[{"TitleName":"Dan Dare II: Mekon's Revenge","Publisher":"Virgin Games Ltd","Author":"Andy Green, Irwan Owen, Martin Wheeler, Simon Butler","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0001238","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 49, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-28","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Dominic Handy, Gordon Houghton, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson\r\nSubeditor: David Peters\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nPBM Writer: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Writer: Rosetta McLeod\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dave Hawkes, Nathan Jones, Nick Roberts, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nAssistant Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\nPlease address correspondence to the appropriate person!\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\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 anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Competition entries and letters to the CRASH Forum, to other sections and to staff are always read with interest but cannot be acknowledged even if an SAE is included, and letters submitted for publication may be edited for length and style.\r\n\r\n©1988 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Virgin Games\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: Andy Green\r\n\r\nDan Dare's nemesis, the Mekon, has returned. Having escaped Dan's earlier attempts to defeat him, the runaway Treen has been slaving away in his lab to produce a squad of SuperTreens who are at present contained within Plexiglass lifesupport bubbles in the Mekon's battleship.\r\n\r\nArmed with only a blaster, Dan enters the vessel astride his jetbike and seeks to find these creations and destroy them. As soon as Dan blasts the first, however, a selfdestruct sequence begins. The time remaining until the resultant destruction of the battleship is shown at the bottom of the screen.\r\n\r\nTo escape a fiery death, Dan destroys all the SuperTreens on the current level - only then do the double blast doors between levels open to allow progress through the ship.\r\n\r\nThe SuperTreens and the spacefleet personnel are also involved in their own feud, and Dan can become caught in the crossfire. His vitality is reduced every time he's shot, and if his vitality reading goes down to zero, one of his six lives are lost.\r\n\r\nThere are four levels to be completed, and if Dan reaches the last, he finds a pod which is used to initiate his escape. Dan Dare II offers the option to play the role of either Dan or the Mekon, in which case the player must find, activate and eject the SuperTreens' life support boxes before the ship explodes.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: plenty of colour - but distributed without thought\r\nSound: pretty reasonable\r\nOptions: control of either Dan or the Mekon","ReviewerComments":["Dan Dare II isn't really an improvement over the original. If anything, the graphics are worse: the colour is still pretty bright, but the Mekon seems to have lost his greenness (maybe he's recovered). It doesn't actually lack playability or addiction, although the innovation of the predecessor is lost in this latest incarnation. If you have Dan Dare, I would think hard before rushing out to buy the sequel.\r\nMike Dunn\r\n64%","Dan Dare II is one of those games that only sees the light of day because the original was a hit. Fortunately there's variation in the gameplay to warrant its purchase, such as the option to play either character and the inclusion of some new hazards - being sucked into the ventilation system and so on. The action is a little more frenetic, and the graphics are of a similar standard to its predecessor. Unoriginal, but still enjoyable.\r\nNathan Jones\r\n77%","This latest offering from Virgin is very similar in presentation and graphics to the first. There is, however, a new starting sequence with a well-animated space ship zooming through the sky, and you have the choice of playing Dan Dare or the Mekon. The screens themselves are very detailed and the game moves so quickly it's difficult to keep a track on the action. There are tubes that you can be sucked down and massive crushers to avoid so, there's no time to stop for a chat! Dan Dare II is a really neat follow up to a classic game - just the sort of thing you need to start the new year off with a swing!\r\nNick Roberts\r\n81%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Mixed opinions, but generally considered to be a decent successor, if not exactly up to the standard of Dan Dare.","Page":"86,87","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"64","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nathan Jones","Score":"77","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"81","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"If it's worth making once, it's worth Mekon twice: Virgin Games's Dan Dare II."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"74%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 27, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-11","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editors: Fran Husband, Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Soo Abram, Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nArt Director: Hazel Bennington\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\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 ©1988 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":"Virgin Games\r\n£7.95\r\nReviewer: Tony Worrall\r\n\r\nDan Dare's back, and what a completely skill follow-up to the original. Just a couple games was enough to convince me that Dan Dare II is the first megagame of 1988. If it doesn't top the charts in the next few months I'll eat my pet hamster (lightly fried, with chips and peas)!