[{"TitleName":"6-Pak","Publisher":"Hit-Pak","Author":"","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0011197","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 19, Jul 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-06-11","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":98,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nSenior Art Editor: Peter George\r\nAssistant Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nStaff Writer: Marcus Berkmann\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nEditorial Assistant: Angela Eager\r\nContributors: Peter Berlin, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tony Lee, John O'Molly, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1987 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"6 PAK\nHit-Pak\n£9.95\nReviewer: Marcus Berkmann\n\nOr Elite by any other name. Not surprisingly, then, one or two of the games on this package have Elitist origins. Scooby Doo (Nov '86) was another of Snout's fave games of '86, while 1942 (Nov '86) was an unspectacular but efficient reading of the famous coin-op. And Duet, a (gasp) new game, is what was rumoured to have been Command '96, but alas is no more. The other selections are an odd lot. Palace's platformer Antiriad was only out in January (it's still a winner), but Jet Set Willy II and Melbourne House's Fighting Warrior are eons old, and look their age. Split Personalities from Domark (Aug '86) is a curiosity, perfect for a compilation like this.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"60,61","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Marcus Berkmann","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Scooby Doo"},{"Text":"The Sacred Armour of Antiriad"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[{"Header":"Scooby Doo","Score":"9/10","Text":"Scooby-Doo"},{"Header":"Fighting Warrior","Score":"5/10","Text":"Fighting Warrior"},{"Header":"1942","Score":"7/10","Text":"1942"},{"Header":"Sacred Armour Of Antiriad","Score":"8/10","Text":"The Sacred Armour of Antiriad"},{"Header":"Jet Set Willy 2","Score":"7/10","Text":"Jet Set Willy II"},{"Header":"Split Personalities","Score":"8/10","Text":"Split Personalities"},{"Header":"Duet","Score":"7/10","Text":"Duet"}]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 65, Aug 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-07-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nTypeset by PRS Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Elite\r\nAuthor: Various\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Andy Moss\r\n\r\nThe secret of a good compilation tape is that, in amongst some pretty standard games, are one or two absolute gems that are worth the cost of the package on their own Elite has released this bundle - a strange motley bunch of oldies mixed with a couple of recent hits.\r\n\r\nFor a kick-off, the last game on the tape. Split Personalities, is worth every penny so this is a good buy whatever the state of the others in the set.\r\n\r\nThe tape begins with Scooby Doo, a pleasant arcade platform game.\r\n\r\nNext is 1942, the conversion of the original arcade game, and this is pretty close to the coin-op.\r\n\r\nDuet is next. It's the only unreleased track on the tape and is really a Gauntlet clone set in the Commando mould. It's really very good.\r\n\r\nJet Set Willy II has lost a lot of its charm in these days of pushing the Spectrum to its limits and the two-year age gap shows.\r\n\r\nSacred Armour of Antirad never did anything for me when it first came out, (but it was an SU Classic), so this time around I like it even less. And Fighting Warrior from Melbourne House, was a huge disappointment. Hit 6 Pak is still terrific value. No excuses. Buy it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Top value mix of some oldies and newies. Who can gripe at seven games on one tape.","Page":"29","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Moss","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 38, Jun 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-05-21","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":""},"MainText":"IT'S NOT JUST BEER THAT COMES IN SIX-PACKS.\r\n\r\nHit Pack\r\n£9.95\r\n\r\nDepending on your point of view, this is either a six pack compilation with one free game or a seven game compilation. The seventh game in question is Duet and presumably Hit Pak (Elite under another name) are calling it a free game by virtue of the fact that its not been previously released. Either way this is still a good value for money collection, aimed primarily at the arcade end of the market.\r\n\r\nThe first game on side one of the tape is the much hyped Scooby Doo. When this was announced there was a lot of talk about how marvellous it was going to be, then it seemed to be scrapped because the programmers couldn't fit the game into just 48K, then when it did appear it vanished almost without trace. That was inevitable I suppose, because after all that fuss the end result was an amusing and mildly addictive game with some nice graphics, but it wasn't anything particularly special.\r\n\r\nLeaving Scooby to the task of rescuing shaggy and Co. from the clutches of the mad scientist, you can move on to 1942. Elite's conversion of the coin-op game in which you have to fight your way through waves of enemy fighters to reach safety on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. The game did look a bit old fashioned by the time it reached the Spectrum, but it's a nice simple shoot 'em up, the sort that's always good for whiling away a few spare minutes.\r\n\r\nNext on the tape is Duet, which turns out to be a Gauntlet variant, but dressed up in modern soldier gear rather than Gauntlet's wizards 'n warriors trappings. Like Gauntlet it offers a two player option which is much more fun than playing on your own. It's quite good fun, but the Gauntlet similarities are so obvious that I can understand why there was no point in releasing it after the initial flurry of Gauntlet clones had been and gone.\r\n\r\nGame number four is Jet Set Willy II, the expanded version of the original Jet Set Willy game. It's possible that there's a whole generation of relatively new Spectrum owners who have never seen or played JSW or its famed predecessor, Manic Miner. However JSW still holds its place as the ultimate platform game (whatever happened to Matthew Smith?).\r\n\r\nSide two gets off to a good start with Palace softwares Sacred Armour of Antiriad. I'm surprised to see this on a compilation so soon, and I wonder how well it sold on its first release?\r\n\r\nAntiriad is an animated arcade adventure in which you have to guide the warrior Tal through a ruined city and into the heart of a volcano to destroy a nuclear generator. Along the way you have to collect the components that activate the suit of armour which will protect you from the radiation spillage and the robotic guards that you'll encounter. The graphics are excellent and the gameplay is well thought out, and I'd probably pick this as being the best game on the tape.\r\n\r\nMelbourne House's Fighting Warrior followed the success of Exploding Fist, and while it wasn't quite as addictive as Fist, it's still as good as most of the other martial arts games that tried to copy it, and which are still being churned out even now.\r\n\r\nRounding the tape off is Split Personalities, Domark's sliding squares puzzler. Despite being based on a very simple and very old type of puzzle, Domark's computer version managed to be surprisingly enjoyable to play and stands as one of their better efforts.\r\n\r\nApart from Antiriad none of these games are really outstanding, but unlike a lot of compilations which include just a couple of good games and are padded out with a few complete flops, all the games on this six (or seven) pack are good solid arcade entertainment and the combination of all of them together makes this one of the best value arcade compilations I've seen for a while.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"82","Denied":false,"Award":"ZX Monster Hit","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Split Personalities."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]