[{"TitleName":"Ghostbusters II","Publisher":"Activision Inc","Author":"Colin Reed, David Whittaker, Paul Baker, Stefan F. Ufnowski, Steve Green, The Oliver Twins, Michael C. Gross","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0002031","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 72, Jan 1990","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1989-11-14","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writer: Mark Caswell\r\nEditorial Assistant: Viv Vickress\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nContributors: Nick Roberts\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nProduction Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nReprographics: Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Rob (the Rev) Hamilton, Jenny Reddard\r\nDesign: David Western, Mark Kendrick, Melvin Fisher\r\nSystems Operator: Ian Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Caroline Blake, Christian Testa\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSubscriptions\r\n[redacted].\r\n\r\nDesigned and typeset on Apple Macintosh II computers using Quark Express and Adobe Illustrator '88, output at MBI [redacted] with systems support from Digital Reprographics [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution 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 Viv Vickress 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. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Colour photographic material should be 35mm transparencies wherever possible. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1990 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Activision/Foursfield\r\n£9.99 cass only\r\n\r\nThe Ghostbusters' first battle was a tough and heroic one, and now, four years later, Pete Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddmor get back into action against a nasty dude called Vigo who wants to enter the real world from his state of limbo to create havoc. Based on the movie plot the game starts with Ray being winched down a 120 meter deep air shaft to collect samples of ectoplasmic goo which threatens New York. Natch the ghosts and other ectoplasmic mattes ain't too chuffed at him swinging around their nice cosy shaft and attack.\r\n\r\nHands appear from the walls, disembodied heads spit goo at him and cable cutting ghosts saw away at his lifeline. But he can zap them with his nuclear charged particle beam weapon, along with other handy gizmos found on the ledges. When his successful return to the surface it's revealed that the slime is sensitive to emotion (aah!) - heaps of good causes it pain. So in section two the 'Busters use positively charged slime to animate the Statue Of Liberty and the attack on the swarm of ghosts begins.\r\n\r\nThe statue's torch produces balls of good ectoplasm which kill all demons in its path. A band of citizens trail behind to collect the ectoplasm that forms when a ghost is destroyed. But the willing helpers are sometimes picked up by the enraged spooks and must be helped if possible.\r\n\r\nThe third and final confrontation is with Vigo, who can only reanimate if his spirit enters the body of a baby. The kid chosen is Oscar Barret, son of Dana Barret, the heroine of the first film. The Ghostbusters abseil into the gallery where a portrait of Vigo hangs. One 'Buster must rescue the baby, another must dispose of Janosz Poha, a painter zombified by Vigo, whilst the remaining duo dispose of Vigo's ghost when it appears. Can the Ghostbusters save the day for a second time?.\r\n\r\nI enjoyed the original game but am disappointed with the follow up, with a mere three levels a bit steep at the price. While it is good graphically with the four intrepid sprites and assorted nasties neatly done, a bit more gameplay action could have been provided. I hope the film is better.\r\n\r\nMARK 75%","ReviewerComments":["Flashy loaders and great presentation abound in Ghostbusters II from Activision. The whole front end of the game is amazing. While it's loading you get the theme tune, digitized pictures from the film along with text to tell the story that continues on from the original Ghostbusters (what a game that was!). That is all very nice. The game is another matter. The first level is almost impossible to play without tearing all the hair out of your head. You swing from side to side on a rope and lust can't help hitting all the ghosts around you. If you do make it through, the second and third levels promise to be a bit better, it's getting there that's the problem. Ghostbusters II will of course sell because of its name, and the presentation makes it look really slick. There is just a big gap in the playability department.