[{"TitleName":"Hybrid","Publisher":"Starlight Software","Author":"John Bigelow, David John Rowe","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0002404","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 44, Sep 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-08-27","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Richard Eddy, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Sally Newman\r\nTechnical Editor: Simon N Goodwin\r\nAdventure: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy: Philippa Irving\r\nLondon: John Minson\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Franco Frey, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\nEducational Software: Rosetta McLeod\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nLayout: Tony Lorton, Mark Kendrick\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Starlight\r\nRetail Price: £8.99\r\nAuthor: John Bigelow\r\n\r\nFar in the future, Earth fell into chaos after the death of its ruler Jaled IV. Anarchy was the only ruling force, and during these dark ages much scientific knowledge of the golden age was lost.\r\n\r\nOnly a few things have survived this terrible time of desolation, among them the intergalactic jail in which invaders were imprisoned and their psychological powers subdued.\r\n\r\nThe most dangerous of these invaders were a mean set of aliens who had landed from an unknown planet. Their powers were beyond belief: mental abilities that defied analysis and more physical strength than our world had seen before. In Jaled's time the creatures were held in a suspended state in the jail - but now, with advanced technology, they can be terminated for ever.\r\n\r\nBut the jail is so nearly impregnable that only The Hybrid can penetrate it. The Hybrid is a strange group of three half-droid, half-organic intelligence units, each possessing their own individual characteristics. And what makes these fighting machines invincible is their ability to merge and create a single entity, The Hybrid, with all the powers of the three units in one destructive force.\r\n\r\nYou control each of these intelligence units. The brain has with weak armour, moderate movement and poor shooting characteristics but can use the teleport to transfer itself and other units through the prison complex, closer to the aliens. The robot is the largest and strongest part of The Hybrid and best used to clear the way for the other units. And the xylon can switch on bridges in the jail, helping you cross streams.\r\n\r\nEach unit has its own power rating, fuelled by energy blocks, and once a unit s out of power it's immobilised. In an emergency, energy can be siphoned from one unit to another.\r\n\r\nExtra fire power and armour are also necessary to combat the strategically-placed guns, cannons, beacons, mines and obnoxious aliens.\r\n\r\nTo complete your task you must join the three units to form The Hybrid, which is then automatically transported to the cell of the first alien. By completing this process four times you eradicate the race of aliens and yet again save the earth.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: neat, with well-used colour\r\nSound: average\r\nOptions: definable keys","ReviewerComments":["Hybrid is another trashy scrolling spaceship-on-pretty-backgrounds game. But the graphics are very similar to Shadow Skimmers, and colour is good and widely used. And there's an average title tune, though not many FX. The best idea is the way you can change from one Hybrid to another; but that doesn't save the uninteresting gameplay.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n40%","It's all well and good making a game that's graphically pretty and nicely documented, but if it's unoriginal and unplayable no-one will want to know. Hybrid left me cold. The screens offer virtually no challenge and the aliens that inhabit them aren't particularly bloodthirsty, so death is just an annoying thing that happens if you're unlucky. And once a Hybrid dies, the other two have to be sacrificed as they can't progress far on their own. Insipid...\r\nBen Stone\r\n29%","DIY robot-building is the name of this very playable shoot-'em-up game. Graphically it's good, with the parts of the dismembered Hybrid zipping round the screen. And though it's all viewed from above, control is easy to master. The inevitable blasting sound effects are all too evident, but a harmless tune plays on the intro screen. Hybrid is well worth anyone's time.\r\nMark Rothwell\r\n80%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: An unoriginal game tarted up by graphics.","Page":"29","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"40","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"29","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Rothwell","Score":"80","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Another screen in Hybrid's quest to terminate the evil aliens."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"48%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 67, Oct 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: 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\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\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\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\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 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Ariolasoft\r\nAuthor: Starlight\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tamara Howard\r\n\r\nThere are quite a lot of games quite a bit like Hybrid. I s'pose that's why Starlight decided to call it what they did...