\r\n\r\nDan's mission is no easier his first outing on the Spectrum. The evil and thoroughly green Mekon is still up to his diabolical tricks. His plan this time is to invade the Earth with an army of mighty Supertreens - a new race of green tinted super beings genetically engineered by the Mekon himself.\r\n\r\nThese creatures have been placed in protective life support capsules aboard a vast and powerful space ship. This ship is fast approaching the Earth and it is Dan's unenviable task to put his foot down with a firm hand, and show the green ones, once and for all, who's the boss.\r\n\r\nThe Mekon's ship is made up of four separate sections, each containing a certain number of Supertreens. Dan must search out and destroy all of the life support cells in each section before gaining access to the next. The Mekon has filled the space ship with traps, force fields, and all manner of bits and bobs designed to slow down any potential attacker (oh, and there is a time limit to beat once the first Supertreen has had its comfy nest blown to smithereens). The Mekon has also installed a generous helping of normal Treens, but to combat this threat Dan can call upon his own troops, scattered about the space craft.\r\n\r\nAs in the original, Dan can find objects to help him in his task. Extra firepower and energy are the most useful. Getting around the maze of tunnels could prove a bit expensive in terms of time, so in Dan Dare II our hero is fitted with a cool jetbike. The trouble with this is trying to handlle the 'realistic' bike movements! Precious seconds can be lost while you frantically try to squeeze into a new corridor, or pass over strong magnetic currents. Of course this is part of the game. It makes it frustrating and extremely addictive at the same time.\r\n\r\nThe graphics have to be seen to be believed. They are simply amongst some of the best I have ever seen on the ol' pregnant calculator. In my opinion they knock spots off the original Dan Dare game, and that was terrific! The game is choc-a-block full of brilliant little programming touches, such as the Supertreens thumbsucking animation, flickering backgrounds and computer panels, and refuse crunchers. Each a joy to sit and watch (if you have time!). Pop-up captions infrom you how you're doing, and a frightening explosion ends the game if your progress has been exceptionally bad.\r\n\r\nIf you are totally bored with playing the good guy all the time, there's an absolutely spiffing option that lets you play the Mekon himself. But beware - this makes the game so hard that it is best left to experienced (or heroic) players.\r\n\r\nEverything from the loading screen to the end sequence has been lovingly crafted by the programming team, and it feels as though the game has had a pretty thorough play-testing. Action is non-stop and swear-inducing, and about as playable and addictive as anyone could wish for. Could this be the prefect Spectrum game? If not, I bet you could count better games on the finger of one hand!\r\n\r\nI loved Dan Dare, and I simply adore Dan Dare II. I might as well go out and buy 100 gallons of midnight oil, because there is no way I am going to put this game down until I have beaten that dastardly Mekon once and for all! See you in about two years (if I'm lucky!).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Skillo follow up to the original classic. Flip screen arcade adventure at its very, very best. Destined to become a major hit.","Page":"71","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Worrall","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Desperate Dan Dare has to outwit a tailing Treen while trying to blam the Supertreen baby bubbles on the left and right. As soon as the first bubble is burst Dan has a meagre 12 hours to accomplish his mission, or it's goodbye civilisation as we know it!"},{"Text":"Well on his way to defeating the Mekon now, our hero has just wasted the force shield generator system and opened up the rest of the Treen ship to exploration. Remember not to shoot your own troops or get caught in the deadly crossfire."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"10/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"10/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"10/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 72, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon 'Call me Bon Jovi' Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'a fiver if my name goes first in the list' Dillon, Chris 'a fiver? You must be joking!' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Alison Morton\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'I'll leave that with you then' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Brian Talbot\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458"},"MainText":"Label: Virgin\r\nAuthor: Gang of Five\r\nPrice: £9.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tamara Howard\r\n\r\nIf there's one thing you can surely say about an arch-villain, that is that the guy won't give up without a fight. If there's a sequel in the offing, your really suave super criminal won't be left languishing in jail when the credits are rolling.\r\n\r\nAnd thank god for that, because if it wasn't for such incredible tenacity on the behalf of the Mekon, you wouldn't be able to cop hold of Dan Dare II, the Mekon's Revenge.\r\n\r\nFor those of you who were Dan Dare fans, this new game will cause no end of excitement. You may want to skip this paragraph because this is the boring background bit to fill in those silly people who've never even heard of Dan Dare, and that, she said, shamefacedly, includes myself.\r\n\r\nThe Mekon is a very unappealing (both physically and mentally speaking) alien of the obligatory green colour, and his main aim (the thought that dominates all other inside that little dome-shaped head), is to take over the earth. Last year, he was foiled by gold old DD, and this year, having spent quite enough time sulking thank you, he's back, and he's got a new plan.