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n73%"],"OverallSummary":"Slick, with good graphics and sound, but sadly playability doesn't match presentation.","Page":"50,51","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"75","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"73","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"74%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 49, Jan 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1989-12-18","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Peters\r\nDeputy Editor: David Wilson\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesigner: Martin Sharrocks\r\nTechnical Consultant: Jonathan Davies\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Phoebe Cresswell-Evans, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Paul Lakin, Duncan MacDonald, Rich Pelley, Dave Robinson, Jackie Ryan, Phil South, Wag, Louise Willers\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Lynda Elliott\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Caroline Day\r\nClassified Advertisement Executive: Chris Skinner\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Claire Baker\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nNewstrade Circulation Manager: Stephen Ward\r\nSubscription Manager: June Smith\r\nPublisher: Teresa Maughan\r\nGroup Publishing Director: Richard Howell\r\nGroup Creative Director: Tony Spalding\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: Point Five [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinted By: Riverside Press [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":"Activision\r\n£10.99 cass\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nI've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again - multiloads, they're bloomin' murder!! I hate 'em! Half the time you only get them because the programmers want to show off with a flashy intro sequence or something! But even worse (much worse!) than your average 'load up each level as you come to it' multiload is your 'each time you use up your three lives you have to rewind the tape and load the level in again before you can take another shot at it' multiload! And they really ARE murder!\r\n\r\nAnd guess what sort Activision has saddled poor old Ghostbusters II with? That's right, the really, really crap sort! Aargh! I'm sorry, but that more or less ruins the game for me from the start. I mean, there's no way I'm going to spend half my playing time loading the flippin' thing in again and again. It's ludicrous! However, in the interests of good reviewing practices, I'm going to take a deep breath (ahhhh), sit down and persevere. (Just remember, as you read this review, what excrutiating torture I'm going through to bring you it.)\r\n\r\nRight then, the first level. As you load the thing in you get a series of digitised stills from the movie explaining the plot, the setting, the characters, and why you're dangling down a manhole on a rope at the start of Level One. Actually. I can't complain about these bits at all. They set the scene, put you 'in the mood' and look quite tasty to boot. There you are then, hanging from a rope down a monochrome red subway access shaft, swinging from side to side, twizzling around through all angles, and generally looking a right ol' lemon. Then along come the ghosts - little flying slimy ones, great big hand jobs (oo-er) that slice through your line, and so on. You've got to swing from side to side, dodging all the ghosts you can, blasting the ones you can't and collecting various doobries from the sides of the shaft. These include different anti-ghost weapons, courage boosters (the more the ghosts touch you, the more frightened you get until you're literally scared to death) and, most importantly, the three parts of a slime scoop, which you're going to use to collect a sample of ectoplasm from the pool at the bottom.\r\n\r\nWhat's good about this level (and, in fact, the game in general) is its graphics. The sprites are big, nicely animated, and capture the look and feel of the film very well. What's not so good is the gameplay. This is a bit hard, a bit samey, and the shaft is quite short so there isn't all that much of it. Couple this with the constant multiloading and you've got something that's not actually bad, just very difficult to get excited about.\r\n\r\nLevel Two is slightly more complicated, and makes no sense whatsoever outside the context of the film (and probably very little in it either!). It's a horizontal scroller of sorts, with the Ghostbusters lodged inside the Statue Of Liberty, which they've animated using ghostly slime. You shoot oncoming ghosts with fireballs from the statue's torch, get little blokes running around your feet to collect slime to power the statue and, um, that's it. This level is at least as pretty as the one before but the gameplay just plods on and on repetitively rather than going anywhere. Ho hum.