[{"TitleName":"Flying Shark","Publisher":"Firebird Software Ltd","Author":"Dominic Robinson, Drew Northcott, John Cumming, Steve Turner, David John Rowe","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0001813","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: Firebird\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: Dominic Robinson and John Cumming of Graftgold\r\n\r\nIn Firebird's latest Taito coin-op conversion, the player gets the chance to take to the skies in the Flying Shark, a World War II biplane, and fly a solo mission into enemy territory.\r\n\r\nThe action is played over a vertically scrolling backdrop, with squadrons of enemy fighters flying into attack from the top of the screen. The ground is littered with gun emplacements, and tanks and ships attempt to blast you out of the sky with a volley of well-aimed shots.\r\n\r\nThe Flying Shark is equipped with a double-barrelled gun and an unlimited supply of ammunition to blast the enemy. The firepower is increased when the floating symbol dropped occasionally by the last aeroplane in a squadron is collected. To supplement the guns are a limited supply of smart bombs which destroy everything on screen.\r\n\r\nThere are five levels to conquer, with further levels including confrontations above the high seas against missile-spitting battle ships and patrol boats.\r\n\r\nThe player starts off with a fleet of three planes, and extra ones are earned at 50,000 and 150,000 points, and for every 150,000 points thereafter.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: extremely detailed monochrome objects with smoothly-scrolling background.\r\nSound: effective gunshot and explosion noises\r\nOptions: definable keys","ReviewerComments":["Flying Shark is certainly a fast shoot-'em-up, and boats plenty of action - but I did find the small playing area and the monochromatic graphics a little off-putting. Another annoying point is the fact that the attack patterns never vary from game to game, though to be fair there's far too many to memorise. Still, if you like shoot-'em-ups, give Flying Shark a go.\r\nBen Stone\r\n82%","Authors Cumming and Robinson must have rattled this one off at a fair pace! It seems like only yesterday that these two were coming out with 'original' games at Hewson. They may have lost their originality at Firebird, but they've still come out with a superbly playable and terribly addictive game. The action is fast and the graphics attractive, and the only thing lacking is a decent tune. The Graftgold/Firebird combination seems to have worked.\r\nPaul Sumner\r\n85%","I've never seen the arcade game, but if this conversion is anything to go by, the coin-op must be something special. Firebird have put together a marvellous game, which looks and plays very much like 1942, with the objective being to advance as far forward as possible and shoot every object that moves. One minor annoyance is that plane is the same colour as the surroundings, but nevertheless that niggle doesn't stop Flying Shark being one of the best arcade conversions I've ever played.\r\nDave Hawkes\r\n87%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Another great shoot-'em-up from the Robinson/Cumming partnership.","Page":"20","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"82","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"85","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Dave Hawkes","Score":"87","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'Another great shoot-'em-up': Flying Shark."},{"Text":"'Extremely detailed objects on a smoothly scrolling background'."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"81%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"85%","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":"Firebird\r\n£7.95\r\nReviewer: Mike Gerrard\r\n\r\nBy jove I enjoyed that. In fact I enjoyed it so much my joystick's all hot and sticky. I'll have to let it cool down before I dare go back and do it again. Do what? Why, play Flying Shark of course - what did you think I was talking about?\r\n\r\nI'll gather my wits while I write this review. One... two... three. Right, that's my wits gathered in, now on with the comments. Flying Shark is Firebird's coin-op conversion of Taito's arcade favourite, which I haven't seen 'cos I stay here writing reviews while everyone else goes down the arcades to check out what's happening. Trouble is, they never come back and with games like this around I can see why.\r\n\r\nIt's a vertical scrolling shoot-'em-up in the style of earlier raves of mine like Slap Fight and Moon Strike where the action's non-stop. You're a lone fighter pilot and you have to blast your way through five levels of enemy forces, with a quick breather when you touch down on the runways in-between levels. That's if you make it that far, of course. The first level is mainly over jungle, with tanks and gun emplacements on the ground, and planes buzzing round in the air like manic mozzies. Your fire-power's pretty hot, however, and I do like these games where you can belt your way to a decent score right from the off rather than being wiped out in the first ten seconds. Or maybe it's just the way I jiggle my joystick.