[{"TitleName":"4 Crash Smashes","Publisher":"Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd","Author":"","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0011175","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 57, Jul 1986","Price":"£0.98","ReleaseDate":"1986-06-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nDesign: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Paul Coppins, Steve Donoghue, Jim Douglas\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Marcus Rich\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAssistant Ad Manager: Garry William\r\nAd Production: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\nCover: Steve Brown, Ian Watson\r\n\r\n...and the Bug Hunters!\r\n© Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 98,258"},"MainText":"In the past few weeks there has been a flood of game compilation tapes onto the market. Are they the bargain they seem? C+VG investigates and asks are the V.F.M. - that's value for money?\r\n\r\nThe automatic response to getting anything up to 30 games for a few quid is that they're a great bargain. But are they the big deal they at first appear? Or is it case of software houses desperate attempt to make money on games that weren't successful first time round?\r\n\r\nFirst up is a gigantic offering from Argus - 30 games on two cassettes. Titles on the Spectrum version include Jet Set Gerties, 3D Tunnel, Carpet Capers, Meteor Storm and Blood and Guts. The list seems endless.\r\n\r\nPerhaps the best known of the bunch is Jeff Minter's Gridrunner, a game with plenty of zip and a lot of zap.\r\n\r\nAnd Commodore owners aren't left out. Argus has also put together another package of 30 Games for them. Titles include many of those in the Spectrum collection plus others such as the Quicksilva's Schizofrenia, a fiendishly difficult game to play.\r\n\r\nBoth packages offer good value. It could be months before you finish all these games.\r\n\r\nOff the Hook, the charity package put together by Electric Dreams, offers even better value for money - ten games for £6.99. And at the same time you can ease your conscience about the many hours spent hunched over your computer by the fact that all money raised by Off the Hook goes to the Prince's Trust for the rehabilitation of drug addicts.\r\n\r\nGoodies on the Spectrum include Beyond's Psytron, Blue Max from US gold, and Melbourne House's Mugsy. It also includes Elite's Fall Guy but we prefer not to talk about that.\r\n\r\nBeau-Jolly also has its Computer Hits Volume 2 out on the Commodore, Spectrum, Amstrad, BBC B and Electron, price £9.95.\r\n\r\nWe took a look at the BBC B collection and Amstrad. The BBC tape includes Micropower's Frenzy and Jet Power Jack and Kissin' Kousins from English Software.\r\n\r\nPerhaps the best is Superior's Starstriker, a version of the arcade classic Moon Cresta. Hewson's Technician Ted and Micromega's Codename Mat are the stars of the Amstrad collection, ably supported by Superpipeline 2, Tasket and Moon Buggy, Anirog.\r\n\r\nRemember Creative Sparks? They've been a little quite recently but now they've bought out two compilations of the Sparklers range of budget games, price £2.95.\r\n\r\nThe Spectrum \"TRIO\" features: Desert Burner, Ouackshot and St Crippens.\r\n\r\nIn Desert Burner, a fast scrolling arcade game, the lacier of a group of freedom fighters travels through the night on the Desert Burner, a powerful gun-carrying 200 mph road bike. His aim is to deliver top secret plans to the other resistance members without getting caught by his enemies.\r\n\r\nYou need to be a \"Quackshot\" to survive in the next of the three games, where a revolution of clockwork ducks gets out of hand.\r\n\r\nSt Crippens is the world's worst hospital. Escape is only possible if you can beg, steal or borrow new clothes to fool the guards who try to stop you leaving. First you must find your way through the dozens of wards.\r\n\r\nThe Commodore 64 \"TRIO\" is equally testing with a choice of Chopper, Kayak or Merlin.\r\n\r\nThe first game, \"Chopper'' concerns a mighty helicopter gunship which has set Out to annihilate the enemy base. It needs a combination of both courage and skill to reach it as both man and machine are taxed to the limit.\r\n\r\nKayak is a canoe simulation which requires first class presence of mind to negotiate the course ahead.\r\n\r\nIn the third game, Merlin needs assistance in conquering the powers of evil that he encounters in this orginal arcade game.\r\n\r\nAnybody still got a VIC 20? Well grab £6.50 and splash out on Llamsoft's Viva Vic collection, included are Abductor, Gridrunner, Traxx, Andes Attack, Laserzone, Matrix, Megagalactic Llamas, Battle at the edge of Time and Hellgate.\r\n\r\nFancy a bit of arcade fun for £4.50? Then Astro Cade on the Spectrum from DDS Software could be for you. The six games on offer are Simeon, Caverns D'Or, Bomber, Zombier, Luna Rover and Alien.