[{"TitleName":"Hydra","Publisher":"Domark Ltd","Author":"Alan Grier, Chris Scudds, Moonstone Computing","YearOfRelease":"1991","ZxDbId":"0002406","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 90, Jul 1991","Price":"£2.99","ReleaseDate":"1991-06-20","Editor":"Richard Eddy","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Richard Eddy\r\nSub Editor: Warren Lapworth\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nArt Editor: Mark Kendrick\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction and Circulation Director: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Robb Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Judith Bamford\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Christine Moore\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jackie Morris (Supervisor), Joanne Lewis\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Caroline Edwards [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting Apple Macintosh Computers using Quark Express and Bitstream Fonts.\r\n\r\nSystems Manager: Ian Chubb\r\n\r\nColour origination Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted].\r\n\r\nDistributor COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nYearly subscription rates: UK £17.20 Europe £24.00, Air Mail overseas £37. US/Canada subscriptions and back issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly subscription rates US$47.00, Canada CAN$57.00 Back Issues US$5.20, Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \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 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 us a line). No person who is related, no matter how remotely, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo 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 on 35mm transparencies is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated according to the current printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1991 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover design and illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Domark\r\n£10.99/£17.99\r\n\r\nIn the future, the life of a courier is more than tough. Terrorists rule the skies and seas and it needs a special sort of pestle to get the mail through.\r\n\r\nUnderstandably, there isn't a great deal of competition in this game so your name is the one that comes to the lips of the government. You are... Postman Pat, Erm... no, better make that Hydra.\r\n\r\nThere are nine missions to complete with such diverse packages to deliver as Her Majesty the Queen's crown jewels, mutant virus strains, laser rifles and doomsday devices. You're provided with a hydracraft and a machine gun as standard protection., but once a couple of runs an under your belt special weapons, shields and fuel can be purchased.\r\n\r\nFuel is your main worry as you rocket up the screen toward the ravaging terrorist hordes. The fuel gauge, at the side of the screen, shoots down at an alarming rate but by shooting enemy craft, fuel crystals can be collected, as can balloons containing cash (by using the boost function to fly for a few seconds).\r\n\r\nBut beware: collision with any of the obstacles, mobile or stationary, will lose you a hydracraft, and more importantly, the cargo. When this happens, an enemy speedboat grabs the container and legs it. All you can do is increase speed to warp factor 8 and give chase.\r\n\r\nIf you survive to the end of the level you enter the Hydradome and are able to pick up tots of goodies. And, if you has loadsadosh, you can enter Ziggy's Weapon Shop and purchase such essentials as homing missiles, shields, flamethrowers and 9mm Uzi.\r\n\r\nSo, there you have it. It's a good thing that Postman Pat doesn't have to arm himself to deliver the post, isn't it viewers? 'Postman Pat and his black and white cat, early in the morning, just as day is dawning, he shoots all the terrorists in his van' doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?\r\n\r\nThe arcade version of Hydra is okay but isn't exactly a mega game, and this is the case with its computer offspring. The sprites are messy: from a distance the attacking mob looks like a plate of spaghetti, and close up things don't improve much.\r\n\r\nA water-borne versa of Road Blasters is how I'd describe this game, just head up the scrolly screen and blast anything that moves. This would be fun if the fuel wasn't guzzled up so quickly (I think a stray bullet has hit the fuel tank). Nick may quite like this game but it doesn't do a great deal for me.\r\n\r\nMARK 50%","ReviewerComments":["This type of racing game has been seen time and time again on the Speccy (and here it is gain). Your hydracraft moves and shoots like the speedboat in Domark's Live and Let Die - it's very similar! The game idea is simple but the slightest bang into any of the scenery or enemies and the cargo goes catapulting into the distance, to be picked up by someone else. Fuel disappears at an alarming rate and pods have to be constantly picked up to keep going. All the presentation screens are well drawn and coloured and the music that plays throughout really gets the toes tapping. The graphics on the whole are okay but tend to look quite dated and the 'tracks' are sparse.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n66%"],"OverallSummary":"A fun racing shoot-'em-up but the constant fuel shortage soon bumps up the annoyance gauge.","Page":"48","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"50","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"66","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Heck! The river's been turned to custard! What a miracle, praise the Lord, etc, etc..."