[{"TitleName":"Di-Lithium Lift","Publisher":"Hewson Consultants Ltd","Author":"Simon Cobb","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0001392","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 4, May 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-04-19","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: Hewson Consultants\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code and BASIC\r\nAuthor: Simon Cobb\r\n\r\nWith an obsession verging almost on the pathological (not to say paranoid), Hewson Consultants are again urging us to our zappers to confront the menace of the egregious Seiddab. Having beaten us down in 3D Space Wars, invaded our planet in 3D Seiddab Attack, they've now gone and stolen our Di-Lithium crystals (and life's hell without a Di-Lithium crystal or two). These vital crystals have been placed in a vault guarded by four droids armed with lasers. You must break into the vault and scramble to get the crystals as the seconds tick by. So much for the scenario. how about the game?\r\n\r\nThe 'vault' is a 20 x 30 grid of small squares, character-sized, in fact. The four droids are tank-shaped objects which are situated on each of the four axes, firing inwards along the squares, so there's one on top, one on the bottom and one on either side. Each moves and fires independently, homing in on the line of squares occupied by your man.\r\n\r\nThe crystals are arranged in various patterns on the squares, the patterns change with each screen, and those containing diagonal patterns obviously make you work harder. Collecting is done quite simply by moving over the crystals. The droids move fast, and it is essential that you should not stay on a line for too long. At the corners, and in the most dangerous places therefore, are red crystals. If these are collected then the time limit is increased for the screen. The time indicator is situated at the bottom of the vault.\r\n\r\nThe program will crash if CAPS and BREAK are pressed at the same time.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: user-definable\r\nJoystick: most types via UDK\r\nKeyboard play: responsive\r\nUse of colour: average\r\nGraphics: small block characters, but very fast\r\nSound: good\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 3\r\nScreens: 7 with increasing difficulty","ReviewerComments":["Di-Lithium Lift is another version of Transversion, which was produced by Ocean. Comparisons are therefore inevitable. Di-Lithium Lift seems to me to be much faster, which is not necessarily a good thing, as Transversion's pace was deceptive, and anyway allowed you to get further into the game. On each of your lives in Transversion, you restarted collecting at the point you died - another factor which allowed you to get quite a way in quickly. In Di-Lithium Lift each fife starts out afresh with all the crystals back again. This makes it more frustrating. And, I must say, that on the whole I found Transversion's colour scheme a bit easier for playing. On the good side, Di-Lithium's graphics are very fast and smooth and there is an option for user-definable keys, which is essential with such a fast game.\r\r\nUnknown","Your task is to collect all the crystals on the grid. This is not at all easy because it's a race against time. To help there are the time crystals placed in the corners of the screen, but you can't get at them without getting shot. It's a very fast game, but that's as far as it goes. The game speeds up and slows down according to the pitch of the BEEP. I thought this was an impossible game to play. It looks very like Ocean's Transversion, but that was much more playable. \r\r\nUnknown","If you like a very fast, very simple game, then you may like Di-Lithium Lift. I say \"may\" because in my opinion the programmer has made the game too hard, stacking up the odds just that bit too much to make it very playable. There are seven screens, but after some hours of playing I haven't managed to get beyond screen 3. After a bit, this becomes frustrating in the bad sense of the word rather than the good arcade sense. Nevertheless, there are probably players who will find this game a challenge worth taking just because it is a tough one.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Fast and tough, perhaps too hard to be really addictive.","Page":"115","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Grids and bullets - some Di-Lithium needs a lift."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"61%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"59%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"61%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Big K Issue 3, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-20","Editor":"Tony Tyler","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tony Tyler\r\nAssisted By: Richard Burton\r\nContributors: Paul Walton (Features); Paul Rambali (Arcades); Andy Green (Technical); Nicky Xikluna; Steve Keaton; David Rimmer; Richard Taylor; Bernard Turner; David Ellis; David Eastbury; Tony Benyon\r\nArt/Design: Central Art Studio\r\nGroup Art Editor: Doug Church\r\nGroup Advert Controller: Luis Bartlett\r\nPublishing Director: John Purdie\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nTelephone: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising: Robin Johnson [redacted]\r\nFront Cover: Global Handshake by Ron Embleton\r\n\r\nPublished approximately on the 20th of each month by IPC Magazines Ltd. [redacted]. Monotone and colour origination by G.M. Litho Ltd [redacted]. Printed in England by Chase Web Offset, Cornwall. Sole Agents: Australia and New Zealand, Gordon& Gotch (A/sia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. BIG K is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold or hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated constitute or any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. IPC MAGAZINES 1984."},"MainText":"GRIDSTROLLER BLUES\r\n\r\nMAKER: Hewson Consultants\r\nMACHINE: Spectrum\r\nFORMAT: cassette\r\nPRICE: £7.95\r\n\r\nSounds very scientific. But, like Ocean's rather more playable Transversion, this swipes the design idea of Gridrunner and adds different mechanics.\r\n\r\nIgnoring the low-budget Moorcock-style synopsis that adorns one of Hewson's usual awful packages, your fingers control a small fellow who zips over a variety of patterned grids collecting crystals and (you hope) dodging the droid cannons that guess your next move with alarming accuracy.\r\n\r\nIn fact so astute is the opposition here that it took superhuman efforts to get to even the second screen. Not only are there some weird fluctuations in speed, there's a time limit on each of four brutish and short lives.\r\n\r\nBland graphics offer a functional display. The flashing bonus crystals are almost impossible to score off, and the whole game - playable really only with a joystick - is very difficult, offering little incentive to become more expert.\r\n\r\nAddictive in a pointless way. Piffling sound and a hall of fame are minor extras.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"27","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Richard Cook","Score":"1","ScoreSuffix":"/3"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"1/3","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 7, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-17","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Illustration: Pat Weedon\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublisher: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nPublishing Secretary: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Mike Caroll\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Coraline Turner\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K\r\nCONTROL: Keys, Kemp\r\nFROM: Hewson Consultants, £5.95\r\n\r\nRush about a grid clearing dots and avoiding cross-fire from four enemy laser bases on the perimeter. Very fast action in a game written by the man who brought you Grid Patrol from Lothlorien. Di-Lithium Lift is slightly more playable, but if you must shoot something, buy Grid Patrol instead.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"59","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Cooke","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]