[{"TitleName":"Dimension Destructors","Publisher":"Artic Computing Ltd","Author":"Jon Ritman","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0001394","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 2, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-23","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Artic\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: J. Ritman\r\n\r\nSuddenly from the outer reaches of space, a dot appears on the scanner of your fighter craft. As you tear forward, the dots grow until you can clearly see them in 3D form. Prepare for combat! Your trembling finger reaches for the firing button. You pull across to avoid an enemy fighter as it whistles past you in its kamikaze attack.\r\n\r\nThe inlay intro for this game is quite prosaic in comparison with many, and becomes justified when you see the graphics. Dimension Destructors is a sort of 'Battle Zone' game in space, and employs three dimensional graphics very reminiscent of Artic's earlier 3D Combat Zone. The object is quite simple, use the directional keys to line up the approaching enemy fighters (hollow pyramid and diamond shapes) in the central cross hairs and then zap them with your laser. This fires twin bolts of energy which converge a distance ahead in the cross hairs.\r\n\r\nThe title card is very bright, well drawn, and the credit card and points/hiscore table is very effectively done in scrolling letters which run off into the distance in perspective, rather like the titles for Star War movies.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: QWERTY up, ASDFGH down, O=left, P=right, bottom row fires\r\nJoystick: Sinclair, Kempston, Fuller\r\nKeyboard play: very responsive and easy to control\r\nUse of colour simple\r\nGraphics: effective 3D, good title cards\r\nSound: reasonable and continuous\r\nSkill levels: gets harder\r\nLives: 4 shields, 5 lives","ReviewerComments":["The graphics are fairly simple but well animated in 3D and the enemy explode into chunks battle zone style. I found it quite exciting to play and I think it's one of Artic's best releases yet. The titles and hi-score are very impressive, if a little slow.\r\nUnknown","At last, a good 3D shoot em up - shame you move so slowly! The various enemy craft have different flight tactics. If you're good enough you will find out where the enemy fighters come from. The graphics are fair to good. It's difficult to play and in the end I found it a little bit boring, probably due to its difficulty.\r\nUnknown","Perhaps the lack of a landscape makes this game less spectacular than Artic's 3D Combat Zone, but it is much faster to play and so more fun. The graphics are simple and somewhat colourless as you might expect with hollow 3D, but they work very effectively. The control response is very good, one of the easiest cockpit view games to control I've ever seen. Very playable, but perhaps not massively addictive.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: above average to good","Page":"74,75","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"61%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","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: Artic, 48K\r\n£5.95 (2)\r\nAuthor: J Ritman\r\n\r\n3D Combat Zone in space describes this game quite well. The pyramidal-shaped enemy craft form in clusters and swoop towards you in very effective hollow 3D. You line up the onrushing enemy in your sights and blast them to kingdom come with your twin-firing lasers. The graphics aren't very colourful, but they work very well and the ship control is pin-sharp in its responsiveness. Top marks for the Star Wars like intro and titles. Exciting to play but perhaps not massively addictive. Reasonable control keys, joystick: Sinclair 2, Fuller, Kempston. Gets progressively harder the longer you play, rated above average to good, overall CRASH rating 68% m/c.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"66","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 3, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":176,"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\nIllustrations: Mark Watkinson, Andy Bylo, Tony Hannaford\r\nPhotography: Ian McKinnel, Chris Bell, Tony Sleep\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill, Louise Hedges\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 48K\r\nJOYSTICK: Optional\r\nCATEGORY: Arcade\r\nSUPPLIER: Artic\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nThis one has an amazingly unoriginal theme. You control a space ship and your aim is to destroy attacking alien craft before they hit you.\r\n\r\nBut don't switch off just yet. The novelty here is that you're presented with a view from the cockpit and you actually see the alien ships getting bigger as they zoom towards you.\r\n\r\nNow that 3D is all the rage, Dimension Destructors isn't a bad effort. It takes a while to get used to, but you do eventually start to feel you're inside a space-craft.\r\n\r\nI found myself ducking once or twice when the attackers flew a bit close overhead.\r\n\r\nHowever, the amount of memory needed to simulate 3D imposes considerable constraints. The attacking craft are simple line drawings and you don't get anything like the variety of attack waves possible in 2D games.\r\n\r\nVerdict? it's different, but I think you could get bored with it fairly quickly.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"42,43","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David Janda","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ease Of Use","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 12, Apr 1984","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-29","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":156,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Fiona Eldridge\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nAdvertising Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Beverley McNeill\r\nCopy Controller: Ann McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\r\nChief Executive: T J Connell\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 the Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1984"},"MainText":"Dimension Destructors was written by the author of Tank Battle, a 3D Tanks game, which rather suffered from a severe lack of speed. These 3D techniques have been harnessed in a more adventurous project in Dimension Destructors. Apparently, you are in the lonely but peaceful reaches of the vast unexplored regions of outer space. Suddenly, a dot appears on the scanner screen of your flight craft. As you thrust forward the dot grows until it is a 3D space craft. With nowhere to run and some unexplained reason for believing that the occupant wishes to destroy you, you can either move to avoid it or attempt to hit it with your laser. These alien ships are reasonably tame - they only try to collide with you head-on. As time goes on, more vicious aliens which actually fire at you join in the fight.