\r\n\r\nThen there's the last bit. I can't really be bothered to explain how it all works - it follows the action of the film very closely and, as such is rather bitty, a bit stilted, and may make a suitably dramatic film climax but as far as the game is concerned just tails off to a rather flat conclusion.\r\n\r\nI've always wondered why the first Ghostbusters game was so incredibly popular. It always looked crude and a bit crap to me. Now Ghostbusters II has shown me why. It was obviously partly to do with the success of the original movie, but also because it took the novel idea behind the Ghostbusters and made it work in game terms. Ghostbusters II is different. It's far better programmed, far more faithful to the look of the film... and far less playable. It plays as a series of short rather uninvolving sequences, each totally divorced from the other (so there's no real feeling of progression) and each further hampered by the ridiculous multiload.\r\n\r\nIt's not really a bad game, but it's about as user friendly as a frisky stoat (ie not very) which would be merely annoying if the end results were worth all the trouble. But as you might have guessed by now, I can't really say that they are.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Stilted, repetitive gameplay and the world's most ridiculous multiload conspire to scupper an exceptionally faithful and pretty film conversion.","Page":"58,59","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"62","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Here's the second level. Pretty pictures, as you can see, but unfortunately the plodding 'shoot ghosts with flameballs and collect slime with your little men' will fail to light anyone's fire."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"Oi! Gerroff my rope! These cheeky hands are the worst, sawing through your string with ease if you don't put paid to their monkey business with your slurge gun thing.\r\n\r\nHere's you rope status thingie. Yikes! Looks like it's nearly worn through!\r\n\r\nThis is your courage meter. It pulls increasingly goggle-eyed faces until you finally pop your clogs with fright. Blimey!\r\n\r\nBlimey! It's a ghost! Shoot him! Dodge him! Just make sure he comes nowhere near you!\r\n\r\nThis is you, Ray Ghostbuster, looking like a lemon on the end of your long, dangly rope.\r\n\r\nHere's a doobrie for you to collect. Whatever it is, you've got to swing across and touch it with your feet (not as easy as it sound!)."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"62%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 68, Aug 1991","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1991-07-08","Editor":"Andy Ide","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Ide\r\nMore Pregnant 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\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Philip Davenport\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: Paul Kidby\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC July-Dec 1990 60,368\r\n\r\nYS comes to you from the same thrusting company that publishes Commodore Format, ST Format, New Computer Express, Amstrad Action, Classic CD, PC Plus, 8000 Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Format/Power/Shopper, PC Answers & Needlecraft."},"MainText":"GHOSTBUSTERS 2\r\nThe Hit Squad\r\n£2.99 cass\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nRight then. Let's be short, sweet and to the point (as the Vicar said to the old lady). Here are the bad points about Ghosthusters 2. Firstly, it's a multiload, in that excruciatingly irritating way that has you rewinding and loading the level in again every time you've used up your three lives, even if you only died on the first level. Secondly, it's rather repetitive and not helped by the fact that there are only three levels to the game - swinging down a shaft shooting ghosts, protecting a walking Statue of Liberty from ghosts (you have to have seen the film) and another bit where you probably have to shoot some more ghosts or something (although it's apparently rubbish anyway).\r\n\r\nAs for the good points, well, it follows the film faithfully, with some natty scene setting stills and pretty decent graphics which help to hide the thin gameplay.\r\n\r\nSo let's just re-cap. Ghostbusters 2 looks nice and follows the film, but it's a slightly limiting, boring and repetitive multiload. Or in other words, a bit of a completely average film tie-in really.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"61","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"60","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Ghost: \"Boo.\" Man: \"Arrggh, a ghost!\" Everyone: \"Who ya gonna call?\" Ghost: \"Oh, shut up.\" Etc."