\r\n\r\n(Welcome back all Dan Dare I fans.) The Mekon's new plan is to release a genetically engineered race called the Supertreens on to the earth and let them get on with all the rampaging and pillaging. Then he can snaffle up all the glory and rule Earth to his heart's content. Fortunately, DD is there to spoil his dastardly plans, and rescue us poor saps. And this is how he does it:\r\n\r\nArmed to the back teeth with a sort of machine gun affair, DD rides his awesomely powerful jet-bike on to the Mekon's ship, with the express aim of nobbling all the cute little Supertreens, who are all asleep in little glass pods. (Ah, diddums.) Accompanying Dan are a few chums in need of a bit of exercise.\r\n\r\nThe opening sequence is rather stunning. A ship flies through space, beautifully detailed. Choose your options, controls and so on as usual, then decided whether you want to play DD or the Mekon.\r\n\r\nI should point out here, that if you want to play the Mekon, there's no point in trying to kill the Supertreens, all you have to do is kill Dan and friends.\r\n\r\nThe interiors of the ship are also wonderful. Well detailed, with a good, almost comic book feel about them, well up to the first game's previous high standards. But then, after the backgrounds, things got a tad wobbly.\r\n\r\nAnything that moves is naff. A bald statement (nearly as bald as the Mekon, arf arf), but sadly true. It's almost as if someone completely different put the moving characters on after everyone else had gone home. Spindly, flickery white sprites that all look alike, tear around the place like nobody's business. One of the big problems with Dan Dare II is that there are two separate things going on at once. There are members of Dan's squadron flying around (all looking like Dan), fighting members of the Mekon's forces (also looking rather like Dan). So trying to find your own piddly little sprite is very hard.\r\n\r\nNot only is finding your sprite tough, but controlling the little beggar is a nightmare. The jet bike seems to have a mind of his own, and tears around all over the place. It's enough to give you treble vision and dyspepsia just looking at the thing.\r\n\r\nShould you be a thoroughly intelligent person and be able to suss out just how to control your bike, you'll find the gameplay itself highly taxing. The ship is made up of four levels, each containing a certain number of Supertreens. Not only are the STs asleep behind glass they're protected by a force field that you have to work your way through. How to do it is tricky, and you've only got a certain amount of time to do it. Once your time is up, the security system will locate you and terminate you without so much as a by your leave. And just so's everything's fair, if you're playing the Mekon, you'll get mullered too.\r\n\r\nAlong the way there are things to help you, energy blocks to replenish your stamina come in extra handy. But watch out for the suction tubes which will deposit you outside the ship's along with all the other waste, the Treens who will try and shoot you, the security system and the numerous other alien horrors waiting to make life difficult for you.\r\n\r\nDan Dare II is a very hard game to get into. That's not to say it's a bad game. It needs patience and a lot of skill to get through it. If you have that patience you could find it thoroughly rewarding, spindly graphics or no. But if you want something that you're going to be able to sit down and play straight off, go for something else, Dan Dare II doesn't make life easy for you.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Some disappointments over the central graphics. The backgrounds are pretty but DD fans may be disappointed.","Page":"62,63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tamara Howard","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 5, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-07","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nArt Team: Angela Neal, Sally Meddings\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jon Beales\r\n\r\nCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY\r\nStuart Baynes Photography [redacted]\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1988 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Can Virgin do it again?\r\n\r\nGreat Scott, Digby! The Mekon's up to his old tricks again. He's poised to unleash his dreaded Supertreens on Earth in this new Gang of Five epic, with only the Pilot of the Future to stop his fiendish schemes. Can you don Dan's spacesuit and save the day?\r\n\r\nOn each of the game's four side-on view levels, your mission as Dan is to kill the Supertreens by wrecking their life-support capsules. It's a tall order, quite aside from the amount of jetbike-assisted exploration each level calls for. The main enemy is time: as soon as you start blasting Supertreen's you trigger a destruct sequence which will blow the entire level apart. Blast all the remaining capsules and reach the airlock to the next level before the countdown reaches zero, and you'll survive for another round of tougher exploration and wrecking: take too long and it's game over.\r\n\r\nBut there's plenty to stop you: forcefields block your path, airborne Treens blast away at you and tunnels suck you off course (possibly to your doom). Gun turrets, giant garbage compactors and conveyors also cause problems. Most hazards sap your stamina level - when this reaches zero your dead - but things like compactors lose you one of your six lives straight off.\r\n\r\nSick of being Mr Nice Guy? Want a tougher challenge? Then play the Mekon instead! Dan's already triggered the destruct sequence, the idea goes, so you've got no time for exploration or mistakes Dash round, switch all the Supertreen capsules on and then get in that airlock before the level blows. Manage that and the next level's timer starts immediately, so you really have to know your way round.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Andy Milton\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nC64/128, £9.95cs, £12.95dk, Imminent\r\nSpec, £7.95cs, Out Now\r\nAms, £8.