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"58%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 67, Jul 1991","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1991-06-13","Editor":"Andy Ide","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Ide\r\nPregnant 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\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: Nick Davies\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC July-Dec 1990 60,368\r\n\r\nYS comes to you from the shed in the garden behind the building that produces (or that's got lots of little people inside it who produce) Commodore Format, ST Format, Amiga Format, New Computer Express, Amstrad Action, Classic CD, PC Plus, 8000 Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, PC Answers & Needlecraft"},"MainText":"Domark (Tengen)\r\n£12.99 cass\r\nReviewer: Andy Ide\r\n\r\nLet's face it, folks - these Tengen deals are doing Domark no favours at all. I mean excuse me for being so blunt, but, erm, they're completely crap, aren't they? STUN Runner, Skull And Crossbones, and now Hydra - we're talking turkeys of the highest order here!\r\n\r\n\"Good grief\" you exclaim, \"Andy's on a bit of a rant!\" And indeed I am. But with due cause.\r\n\r\nYou see, every six months or so Domark ask Tengen if they can convert one or two of their rather successful coin-ops. The answer is usually yes, so long as they fork out for a couple of incredibly crap ones too. Yes, I know it sounds a bit dodgy, but that's the way it works - it the good stuff balances out with the bad then everything's okay.\r\n\r\nExcept it's not! Because everything's turning crap! Take a look at last year. Why didn't Klax and Robot Monsters get Megagames? After all, they were supposed to be the 'golden eggs' of the pack. Instead they were just very good games, but slightly unoriginal.\r\n\r\nAnd things are even more out of whack this year. Okay, so RBI2 wasn't bad, but why did they cock up badly with STUN Runner? After the event, everyone makes the excuse that it was an impossible conversion - but then why buy it in the first place?! As for Skull And Crossbones, Linda found it reasonably appealing (as she'll tell you over on page 54) but she managed get to Level Six of an eight level game in no time at at all.\r\n\r\nNope, Domark are letting themselves down badly. Sure, they've got much better deals elsewhere (like the Incentive ones for Castle Master and 3D Contstruction Kit - which is where they get their real hits from) but, so far as the Speccy goes, Tengen take up the most room. Meanwhile a budgie house like the Codies simply trash these conversions straight into the ground. And at £10 less a throw. It's a joke! (So get. ready to laugh at this...)\r\n\r\n(BLIMEY! AT LAST!)\r\n\r\nHydra wasn't exactly a corker in the arcades, and it brimming well isn't here either. You play a speedboat courier, zipping off round the world (and into the screen) to deliver lots of Top Secret packages.\r\n\r\nThere are nine missions (making up 31 levels), and the aim is to avoid being shot by international terrorists and hang on to enough fuel to get you through to the end of each level. Crystal petroleum pick-up thingies bob up and down in the water for you to scoot through, and there are similar 'floaties' to help you boost up your, er, 'boost' power (which makes you fly. Well, it lifts you about two feet off the ground anyway).\r\n\r\nThere's also a bonus level called the Hydradome, which is a sort of psychedelic obstacle course that you've got to race round in order to visit Ziggy's Weapon 'Shoppe' and stock up on ammo and shields. And, er, that's it. (Well, it probably isn't but I'm buttocked if I'm going to say anything else about it.)\r\n\r\nEXCEPT THAT...\r\n\r\nThe graphics look as though they're only half finished (if that) and are pretty jerky. All the sprites are blurry and indistinct (except for your boat up at the front of the screen), and there's no attempt to reproduce any kind of river effect. (In fact, it may as well be a road - Hydra plays very much like a cruddy version of Roadblasters.) As for any sense of speed and danger, well, that really is in short supply. The game seems to end when you run out of fuel which means it hasn't got the edge to keep you really involved, and certainly the first couple of levels are a cinch to get through.\r\n\r\nNope, there's simply nothing to recommend Hydra. For all it cares, it may as well have come out in 1985. (And the Speccy's progressed an awful long way since then.) So, er, let's just keep our fingers crossed for Thunderjaws, eh?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Completely crap Tengen coin-op conversion about speedboats. Don't even think about it.","Page":"53","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Ide","Score":"49","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Mmm. Not too much lovely scenery about, is there? (Oh, and those blurry things coming at you are boats. Apparently.)"},{"Text":"The second level now, and we're all stocked up with rather a nice little flamethrower to fry the baddies with. Hurrah!"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"HOW MUCH IS THAT UZI IN THE WINDOW?\r\n\r\nOnce you've sleepwalked your way through the Hydradrome you can go and spend lots of creds in Ziggy's Weapon Shoppe. There's a selection of lots of juicy ammo and it all looks something like this...*\r\n\r\nANTI-GRAV $15000\r\nSpeaks for itself really. Similar to the boost thingy.\r\n\r\nSHIELD $5000\r\nThe shield enables you to 'pass through' objects and not get blown up.\r\n\r\nFLAMER $5000\r\nBurn 'em!\r\n\r\nUZI $10000\r\nA perennial favourite, the uzi's got some pretty rapid cannon fire.\r\n\r\nBOMBS $10000\r\nKabooosh!!!