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"60%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 60, Dec 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-11-01","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Julia O'Shea, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"GHOSTBUSTERS II\r\nActivision\r\n\r\nSo Ghostbusters was the first film game then. And it was a huge hit as well, the first Speccy release to sell over, erm, some huge number of copies, despite being a bit rubbish. So a Ghostbusters II game seemed only natural (or as natural as a small piece of plastic with two holes in it can look), and this is it.\r\n\r\nIt's a slickly-put-together little number, unlike the first game which was distinctly rough around the edges, and follows the plot of the film very closely. In fact, just in case you're not too sure what's going on, it tells the plot as the game progresses along with digitised pics from the film. In-between all this you've got about three sub-games to tackle - a bit where you're descending a shaft picking off ghosts, a horizontally-scrolling shooting bit and something else too. The only problem is that all these bits have to be loaded in separately using an appalling multiloader which makes you load everything more or less from scratch every time you bite the dust. It may not sound too disastrous, but it is (believe us) and knocks a good 20 or 30 degrees off what is otherwise a jolly good film game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"64","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Er, it's rather dark and sticky down here. Do I have to go first, guys?"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AS NEAR AS DAMMIT EVERY FILM AND TELLY GAME EVER\r\n\r\n3-2-1 - Microcomputer\r\nAirwolf - Elite\r\nAlien - Mindgames\r\nAliens - Electric Dreams\r\nAliens - US Electric Dreams\r\nAttack Of The Killer Tomatoes - Global\r\nA View To A Kill - Domark\r\nBack To The Future Part II - image Works\r\nBasil The Great Mouse Detective - Gremlin\r\nBatman - Ocean\r\nBatman The Caped Crusader - Ocean\r\nBatman The Movie - Ocean\r\nBattle Of The Planets - Mikro-Gen\r\nBenny Hill's Madcap Chase - Dk'Tronics\r\nBiggies - Mirrorsoft\r\nBig Trouble in Little China - Electric Dreams\r\nBlade Runner - CRL\r\nBlockbusters TV - Games\r\nBlue Max - US Gold\r\nBob's Full House - TV Games\r\nBruce Lee - US Gold\r\nBuck Rogers - US Gold\r\nCobra - Ocean\r\nCount Duckula - Alternative\r\nDanger Mouse in Double Trouble - Sparklers\r\nDanger Mouse in Making Whoopee - Sparklers\r\nDeath Wish III - Gremlin\r\nDukes Of Hazard, The - Elite\r\nEastenders - Tynesoft\r\nEmpire Strikes Back, The - Domark\r\nFlash Gordon - MAD\r\nFlintstones - Grandslam\r\nGhostbusters - Activision\r\nGhostbusters II - Activision\r\nGilbert - Escape From Drill - Again Again\r\nGive My Regards To Broad Street - Argus Press Software\r\nGoonies, The - US Gold\r\nHighlander - Ocean\r\nHong Kong Phooey - Hi-Tec\r\nHoward The Duck - Activision\r\nIndiana Jones And The Last Crusade - US Gold\r\nIndiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom - US Gold\r\nInspector Gadget - Melbourne House\r\nKnightmare - Activision\r\nKnight Rider - Ocean\r\nKrypton Factor - TV Games\r\nLicence To Kill - Domark\r\nLive And Let Die - Domark\r\nLiving Daylights, The - Domark\r\nMax Headroom - Quicksilva\r\nMasters Of The Universe - Gremlin\r\nMiami Vice - Ocean\r\nMickey Mouse - Gremlin\r\nMike Read's Computer Pop Quiz - Elite\r\nMinder - Dk'Tronics\r\nMonty Python's Flying Circus - Virgin\r\nMoonwalker - US Gold\r\nMunsters, The - Again Again\r\nNeverEnding Story, The - Ocean\r\nNightbreed, The - Ocean\r\nOrm And Cheep - The Birthday Party - Macmillan\r\nPink Panther - Gremlin\r\nPlatoon - Ocean\r\nPopeye - DkTronics\r\nPostman Pat - Alternative\r\nPostman Pat II - Alternative\r\nPredator - Activision\r\nRambo - Ocean\r\nRambo III - Ocean\r\nReal Ghostbusters, The - Activision\r\nRed Heat - Ocean\r\nReturn Of The Jedi - Domark\r\nRoad Runner - US Gold\r\nRobocop - Ocean\r\nRoland's Rat Race - Ocean\r\nScooby Doo - Elite\r\nShort Circuit - Ocean\r\nSooty And Sweep - Alternative\r\nSpitting image - Domark\r\nSporting Triangles - CDS\r\nSpy Who Loved Me, The - Domark\r\nStar Wars - Domark\r\nStreet Hawk - Ocean\r\nTarzan - Martech\r\nTerrahawks - CRL\r\nThunderbirds - Firebird\r\nThunderbirds - Grandslam\r\nThundercats - Elite\r\nTop Gun - Ocean\r\nTotal Recall - Ocean\r\nUntouchables, The - Ocean\r\nYabba Dabba Doo - Quicksilva\r\nYes Prime Minister - Mosaic\r\nYogi Bear - Piranha\r\nYogi's Great Escape - Hi-Tec\r\nYoung Ones, The - Orpheus\r\nZorro - US Gold"},{"Text":"DIFFERENT SORTS OF FILM AND TELLY GAMES\r\n\r\nFILM GAMES\r\n\r\nThese form the largest category by far. Just about every major film has a game to go with it, and as there are lots of films that means lots of games. What they're actually like tends to vary though. In some cases they're just ordinary beat-'em-ups or shoot-'em-ups with a very tenuous link with the film {generally just the name). Cobra and Highlander both went for this approach. Or they might be much the same sort of thing, but divided up into levels which are meant to refer to scenes from the film. Since most films are just beat-'em-ups and shoot-'em-ups anyway this tends to work pretty well, as with Robocop and Total Recall. Last of all are the games which are split up into completely different levels, like the early Bond efforts. There might be driving bits, walking bits and puzzle-solving bits, and they're usually pretty faithful to segments in the film. They do tend to pay a heavy price in terms of quality though (so be careful).