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 80/100\r\n1 hour: 80/100\r\n1 day: 75/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 60/100\r\n1 year: 10/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"The game probably won't last you a month as Dan, but there's still the Mekon mission to tackle.","Page":"41","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Milton","Score":"814","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Spectrum: Get too close to that tunnel mouth and you'll be sucked down into the garbage compactor below. Nasty!"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD VERSION\r\n\r\nTerrific Gang of Five colours make this a real treat to look at, and carefully drawn graphics capture the original comic-strip's feel precisely.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 9/10\r\nAudio: 6/10\r\nIQ Factor: 5/10\r\nFun Factor: 9/10\r\nAce Rating: 838/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 90/100\r\n1 hour: 85/100\r\n1 day: 75/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 60/100\r\n1 year: 10/100"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nBnght bold clash-free colours make this a great-looking game, but tough controls will cause you some problems at first."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"814/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 77, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.1","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-16","Editor":"Eugene Lacey","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"C+VG TEAM\r\n\r\nEditor: Eugene Lacey\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nStaff Writer: Matt Bielby\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nArt Editor: Craig Kennedy\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell and The Fiend\r\nFantasy Role Playing: Wayne\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nHot Gossip: Tony Takoushi\r\nGame Reviewers: Dave Bishop, Ian Machin, Samantha Murphy, Lee Paddon, Steve Badsey, Brian Webber, Richard Hewison\r\nMarketing Manager: Clive Pembridge\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSales Executive: Sian Jones\r\nAdvertisement Production: Lora Clark\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nCover Illustration: Simon Roberts\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\nAn EMAP publication."},"MainText":"MACHINES: Spectrum 48/128/Plus 2/Plus 3/Amstrad\r\nSUPPLIER: Virgin\r\nPRICE: £7.95\r\nVERSIONS TESTED: Spectrum/Amstrad\r\n\r\nHeroes don't come more heroic than this. Dan Dare, clean-cut, square-jawed, stiff-upper-lipped, all British good guy who will never let you down.\r\n\r\nHe's the sort of chum you need in a tight corner - when the Mekon, evil scientific mastermind leader of the Treens, is threatening to overrun the Good Ship Earth with a genetically engineered race of Supertreens, for instance.\r\n\r\nThese Supertreens are kept in Plexiglass Life Support Systems throughout the four levels of the Mekon's spaceship. He must discover and explore all the levels, find all the Supertreens, sabotage their control boxes to activate the level destruct sequence.\r\n\r\nHowever, the destruct sequence starts from the very first moment Dan blasts the control box. And that means he only has limited time to destroy all the other controls and escape to the next level.\r\n\r\nIf you don't want to play the good guy, you can take on the character of the Mekon. He also must locate the Supertreens and then activate them. Dan Dare's arrival in the craft has activated the destruct sequence, so he - or it - is also up against time.\r\n\r\nThe Mekon's ship is like a huge maze, filled with Treen guards on jetbikes equipped with lasers, forcefields, lasers and, of course, your own space pilot pals.\r\n\r\nThe Mekon vessel is shown in cross-section the main features of which are:\r\n\r\nVentilation ducts - used to circulate air around the spacecraft and the air currents can be used to help your progress around. Of course, trying to move against the air flow is a little difficult.\r\n\r\nForce field - these seal off and protect areas of the craft. They are controlled by one of four forcefield generators.\r\n\r\nLasers - these laser cannons will rapidly drain your energy. Best to avoid them.\r\n\r\nAir lifts - used to deploy Treen guard squads only.\r\n\r\nArtificial gravity generators - although harmless they can make movement awkward.\r\n\r\nBlast doors - these doors will open when blasted. But they will re-close within a few seconds.\r\n\r\nForce field generator computers - these control current around the ship and can be destroyed.\r\n\r\nRefuse crushers - designed to remove waste products from the ship, the crushers are very dangerous to pass.\r\n\r\nIn a straight head to head (rather unfair, I know) I plump for the Spectrum version as the victor. It's colourful and - although at times it was a little difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad - it was more playable and I was able to get further into the game.\r\n\r\nThe Amstrad Dare, while quite nice to look at, felt a little \"dead\" on play.\r\n\r\nAlthough quite playable in fairly unoriginal way, I still feel Dan Dare and the Mekons as a concept has a lot more to offer than this game achieves. Will there be a Dan Dare III?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Boughton","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"A Treen bites the dust on the Amstrad."},{"Text":"Dan dares uncharted areas, again on the Spectrum."},{"Text":"Desperate measures for Dan on the Spectrum."