[{"TitleName":"Hellfire Attack","Publisher":"Martech Games Ltd","Author":"Chris Edwards, David R. Cann, Gavin Wade, Mark A. Jones, Steinar Lund","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0002288","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 61, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-26","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Stuart Wynne\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Raffaele Cecco, Ian Cull, Ian Doggett, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page, Ian Phillipson\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: Ian Chubb, Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [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":"Stop noise pollution with Martech\r\n\r\nProducer: Martech\r\nEarmuffs: £8.99 cass, £14.99 disk\r\nAuthor: Gavin Wade\r\n\r\nConcerned by the number of deafening low-flying jets? Why don't you do something about it? Like writing to your local RAF bascyour MP, or blasting them to a zillion pieces with a 20mm cannon? if you're of the latter mind Hellfire Attacks for you. No hideously noisy afterburning engines here, just two discreet rotors and a rotory 20mm cannon.\r\n\r\nAs wave after wave of eardrum bursting jets rush by, blasting away with their guns, you've got to dodge the bullets and blast back. If the action gets a little tough, use a smart bomb to clear the air. On each level there's two or three slow, monster jumbo planes with dozens of engines to destroy as well. Splash the required number of noise-polluting enemies and you go on to the next level when you land. If not, you go around again.\r\n\r\nAs you'd expect there's a multiload, but it's very well-done; load the main program on side one, then flip the tape for the levels. Get killed and you simply rewind to the start of tape two and no messing about with tape counters. Other than that the game's a bit disappointing with enemy bullets very hard to see. Still, graphics are good, there's a great 128K tune and I found it fun for a while.\r\n\r\nMARK 70%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: well-drawn aircraft, but the scenery is dull and slow moving\r\nSound: an amazing sampled title tune and decent in-game effects\r\nOptions: demo mode","ReviewerComments":["Lacking the game content of Thunder Blade and the sheer speed of Afterburner this is rather second rate. The inlay describes it as 'gripping' but shooting down enemy aircraft is repetitive, while the sluggishness of the chopper soon induces tedium. Yet the biggest problem, literally, is the large helicopter sprite which obscures your view. OK, so the game has quite a few multiloaded levels, but they all play in much the same way. It's a pity but the best aspect of Hellfire Attack is the great title tune.\r\nPhil King\r\n48%","Essentially Afterburner with rotors this starts off with an impressive sampled 128K tune. Such technical prowess does not, however, extend to the game itself. The scrolling of ground-based objects is sluggish, and while their graphic outlines tilt left/right, the colour bands for a blue sky and green grass remain completely still. The helicopter itself is well-drawn, but the massive bullets it spits are identical to those fired by the enemy, making combat very confusing. Nevertheless, despite these problems Hellfire Attack is fairly playable, albeit rather repetitive and difficult, with a fast and well thought-out multiload. Worth a look.\r\nStuart Wynne\r\n71%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A competent 3-D shoot-'em-up, but it's too slow to catch up with the superior Afterburner and Thunder Blade.","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"48","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Stuart Wynne","Score":"71","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Not the way to fly a helicopter."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"HOW THE DEVIL TO WYNNE\r\n\r\nShoot only nine aircraft on Level One so you have to redo the Level - no penalty and you can earn more bonus lives.\r\n\r\nOn harder levels shoot only required number of enemies and big jets, then fly high and keep out of the crossfire.\r\n\r\nKeep firing even as you're going down in flames - you might still hit something.\r\n\r\nBe liberal with smart bombs - you get them all back when you die or complete a level."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"74%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"82%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"66%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 38, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-10","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor Goodall\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Guy Bennignton, Richard Blaine, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine Peters, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Phil South, Ben Stone\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\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":"Martech\r\n£8.95 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: David McCandless\r\n\r\nThe Super Cobra feather-weight attack helicopter is humming ready for take-off. Its 20mm three barrel rotary cannon is smouldering for action. The laser-guided 'launch-and-say-goodbye-cruel-world' missiles are smoking in their silos. Ahead of you lies mile after mile of hostile graphics.\r\n\r\nAnd they know you're coming.\r\n\r\nHmmmm, a suspiciously similar storyline to Thunder Blade Must be a coincidence.\r\n\r\nYou fly (in the jerky 3D scrolling sense of the word) your helicopter as the landscape pushes painfully under you. Enemy helicopters and warplanes limp out of the blank horizon, gradually approaching as growing lumps. You steer left and right with the landscape shifting with you, avoiding the clumps (missiles), blobs (bullets) and lolly-pop sticks (planes). The idea is to reach the end of the level and load the next scenario.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are poor - and I'm being a generous open-minded person to say that. Your propellors don't shift; the rear view of your copter is bleak and uninspiring; the enemy planes and choppers are just blocky pixels; and the landscapes are an indescribable mish-mash of graphics, which the Speccy attribute problem can only emphasise.\r\n\r\nPlayability-wise the key controls are fairly responsive, but the almost involuntary flip-over-and-fly-upside-down feature is instantly disorientating. Plus the fact that your chopper can easily become lost in the attribute/graphic soup, just didn't enamour me of the game at all!\r\n\r\nHellfire Attack is about as addictive as a corpuscle. The dire graphics, awful screen design, and sheer iccky-ness make it a likely candidate for the Mothball Substitute Of The Year Award.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"An uninspired chopper game. Give it the chop.","Page":"43","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David McCandless","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 82, Jan 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1988-12-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham 'Oh God?' Taylor\r\nDeputy Editor: Jim 'unsound' Douglas\r\nProduction Editor: Alison 'Where's my red pen?' Skeat\r\nArt Editor: Tim 'Woops' Noonan\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'leather' Dillon, Chris 'snivel' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nSenior Sales: Shane Hussien\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'oops there goes another one' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'cheery' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Jerry 'yee ha!' Parks\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]"},"MainText":"Label: Martech\r\nAuthor: In-house\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony Dillon\r\n\r\nWhoah! is this supposed to be Afterburner or is this supposed to be Afterburner? Hellfire Attack does an impression of Afterburner which is about as good as Mike Yarwood's impression of Margaret Thatcher, which is to say, it looks right but it's completely unconvincing.