\r\n\r\n(Er, the obligatory warehouse level in Beverly Hills Cop.)\r\n\r\nCARTOON GAMES\r\n\r\nMoving into television territory here, and these are generally the most popular telly games, especially on budget labels (witness Hong Kong Phooey, Count Duckula, all that sort of thing). The licences are probably pretty cheap to acquire, especially if the cartoon hasn't been on for about 20 years, and they're a doddle to convert to the computer. Cartoony graphics are about the easiest to pull off successfully on the Speccy, so they always look good. What you get under the surface though tends to be a very ordinary beat-'em-up or arcade adventure.\r\n\r\n(Hong Kong Phooey, faster than the human eye! (Sort of.))\r\n\r\nQUIZ GAMES\r\n\r\nAnother popular category, this, as television game shows are just begging to be computerised. They're mainly just a case of answering silly questions and filling in spaces on a scoreboard (or something), both things the Speccy is ideally suited to. There's usually the odd digitised piccy of your 'host' thrown in for luck, and lots of irritating tunes from the telly programme. Whether they're any good or not is very much a matter of opinion. The programming's usually well up to scratch, and they're always faithful replicas of the telly versions. But, as TV game shows are utter dross, the games tend to be too. Check out Sporting Triangles and Bob's Full House (if you must).\r\n\r\n(Sporting Triangles - er, a bit of a boring game really.)\r\n\r\nOTHER TELLY GAMES\r\n\r\nThere are all sorts of things left over, of course. There are the Gerry Anderson puppet programmes, which have formed the basis of the odd decent game. There are crusty old series like Flash Gordon. There are modern(ish) American programmes like Knight Rider and Miami Vice which haven't proved too successful on the Spectrum. There are 'cult' programmes like The Munsters and Monty Python. There are kiddies' shows like Postman Pat. All sorts of things really.\r\n\r\n(And here's Sooty And Sweep.(No, it isn't.) Yes. It is. (Etc.))"},{"Text":"SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A FILM AND TELLY GAME?\r\n\r\nHere's a list of essential ingredients to incorporate...\r\n\r\n- A bloke walking around shooting things.\r\n- Er...\r\n- That's it."},{"Text":"THE FIRST-EVER FILM AND TELLY GAME\r\n\r\n(Purses lips and inhales very slowly.) That's a tricky one. It ought to be pretty easy to pin down Film and Telly Game Number One, as they haven't been around for too long compared to other sorts of game. Well, I reckon (but don't quote me on this) it was Terrahawks from CRL, the game of the puppet programme. The thing is, though, I'm sure there was a Blue Thunder game floating around quite a long time before, but I can't find any references to it anywhere. So we'll stick with Terrahawks, eh? And, as was usually the case with these 'first-ever' games, it was pretty useless. There weren't actually any puppets in it for a start, just a whole bunch of 3D wire-frame building things which you had to explore (in a spaceship) in the hope of finding a vortex through which to exit. The 'Joystick Jury' (forerunners of today's Jugglers) weren't too impressed and gave it 2/5. Still, the pioneering spirit was there, and the game was a few months ahead of the first-ever film game - Activision's Ghostbusters. That was pretty hopeless as well, but did extraordinarily well."},{"Text":"TOP FIVE CINEMA ADS\r\n\r\n1) The Butterkist one (ra-ra-ra).\r\n2) The Kia Ora one.\r\n3) The really crap one for the local tile centre.\r\n4) The Sunshine Coaches one.\r\n5) The insurance one with the crummy jingle."},{"Text":"TOP TEN ANNOYING THINGS THAT PEOPLE DO IN CINEMAS\r\n\r\n1. Singing along to the Kia Ora advert (and doing the 'I'll be your dog' bit).\r\n\r\n2. Sitting on the seat in front of you, making it fold down and squash your feet.\r\n\r\n3. Snogging.\r\n\r\n4. Eating sweets with noisy wrappers.\r\n\r\n5. Giggling all the way through.\r\n\r\n6. Asking you to stop giggling.\r\n\r\n7. Passing you sweets every five seconds.\r\n\r\n8. Telling you what happens next.