\r\n\r\nDimension Destructors is compatible with Sinclair, Kempston and Fuller joysticks which is a definite bonus as a joystick greatly enhances the game. Why it is called Dimension Destructors I do not know - where are you destroying time or any other dimension? Nowhere in the instructions/story does it say why the aliens want to exterminate you: aliens do seem to get a very rough deal as far as computer games are concerned! If we are not careful someone will start an ALF, Alien Liberation Front and go around letting all those poor green monsters out of Space Invaders machines!\r\n\r\nVerdict: The 3D graphics are some of the best I've seen (bar those of Rommels Revenge and QS's new Tank Battle game). They are fast and reasonably smooth and the whole game is definitely hectic. Though easy to play at the outset, it gets harder and harder as your ability increases. The concept of the game is simple and slightly similar to one or two of the Atari games but overall it is excellent. Dimension Destructors is highly addictive - a game which must be played \"just one more time\" and very good value.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"102","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"James Walsh","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Lasting Appeal","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Use Of Machine","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 41, Dec 1983","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1983-12-21","Editor":"Cyndy Miles","TotalPages":98,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CHARACTER SET\r\n\r\nEditorial\r\nEditor: Cyndy Miles\r\nDeputy Editor: Geof Wheelwright\r\nManaging Editor: Peter Worlock\r\nSub-Editors: Harriet Arnold, Leah Batham\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writers: Ralph Bancroft, Sandra Grandison\r\nHardware Editor: Ian Scales\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPrograms Editor: Ken Garroch\r\nListings Editor: Wendie Pearson\r\nEditor's Assistant: Nickie Robinson\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: David Robinson\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Floyd Sayers\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Pat Dolan\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Nic Jones\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Mark Satchell\r\nSales Executives: Christian McCarthy, Marie-Therese Bolger, Julia Dale, Dik Veenman, Alison Hare, Deborah Quinn\r\nProduction Manager: Eva Haggis\r\nMicroshop Production: Nikki Payne\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Jenny Dunne\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper\r\n\r\nCover photo by Jay Myrdal\r\nHelmet by Lewis Leathers"},"MainText":"NAME: Dimension Destructors\r\nSYSTEM: 48K Spectrum\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Artic Computing, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nLANGUAGE: Machine code\r\nOTHER VERSIONS: Note\r\nOUTLETS: Mail order and Spectrum dealers.\r\n\r\nDIMENSION OF DEATH\r\n\r\nThree dimensional games seem to be all the rage at the moment. Artic, having already published a very good tank battle program, throw another 3D hat into the ring with Dimension Destructors, an impressive 'coming-at-you' space saga.\r\n\r\nOBJECTIVES\r\n\r\nAccustomed as you are to boldly going where no-one has gone before, you are not surprised to see dots appear on your scanner. As your ship hurtles onward, the dots grow larger until they are plainly visible as alien spacecraft, bent on destroying you. Swooping and soaring, they grow ever larger as they rush toward you.\r\n\r\nIN PLAY\r\n\r\nThe opening title and credits roll up and away into the distance in Star Wars fashion, thus getting you into the appropriate mood for battle against insuperable odds. Against a star-filled backdrop, several yellow spots appear, weaving in and out of a white, hollow, centred X; your laser cannon sight. While the aliens are far off, they appear as small wire-frame triangles, swiftly expanding in size as they race toward you.\r\n\r\nFiring your cannon sends a burst of laser beams toward the centre of your sight, destroying any enemy craft caught in it. As the enemy get nearer, their dimensions expand realistically and alarmingly. By diving, rising or swinging your sight around, you might be lucky enough to see the enemy go hurtling past, above, below or to one side of you. Make sure you're sitting on the floor when you play this game - on several occasions. I nearly fell off my chair while trying to pull hard to port to evade a rapidly approaching space ship, so realistic is the three-dimensional effect.\r\n\r\nPolishing off the yellow pyramids only serves to annoy the aliens. Soon, more traditionally styled space fighters are on their way, together with more pyramids, though these are a different colour to the first lot. If your ship is hit, one of the shields is destroyed; this is manifested by what appears to be, anachronistically, a cracked windscreen (Earth technology at its best).\r\n\r\nWhen all your shields have been hit, your heroism is at an end.\r\n\r\nVERDICT\r\n\r\nRealistic, perspective graphics which make for an exciting space romp. Health warning: wear a seat belt while playing it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"72","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Chappell","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Lasting Appeal","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Use Of Machine","Score":"5/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall Value","Score":"4/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]