[{"TitleName":"Sparklers Special","Publisher":"Creative Sparks","Author":"","YearOfRelease":"1985","ZxDbId":"0012097","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 50, Dec 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-11-21","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":148,"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\nDesign/Editorial Consultants: Steve Bush, Vici MacDonald\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Paul Coppins, Simon Marsh, 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\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Bernard Dugdale\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Mike Core\r\nProduction Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\n...and the Bug Hunters!\r\n© Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE\r\nBy using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER + VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £15. Additional service information, including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Severn Valley Press. Typeset by In-Step Ltd."},"MainText":"Spectrum, Commodore 64, £7.50\r\n\r\nSparklers Special is a \"best of\" the Sparklers range of pocket money games available for the Spectrum and Commodore 64.\r\n\r\nThe Commodore collection has Slurpy, a strange creature with a huge appetite who muches away at Glowbugs and Cave Birds for points. Then there's Orc Attack where Wric the Brave must kill all the Orc invaders or die, Black Hawke, an action and strategy rescue game with 30 levels of play, and River Rescue, another rescue game where scientists are at risk.\r\n\r\nThe Spectrum collection also includes Orc Attack and River Rescue. Added to them are Stagecoach, a perilous Western shoot-'em-up where the stage must get through, and Tower of Evil an arcade adventure ranging over 40 rooms in search of lost treasure.\r\n\r\nEach compilation represents fairly good value, remembering that each game originally sold for £2.50 each.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"117","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"If you can sell something once, you can sell it twice - that seems to be the current motto of many software houses.\r\n\r\nIt was a lesson quickly learnt by the record industry. A hit single can be included on a compilation album with other past hits and sold at a bargain price. The customer sees it as good value for money and the record company squeezes a few extra pounds out of a song.\r\n\r\nNow as Christmas approaches, software houses are releasing their old games in compilation packs.\r\n\r\nAnd if you haven't already bought any of the games included in the compilations, many do offer good value for money.\r\n\r\nDonning Father Christmas gear, the C+VG review team has sifted through some of the compilations now on offer with a view to festive gifts."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 22, Dec 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-11-28","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Cliff Joseph\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSoftware Assistant: John Gerard Donovan\r\nSales Executive: Alice Robertson\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\r\nPublishing Director: Peter Welham\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: Garnett Print, Rotherham and London.\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 Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1985"},"MainText":"Creative Sparks\r\n£7.95\r\n\r\nCreative Sparks have joined the compilation brigade and lumped together four of their old titles as a sort of software Christmas Stocking.\r\n\r\nThe four titles, which are held in a two cassette package, are; Orc Attack, Stage Coach, River Rescue and Tower of Evil. They're all quite old titles, and none of them were really state-of-the art even when they were new. Orc Attack is probably the most addictive of the games, in which you control a little knight who is at the top of a castle wall and being besieged by hordes of Orcs. The Orcs have got little ladders with which they attempt to scale the walls, and you must fend them off with rocks, sword and burning oil. The screens aren't very varied, but it is one of those simple games that can become quite frantic as the skill levels get harder.\r\n\r\nTower of Evil was a forerunner to Atic Atac in which you have to guide your character through the rooms of a tower, collecting treasure and keys to other rooms. It's mildly enjoyable, but unsophisticated compared to more recent games.\r\n\r\nStage Coach seems to be unplayable, since, try as I might, I couldn't get my cowboy figure to jump successfully from his horse onto the stage coach in order to try and collect the passengers dotted along the route.\r\n\r\nRiver Rescue is a very simple game which allows you to guide a speedboat along a river as you attempt to collect passengers and avoid the alligators and logs bobbing about in the water. The scrolling river doesn't have much variation in detail, and it gets to be a bit of a strain on the eyes after a while.\r\n\r\nAll in all, though I'm not particularly impressed with any of the games, they do seem the sort of thing that might appeal to younger children who aren't yet up to games as complex as Marsport, so the Sparklers' Special might make a reasonable present for youngsters around the age of ten.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"65","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"3/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"2/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]