[{"TitleName":"Hawks","Publisher":"Lotus-Soft","Author":"Derek Jones","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0002257","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: Lotus Soft\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRecommended Retail Price: £5.50\r\nLanguage: machine code\r\n\r\nIt's a time in the distant future when an ice age has wiped out all but a pocket of humanity. Races of mutant birds with devilish intelligence have evolved and are trying to wipe out the humans. They attack in waves, dropping eggs on parachutes which bury themselves in the soil and then hatch out as large mutated Hawks to regroup and attack later in waves. The humans have found an old Asteroid Mining Vehicle which is equipped with a powerful missile launcher, a short range laser and a mine layer. Now it's up to you!\r\n\r\nA large mutated Hawk screams at the top of the screen, forming up the first attack wave of smaller birds. These can be shot out of the sky with the missiles, but soon they are dropping their eggs. You can shoot these too, using the missiles and lasers, in between dodging the swooping birds. The eggs which successfully reach the ground burrow in and you must lay a mine over their nest before they hatch, which blows them up when they emerge. Those that you fail to kill fly off, although you can still get them if you're quick before they disappear off the screen to wait their moment.\r\n\r\nGENERAL\r\n\r\nThere are a large number of keys to control the game. Alternate keys on the bottom row from Caps Shift to Break/Space move the vehicle left or right. Any key on the second row fires the laser. Any key on the third row fires a missile and any key from the top row lays a mine.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nKeyboard positions: good if one too many\r\nJoystick options: none\r\nKeyboard play: responsive with fast movement\r\nUse of colour: very good\r\nGraphics: good\r\nSound: average but put to realistic use\r\nSkill levels: not known\r\nLives: six\r\nScreens: multiple","ReviewerComments":["Hawks is basically a souped-up Galaxian with good colours and graphics. I thought there were too many firing keys, especially as the laser was not much use. You're probably better off with the missiles and land mines only. But there's plenty to do what with the eggs falling, hatching, swooping suicide birds and the fast hawks.\r\nUnknown","There's a nice title screen and comprehensive instructions after a short load. The keyboard layout is very good and well thought-out. Hawks does seem to have taken a Galaxian type game and added a few more features. All the colours are used and in a very good way in the graphics, which use many UDG. This is a difficult game to master, which won't bore you too soon. Addictive. \r\nUnknown","A very busy screen with smoothly moving graphics and plenty to do. The laser doesn't seem very effective, and anyway I was too occupied shooting birds with missiles and laying mines to get all my fingers round the keys. This is a good advancement on the Galaxian game.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Good.","Page":"91","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Lay mines, shoot the laser, fire missiles, kill aliens - a housewife's work is never done. HAWKS."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"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: Lotus-Soft, 16K\r\n£5.50 (1)\r\nAuthor: Derek Jones\r\n\r\nThis is a pretty hefty shoot 'em up where you're pitted against waves of hawks which drop eggs. These eggs hatch out in the ground and become mutant hawks which form up for later attacks. You are in control of an old Asteroid Mining Vehicle which can fire missiles at the birds and also lay mines over the downed eggs. These also blow up the vehicle if the go off under it. There are also large number of control keys so speed and reflexes are of the essence. Good colours and graphics, plenty to do and exciting to play. Good control key positions and reasonable sound, multiple skill levels. General rating, good & addictive, overall CRASH rating 75%. 100% M/C.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"46","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","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: Lotus-Soft, 16K\r\n£5.50 (1)\r\nAuthor: Derek Jones\r\n\r\nThis is a pretty hefty shoot em up where you're pitted against waves of hawks which drop eggs. These eggs hatch out in the ground and become mutant hawks which form up for later attacks. You are in control of an old Asteroid Mining Vehicle which can fire missiles at the birds and also lay mines over the downed eggs. These also blow up the vehicle if the go off under it. There are also large number of control keys so speed and reflexes are of the essence. Good colours and graphics, plenty to do and exciting to play. Good control key positions and reasonable sound, multiple skill levels. General rating, good & addictive, overall CRASH rating 75%. 100% M/C.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 5, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-15","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":176,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nGame-of-the-month poster: Pat Weedon\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Illustration: Richard Evans\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nPublisher: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nPublishing Secretary: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Pat Dolan\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Coraline Turner\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K\r\nJOYSTICK: Optional\r\nCATEGORY: Arcade\r\nSUPPLIER: Lotus Soft\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\n\r\nTedious Galaxians-type game in which you shoot down 'mutant birds' which are dropping 'eggs on parachutes'. Primitive, jerky graphics. You'd need to be a bird-brain to buy this one.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"81","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Anderson","Score":"1","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ease Of Use","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"1/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"1/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"1/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]