\r\n\r\nThe Complete BBC from Audiogenic is also worth checking out. Titles include The Chrysalis, arcade action in the cabbage patch, Drain Mania, a fairly standard platform game, and The Genesis Project, deep space action. Perhaps the most interesting game is Flip. Although it's not much fun to look at, it's good fun to play. It's a two player graphical strategy game in which hidden words must be uncovered.\r\n\r\nAnd last, but by no means least, Gremlin Graphics has come up with probably the two best quality compilations of the lot with 4 Zzap! Sizzlers and 4 Crash Smashes. As you may have guessed all the games have received high praise in a rival magazine.\r\n\r\nThe Commodore 64 games are Who Dares Wins II (Alligata), Wizard's Lair (Bubble Bus), Drop Zone (US Gold) and Thing on a Spring (Gremlin). The Spectrum games are Spy Hunter (US Gold), Night Gunner (Digital Integration), Dun Darach (Gargoyle) and Alien 8 (Ultimate).\r\n\r\nGood fun, and excellent value at £9.95. All are well worth buying.\r\n\r\n30 Games\r\nArgus\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nOff The Hook\r\nElectric Dreams\r\n£6.99\r\n\r\nComputer Hits Vol 2\r\nBeau Jolly\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nTrio\r\nCreative Sparks\r\n£2.95\r\n\r\nViva Vic\r\nLlamasoft\r\n£6.50\r\n\r\nAstro Cade\r\nDDS\r\n£4.50\r\n\r\nThe Complete BBC\r\nAudiogenic\r\n£19.95\r\n\r\n4 Zzap Sizzlers\r\nGremlin Graphics\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\n4 Crash Smashes\r\nGremlin Graphics\r\n£9.95","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"5/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 29, Jun 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-05-29","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writers: Hannah Smith, Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: John Minson, Jon Bates, Rosetta McLeod\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton\r\nProcess Camera: Matthew Uffindell\r\nPhotographer: Cameron Pound\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nInformation and Bookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted];\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 any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nJULY-DEC 1985\r\nTotal: 93,356\r\nUK: 89,441"},"MainText":"One way of picking up cheap copies of original games is to pop along to computer shows, such as the ZX Microfairs, which are invariably attended by companies offering all sorts of old and not-so-old games at discount prices. The Great Space Race, for instance, is no joke at £15-odd, but for a couple of pounds it makes a reasonable bargain, if only for the large box which is very handy for keeping bits of string, conkers and other oddments in.\r\n\r\nBudget labels are on the increase - and another source of cheap games is becoming more widely available. Sometimes a firm like Mastertronic will give an 'old' game a new lease of life by re-releasing it at a knockdown price, but more often than not one of the cheapest ways to buy games or fill that gap in your software collection is to snap up a compilation tape. Compilations offer value for money, too - the price per game for titles on compilations ranges from around 33p a game in the case of Argus Press Softwares 30 Games to the more usual £2.50 per-game level.\r\n\r\nCHARITABLE INTENT\r\n\r\nCompilations of games put together with charitable intent, with software houses donating games and companies involved in duplicating, printing, distribution and sales giving their services or working at cost, have already raised considerable sums for worthy causes. Softaid, put together specially for the Ethiopian Famine appeal raised an awful lot of money for famine victims last year, becoming the biggest chart success in the history of computer gaming. This year, The Industry (with a capital I) has collected together ten games under the Off The Hook title, which sells for £6.99 with all profits going to the Prince's Trust to alleviate the suffering caused by the illegal use of drugs. War on Want, the charity set up to combat world poverty, has also just released a fourteen game compilation tape available by mail order (see the advertisement that should appear in this issue). Spending a little money having fun and contributing to charity at the same time is no bad thing...\r\n\r\nOn the purely commercial front, some companies have decided to offer collections of their own games for sale. Hewsons, for instance put together a value pack last Christmas which was a compilation in all but name - a shrink wrapped set of original games in original packing. Such 'collected works' are really limited offers rather than compilations proper.\r\n\r\nMikro-Gen is planning to collect the Wally games together one day soon, perhaps putting them out back-to-back or including them with budget titles the ranks of Wally fans will no doubt be swelling soon.\r\n\r\nIS THE FORCE WITH YOU?