\r\n\r\n9. Trying to suck up the last drop of drink with a straw.\r\n\r\n10. Getting up and leaving at the split-picosecond the film finishes, having spent the last five minutes putting on their coat and stuffing all their litter under the seat."},{"Text":"WHAT'S A FILM AND TELLY GAME THEN? HMM?\r\n\r\nThat's easy. It's a game for which the software house producing it has had to hand over a vast wad of money to a film or television company so they can call their game The Sound Of Music or Newsnight or whatever. Distinguishing features are, as you may have gathered, the name of a famous film or telly programme splashed across the box and a bloke who walks round shooting things. Apart from that, though, just about anything can happen in them. They might be shoot-'em-ups or collect-'em-ups. They might scroll or they might 'flip'. They might multiload or they might not. (They usually do though.)\r\n\r\nSo they're not very hard to spot at all then, which makes writing this guide a whole lot easier."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Lights","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Camera","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Action","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Cut","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"64%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 93, Dec 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-11-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"JIM \"Scaredy Cat\" DOUGLAS (Editor)\r\nWith Ghostbuster fever in the office most of the SU team are making ghostly woo wooing noises and filling our mouths with blood capsules. Spazzy Jim, however, is turning into a human jelly (and you all thought he was really hard didn't you?) This is him just before he hid under the desk shouting, \"stop it you lot, you know I don't like the dark\"\r\n\r\nALISON \"Heads Up!\" SKEAT (Production Editor)\r\nEntering in Ghostbustee fever like a good 'un, Al actually agreed to have her head sawn off (she'll do anything for a laugh, that one - Jim) for our photographer. We are at the mo putting her back together with Pritt stick and staples - is there a paramedic in the house?\r\n\r\nTIM \"Creeping Terror\" NOONAN (Art Editor)\r\nAfter 15 pints of shandy at his local The Kosh and Headbutt, and 32 pints of curry from his fave \"restaurant\" Tim finds he has a bad case of biryana botty and terrifies the rest of the SU team with his impression of a Haloween pumpkin head\r\n\r\nGARTH \"Nosferatu\" Sumpter (Staff Writer)\r\nA right ruddy spooky weirdo this one. Garthy runs around EMAP towers, fangs at the ready, biting the office cat and wiping the blood on the roller towel in the loo (geross - all SU readers). That's on any normal day at work, but since Ghostbuster fever he's gone completely off his nut and killed everyone... (but not really)\r\n\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nHow The Hell: Andrew Hewson\r\nI've Got This Problem: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: James Owens\r\nSenior Sales: Martha 'Tell me now' Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma 'Cor Blimey!' Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean 'Beezer Geezer' Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistant: Sarah Ewing\r\nPublisher: Terry 'Digestable' Pratt\r\n\r\nOur Address: [redacted]\r\nOur Phone Number: [redacted]\r\nOur Fax No: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Ghostbusters II from Activision\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nTypeset on Laser Imager at EMAP Towers. So Nerr!\r\nDistributed by EMAP Frontline.\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nAll information is correct at time of going to press. And if you don't believe us Big Al Skeat will come round your house and crush your gerbil between her knees. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transcribed, without written consent from the publishers, EMAP Business and Computer Publications. So we'll have no ore said about it."},"MainText":"Label: Activision\r\nAuthor: The Oliver Twins\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nThey're coming to save the world - for a second time! After a number of years scraping a living from appearing on TV re-living their spook-ridding escapades and unsuccessfully entertaining at children's parties, the Ghostbusters are about to don their funny jumpsuits and get slimey once again.\r\n\r\nSince the end of the last movie, things have moved on quite a way. Sigourney Weaver has dropped a suspicious sprog and the Ghostbusters have had their busting licence revoked after virtually trashing New York the last time the spooks came around.\r\n\r\nWith the film due for release in the first week of December Activision have picked the prime time to release: just in time to catch the media whirl surrounding the movie.