[{"TitleName":"Cosmos","Publisher":"Abbex Electronics Ltd","Author":"Costa Panayi","YearOfRelease":"1982","ZxDbId":"0001087","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 1, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Abbex, 16K\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nThe keyboard layout looks simple but is confusing to play with. The vIew screen shows your convoy, which you must protect. Enemy ships infest space and so do asteroids. You have two lasers with continuous fire. Movement adjusts the field of view to quite an extent but without a long range scan it's difficult to anticipate properly. The colours are fine, Sound rather poor, but nevertheless, a game with good playability. Joystick: Kempston.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"48","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 2, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-23","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Abbex, 16K\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nThe keyboard layout looks simple but is confusing to play with. The view screen shows your convoy, which you must protect. Enemy ships infest space and so do asteroids. You have two lasers with continuous fire. Movement adjusts the field of view to quite an extent but without a long range scan it's difficult to anticipate properly. The colours are fine, Sound rather poor, but nevertheless, a game with good playability. Joystick: Kemptson.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"50","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":128,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Abbex, 16K\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nThe keyboard layout looks simple but is confusing to play with. The view screen shows your convoy, which you must protect. Enemy ships infest space and so do asteroids. You have two lasers with continuous fire. Movement adjusts the field of view to quite an extent but without a long range scan it's difficult to anticipate properly. The colours are fine, Sound rather poor, but nevertheless, a game with good playability. Joystick: Kemptson.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"66","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 7, Jun 1983","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1983-05-27","Editor":"Roger Munford","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"ZX Computing\r\nVol. One\r\nNumber Seven\r\nJune/July 1983\r\n\r\nEditor: Roger Munford\r\nAdvertising Manager: Miriam Roberts\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\r\nManaging Director: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Henry Garnett Ltd., Rotherham.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1983"},"MainText":"PRICE: £4.95\r\nMEMORY REQUIRED: 16K\r\n\r\nAbbex came into the market back in October of last year with two Spectrum games programs. We are yet (April) to see anything new from them which seems to suggest that the original games are of exceptional quality. Of the two, Spookyman and Cosmos, the only one that really caught my eye was Cosmos (surely the world has seen enough 'Pacman' copies by now!).\r\n\r\nThe scenario of the game is as follows: you are in charge of a fleet of ships which must be protected from successive waves of aliens and from meteorites which just happen to come along. Each time either a meteorite or an alien hits a ship in the fleet it is destroyed. If you manage to destroy the total population of aliens within a quadrant of the fleet then another wave will appear in greater numbers, and the fleet will be regenerated.\r\n\r\nGraphically the game is very good and highly addictive. The only niggles that I have are that I would have liked different space ships for each wave and secondly, your movements around the quadrant could be smoother. Even taking these into account, it is a very well-assembled game, which is just different enough to interest someone who has already seen many other space games and become addicted. Recommended.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"22","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"James Walsh","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Documentation","Score":"3/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Quality","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Use of Graphics","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Programming Achievement","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"4/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 52, Mar 1984","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-15","Editor":"Cyndy Miles","TotalPages":90,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Cyndy Miles\r\nDeputy Editor: Geof Wheelwright\r\nManaging Editor: Peter Worlock\r\nSub-Editors: Harriet Arnold, Leah Batham\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writer: Ralph Bancroft\r\nHardware Editor: Ian Scales\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPrograms Editor: Ken Garroch\r\nPeripherals Editor: Piers Letcher\r\nListings Editor: Wendie Pearson\r\nEditor's Assistant: Nickie Robinson\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: David Robinson\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Floyd Sayers\r\nLayout Artist: Nigel Wingrove\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nPublishing Secretary: Jenny Dunne\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Sarion Gravelle\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Mark Satchell\r\nSales Executives: Christian McCarthy, Marie-Therese Bolger, John Bryan, Laura Cade, Paul Evans, Deborah Quinn\r\nProduction Manager: Nikki Payne\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Karen Isaac\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper"},"MainText":"SPECTRUMS IN SPACE\r\n\r\nA Spectrum was all Mike Gerrard needed to see the solar system - and with no lifeline either.\r\n\r\nStarclash (cassette £6.95, any machine), Micromega, [redacted]\r\n\r\nFireflash and Munnery's Megatroids (£5.95 each), Abacus, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCosmos (£5.95), Abbex Electronics, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSpace island (£6.95, 48K), Terminal Software, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThere must be more space games for the Spectrum than there are stars in the sky, though you'd need stars in your eyes to get any pleasure out of some of the software on offer. In concentrating on so many variations of a single theme the inevitable result is a lot of dross, so do any of this recent batch of software stand out from the crowd?