\r\n\r\nHere's the plot: mankind's big hope of saving itself from eternal tyranny and misery is not, in fact, Col Oliver North - but you. Yep, you get to control the three robots that will save the world.\r\n\r\nInside a high security gaol live four horribly dangerous aliens. You need to kill them. In order to do this you need to move your three specialised robots to one of four special locations within the gaol where they can unite to do battle.\r\n\r\nGetting the three robots through to the 'join-up' cells is no easy matter since the gaol area is simply teeming with laser defences, assorted aliens, cannons, impassable energy fields and lots of other things that make bleeping noises.\r\n\r\nIn some places the way is blocked to all but the smallest robot, in other areas only the biggest robot can deal with the more fiendish defensive systems.\r\n\r\nPlaying the game is therefore partly a matter of judging which robot to use when and then working your way through the gaol blasting and dodging. Each robot has separate levels of energy and fire power which may be augmented by passing through special squares in the gaol. Should one robot run out of steam it is possible to transfer energy between robots and revitalise it.\r\n\r\nIt's not a bad mixture of arcade and strategy but it doesn't look very spectacular - there's a squarish look to the playing screens, relatively unexciting designs for the robots (which do however move quite smoothly) and the various sections of the gaol all look pretty much the same. True there isn't much attribute clash but then you'd hardly expect it on a game with shapes as essentially basic as this.\r\n\r\nIf every there was a case for a mid-price game this is it. It isn't very original, it doesn't look spectacular, but it has quite a large playing area and could be fun for those who get pleasure out of lengthy mapping exercises.\r\n\r\nThey have more patience than I, though!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Bad points: average gameplay and graphics. Good points: interesting mix of arcade and strategy.","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tamara Howard","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 72, Oct 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":164,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"C+VG TEAM\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesly Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Steve Donoghue, Matthew Woodley\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Clive Pembridge\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Katherine Lee\r\nAd Production: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nCover: Glen Fabry\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 106,571"},"MainText":"MACHINES: Spectrum/Amstrad/C64\r\nSUPPLIER: Ariolasoft\r\nPRICE: £7.95\r\nVERSION TESTED: Spectrum/Amstrad\r\n\r\nThree creatures - Brain, Robot and Xylon - must find each other and unite to destroy an alien in a deep space complex.\r\n\r\nYou initially have control of the Xylon, a beast with light armour and slight fire power. Such a large task for such a small hero. He's not only got to help destroy the alien but he's got to take out the station's dangerous defences. There are gun emplacements, enemy space ships and power points to knock out, plus electrified fences to avoid. You can also try the teleports which'll take you deeper into the complex.\r\n\r\nWhen you find the Robot, the next piece of the hybrid creature, link up with it and move on to find the last component brain. The Xylon and Robot must work in tandem to defeat yet more complex defences - this time streams of electric current and more powerful laser posts. No one character can complete the game because each has different characteristics and powers. When, for instance, you meet up with Brain you have the intelligence to solve the complex's puzzles, the armoured protection of The Robot, and the speed and agility of The Xylon. That's all you'll need to confront the alien.\r\n\r\nThe game's not over once you've found and blasted it. The members of the team are scattered throughout the complex. You've got to find them again and go after another alien.\r\n\r\nRepeat the process another two times and you've completed the game. Sounds so simple but most of the complex screens are lethal.\r\n\r\nCombine that with a frustrating search and you've got an inventive if graphically mediocre game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"22","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 1, Oct 1987","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-17","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nCo-Editor: Gary Penn\r\nContributors: John Minson, Jon Bates, Ciaran Brennan, Martin Coxhead, Mel Croucher, Sue Dando, Simon Goodwin, Martyn Lester, Barnaby Page, Jeremy Spencer, Nik Wild, John Woods\r\nEditorial Assistant: Fran Mable\r\nArt Director: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction: David Western, Gordon Druce, Mark Kendrick, Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\n\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow with colour origination taken care of by Scan Studios [redacted], and printing achieved by the Artisan Press [redacted]. Distribution effected by COMAG, of [redacted].