\r\n\r\nThe main three sections of the game are, of course, translations of the memorable moments in the movie.\r\n\r\nWe join the action after Sigourney's kid has been mysteriously whooshed all over the town and pursued by slime. The Busters have reformed and trying to track down the scumbag spectors.\r\n\r\nTheir investigations and Spook-o-meter lead them into the middle of a busy road. Below, they discover an ancient sewer network. Having dug a hole big enough to fit through, you must lower Peter down the hole in order to get proof of Ghostly goings on and therefore recover the licence to bust.\r\n\r\nOn your way down, you've got to zap as many fiends as possible. You've got to ensure that Peter doesn't come a cropper through any of the nasty tricks and traps awaiting him.\r\n\r\nThere are horrible slicing ghosts that attach themselves to the rope and knaw through it. There are horrible grabbing hands which cling onto you and drain your energy. There are also all manner of horrors that you'll discover for yourself.\r\n\r\nThis stage completed, you find yourself and the rest of the guys running around the base of the walking Statue of Liberty shooting ghosts and collecting slime.\r\n\r\nHere you have to guide a spinning fireball around the screen and shoot down an ever-increasing army of evil spooks. Once plugged, each spook drops a globule of slime.\r\n\r\n(Important movie info:- in the film the guys animate the Statue of Liberty with a load of dancing slime - honest - York)\r\n\r\nThe final section of the game takes place in the art gallery where Sigourney has been restoring a rather horrible painting of Mr Evil.\r\n\r\nFirst you have to slide down the poles into the gallery. This is a tricky event for a start. The Ghostbusters seem to have got extremely fragile all of a sudden, and can be killed stone or at the very least stunned if you don't put them on the ground in the most gentle manner possible.\r\n\r\nThe bad guys are draining the lifeblood from - yes it's that kid again. Once safely on the floor, you must grab Sigourney's sprog from the clutches of the evil forces.\r\n\r\nOnce you've plucked him from the altar of doom, it's important that he doesn't get snatched back. You've got to kill the baddie with your special beam. (Fnar) After this, Mr Big himself will step out of the painting and attack you in a frenzy. Oooer!\r\n\r\nUsing the two characters carrying the beam lasers (quite a tricky maneouvre) you've got to get him cornered and zap until he melts away.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Movie blockbuster makes a pretty good transition to small screen.","Page":"10,11","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"Not Rated","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 114, Aug 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-07-15","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth 'Cuban Heels' Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Overtime' Walker\r\nDesign: Yvette 'Vegetable rights & peace' Nicholls\r\nStaff Writers: Steve 'Sub burn' Keen, Matt 'Yo babe!' Regan\r\nSU Crew: Alan 'Back to my place' Dykes, Graham 'Diamond' Mason\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jerry 'Sun tan' Hall\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Trainee' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Dept: Marc 'Goodtimes' Swallow, Sarah '0898' Ewing, Sarah 'I've got a secret' Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham 'No expense spared' Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry 'Organised' Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1991 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION: BBC FRONTLINE\r\nSU SUBSCRIPTIONS: [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by Garthtype.\r\nColour work by Proprint.\r\n\r\nReproduction of any part of this magazine without the written consent of Garth, Andrew, Steve, Matt, Allan and Mr Ben will result in something really utterly nasty happening, I can jolly well tell you. Either that or Garth will file down your teeth with an electric cattle prod whilst Matt sings acoustic Des O'Connor numbers and tickles your particulars with a herring. If you want to reproduce our mag after all this then you're a very sick, sick person indeed and should seek medical attention immediately, that's what we do. Oh, just as we were going to press, Yvette, our design assistant, got very poorly and had to go to hospital. We'd all like to wish here a speedy recovery. If you want to send her a line or something to keep her amused while she gets better then cheer her up and write to her in her sick bed. Whoever sends the letter that cheers her up the most will receive £50s worth of games. Till then... byeee!"