[{"TitleName":"Hercules","Publisher":"Alpha-Omega Software","Author":"Ayyaz Mahmood, John A. White, Phil Gascoine, Tim White","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0002298","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 13, Jan 1987","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1986-12-11","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":130,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nArt Editor: Caroline Clayton\r\nDeputy Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nStaff Writer: Phil South\r\nContributors: Mike Gerrard, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Steve Marsden, Tommy Nash, Max Phillips, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nPublishing Manager: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press 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 ©1987 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":"Alpha-Omega\n£1.99\nReviewer: Peter Shaw\n\nJust when you thought it was safe to return to the software stores Alpha Omega releases another gift from the gods - Hercules. Yes, if you ever wanted to dispel the fear that Hercules was a menacing and fearsome warrior then this little stick insect will do it faster than Icarus's wax melted.\n\nTaking on the title role, you have to perform the twelve 'mighty' labours of Hercules - not that many people can remember offhand what they all are. but still... This is all controlled by what's called RAP - Random Access Principle. Alpha Omega reckons this is the first game in the world to bring you this, and then goes on for the rest of the instructions chewing the cud about it. Well, okay, I don't want to get into any arguments over whether this is the first game to use the idea, but I know that it's definitely not worth mentioning, let alone making it the game's biggest feature!\n\nOne thing that the YS team discovered was that if you stay on any platform for more than two seconds you die. As the instructions were so busy prattling on about RAP they forgot to mention anything about it, so we can only assume that the place must be on fire, or something, 'cos you're only safe if you're swinging on the ropes. Tarzan style.\n\nThe labours you have to perform don't seem particularly clear either and since I couldn't do any of them, I gave up in frustration. I couldn't even content myself with ogling at the beautiful graphics - 'cos they aren't. Poor colours and flickery sprites - they were feeble to say the least.\n\nHercules didn't hold any magic for me, or any of the YS team who saw it. Quite frankly he'd be better off back mending broken cart wheels, or fair maidens or something.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Peter Shaw","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 58, Jan 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-12-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nSenior Staff Writer: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nDesigner: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Jacqui Pope\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Courtesy of 2000AD magazine\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nOriginal programs should be on cassette and articles should be typed. Please write Program Printout on the envelopes of all cassettes submitted. We cannot undertake to return cassettes unless an SAE is enclosed. We pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by PRS Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 90,215 July-Dec 1985"},"MainText":"Label: Alpha Omega\r\nAuthor: In House\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nJoystick: various\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nReviewer: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nHercules looks absolutely awful. It isn't. Quite.\r\n\r\nI wouldn't go as far as some other magazines and say that Hercules is a great game that just looks like a terrible one but certainly it has some unusual features.\r\n\r\nIt looks like a platforms and ladders game, the plot is based on the twelve labours of Hercules as divided over fifty screens. For those who don't know about the twelve labours worry not, somehow they are all reduced to running and jumping around and dodging funny objects. But that's not all.\r\n\r\nWhat makes Hercules at little are than a runny jumpy game with terrible graphics is the overall structure of each screen. It isn't merely a matter of jumping this, dodging that, taking this route or whatever, you find that over time things happen - previously safe platforms turn into fire - other platforms look safe but turn to fire the moment you step on them, sometimes you don't even know where the platforms are... This adds a different dimension to the game and gets it a few brownie points (a star's worth I guess).\r\n\r\nI would still say that a) the graphics on Hercules are unspeakably bad b) some of the 'will it burst into flames? element' is simply unfair at least first time around - no amount of skill, dexterity or judgement will help you solve it and it's just luck.\r\n\r\nI wouldn't go so far as to recommend this one even at a budget price but if you are an addict of the platforms and ladders genre and fancy something a bit unusual this could be of interest.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Not quite a boring platform and ladders game with terrible graphics. Some neat twists earn it a few extra points.","Page":"51","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Graham Taylor","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 33, Jan 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1986-12-18","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bryan Ralph\r\nAssistant Editor: Cliff Joseph\r\nConsultant Editor: Ray Elder\r\nAdvertising Manager: John McGarry\r\nDesign: Argus Design\r\nA.S.P. Advertising and Editorial [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Chase Web, [redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Copy Controller: Andy Selwood\r\n\r\nDistributed by: Argus Press Sales and Distribution Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing Monthly is published on the fourth Friday of each month. Subscription rates can be obtained from ZX Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication, including all articles, designs plans, drawings and other intellectual property rights herein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the company.\r\n\r\nArgus Specialist Publications Limited. ©1987"},"MainText":"Alpha Omega\r\n£1.99\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a game comes along that proves the point that you don't have to have great graphics for it to be addictive. I originally saw Hercules on the C64 and I thought that no-one could come up with a game that had worse graphics. Well the people who converted it to the Spectrum have managed!\r\n\r\nSo what is it about Hercules that makes it addictive? Well, it is a platform game but with the added interest of problems to be solved as well as monsters to be leapt etc.\r\n\r\nYou play the part of Hercules as you try to complete his twelve labours. Each labour is spread over several screens and the first eleven appear in a random order. Only if you succeed in completing all of them will you have the chance to have a crack at the twelfth.\r\n\r\nYour first problem on each screen is usually one of time. The platform you start on has the annoying habit of bursting into flames and frying you to a crisp if you stand around waiting for more than a couple of seconds. This forces you into action which is usually equally lethal. Ropes and platforms collapse under you plummeting you to a fiery grave.\r\n\r\nFrequently, the route to your objective - a large door - isn't obvious at all and you have to take a wild plunge into the unknown hoping that a platform will miraculously appear under you. You soon get used to ignoring the platforms originally on the screen as they tend to be red herrings. This leads a lot of people to claim that the game is too random but it only needs for you to complete a couple of the fifty plus screens to get the hang of what's going on and you are hooked.\r\n\r\nPresentation wise, the game is dreadful. The chosen keys are unplayable with no redefine option although you can use a joystick. When it says 'Press P to start', it actually means Caps shift and P and as already mentioned, the graphics are dreadful - the crudity of the C64 version with added garishness. But, for all that, I do keep going back and playing it again and again.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"Globert","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"Good","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]