, my washing is dripping on the line. It's been doing this for the past week and I'm fed up with it. By the time it's dry, it will no longer smell of daffodils and lambs, it'll smell of winter damp and slugs, or something. Bleugh! I wouldn't be able to play tennis in it if I wanted to, which I don't. (Eh? Jon) Now is not the time to skip around outside trying to hit a ball, but it might be just the time to load up the Speccy and try out a few volleys. And what should I find in my Speccy but Zeppelin's International Tennis. This could be just the thing for those long, winter evenings.\r\n\r\nInternational Tennis lets you play against a real opponent or a variety of computerised ball buffs. As per usual, you can choose which kind of surface to play on (hard, clay or lawn), whether to go for a single match or a whole tournament, how many sets in a match and the difficulty level. So far, so run of the mill. For International Tennis to be as good as Zeppelin claim, it's going to have to play well.\r\n\r\nTHE MOMENT OF TRUTH\r\n\r\nHurrah, it plays well! The character sprites are clearly defined and they move smoothly across the court. They're skilful, fast, graceful and right little movers. The choice of moves is such that you can make your player run around like a madman. It all looks quite dangerous actually, there's your player racing up and down slashing his racquet left, right and centre. All it needs is for somebody to run out onto the court and we'd have a real slasherama of a game!\r\n\r\nBut hey! This is tennis, it's quiet and civilised, right? Erm, well, not in two-player mode. The pace is so fast and it's actually quite difficult so with two-players a nice game of tennis can quickly become a furiously vocal fight to get those balls over the net. Service is the easiest move to play, and it gets more and more difficult from thereon - and this is in easy mode. International Tennis is addictive enough to make you want to play on, so you do get better as you proceed. But there's always a more difficult level and, if you beat the computer opponent at that level, you can always get in a mate who's completely brilliant at computerised tennis. (You can even play doubles with (or against) the Speccy!) But you do need to persevere and the initial difficulties may put some people off. If you like sport sims in general, and tennis sims in particular, this one will give you a very good run for your money.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Uppers: It's fast, it's furious and you can play it with a mate, or five.\r\n\r\nDowners: it really is a bit on the difficult side, and there are no points for style!\r\n\r\nA game, set and match of International Tennis could be just what you're after.","Page":"14","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Linda Barker","Score":"82","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"It all happened very suddenly. One minute John was playing a very sedate game of tennis, and the next he was rushing around and saluting Bruce Forsyth. It was odd."},{"Text":"Patricia was a very strange girl. From the age of seven her favourite hobby had been to dress up in fishnets and stretch herself out on the grass. She was a very tall girl, with a nice line in dappled suntans."},{"Text":"With only fifteen minutes left of the lunch hour, Tompkins Major was determined to finish off his cheese roll. Unfortunately, Freddy Fripper Minor thought it would be incredibly jolly to use the roll as a tennis ball. Cad!"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"Tennis - a player's guide\r\n\r\nYe olde English tennis dance\r\nLay the crossed racquets on the court and skip around them. Make sure you don't tread on a racquet, this means instant disqualification.\r\n\r\nYe olde English beer dance\r\nIn which the cup is filled with mead and passed around the court. Make sure you don't fall over, this means instant disqualification.\r\n\r\nYe olde English lie-down\r\nIn which all those who haven't yet fallen over have a nice quiet lie-down on the court. Make sure you don't forget to wake up, this means instant disqualification.\r\n\r\nYe olde English arm wrestle\r\nIn which players flex their muscles in preparaion for the game. Do not attempt to break anyone's fingers. This leads to instant disqualification.\r\n\r\nYe olde English joystick icon\r\nChoose your weapon. Try not to be too violent as this is a very peaceful, English-villagey game. Choose a sword and you'll be disqualified.\r\n\r\nYe great English game\r\nAre you ready? Are you steady? Then put racket to ball and go go go! (At last!)