\r\n\r\nNUKE $15000\r\nNukes get rid of everything on the screen (no surprises there).\r\n\r\n6 WAY $15000\r\nAnd these trace the nearest baddy and kill 'im\r\n\r\n(* Not that you'll necessarily want any of it of course.)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"52%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"49%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 113, Jul 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-06-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth 'Shell Suit' Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Old Levis' Walker\r\nStaff Writers: Steve 'Biker Jacket' Keen\r\nSU Crew: Alan 'Donkey Jacket' Dykes, Tony 'Black Knight' Naqvi, Chris 'Parka' Jenkins, John 'Sandles' Cook, Pete 'Floppy Hat' Gerrard, Phillip 'Leather Boots' Fisch, Graham 'Lab Coat' Mason\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jerry 'C&A' Hall\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Hotpants' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Dept: Sarah 'Cowboy Boots' Ewing, Sarah 'Neglige' Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham 'Oxfam' Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry 'Sleeveless Shirt' 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 consent of Andrea will result in a whine so large as to render you impotent for the rest of your life so don t use any part of this magazine as a contraceptive (except perhaps the staples which if you stuck into your soul mate during a romantic moment ought to do the trick of turning them off you for life!). It's always difficult life - especially if you're a teenager. I mean, did you know that teenagers worry more about problems than any other part of society? To it is end we'll be producing Andre's Problem Spot next month, so if you've got any teenage problems then just drop her a line at Andrea's Problem Spot, SU, [redacted]. See you next month dudes."},"MainText":"Label: Domark\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £10.99 Tape, £17.99 Disk\r\nReviewer: Alan Dykes\r\n\r\nAin't no mountain high enough, ain't no river wide enough it would seem, to keep Hydra from delivering the goods!. Yes, if you've ever wondered what all those sinister looking bike couriers do in their spare time then Hydra may provide a few answers.\r\n\r\nAs driver of the Hydra-mobile it's your job to deliver a variety of highly sensitive cargoes intact, to their respective destinations. Naturally, in the process you must knock off a few baddies as well, but its not all mindless violence, there's a lot of driving skill involved too, so sharpen those reflexes!\r\n\r\nThere are eight missions to complete, each in a different part of the world, and each with its own obstacles and enemies, e.g. when in Germany you must avoid trees which litter the road. The most common enemies are Dalek like creatures but watch out also for mines and vehicles which appear to throw roofing tiles at you. The score builds up by killing these enemies but the primary objective is to get that cargo home safely, for which you receive payment. This allows you to get more weapons to use on the next level. Each time Hydra crashes or gets shot up the cargo gets stolen, and must be recovered or you won't get any end of level dosh, so there!.\r\n\r\nWhen you do get some money go spend it in Ziggy's weapon shoppe, special offers today include homing missiles, an uzi, some nuclear bombs, a flame thrower and a shield. Some of these are quite expensive and the shop doesn't take cheques, even if you've got a connect card!, lets face it, Ziggy isn't just ugly, he's mean as well.\r\n\r\nThe graphics on the opening screens are really colourful but take on a more familiar look during the game. There is quite a lot of scenery though. Alongside the main screen there are gauges which show score, money and fuel levels, weapons etc, these all operate simultaneously. The sound is good throughout with a dangerous sounding Depeche Modey backing track and explosions to keep all you violence loving critters happy.\r\n\r\nHydra is not really an original game format, but does add a new concept to the genre, that of the international courier, hurrah!. It's about time these lads got some recognition. Although you may recognise Hydra immediately it has enough good gameplay, graphics and sound to make it worthwhile.","ReviewerComments":["Hydra is full of nice little touches, warp gates, weapons shops and nicely scrolling landscapes. If you've got the spare cash and a feel for the open road then it could well be worth a quick blast!\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"Hydra's nice little touches - warp gates, weapons shops and nicely scrolling landscapes mean if you've got spare cash and a feel for the open road - it's worth a quick blast!","Page":"23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"79","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"HYDRA FAX\r\n\r\nHydra the super courier is so named because the vehicle is a Hydroplane, ie, one which is equipped with hydrofoils or other special equipment that raises it above a surface thus reducing drag and increasing the top speed it is capable of.\r\n\r\nThe Chinese have more semi-hydroplaning torpedo boats than any other major power. These craft have bow (front) hydrofoils only, thus only the forward part of the hull leaves the water they can still travel fast though.\r\n\r\nHydras are also fresh water inhabiting invertebrates (wot?), and are related to jellyfish, anemones and coral. So next time you squash a jellyfish, watch out it might nuke you."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"82%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"79%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]