\r\n\r\nMelbourne House supplies Mugsy as a freebie with their new release, Mugsy's Revenge, thus enhancing the monetary value of their product quite a bit. The same company has also entered into a co-operative venture with Firebird, Activision, and Beyond. This quartet of companies call themselves The Force for the purpose of compiling game albums, and so far The Force has issued Hotshots, which contains one hit game from each team member. Plans are apparently afoot to take the Christmas market by storm, with a collection of games the like of which no Spectrum Game Player has seen before. Mindshadow, Fighting Warrior, Gyron and Shadowfire plus Tuner for £9.99 on the first Hotshots tapes must represent good value for anyone who has only got a couple of those games already.\r\n\r\nThe biggest bumper bag of goodies is currently on offer from Argus in the form of 30 Games, which as its title suggests, leads the field in terms of volume. Argus has access to a massive back catalogue of titles - software house buy-outs and licensing deals as well as in-house labels, including tape magazines, puts the Argus Press Software Group in a very good position to go for The Biggest Compilation record. As is so often happens in life, however, quantity is at the expense of quality in the case of 30 Games. A few moments spent on mental arithmetic produces an average price of 33p a game - so perhaps one shouldn't really expect too much of the original titles. There are a few neat games hidden in the jungle, and half the fun of buying 30 Games for £9.95 probably lies in loading them all, one after another, and working out which ones to load again!\r\n\r\nCHRISSY COMPILATION\r\n\r\nAlthough They Sold A Million is a rather ambitious claim to make in the title of a compilation - unless it contains an awful lot of very good games, They Sold A Metaphorical Million doesn't have quite the same ring, as Ocean/US Gold and The Hit Squad no doubt realised when they launched their first TSAM collection in time for Christmas at £9.95. Beach Head I, Jet Set Willy, Daley Thompson's Decathlon and Sabrewulf got the title off the ground, and more recently TSAM II appeared, giving a new lease of life to Bruce Lee, Match point, Knight Lore, and the classic Match Day.\r\n\r\nVirgin is yet another company well into compilations - WOW! Games One and Two have appeared so far, at the slightly lower price point of £8.95, with the first collection featuring half a dozen games (average unit price £1.49) and WOW! II slimmed down a little to the five games level (£1.79 a game to save you working it out). Respectable games all, although Wow II probably presents slightly better value in that the quality of the games is a little better as compared with its predecessor. (That old argument about the Two Q's crops up again!)\r\n\r\nIan Stewart, the Main Man at Gremlin Graphics hit upon the wizard wheeze of going for games to put on a compilation on the basis of reviews - CRASH Reviews, naturally for Spectrum software - and the first CRASH Smash collection has already been let out of the Gremlin stable to zoom up the charts. Yet another £9.95 collection, this one features Dun Darach, Alien 8, Night Gunner and Spy Hunter. A neat selection of top rate games that is spread across a range of gameplaying interests. Mr S from Gremlin has plans for a 'top notch' compilation in time for Christmas - this time featuring at least one Gremlin Graphics game.\r\n\r\nTHE MARKETING APPROACH\r\n\r\nMarketing companies have seen the possibilities of entering the software world without the pain and aggravation of actually writing games. Beau Jolly has assembled several compilations for the Spectrum so far: a £5.99 Value Pack featuring old Imagine (of Wacky Waiters fame) product; the £9.95 Mega Hits collection; 6 Computer Games for £6.95 and 10 Computer Games for £9.95. With the possible exception of the value pack, some quite respectable titles can be had from Beau-Jolly at a very fair price, although their £19.95 mega-compilation didn't do a storm by all accounts. More compilations are on the way from the Beau-Jolly team - who learnt their trade in the record industry. Remember K-Tel?\r\n\r\nSo far there have been few \"theme\" compilations, concentrating on the works of one programmer or on one kind of game. Global's Fourmost Adventures reviewed by Derek a little while ago sprang quickly to mind, but resident strategist Sean Masterson was at a loss to name a Strategy compilation... perhaps there's still a niche or two left unexploited in the compilation market after all!\r\n\r\nThe last word in compilations must surely go to Firebird who had a bit of fun with a small collection of slightly dire games that had been submitted for consideration to the Silver Range. Don't Buy This, paradoxically, was sold. But with a strong disclaimer and a very tongue-in-cheek inlay blurb...","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"98,99","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Graeme Kidd","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]