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"82%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 131, Jan 1993","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-12-18","Editor":"Alan Dykes","TotalPages":44,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Alan 'Grumpy' Dykes\r\nDesign: Yvette 'Snow White' Nicholls\r\nSU Crew: Garth 'Dopey' Sumpter, Steve 'Snoozy' Keen, Philip 'Happy' Lindey, Graham 'Doc' Mason, Pete 'Sneezy' Gerrard, Ed 'Bashful' Laurence\r\nAd Manager: Tina Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Tina Gynn\r\nMr Marketing: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing Ladies: Sarah Hilliard, Sarah Ewing\r\nPublisher: Mike Frey\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\nPart of EMAP PLC\r\nTel: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Colourtech\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Gillingham\r\nTypeset by Altyp Inc\r\nMistakes by Phillingers Inc\r\nSubs [redacted]\r\nBack Issues [redacted]\r\n\r\nAbsolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or copied without the express permission of the publisher. WWF is a trademark of Titan Sports INC ©1991 All rights reserved. ALL DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER NAMES, LIKENESSES AND LOGOS ARE TRADEMARKS OF TITANSPORTS ©1991 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Simpsons TM&© 1991 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. A happy Christmas to one and all! Especially Al's mum, (Hi Mum!!!!), Fred and family, all at Thurgarton Hall, Sue Thorley, Diana Templeman and all the companies still producing Spectrum software. Here's to 1993!"},"MainText":"Label: Zeppelin\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Philip Lindy\r\n\r\nDecked out in tennis whites, surrounded by buckets of strawberries and cream and several gallons of Robinson's Barley Water, Big Al' and I sat down to put International Tennis through it's paces. Several days and some very runny bottys later the result was decided...\r\n\r\nInternational Tennis gives you the choice of playing a single game, a match or a whole tournament without ever leaving the comfort of your living room chair. There are single player or two player options with singles or doubles matches and keyboard or joystick control, though in two player mode one player has to use a 'stick and the other the keyboard.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately the standard keyboard control layout is a little awkward, with the left and right keys underneath the keys for up and down and 'M' controlling the shot. But this is only a small gripe. It makes play more difficult but it doesn't really detract from the overall quality of International Tennis.\r\n\r\nThe game really starts to get palm sweatingly good when you get the knack of spinning, lobbing and slicing balls (oo-er!) all over the place. By pressing left or right as you hit the ball, it spins in that direction, pressing up and down as you hit gives the ball top or bottom spin - just what you need to catch your opponent off his guard (as Big Al' discovered to his consternation).\r\n\r\nThe two (or four in doubles) sprites are about as accurate as you are going to get. They bounce up and down and sway over and back as only tennis players or Zebedees do. The only real fault I detected was their lack of a diving move, which leads to missed balls and frustration.\r\n\r\nThe game is also surprisingly fast in two player mode and the ball shadow and whacking sound greatly contribute to accuracy and playability. It's slightly slower with four players on court but this is not noticeably a problem.\r\n\r\nOverall, International Tennis is a playable, addictive and accurate game Apart from one or two annoying glitches (like the players' magnetism for the net when changing sides) this is an excellent Tennis Simulation for the money and you should jolly well go out and buy it.","ReviewerComments":["With most other tennis sims being conversions from another format, they have often been far too complicated for their own, or your Spectrum good. International Tennis may be simple but it oozes fun and gets my vote.\r\nAlan Dykes"],"OverallSummary":"This is one of the best original budget sports simulations I've seen recently, it's simple but thankfully solid white and green only graphics belie it's delightful playability. Definitely well worth the cash.","Page":"10","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Silver","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Philip Lindey","Score":"87","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Leave that net alone player one!"},{"Text":"Player two is leading seven - four."},{"Text":"Player two lines up his back hand return."},{"Text":"Player two practises his smash."},{"Text":"Player two serves. Barley water please."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"WHAT A RACKET!\r\n\r\nThe game of tennis dates back to the eleventh century when it was all the rage in French monasteries. King Philippe IV is mentioned as having a tennis court in 1308. Imagine!\r\n\r\nQuestion. Do female tennis players get cold bums while playing outdoor tournaments wearing those tiny white regulation tennis skirts? Answer. It's none of your business mate. Tina."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"87%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]