[{"TitleName":"Don't Panic","Publisher":"Firebird Software Ltd","Author":"Andrew Rogers, Martin Craig","YearOfRelease":"1985","ZxDbId":"0001441","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 18, Jul 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-06-27","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Reviewer: Angus Ryall\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone, John Minson\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £14.50 post included (UK Mainland); Europe: 12 issues £21.50 post included. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nMICRONET:\r\nYou can talk to CRASH via Micronet. Our MBX is 105845851\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Firebird\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRetail Price: £2.50\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: M Rogers, M Craig\r\n\r\nNow here's a very simple little task for you. You are in control of a droid stranded in some far and distant alien cargo hold which is littered with Teddy bears. The cuddlies are desperately needed on Earth to satisfy the world Teddy bear shortage.\r\n\r\nThe game is played over four platforms, one above the other, each of which would be continuous but for the gap that your spaceship fits into. Elevators are placed at regular intervals allowing movement up or down between the platforms. The droid moves the bears along the plat - form by firing his blaster at them, so making them chunter along until they fall over the edge into the spaceship's hold. All pretty simple so far... one little problem is that the bears are contaminated and must be purified with a burst of blaster before the droid can touch them. Easy if you remember to administer a quick blast before passing them. The droid can only manage to move two bears at a time otherwise forward progress will be very slow indeed and speed is important because of a little green alien which bears more than a passing resemblance to Tyrannosaurus Rex (the prehistoric version, not the seventies glam group). This chap seems to have all the cards stacked in his favour, well it is his planet after all. You can't shoot or outrun him, the only advantage being that you can change platforms by more than one level at a time (if you're near the lift) and the alien can only hop up or down one level at a time, but even so staying out of the monster's way while trying to load the ship is far from easy.\r\n\r\nWhen a batch of Teddies have been loaded into your space craft it will rise up a level. The craft will take off for the next screen after it has received a load from each platform. The following screens are progressively harder with the introduction of more monsters but these additional monsters can be disposed of by knocking them off the edge.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: redefinable\r\nJoystick: any\r\nKeyboard play: no problems\r\nUse of colour: limited\r\nGraphics: better than average\r\nSound: limited but at least average\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 5\r\nScreens:","ReviewerComments":["Don't Panic had me panicking, it must be one of the most infuriating games that I have played this year. You get a nice long line of Teddy bears ready to push into your space ship when out of no where a monster appears and starts chasing you. I feel that this game is totally unfair on the player, you are provided with a lazer that doesn't work on the alien who you can't run away from because he runs faster than you. Don't Panic has nice big graphics which are well animated and scroll well. The sound is okay, being mainly spot effects and a sort of ticking noise from the droid. I enjoyed playing this game until I reached the point at which I could go no further after that it was just very frustrating.\r\r\nUnknown","'Don't Panic' is a simple game in both design and concept, and it's pretty hard to load up enough teddies to get your rocket off the first screen. The Green Monster is a real menace, and I'm only glad that his mates don't wander around the streets of Ludlow! Overall good value for the price, but l didn't find it terribly addictive.\r\r\nUnknown","Just what have Firebird got against Teddies then? Pushing the cuddly little beasts around and hurling them off platforms into a rocket fuel making plant potters. At first glance the game seems overly simple, but once I started playing it I found I was hooked. That green monster is infuriating - it would have been nice to have been able to take the odd shot at it and slow it down or something. As it is, the Green Meanie tends to follow you round, and appear just when you thought you'd cracked it and got a good herd of teddies lined up for the push. A bit of strategy is needed to get anywhere on this game, it's no good just aimlessly pushing bears in the right direction. I think I'll be playing it for a while yet. Don't Panic? I hardly stopped.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A better than average game.","Page":"22,23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Blast the teddies before the monster gets you."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 17, Aug 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-07-18","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":66,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cock-up\r\nArt Editor: Phoebe Evans\r\nDeputy Editor: Rocky Horror Shaw\r\nProduction Editor: Louise Cook\r\nArt Assistant: Martin Dixon\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: Stephen Adams, Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis, Ross Holman, Mike Leaman, Toni Baker, Dougie Bern, Chris Cockayne, Paul Woof, Iolo Davidson, Tony Samuels, Chris Wood\r\nAdvertisement Manager: David Baskerville\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Chris Talbot\r\nManaging Editor: Roger Munford\r\nArt Director: Jimmy Egerton\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Chris Robur\r\nPublisher: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [redacted]\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 Spectrum ©1985 Felden productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Spectrum is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"DON'T PANIC\r\nFirebird\r\n£2.50\r\n\r\nDave: How many games seem to be centred around the goings-on of a loading bay? Are they really such interesting places? Probably not ... but then again, the games they inspire aren't that interesting either!\r\n\r\nDon't Panic has you controlling a droid working in the loading bay, and it's your job to get it zooming around the screen loading odd bits and pieces in a rocket; you do this by purifying the screen with your laser and then pushing them into the hold with further blasts from your laser. Which all sounds easy, until someone mentions the indestructible alien that's hanging around to spoil all your fun.