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the first level there's a massive tank which took me about a dozen games and a lot of joystick-jiggling to get past. I was then confronted with action over the oceans where the planes and gun-boats and battle ships soon converted my Flying Shark into the sea-bound variety.\r\n\r\nOn your side, you've got three lives, with each life having three smart bombs. These wipe out all the enemy on the screen when used, as smart bombs should. There are bonus bombs to be earned in the shape of letter B's that you might sometimes find under a wiped-out tank or elsewhere, and you can also increase your fire-power by flying into one of the circling S's that appear occasionally. The first of these gives you a double-barrel blast, then a triple-blast, and so on... though I've never picked up more than two before being deaded. If you manage to wipe out all the enemy on the screen while your '1-Up' symbol flashes, you can also gain bonus points, and you've got to make it to 50,000 before you get your first extra plane.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are great, very smooth, and it's almost worth crashing into an enemy plane just to see the way you both twirl down to the ground. Well, it's worth doing once. Programming's by Dominic Robinson, and the music by Steve Turner is so terrifically fabby-groovy-cool it seems a shame to start the game sometimes. You can use joysticks in profusion or the redefinable keyboard in one or two-player mode. A neat little touch is the way the high-score table remembers your initials so you don't have to retype them each and every time. And that's the end of the news. This is Mike Gerrard, Your Sinclair, with a sticky joystick.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Flying Shark has to be one of the most addictive shoot 'em ups ever. It certainly made my joystick sticky!","Page":"67","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Gerrard","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 70, Jan 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Chris Jenkins, Tony Dillon, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nSales Executive: Steve Prescott\r\nClassified Sales/Production: Alison Morton\r\nPublisher's Secretary: Debbie Pearson\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Richard Winnington\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Firebird\r\nAuthor: Dominic Robinson, John Cumming\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tamara Howard\r\n\r\nI approached Flying Shark with a certain amount of trepidation. It's been a long time coming and it suffered a change of programmer halfway through. Usually things don't look hopeful in this situation.\r\n\r\nExcept that in this case the replacement programmers just happen to be two of the best programmers currently working on the Spectrum: Dominic Robinson (Uridium and Zynaps) and Steve Turner (Quazatron and Ranarama).\r\n\r\nNo surprise than that Flying Shark is a truly wonderful conversion.\r\n\r\nThose who have played the coin-op will doubtless be muttering in the corner, protesting that it's too hard a game, things move around far too quickly and how on earth could anyone do anything like that on the Spectrum. How indeed? Well, Firebird has managed it!\r\n\r\nFor those of you who don't know, Flying Shark is a sophisticated top-to-bottom scrolling shoot-'em-up a la Lightforce, involving a little biplane and the most incredible amount of enemy fighters, tanks and ships.\r\n\r\nYou just keep going and shooting, picking up bonuses and improving your fire-power, all the better to shoot more things. So what makes it so special?\r\n\r\nIt's brilliantly done, that's what.\r\n\r\nThe coin-op is fast and furious action all the way. Things just keep hurtling themselves towards you, and it's a case of constant pressure on the Fire button. The Spectrum conversion is extraordinarily accurate and keeps up the same pressure, with the waves coming at you in the same patterns, and bonuses appearing in the same places. The quality of scrolling - in particular - is very fine.\r\n\r\nTo collect a bonus you first have to shoot out the planes in a special wave. In the original, these were always red, but in the conversion they're yellow - hardly a serious detraction from the original. Your bonus, and extra weapon, new smart bomb, extra thousand points must them be picked up. Extra weapons are tricky things. They jig about the screen, flying off the edge and re-emerging, and it's perfectly possible to miss them altogether. Everything else, thankfully, stays still.\r\n\r\nOff-screen movement is an interesting extra. The coin-op sort of scrolled horizontally a bit too, as well as the serious vertical scrolling bits. So you get an extra playing area to each side as well. Although you can't actually see what's going on at the sides, it is possible to move right off the screen, and then reappear in glowing triumph, having just mangled a coupla tanks.\r\n\r\nTanks? Yup, tanks. As well as the planes, there are tanks and ships to contend with too.\r\n\r\nWhich brings us on (rather neatly I thought) to the question of space. Obviously, you're up in the air, and the tanks are down on the ground. And the feeling of the space between the two is brilliantly done. Subtle shadows beneath the treetops give an impression of depth, and the way things move underneath each other creates a real feeling of height.