[{"TitleName":"Gary Lineker's Hot-Shot!","Publisher":"Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd","Author":"Ben Daglish, Gary Priest, Jon Harrison","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0001982","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 63, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-30","Editor":"Stuart Wynne","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Stuart Wynne\r\nAssistant Editor: Phil King\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Ian Cull, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Richard 'smasherooni' Eddie, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Oliver Frey\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Lee Watkins\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe 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 CRASH. 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 the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the 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.\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"'Ere we go again...\r\n\r\nProducer: Gremlin\r\nGoals Scored: £7.99 cass, £12.99 disk\r\nAuthor: Gaz (code), Jon (graphics), Benn (sound)\r\n\r\n'Ere we go, 'ere we go, er ... I can't remember the rest of the lyrics! And Lineker has scored - a nice looking bird she is too! However, Gary gets most of his kicks on the football pitch, wearing an England jersey and occasionally hitting the back of the net (if someone pushes him in!).\r\n\r\nBut on with the game... Gary Lineker's Hotshot allows you to control any of 16 national sides. However, this isn't the World Cup - the teams are in a league of four divisions. Two players may also play a 'friendly', while other options allow game time and computer team intelligence to be altered.\r\n\r\nMatches are shown from directly overhead, the huge pitch scrolling to follow the ball. As in most booty sims, you control the nearest player to the ball. If none of your players are on-screen, an arrow shows the direction of the nearest one. Once in possession, dribbling is automatic, although going backwards without first rotating leaves the ball behind.\r\n\r\nVarious types of kick (including overhead) can be performed by moving the joystick as fire is pressed (shot power is determined by how long the fire button is held down). Pressing fire when not in possession makes the player do a sliding tackle. But if the timing isn't quite right, you can easily foul an opposing player, resulting in a free kick (even inside the penalty area!). Persistent fouling results in a player being sent off.\r\n\r\nThrow-ins, corners and goal kicks are handled identically to normal kicks. Goal keepers are totally automatic, tracking the ball and kicking it upfield when they've caught it. But they're no Peter Shiltons - they can't even jump up or dive.\r\n\r\nMatch graphics are surprisingly colourful, although as a result, the scrolling of the pitch is jerky. But generally, presentation is good, especially on the title screen where a wide range of options can be selected while listening to a lively 128K tune.\r\n\r\nThe bad news is that despite its fine appearance, Gary Lineker's Hotshot loses out in the playability stakes. The pitch is far too large, making passing very difficult - the only way of knowing the positions of off-screen players is by watching a tiny 'radar'screen! But probably the biggest flaw is the way the game time continues even when the ball is dead. This means that the side in the lead can just waste oodles of time - this may be realistic, but it's still irritating.\r\n\r\nAnother problem is that the computer teams aren't very intelligent, and are therefore easy to beat. However, as in most sports simulations, the two player mode gives the greatest enjoyment. Gary Lineker's Hotshot is fun for a while, although ultimately second division stuff.\r\n\r\nPHIL 62%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: surprisingly colourful, although the scrolling's jerky\r\nSound: catchy 128K title tune, decent effects\r\nOptions: one or two players. Choose from sixteen teams","ReviewerComments":["I can't say that I have been overly impressed with Gremlin products of late, but this does go a small way to redressing the balance. Graphically the game is good with a bird's-eye view of the little players thundering around the pitch, fouling each other like crazy. This is one thing which did annoy me a bit: you only get a lousy free kick after being fouled - Vinnie Jones would have a field day! Still, despite a few flaws, Gary Lineker's Hotshot is worthy of consideration.\r\nMark Caswell\r\n66%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A technically sound, but simplistic soccer simulation.","Page":"86","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"62","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"66","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Taking a corner while the fans cheer."},{"Text":"The reds are just about to score."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"66%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"64%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 41, May 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-04-17","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa 'You're Fired' Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine 'Head in Bucket' Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt 'Hi It's Mattie' Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie 'I Want It Yesterday' Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan 'What Time Do You Call This' MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor 'No Worries' Goodall\r\nEditorial Assistant: David 'Yo' Wilson\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Richard Blaine, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine 'Nosebag' Peters, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Phil South, Ben Stone\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Stephen Bloy\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Katherine Balchin\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Terry Grimwood\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 ©1989 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":"Gremlin\r\n£7.99 cass/£12.99 disk\r\nReviewer: David Wilson\r\n\r\nQuick! Pinch me, I must be dreaming! is this a footie game I see before me? How has it escaped the clutches of Dr Marcus? Maybe he was too busy chatting with his pal Simon Bates. Anyway, here we go, here we go, here we go.\r\n\r\nHot Shot is a footie simulation, played from an overhead viewpoint. You take the role of an international side and can choose your team from the humble Englan, Wales, Scotland or Ireland (Republic or Northern) right through to the mighty Brazil or Argentina! The teams are organised (confusingly) from the First through to the Fourth Division, and you must attempt to steer your team to the top of the league. The players can perform sliding tackles and headers, but be careful if your are prone to a bit of foul play, 'cos there at the bottom of the screen is the ref complete with his card collection. (And I'm not talking about PG Tips picture cards!)