\r\n\r\nThe goods you've to pack on to the rocket are all good fun, such as poisonous Teddy Bears and so on, but overall the game is quite frustrating. The fact that the alien can not only move faster than you, but also manage to deal out death with astonishing accuracy, just made the whole affair rather boring after a while.\r\n\r\nArcade aces will probably find it a reasonable challenge, but there isn't enough variety here to make it a classic.","ReviewerComments":["This ain't a bad game at all. Good graphics and a simple idea make for a game that's compulsive and tricky.\r\nRoss Holman\r\n3/5 HIT","And I thought this would have something to do with Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy. How wrong I was! Still, it's not a bad little number... pretty piccies anyway.\r\nRoger Willis\r\n3/5 MISS"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"45","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Dave Nicholls","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"},{"Name":"Ross Holman","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 HIT"},{"Name":"Roger Willis","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 45, Jul 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-06-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nStaff Writer: Seamus St. John\r\nDesigners: Brian Cookman, Sylvia Wells\r\nProduction Editor: Mary Morton\r\nAdventure Writer: Keith Campbell\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nPublicity: Marcus Rich\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Marcus Jeffery\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Bernard Dugdale\r\nAdvertising Executive: Sean Brennan\r\nProduction Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND 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 AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND 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.\r\n\r\nPrinted by Severn Valley Press. Typeset by In-Step Ltd.\r\n\r\nCover: Courtesy of Domark"},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum\r\nSUPPLIER: Firebird\r\nPRICE: £2.50\r\n\r\nLoad a space cargo vessel with items scattered around a multi-level loading bay using a droid.\r\n\r\nAn easy task until it comes face to face with the monster of the bay who happens to feel a little peckish. To complicate matters some of the cargo has been contaminated with a deadly toxin.\r\n\r\nBut don't panic! You can beat these deadly foes with your decontamination laser.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"93","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"THE PRICE IS RIGHT\r\n\r\nBuying computer games can be an expensive business. Some can cost anything up to £14.\r\n\r\nTo buy all the latest titles as they come onto the market would cost a small fortune. And that's beyond the pocket of most people.\r\n\r\nSo it's no wonder that software companies have started producing a range of games costing no more than a couple of pounds.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, besides being cheap, some were very nasty and a waste of money. It seemed far better to save up and buy a top price game.\r\n\r\nBut such is the potential of the market that the quality of the games has improved while the prices have been kept low.\r\n\r\nSo Computer & Video Games thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the current budget games on the market from software houses.\r\n\r\nFirebird, British Telecom's software company, is now in the process of updating its Silver catalogue which was launched in October 1984 with great success, with all the games selling for £2.50.\r\n\r\nStar of the original 20 titles was undoubtedly Booty on the Spectrum 48k and Commodore 64 which, claims Firebird, has sales now in excess of 100,000. It's now being converted to the Amstrad and should be available by late summer.\r\n\r\nIn Booty, Jim the cabin boy faces death by drowning or at the hands of the Ghost Pirate as he searches through the hold of the Black Galleon in search of treasure.\r\n\r\nAnother favourite is Gogo the Ghost on the Commodore 64 which has, believe it or not, 150 frames of haunted happenings.\r\n\r\nNew games shortly to be introduced into the Silver range are Microcosm for the BBC B, Subsunk for the Commodore 64 and Don't Panic for the 16k and 48k Spectrum.\r\n\r\nMastertronic, formed in April 1984, now claims to be the brand leader in budget games - its extensive range sells for just £1.99 each.\r\n\r\nIn its first 12 months of trading, Mastertronic says it has audited figures of sales for two million games.\r\n\r\nNew developments for 1985 in the £1.99 range include two semi-educational games in its Mistertronic titles - Make Music with Mistertronic and Type Rope - aimed at the six to 11 age range.\r\n\r\nEarlier this year, Atlantis Software launched three games under its new Atlantis Gold label, selling at £2.99 each.\r\n\r\nThey were the Dungeons and Dragons-style Adventure Velnor's Lair for the Commodore 64 and Nicotine Nightmare and Self Destruct, both on the Spectrum 48k.\r\n\r\nThe last two have proved so popular that Atlantis is in the process of converting them for the Amstrad - a move which again points to the growing popularity of the machine.\r\n\r\nMike Cole, of Atlantis, says: \"We believe in the Amstrad as the next thing to come. It's a lovely machine. We will be supporting it.\"\r\n\r\nBeing launched this spring is The Sparkler range of games from Creative Sparks at £2.50.\r\n\r\nSandy Mackenzie, of Creative Sparks, says: \"There is a a need to supply good quality software at prices affordable to kids\".\r\n\r\nThe company's decision to produce cheap software was prompted to a great extent by the large number of excellent games sent in by amateur writers.\r\n\r\n\"By promoting games in the budget range,\" says Sandy, \"we are opening the industry to new talent, and also serving the interest of games buyers by publishing good games at reasonable prices. After all, low prices doesn't have to mean low quality.\"\r\n\r\nSoit seems that pocket-money power is being recognised at last and computer star wars could soon become computer price wars.\r\n\r\nAbout time, too!"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 20, Aug 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-07-25","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\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 Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1985"},"MainText":"DON'T PANIC is a variation of the Jet Pac/Astronut game where you have to load a spaceship with items found on various levels of the playing screen. I found this one quite addictive and very playable (So did I - Ed's Assistant).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"74","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]