\r\n\r\nOnly one gripe. Everything is monochrome - that's perfectly understandable. But does it have to be yellow? It does pall after a while. Couldn't we have had the levels in different colours? But I liked the red flashing screen as the smart bombs exploded and I'm also a fan of the Steve Turner music which sounds like an old New Order track!\r\n\r\nI can't tell you how much I love Flying Shark. Well I'm doing it now, but it's just great. It'll keep you hanging on the edge of your seat.\r\n\r\nIf you're looking for originality, it's not going to do a lot for you. But if you want a fast, difficult faithful conversion, go for it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Marvellous conversion that loses none of the speed, difficulty or excitement of the original. An absolute Classic treat.","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Classic","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tamara Howard","Score":"10","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PROGRAMMERS\r\n\r\nDominic Robinson did most of the coding. Softography: Uridium (Hewson, 1986), Zynaps (Hewson, 1987).\r\n\r\nJohn Cumming was the man behind the FS's graphics. He has previously worked in the C64.\r\n\r\nSteve Turner contributed the soundtrack. Softography: Avalon (Hewson, 1984), Dragontorc (Hewson, 1985), Astroclone (Hewson, 1985), Quazatron (Hewson, 1986), Ranarama (Hewson, 1987)."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"10/10","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":"Is it a Firebird? No, it's a bi-plane...\r\n\r\nBi-planes are not exactly state-of-the-art aerial fighting machines and certainly not the obvious choice for combat against the overwhelming odds found in Firebird's second coin-op conversion Flying Shark.\r\n\r\nIt's a vertically scrolling shoot-em up in which you must fly your trusty if ancient biplane through five levels of continual bombardment from other aeroplanes as well as tanks and boats. Every so often some beefier opponents will loom up behind you and you must destroy these before they reach the top of the screen, otherwise they go into \"berserker' mode and really give you what-for.\r\n\r\nThe enemy attack in waves and as you're only armed with a front firing gun, their sheer numbers can prove overwhelming. Never give up hope though because extra firepower is available if you manage to shoot a wave of aeroplanes and catch the resulting flashing square. Manage this twice and your firepower is increased threefold making your job slightly easier. You also have three smart bombs (initially) but you have to go easy on these if you want to survive to the end of the level.\r\n\r\nAlternatively, at the end of a wave, you may be lucky enough to grab an extra thousand points, or even a bonus life to add to the three you start off with.\r\n\r\nTake some elements from Moonstrike, throw in a bit of 1942, add a pinch of Lightforce and you'll have some idea of Flying Shark - incredibly frustrating, playable and addictive.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Andy Smith\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nC64/128, £8.95cs, £12.95dk, Imminent\r\nSpec, £7.95cs, Out Now\r\nAms, £8.95cs, £14.95dk, Dec/Jan 88\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 70/100\r\n1 hour: 80/100\r\n1 day: 90/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 50/100\r\n1 year: 30/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Playability with teeth!","Page":"42","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Smith","Score":"893","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Tally-ho! Biggles never had it this tough - but then Biggles never starred in a Firebird coin-op conversion. You're half-way through the second level, over-flying an aircraft carrier, which has plenty of death-dealing hardware to welcome you with."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nWith so much ground detail it can be a little difficult to see the enemies bullets - sometimes you're left wondering what hit you. Sound is limited to spot effects (naff) and the odd tune (good) but that doesn't detract from the games sheer playability."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"893/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 76, Feb 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-16","Editor":"Eugene Lacey","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"C+VG TEAM\r\n\r\nEditor: Eugene Lacey\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesly Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Steve Donoghue, Matthew Woodley\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Clive Pembridge\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSenior Advertisement Executive: Katherine Lee\r\nAd Production: Lora Clark\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nCover: Ocean Software\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 106,571"},"MainText":"MACHINES: Spectrum/CBM 64/Amstrad/Atari ST\r\nSUPPLIER: Firebird\r\nPRICE: Spectrum (£7.95)/CBM/Amstrad cass and Disk (£8.95/£12.95)/Atari ST (£19.95)\r\nVERSIONS TESTED: CBM 64/Spectrum\r\n\r\nTaito's Flying Shark may be hot from the arcades but Firebird's conversion is really only lukewarm. Somehow it just fails to come alive. The shark has lost its bite.\r\n\r\nHowever, if you've never played the coin-op, you won't know what you're missing.