\r\n\r\nQuite simple, really. The Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to competition 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, and promise to publish the names of winners in the magazine. 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 arrive, in which case drop Fran Mable a line at the PO Box 10 address). Naturally, no-one who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to a person living or dead, who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. Well they can enter, but they stand no chance of winning anything.\r\n\r\nEveryone's gone to a lot of trouble and effort to produce the material that appears in this issue of the magazine, and as the copyright holders, we're going to be very annoyed if we find it turning up elsewhere. Like the SUN says when they get a juicy exclusive, 'Our lawyers are watching'. So don't be tempted...\r\n\r\nWe can't promise to return anything you send us, unless it's accompanied by a suitable postal receptacle and the requisite amount of stamps - and should you provide any unsolicited words or photographs that we use, we'll pay for them at our usual rates. That just about wraps up any letters...\r\n\r\n©1987\r\n\r\nPhotography by Cameron Pound\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey\r\n\r\nNEWSFIELD\r\n\r\nA NEWSFIELD PUBLICATION"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.99\r\nCommodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £12.99\r\nAmstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\n\r\nROBOTIC THREESOME\r\n\r\nAriolasoft have recently changed direction, moving towards being a publishing house rather than a software label. They are setting up teams of programmers which work fairly independently, writing games for labels which Ariolasoft then publishes. Reaktor and Viz Design are Starlight's stablemates.\r\n\r\nThe inhabitants of an inter-galactic jail have freed themselves from suspended animation and now intend to destroy Earth. Taking control of the three half-sentient, half-droid units which form the fighting machine Hybrid - the Brain, the Xylon and the Robot - the objective is to eradicate the alien life forms once and for all. Each unit has its own characteristics. For example the Robot is the toughest and is best used to clear a path for the other two, while Xylon can activate switches to create bridges between sections of the jail, and the physically weaker Brain, being that bit smarter, is able to use the transport system to reach otherwise inaccessible areas of the complex.\r\n\r\nThe jail is well-defended, containing automatic gun emplacements, mines, beacons and aggressive guardians. Apart from avoiding enemy gunfire and aliens, the overall aim is to find a point where all three units can join up to form one superior entity which may be transported to an alien cell to carry out a termination. Perform this exercise four times and the game is complete.\r\n\r\nExtra power units and ammunition can be picked up along the way, and the Hybrid's component parts each have separate energy reserves. Should power run out, a droid is immobilised, although such emergencies can be dealt with by syphoning power from one unit to another. One annoying aspect to the gameplay is that there's no point in continuing if one of your units expires - all three components have to be merged before dealing death to one of the four target aliens.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Hybrid is perhaps utilising a bit of a tired old scenario, nonetheless its implementation is quite nice. A strange title theme creates the initial ambience as you make your gameplay option choices. The screen display is slightly confusing with the play area covering a relatively small section of the screen, but the process of moving the three components of the Hybrid is slick enough. A desire to persevere with the game and explore deeper into the cells is kindled by the relative ease with which the earlier sections can be completed.","Page":"73","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD: less colour than the Spectrum version, but marginally more playable."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"A desire to persevere with the game and explore deeper into the cells is kindled by the relative ease with which the earlier sections can be completed.\""},{"Text":"AMSTRAD CPC\r\n\r\nOverall: 65%\r\n\r\nThe music is best switched off, unless played through exterior audio equipment, as it grates somewhat and adds nothing to the game. The colours used are bland, although the task of eliminating the malevolent aliens is easier and marginally more enjoyable than on the Spectrum version."},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64\r\n\r\nNot available as this review was written, but due any day now..."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"63%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]