\r\n\r\nHot Shot gives you the option of changing the length of the game between 10, 30, 60 or 90 minutes. The middle two seem the best. This is because the computer usually gets at least one goal in, and thus the shorter the game length you choose, the less time you get to equalise, let alone win!\r\n\r\nThe gameplay is very much like Match Day II, with you controlling whichever player is nearest the ball. This causes the usual problems, like when you have two players at an equal distance from the ball, nine times out of ten you end up moving the wrong one in completely the wrong direction. But you can dribble (Ugh! You messy readers! Ed) and boot the ball in different directions with different amounts of power. And fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how confident you feel, your goalkeeper is computer controlled and moves automatically, (a trifle too slowly for my liking,) to whichever side of the goal is under threat.\r\n\r\nThe dilemma that must face programmers of these games is in the area of game scale. If you opt for nice big player sprites, then you are only able to show a small area of the pitch at a time. On the other hand, if you choose to show as much of the pitch as poss, then this is at the expense of the players who will be teeny weeny dots! Hot Shot of course opts for the large(ish) sprites. This means that although the sliding, tackling, and heading, is quite nice, when it actually comes to shooting at goal from any distance over about ten feet, or even passing up the field to any of your team mates, then a large amount of guesswork takes over. To its credit, Gremlin has tried to overcome this by showing a display of the pitch in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. This shows the whereabouts of the ball, but apart from this does little to alleviate the luck element.\r\n\r\nGazza Lineker's Hot Shot is a straight arcade football game in the style of Match Day II. Its sprites aren't as big, but it's a faster, smoother game than Match Day. If you're a footie sime fanatic, or in the market for your first arcade football game, then you'll probably find Hot Shot a fun game if you already possess most of the other football games on the market then you won't find much new in this one. Mind you, if you do have most of the other football games on the market then you're no doubt soccer loopy and I'm probably wsting my breath!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"An enjoyable game, which despite having little new to offer to the seasoned Speccy football player, compares favourably with its rivals.","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David Wilson","Score":"68","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Gerroff! I never touched him ref!"},{"Text":"The length of this goal sequence is quite an accurate representation of those Brazilian commentators who get carried away and go GOOOOOAAAALLLL!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 67, Jul 1991","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1991-06-13","Editor":"Andy Ide","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Ide\r\nPregnant Art Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nNew Art Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nGames Editor: James Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michele Harris\r\nPublishing Assistant: Tamara Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Nick Davies\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC July-Dec 1990 60,368\r\n\r\nYS comes to you from the shed in the garden behind the building that produces (or that's got lots of little people inside it who produce) Commodore Format, ST Format, Amiga Format, New Computer Express, Amstrad Action, Classic CD, PC Plus, 8000 Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, PC Answers & Needlecraft"},"MainText":"GARY LINEKER'S HOT SHOT\r\nKix\r\n£3.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nThis is actually the middle game in the series featuring \"the man with possibly the nicest legs in football\" (as I once overheard two women debating on the bus), the other two comprising of Superskills (a boring old waggler) and Superstar Soccer (a flip-screen soccer jobby) which was, well, just try spelling 'park' backwards.\r\n\r\nHot Shot!, however is a far more modern overhead-view 'control one player at a time and another player can join in with the fun if he wants as well' affair, which, despite its moniker, has nothing a do with Gary at all. It strives to be extremely realistic by sticking as closely as possible to 'the book' (the one with all the rules in it, that is), so fouls, bookings and free-kicks are all here, along with lots of moves including sliding tackles, flicks and overhead kicks. In fact the only thing the game doesn't try to do is to be any good. Well, it probably does try but it just lacks that certain something which makes a football game work well. One problem is that it's not surprising to find the screen completely void of any players at all - let alone a member of your team. And then when you do get the ball, actually successfully dribbling or kicking it without giving it to the other side is all far too tricky to make the game playable. It's not too bad, but when you take a brief look at the other 9,723 billion football games on offer, a vast quantity of which are also available on re-release, then I'm sure you'll see what I mean.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"59,60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"62","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"And here's a screenshot with even more green! Blimey, let's get onto the next page quick!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"62%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 19, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-02","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Future Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152\r\n\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nReviews Editor: Bob Wade\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Jarratt, Andy Smith\r\nProduction Editor: Damien Noonan\r\nConsultant Editor: Brian Larkman (Graphics)\r\nAdventure Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: Simon N Goodwin, Tony Takoushi, Zog\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Angela Neale\r\nProduction: Diane Tavener, Claire Woodland, Vivien Dean, Naomi Steer, Louise Cockroft\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertising Sales Executive: David Lilley\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\n\r\nCover by Simon Thorp\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nAvon Direct Mail [redacted]\r\n\r\nSPECIAL OFFERS\r\n(Christine Stacey) [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\n© FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1989\r\n\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission.\r\n\r\nWith thanks to Paranoid Clive for all the inside information."},"MainText":"Gremlin hit the crossbar.\r\n\r\nJust when you thought the glut of soccer games was over, along comes another Gary Lineker-endorsed product to prove everybody wrong. Taking a more mainstream approach than many of the same genre, GL's Hot Shots provides a one or two player game of eleven-a-side soccer.\r\n\r\nThe pitch and team members are viewed from overhead and control is apportioned in the usual way, with the player nearest the ball coming under direct control. Pressing the fire button causes the player to kick the ball when in possession, and attempt a sliding tackle when not. Fouls are taken into consideration, so too much Vinny Jones off-the-ball defence is frowned upon.\r\n\r\nBall-control also follows the now-standard procedure: while the fire button is held down, a sliding meter varies the strength of shot, and pointing the joystick changes the direction of shot accordingly. In this way, banana shots and overhead back-kicks can be executed. Surprisingly, the player becomes stationary when the joystick is pressed, allowing the opposition to catch up and attempt a tackle.\r\n\r\nThe package supports a wide range of options, including a choice of pitch surface and colour, team colours and game length.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Steve Jarratt\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nAtari ST, £19.99dk, Imminent\r\n\r\nAmiga, £19.99dk, Imminent\r\nSpec, 128 £7.99cs, £12.99dk, Out Now\r\nAmstrad, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent\r\nC64/128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now\r\nIBM PC, No version planned\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 60/100\r\n1 hour: 55/100\r\n1 day: 52/100\r\n1 week: 50/100\r\n1 month: 25/100\r\n1 year: 0/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Entertaining at first, but has too many flaws to be considered a long-term pastime.","Page":"56","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Jarratt","Score":"535","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"(Above) Spectrum - It's an open goal, but that maximum-power kick is bound to be over the crossbar."},{"Text":"(Left) C64 - Those with little taste may select to play on a red pitch. Not the pitch radar at the bottom of the screen."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"C64 VERSION\r\n\r\nReasonably comfortable to play, but solo participants won't get much of a game from the thicky computer. Blocky sprites and juddery scrolling do little to enhance its appeal.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 5/10\r\nAudio: 5/10\r\nIQ Factor: 3/10\r\nFun Factor: 7/10\r\nAce Rating: 550/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 70/100\r\n1 hour: 75/100\r\n1 day: 70/100\r\n1 week: 50/100\r\n1 month: 20/100\r\n1 year: 0/100"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nTrickier to play than the C64, but at least the computer provides a worthy opponent. Awful character block scrolling and jerky player movement make the game a little disorienting at times."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"535/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 91, May 1989","Price":"£1.2","ReleaseDate":"1989-04-11","Editor":"Eugene Lacey","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nDeputy Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nStaff Writer: Paul Glancey\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSales Executive: Johanna Cook\r\nCopy Control: Lora Clark\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nFront Cover: Steinar Lund\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries to: EMAP Frontline, [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\n102,401"},"MainText":"Gremlin Graphics\r\r\nSpec £7.99 cass, C64/Ams £9.99 cass, Spec £12.99 disk, C64/Ams £14.99 disk\r\r\n\r\r\nGaz Lineker turns up again in a Gremlin product, surprise, surprise, this time in \"the most realistic football game ever produced for your computer\". Hem hem. I'll be the judge of that. To my way of thinking you can't turn over too much control to the human player in a computer soccer match, as the player won't be able to control the team and just lose all the time, which is very distressing. The way it OUGHT to be done is like Ocean's Match Day II by Jon Ritman, which was to give the team a certain amount of artificial intelligence, and let them help the human player to know what's going on.\r\r\n\r\r\nOkay so the sample we reviewed was on the Spectrum, so the fact that the game slows down every time anything moves is to be expected. But even bearing that in mind, I found the game tiresome and fiddly. Playing on the keyboard was impossible, some mix up with the move and quit keys, and so I had to reboot the game and use a Kempston joystick. You can have two players (one keys/one stick) playing at once, which is nice but it's a bit of a tight squeeze.\r\r\n\r\r\nYou can initially select controls and inspect the standings of the league. Although it's not explained as such, it seems to be the World Cup, as all the other teams in the league ore Brazil, Poland, Germany, etc, rather than domestic clubs. The games are then played, and the league standings judged to find the league winner.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe game is seen from above in plan view, so the player sprites are just little heads with legs poking out of the top and bottom. Each player has a little dot next to him when he is under the control of your joystick/keys. One of the good features of the game is that the goalies are automatic and track the ball, attempting a save when they detect a shot coming in. The ball grows bigger when it's kicked to give a sense of depth to the view. The controls are sluggish and the computer runs rings around your team. The odds are better against a human player, but again the speed of the game lets it down. It's hard to pin down what's duff about GL's Hot Shot!, but it lacks something special, that little extra oomph that separates the good from the so-so.\r\r\n\r\r\nIf you enjoy getting posted at football GL's Hot Shot! is the one for you. (You little masochist, you!). Really, nothing special.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil South","Score":"54","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"UPDATE\r\n\r\nAll versions are very similar except for graphic superiority on 16-bit."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"30%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"54%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]