\r\n\r\nNow it's own up time. I've never been the greatest Spectrum fan. The games have always suffered when compared to those on the Commodore 64. But I found Flying Shark much more playable on the Speccie than the 64. I was able to get much further into the game. Strange but true.\r\n\r\nIn both games you, as the lone pilot, take off from an aircraft carrier, armed with an endless supply of bullets and a few bombs to battle through five levels of planes, tanks, gun emplacements patrol and battleships.\r\n\r\nYou need quick reactions to blast those pesky pilots out of the air. Hitting the space bar enables you to drop smart bombs which can wipe out a whole screen of opposition. But you only have a limited supply, although you can pick up fresh supplies.\r\n\r\nThis game is all about scoring. By blasting the yellow squadron Out of the sky you get 1000 points. Destroying the red planes you get extra firepower if you can pick up the symbol.\r\n\r\nWiping out the blue planes gives you the chance of an extra life.\r\n\r\nAnd that's basically the game. It's ever onwards into the wide blue yonder. Finger on the fire button.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"35","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Boughton","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"C64 SCORES\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nSound: 7/10\r\nValue: 7/10\r\nPlayability: 6/10"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"8/10","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: £7.95\r\nCommodore 64 Cassette: £8.95, Diskette: £12.95\r\n\r\nA NIP IN THE AIR\r\n\r\nFirebird's conversion of the arcade hit has a first Telecom Soft appearance by Dominic Robinson (ex-Hewson), as the Graftgold programmer who did the Spectrum conversion, while Catalyst Coders took care of it for the Commodore. The packaging confuses by its (excellent David Rowe) picture of a World War II Kittyhawk aeroplane, when the game involves World War I bi-planes. Never mind, the story tells of a one-man fight through hell and licensing deals from Taito arcade machines.\r\n\r\nThis is a respectable rendition of the original vertically scrolling Taito coin-op, which basically pits a single player against hordes of other fighter planes, tanks, guns and seaborne craft killing everything that flies or scrolls along the ground towards you.\r\n\r\nFlying low over enemy territory (which could be Japan, but is probably a fantasy land!), the objective is to get through all five levels of increasing difficulty, learning the strategies required to survive.\r\n\r\nExtra weaponry is collected - a la Nemesis - as the game progresses and dependent on the amount of enemies shot - doubled firepower and a wider field of fire are two earlier additions. Destroying an entire squadron of yellow planes earns 1000 bonus points, destroying the red squadron provides extra fire power through a collectible symbol, and blue squadrons give an additional plane.\r\n\r\nLittle more than an out-and-out scrolling shoot-'em-up - maybe what Elite's 1942 should have resembled last Christmas - Flying Shark does not attempt to innovate over past shoot-'em-ups, but represents some of the best around. And it is a good conversion, if a little tricky to get to grips with.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"As you would expect from Dominic Robinson, the Spectrum Flying Shark, is a fine and very playable conversion. Although the playing area is monochromatic, the drawing is so highly detailed, using effective shading to highlight the different terrain, that it wins out. A problem with other mono scrolling shoot-'em-ups, that of the bullets blending with the background so they become hard to see, is overcome in Flying Shark by making them large and so simple to spot. It is also more playable than the Commodore version, with more fair levels of difficulty.","Page":"54,55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Mine's a Flying Shark, what's Jaws? - Commodore screen."},{"Text":"The Spectrum version may lack colour but its gameplay is still on a par with the Commodore."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"Flying Shark does not innovate, but represents the best of shoot-'em-ups.\""},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64\r\n\r\nOverall: 74%\r\n\r\nThe attractively coloured graphics make Flying Shark pleasing to play at first. But after a few attempts, frustration seeps because playability is sometimes unfairly tough, and new enemy squadrons appear infrequently enough that building extra fire power is difficult. A shame, because the competent programming means the graphics and sound work to good effect. If only the playability could have been tweaked to match the quality of the Spectrum version, Flying Shark could have made an first-rate game."},{"Text":"OTHER VERSIONS\r\n\r\nAmstrad CPC and Atari ST versions are planned but nothing has been seen of them yet. The often slow and jerky vertical scroll of the Amstrad is likely to be a serious drawback, making it less impressive than the other. However, if the playability is pitched just right on the ST, there is no reason why it should not be best of the bunch."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"83%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]