\r\n\r\nNot Starclash from Micromega, which is a disappointment coming after their earlier 3-D attempts with Haunted Hedges, Luna Crabs and Death Chase. The cover gives the impression that this too is 3-D, showing a fighter zooming over the Earth's surface, but this is merely a shot of the title screen, the game itself being an invaders variation that I remember playing in the arcades at least three years ago.\r\n\r\nIn this, four separate waves of aliens come down the screen at you, different shapes moving in different ways, from a straightforward downward progression to green bow-ties that move up, down and around. You have three lives, and if you let a single ship reach the bottom of the screen then the entire wave starts afresh. After four waves there's a mothership, which has two reactor cores that flash alternately, and you must hit the live one to polish it off and start all over again, it's compatible with a Kempston joystick, but there are hundreds of better games around.\r\n\r\nOne of them is Fireflash, the best version of a missile command type of game that I've seen. The graphics of the base you're defending are very detailed, full of little buildings and towers, and you move your missiles along underground passages to the chosen launching pads. In addition to the nine skill levels, author Kevin Flynn has written into the program a routine enabling you to alter any of seven POKE values affecting the speed of certain aspects of the game.\r\n\r\nThe pre-set values and the range of possible alternatives are given on the cassette insert, and the game itself is fast-moving, colourful and reasonably noisy. An ability to understand what you're doing with six fingers simultaneously is an advantage.\r\n\r\nFrom the same company comes Munnery's Mergatroids, which should be marginally easier as here you only need five fingers to enable you, as the instructions succinctly put it, to 'blast every alien you see!' This is an attempt at 3-D, with the waves of aliens moving towards your sights in the centre of the screen as you attempt to pass through seven zones of them.\r\n\r\nThe main problem is that the aliens are simple geometric shapes like diamonds and triangles, and because these are transparent it's impossible to pick out what you're firing at and what you're trying to avoid as they come thick and fast towards you, overlapping each other.\r\n\r\nThe fact that your own missiles are also transparent diamond shapes doesn't help matters, and the game was a case of over-kill, I thought.\r\n\r\nCosmos has you as 'the pilot of an advanced defender class starship. You protect convoys of sub-light speed cargo vessels from hostile attack and natural dangers.' The convoy is in the centre of an area of space made up of a 3 x 3 grid. You can only see one of these grids at a time through your viewscreen, but can scroll quickly enough around them.\r\n\r\nYou're watching out for the asteroid showers which float across as well as 18 alien ships that will try to destroy your convoy. Guiding your lasers by the sight in centre-screen, you must decide whether to stay close to the convoy, when you only see dangers at the last minute, or whether to roam around the grid in search of enemies and risk leaving your convoy open to obliteration.\r\n\r\nI found control of this difficult as there's quite a delay between firing your lasers, which come in from the corners of the screen, and the shot exploding when they converge in your sights, by which time the target has zipped away. You have to keep firing continually, and try to predict the movements of your enemies, which is not easy.\r\n\r\nThe game is fast-moving but the graphics are ordinary and again it gets submerged beneath the mass of good material available for the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nAt one time a machine code game meant automatic interest, but now they're ten a penny, so you have to produce something different.\r\n\r\nAn attempt at that is promised by Space Island, a graphics adventure from Terminal Software, who have previously produced some good material for the Commodore machines. I wasn't impressed by this Spectrum effort, though, which is very similar to another they've published at the same time, Vampire Village. In both you're shown a map on the screen and you must move your character around using the cursor control keys.\r\n\r\nIn this space story, where you're attempting to find the cause of dangerous time distortions, your character is simply a cross while the map is filled with black dots, representing interesting features. As you arrive at a dot you're shown some text, which may perhaps tell you that there's a rifle or a boat there. Pressing the space key will get you a list of the 19 commands at your disposal, though unfortunately not for long enough to enable you to note them all down or even read them and consider which to use.\r\n\r\nYou enter the first letter of your chosen command in inverse video and the game responds (or not), the dot disappears and you go on your way to the next one. As you visit the various dots the game does start to build up like a conventional adventure, with problems to solve, but each time you die there's a lengthy wait while a new game is generated and the only time distortion I noticed was that after playing the game for ten minutes it seemed like two hours must have passed.\r\n\r\nIf you want a game where you spend half your time with a finger on the cursor key while you watch a cross move slowly over a simple map then this is definitely the one for you.\r\n\r\nThis only serves to raise the question again of how much of a games software industry the home computer market can support. All the signs are that a good thing is being spread much too thinly.\r\n\r\nOnly one outstanding game in this crop, then, so if you're looking round for something to buy make sure you makes your choice before you pays your money.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Gerrard","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]