\r\n\r\nThe problem is that while the idea's roughly the same, the playability level is minimal. You never get the impression that you're in control of what's happening - it's just a lot of graphics flying around as if there wasn't anyone playing.\r\n\r\nYour Thunderblade style attack helicopter is equipped with a rotary cannon which fires all the time the chopper is airborne. Well, that's what it said in the instructions. In fact, the screen is so cluttered it's hard to tell when you're firing and when you're not. Just by lining up your sights you can knock down any targets close to hand. For some distant enemies you have to resort to using a laser-guided missile. Once your radar has locked onto a target, a square cursor appears on it, the word TARGET appears on your control panel and you can fire and forget.\r\n\r\nAnother useful trick is turbo power. By pressing the space bar you can increase your thrust two fold, this, allows you to speed past some enemies, and also to fly upside down. For some unknown reason I ended up flying upside-down even when I didn't want to, which is pretty off-putting.\r\n\r\nThe backgrounds include forests, seascapes and battlegrounds, but the targets are so ill defined that you can't actually work out what you're shooting at or whether you've hit anything. Even more annoying, you can't really tell when you're about to be hit; the graphics are so messy and unclear that it's impossible to tell what's going on until it's too late, and your pilot is parachuting to safety. A charming little bug means that your missiles remain on the screen as you plunge to the ground. Another little jolly is the way the cliffs go blue once they fall below sea level. Clever programming.\r\n\r\nAbout the only entertaining aspect of the game is the 128K sampled music, which includes a howling metal guitar bit and some whizzy drums. Apart from that, don't let the relatively impressive screen shots of Hellfire Attack fool you into thinking that this game is in any way a rival to Afterburner or Thunderblade.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Disappointing Afterburner/Thunderblade lookalike without the playability.","Page":"26","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"60","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"41%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"60%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 17, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-05","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Future Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet: 0458 74011\r\n\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nReviews Editor: Bob Wade\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Jarratt, Andy Smith (Don't believe everything you read in the masthead last month!)\r\nProduction Editor: Damien Noonan\r\nConsultant Editor: Brian Larkman (Graphics)\r\nAdventure Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: Gwyn Hughes, Phil South, Tony Tyler Andy Wilton\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Angela Neale\r\nProduction: Diane Tavener\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jonathan Beales\r\nAdvertising Sales Executive: David Lilley\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\n\r\nCover by Simon Bisley\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."},"MainText":"Martech, £8.99cs, £14.99dk\r\nAtari ST version reviewed Issue 16 - ACE rating 554\r\n\r\nIt's multi-load even in 128K mode. The graphics are nothing special and the way the display suddenly inverts is very off-putting. It's a poor Afterburner variant that won't get you excited.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"69","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"337/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 15, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-19","Editor":"Jon Rose","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jon Rose\r\nReviews Editor: Nik Wild\r\nFeatures Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Robin Hogg, Warren Lapworth, Robin Candy\r\nEditorial Assistants: Vivien Vickress, Caroline Blake\r\nResearcher: David Peters\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Mel Croucher, Robin Evans, Richard Henderson, Jez San, John Woods\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Yvonne Priest, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Robert Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENTS\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nGroup Advertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow and on our Apple Macintosh II running Quark Xpress 2.0. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\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 TGM. 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 Viv Vickress a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into TGM - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Occasional material from Electronic Game Player reproduced by kind permission of Sorjana Publications, California. Other Newsfield publications are CRASH (Spectrum), ZZAP! (Commodore 64/Amiga), FEAR (fantasy and horror) and MOVIE - THE VIDEO MAGAZINE. Now that's interesting, but why are you reading all this when there 120 pages to go?\r\n\r\n©TGM Magazines Ltd, 1989\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\nAmstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\n\r\nYou pilot a SuperCobra light-attack helicopter, acting against an unknown enemy. Your rotary cannon fire automatically as you fly above a 3-D landscape enemy aircraft and missiles approaching. More reliable weapons are laser-guided Hellfire launch-and-leave missiles, a supply of 40 available on each level. Your SuperCobra can enter turbo speed, allowing you to fly momentarily upside down to avoid enemies.\r\n\r\nThe graphics on the Amiga are identical in definition to the ST original, but use brighter colours, have more enemy approach frames and move faster.\r\n\r\nThe real surprise is that the C64 version is also very similar to the ST, having equally colourful and nicely shaded ground features that are plotted for passable 3-D effect. Some sprites are abstract until near your craft, but generally graphics are commendable.\r\n\r\nThe Spectrum is surprisingly slothful, and although amongst the monochrome there is the addition of a large bomber, the display gets confusing and it's difficult to spot deadly objects.\r\n\r\nOn the Amiga, the title tune warbles similarly to the ST, but has additional instruments and good sound effects. Dramatic C64 music is ruined by a nauseating death jingle. 128K Spectrum owners can enjoy raucous Heavy Metal title music and loud effects.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"58","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Remarkably similar to the 16-bits, the C64 version is the best of the bunch."},{"Text":"The Spectrum's bold bomber is little consolation for indistinct aircraft/missile approach."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMIGA\r\n\r\nOverall: 53%"},{"Text":"ATARI ST Overall: 52% TGM013"},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64/128\r\n\r\nOverall: 59%"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"44%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]