},"MainText":"Label: The Hit Squad\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape, N/A Disk\r\nReviewer: Alan Dykes\r\n\r\nThe in the converted hearse are back! just one and a half years after Ghostbusters 2 first haunted the micro circuits of the Z80 processor it has arrived on budget courtesy of Hit Squad.\r\n\r\nAs far as the movies go, I've always preferred Ghostbusters to Ghostbusters 2 on the grounds that it is more entertaining, but the opposite holds true as far as the computer games are concerned. It's useful to have seen the film so that you understand the plot (which is as confusing to the average punter as a vegetarian menu is to the Tasmanian Devil), but the script does make for a more humorous and less straight-forward game than the original.\r\n\r\nThe famous foursome, Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston start the adventure after a mysterious incident involving Dana's newly-born brat. This leads them to discover a new build-up of psychokinetic energy apparently emanating from the smelly old city sewer. Ray is lowered into the catacombs to investigate, and must reach the bottom before his rope is cut. There are lots of horrid, slimy, grabby things to try and sever his connections and ol' Ray must zap these in order to succeed.\r\n\r\nNext comes the craziest bit - the Buster boys steal the Statue of Liberty by animating her with psychic slime! Liberty leads a crowd of united New Yorkers into battle against the ghosts, and you control her torch which zaps them out of the sky with fireballs. Dead ghosts drop slime which will power Liberty's locomotion - if the people of New York can collect it without being grabbed by spooks.\r\n\r\nThe idea is to reach a museum which is the centre of psychic convergence and ocne there the guys must swing down from the roof, rescue Dana's wee lad and hold on to him against all odds. The really heavy bad dude end-of-game adversary, Vigo The Carpathian, finally jumps out of a painting and engages our heroes in a complete mother of a battle.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are O.K., with black outlined characters on a coloured background and vertical or horizontal scrolling, depending on the game situation. In general the scrolling is smooth and fast but I sometimes found a time lag between action and reaction when controlling character movement. Sound, although a little shaky at times, remains faithful to the Ghostbusters theme music.","ReviewerComments":["I didn't like the second film much, but this is a sturdy budget release that I'd recommend to anyone who ain't afraid of no ghosts!\r\nMatt Regan"],"OverallSummary":"Bit of a zany idea, which is just as well 'cos the gameplay isn't magnificent. Nevertheless it has some humour and a few surprises and is worth a budget look.","Page":"40","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"71","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Matt Regan","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"74%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"71%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 118, Sep 1991","Price":"£1.35","ReleaseDate":"1991-08-15","Editor":"Tim Boone","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Boone\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Glancey\r\nArt Editor: Jon Billington\r\nAdditional Layout: Yvette Nichols\r\nStaff Writers: Paul Rand\r\nManaging Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nAdvertising Manager: James Owens\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Martha Moloughney\r\nSales Exec: Greg Watson\r\nProduction Assistant: Emma Sadler\r\nContributor: Alan Dykes\r\nLong-gone Ghost Writer: Rob Swan\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: CVG Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertising Quagmire: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted By: Kingfisher Web, [redacted]\r\nColour By: Proprint, [redacted]/Colour Connection [redacted]\r\nTypeset By: Your mumma\r\nWWF pics by kind courtesy of British Sky Broadcasting\r\nDistributed By: BBC Frontline\r\n\r\n©Computer And Video Games 1991\r\nISSN No: 0261-3697\r\n\r\nHello Peter O'Donnell, bet your mates are jealous now!"},"MainText":"Hit Squad\r\nSpectrum £3.99\r\n\r\nThey're back! A new threat has arisen from the world of the supernatural, and the Ghostbusters are recalled into service to save NY from the evil Vigo, in a three-level bonanza of sewer exorcism, Statue of Liberty controlling and, finally. Vigo destroying. The three subgames are, um, unusual, but they are competently programmed making them playable if not particularly addictive. A good buy at this price.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"85","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Rand","Score":"82","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"82%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]