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 3, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-21","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":117,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nAssistant Editor: Nik Wild\r\nSoftware Co-ordinator: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writer: Robin Hogg\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Robin Evans, John Gilbert, Robin Candy, Martin Coxhead, Mel Croucher, Martyn Lester, Mark Rothwell, Rob Steel, John Woods\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nDesign/Layout: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess/Film Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\n\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order\r\nCarol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSubscriptions\r\nDenise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow with colour origination taken care of by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCompetition Rules\r\nQThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of THE GAMES MACHINE. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Fran Mable a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into THE GAMES MACHINE - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©Newsfield Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.95\r\nCommodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £12.95\r\nAmstrad CPC Cassette only: £9.95\r\n\r\nMEEK 'N' MILD\r\n\r\nThe cleverest move Virgin ever made with the 1986 Dan Dare (apart from securing the licence in the first place to one of Britain's greatest hero characters), was to provide each of the popular 8-bit machines with its own discreet game, thus avoiding invidious comparison and ensuring that each was a success in its own right. Now, two years later, Dan's back in a second adventure against his bitterest enemy, the Mekon, from Virgin's in-house programming Treen-team, The Gang Of Five.\r\n\r\nOnce again the evil Mekon, aided by his Venusian Treens, has turned his baleful attention towards Earth and its Spacefleet forces. The attack is under way. Inside the Mekon's new and sophisticated battleship the little green horror' has mucked around with genetics to create a race of Supertreens.\r\n\r\nSupertreens, housed in plexiglass life support bubbles in embryonic form, are scattered around the battleship's four levels. The Mekon's plan is eject the bubbles from each level in turn - at which point the level self-destructs, providing the game with time limits - and scatter them into Earth's atmosphere, where presumably - the scenario does not make this clear - they will eventually land, grow into full-sized Supertreens and take over the planet.\r\n\r\nPlaying Dan Dare - spacepilot of the future, your objective is to explore the ship and destroy Supertreens when you find them. The countdown begins as soon as the first Supertreen control box is destroyed. Advancing a level can only be achieved when all Supertreens from the current level have been destroyed.\r\n\r\nBut if you prefer to be evil for the day, there is a second option to play the Mekon. The object is similar, with the important exception that you are releasing the Supertreen life bubbles to continue their evil mission, but the game is harder because Dare's incursion has triggered the destruct sequence, leaving with with much less time to complete each level and escape to safety.\r\n\r\nBoth characters are provided with the ubiquitous Mekontan jetcar which is tricky to control due to its high inertia. The Mekon has his supporting Treens for protection and offense, but Dan is not alone, a force of Spacefleet pilots has boarded the battleship with him. The laser crossfire, however, can become dangerously furious.\r\n\r\nThe continual effect of gravity, combined with the jetcar's inertia means that controlling it is tricky at first, and getting into tight spots can be frustrating. On the other hand, this in itself lends the game a first level of play, just mastering the machine and exploring the multi-layered decks of the ship's levels. It is probably best to get to grips with the ship's layout before attempting to k ill or rescue Supertreens because the time limit is tightly calculated.\r\n\r\nDan Dare II could have stood alone without the licence, but the Dan Dare characters help to provide an extra sense of depth to this fun blasting game. It should already be clear that Virgin have not followed their earlier scheme, and the Spectrum and Amstrad games, at least (the Commodore version is 'behind schedule), are identical in play except for the start screen positioning.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Dan Dare II makes a pleasing sequel, with plenty of appeal but somewhat less depth than the first one. The Spectrum version is a touch more playable than the Amstrad, mainly because the graphics (by Martin Wheeler who gave Virgin their first big hit with Sorcery) are a lot clearer, though not as immediately stunning. Colour has been well and liberally used without attribute problems and the sound FX are above average, even in 48K mode. A neat piece of programming with enough entertainment to make it a worthy purchase.","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Two Supertreen embryos (already dead) sit on their platform either side of Dan in the very colourful Spectrum version."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"...the Dan Dare characters help to provide an extra sense of depth to this fun blasting game.\""},{"Text":"AMSTRAD CPC\r\n\r\nOverall: 74%\r\n\r\nThe impressive graphics have one small drawback - the scenery tends to look very similar from deck to deck and room to room, making exits hard to find; otherwise the characters are detailed and well animated. The general sound FX are not significantly better than those on the Spectrum version, but the explosions are nice and thumpy. A good seek and destroy shoot-'em-up."},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64/128\r\n\r\nThe schedule having slipped, we will have to wait to see Dan Dare II on the Commodore, but Virgin say the gameplay elements will be identical to the other 8-bit versions."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"76%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]