[{"TitleName":"General Election","Publisher":"Bug-Byte Software Ltd","Author":"D. Wolff, I. Wason","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0002009","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 1, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","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: Bug-Byte, 48K\r\n£6.95\r\nAuthor: I Wason and D Wolff\r\n\r\nThe object is to win more seats in parliament than your opposition (it's a realistic simulation anyway), There are 100 constituencies split up into five regions. In each region seats are graded as Very Safe, Safe, Marginal or Very Marginal. From the title card of Maggie shouting the game's title, it's all go. Unfortunately so much of the game is a dice-throwing board game and it's beset by piles of confusing instructions as complex as an explanation of Einstein's relativity laws. In the end, rather boring to play.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"61","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"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: Buy-Byte, 48K\r\n£6.95\r\nAuthor: I Wason and D Wolff\r\n\r\nThe object is to win more seats in parliament than your opposition (it's a realistic simulation anyway). There are 100 constituencies split up into five regions. In each region seats are graded as Very Safe, Safe, Marginal or Very Marginal. From the title card of Maggie shouting the game's title, it's all go. Unfortunately so much of the game is a dice-throwing board game and it's beset by piles of confusing instructions as complex as an explanation of Einstein's relativity laws. In the end, rather boring to play.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"64","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"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: Buy-Byte, 48K\r\n£6.95\r\nAuthor: I Wason and D Wolff\r\n\r\nThe object is to win more seats in parliament than your opposition (it's a realistic simulation anyway). There are 100 constituencies split up into five regions. In each region seats are graded as Very Safe, Safe, Marginal or Very Marginal. From the title card of Maggie shouting the game's title, it's all go. Unfortunately so much of the game is a dice-throwing board game and it's beset by piles of confusing instructions as complex as an explanation of Einstein's relativity laws. In the end, rather boring to play.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"70","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 21, Jul 1983","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1983-06-16","Editor":"Terry Pratt","TotalPages":156,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nStaff Writer: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Robert Schifreen\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAdvertising Executives: Louise Matthews, Mick Cassall\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Louise Flockhart\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\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: £10.00, Overseas surface mail: £12.00, Airmail Europe: £20.00. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Computer & Video Games Limited ISSN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover: David Scutt\r\nNext Issue: July 16th"},"MainText":"SPECTRUM GETS THE BIG VOTE\r\n\r\nWill she won't she? That's the question being debated over lunch, dinner and tea at Westminster as 635 MPs try to work out when Maggie will call the General Election.\r\n\r\nSome say June, some September, and others believe she'll hang on to the New Year.\r\n\r\nWhenever she does decide to go to the country one thing is clear. Spectrum owners will be ready for her.\r\n\r\nThis latest game for the Sinclair machine enables you to experience some of the excitement of the great contest in your own home.\r\n\r\nChoose your favourite party - either Labour, Conservative, SDP, or Liberal. Communists, Ecologists, and Official Raving Loonatics need not apply. Once you have picked your party you are ready to play this computerised board game.\r\n\r\nAs you move around the board you land on squares which represent key constituencies in the provinces. Depending on how you place the important issues in order of priority the seat will be won or lost - with the computer measuring your answers against the correct formula stored in its memory.\r\n\r\nTo help you plan strategy the computer also has a series of opinion polls and charts which can be called up to show you your standing with the electorate.\r\n\r\nGeneral Election runs on the 48K machine and is available from Bug Byte of Liverpool at £6.95.\r\n\r\nIf taking on the Iron Lady in a tussle at the polls is not enough excitement for you then Bug Byte's other Spectrum release this month will take you to hell and back.\r\n\r\nStyx challenges you to get safely across the river of the underworld, rendevous with a mysterious monk, and get back across the river again. As you travel you will have to do battle a with monsters of land and sea. The games runs on the 16 or 48K machine and is in the shops now at £5.95.\r\n\r\nAlso in the Liverpool pipeline is a new game for the Spectrum called Manic Miner, Spectrum Pool, and an original game for the BBC 32K called Sea Lord.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"16","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 29, Sep 1983","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1983-09-23","Editor":"Cyndy Miles","TotalPages":90,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CHARACTER SET\r\n\r\nEditorial\r\nEditor: Cyndy Miles\r\nAssistant Editor: Geof Wheelwright\r\nManaging Editor: Peter Worlock\r\nSub-Editor: John Lettice\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writers: Ralph Bancroft, Sandra Grandison\r\nHardware Editor: Max Phillips\r\nPeripherals Editor: Ian Scales\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard King\r\nPrograms Editor: Ken Garroch\r\nListings Editor: Wendie Pearson\r\nEditor's Assistant: Harriet Arnold\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\nAdvertisement Director: John Cade\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Duncan Brown\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Nic Jones\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Mark Satchell\r\nSales Executives: Christian McCarthy, Marie-Therese Bolger, Jan Martin, Julia Dale, Dik Veenman\r\nProduction Manager: Eva Wroblewska\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 Michael Dunning"},"MainText":"NAME: General Election\r\nSYSTEM: Spectrum 48K\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Bug-Byte, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nLANGUAGE: Basic\r\nOTHER VERSIONS: None\r\nOUTLETS: High street dealers\r\n\r\nBENN PARTY?\r\n\r\nThe thought of a computer-styled board game based round a General Election made me feel that in my case it would prove more of a bored game, but once you've got the hang of the inevitably complicated rules there's actually plenty to be enjoyed.\r\n\r\nOBJECTIVES\r\n\r\nThe aim of each of the 2-4 players is to do a Magic and ruin the country... sorry, run the country by winning a majority of the 100 seats on offer.\r\n\r\nThe rules are rather daunting, taking up nearly five sides of the cassette insert, and as usual when faced with densely packed instructions I plunged into the game and picked up things as I went. It doesn't always work, but it does here.\r\n\r\nIN PLAY\r\n\r\nYou first choose the number of players, and then select the party each is to represent from Conservative, Labour, Liberal and SDP. I'm afraid potential Raving Loonie candidates will have to do a substantial re-write to the program if they want to play.\r\n\r\nThe board itself consists of 24 outer squares round which the players move in turn after the Spectrum throws the dice, and 100 inner squares representing 20 seats in each of five regions: Scotland, North East, North West, South East and South West. Those 20 seats range from the very safe to the very marginal.\r\n\r\nIn moving round the board you might land on one of a variety of squares. An arrow indicates a particular region, and landing there effectively gives you two seats in that region, chosen at random. An 'S' gives you a 1% regional swing, with a 75% chance of increasing the swing each time you land on that square. A 'P' asks you to choose your most important policy out of five on offer, the computer having already weighted these.\r\n\r\nAlthough written in Basic, there is a liberal (if you'll pardon the expression) use of PEEKs and POKEs to speed up things, and the responses are generally quick enough to avoid wandering minds. As with any good game, the elements of chance and skill are combined well, and for once the minimal use of sound is welcome, as anyone who's heard a party political broadcast will agree.\r\n\r\nVERDICT\r\n\r\nIf you like politics then you'll probably enjoy this, but if, like me, the announcement of a General Election has you looking up the first available holiday departures then let me assure you that this game is much more enjoyable.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"52","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Gerrard","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Lasting Appeal","Score":"3/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Use Of Machine","Score":"4/5","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall Value","Score":"4/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]