[{"TitleName":"Inside Outing","Publisher":"The Edge","Author":"Michael St Aubyn, Stuart Hughes","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0002488","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 49, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-28","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Dominic Handy, Gordon Houghton, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson\r\nSubeditor: David Peters\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nPBM Writer: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Writer: Rosetta McLeod\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dave Hawkes, Nathan Jones, Nick Roberts, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nAssistant Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\nPlease address correspondence to the appropriate person!\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\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 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. Competition entries and letters to the CRASH Forum, to other sections and to staff are always read with interest but cannot be acknowledged even if an SAE is included, and letters submitted for publication may be edited for length and style.\r\n\r\n©1988 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: The Edge\r\nRetail Price: £8.99\r\nAuthor: Michael St Aubyn\r\n\r\nOld Mr Crutcher has, to put it bluntly, snuffed it. This puts his widowed wife in difficulty, because before he passed to a better place her spouse had taken it into his head to hide her jewels from potential thieves.\r\n\r\nSo, after a bit of lateral thinking, she decides to employ a thief to find them for her.\r\n\r\nAs The Edge's game begins, this tea leaf is in her spacious home, about to begin his search. He can move in all directions through the house, exiting through one doorway and appearing in the doorway of the adjacent room. The thief can also climb stairs and leap onto furniture.\r\n\r\nOne room is seen at a time, in 3-D and great detail. Each is furnished with such items as tables, chairs, telephones, bookcases and paintings. Each object is independent of every other, so a telephone that rests on a small table can be pushed to the floor. Other items can be picked up and dropped.\r\n\r\nThe careful manipulation of these objects is important to solving the puzzles that will lead to the missing gems. There are numerous sub-problems which can earn welcome points: for instance, pocketing the snooker balls or picking up a bottle when carrying a glass add to your score.\r\n\r\nThe 12 gems are hidden in a variety of places, some obvious, others in more obscure positions. There are hidden passageways to be discovered, pictures to be moved and disguised wall safes to be uncovered before all the jewellery can be found.\r\n\r\nBut it's not as simple as it sounds - the products of the late Mr Crutcher's bizarre scientific experiments see to that. Some of the rooms are patrolled by savage mice and budgies that can take down a criminal's life force faster than a long stretch in the nick.\r\n\r\nWhen a jewel has been picked up, it must be taken the bedroom of Lady Crutcher and dropped before her.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: superb - every object is individually designed to look as near to the real thing as possible\r\nSound: simple, poor spot effects","ReviewerComments":["This 3-D arcade adventure surpasses even the great M.O. V.I. E.. It's the closest thing to real life on the Spectrum. Nearly everything you can do in a real house is possible in Inside Outing - even down to jumping on the pool table and kicking the balls into the pockets. And the superbly drawn and animated graphics (you wouldn't think you could get so much detail on a wine bottle) add to the lifelike affect. Inside Outing is set up very like Piranha's Nosferatu, but everything seems much more realistic - the graphics are more solid, and there are many more objects (like a pile of plates in the dining room, each one of which is an individual object which can be picked up separately). The jewels are also hidden in the most strange (but obvious if you've seen a lot of thrillers) places - I even found one in a wall safe behind a painting. It all makes Inside Outing a gem of a game.\r\nPaul Sumner\r\n94%","At first Inside Outing reminded me of MO.V.I.E. - but I was let down. This is a novel game with some lovely 3-D graphics and lots of detail in every room, but in monochrome it looks very plain. And it soon gets boring just walking around a house.\r\nDave Hawkes\r\n76%","The inlay says 'never before have you seen a 3-D game as impressive as this!' - but The Edge produced the classic 3-D arcade adventures Fairlight and Fairlight II, which are far better than this. The objects in this 3-D house are so out of proportion they make the whole game look stupid (the phone is twice as big as the tables and chairs). Despite these faults, Inside Outing is quite playable and it's easy to make all the necessary moves. But it's all been done before much better...\r\nNathan Jones\r\n75%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: One of the greatest arcade adventures since Movie and The Great Escape, Inside Outing is very involving (though nothing new) and the graphics are stunningly detailed.","Page":"91","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Dave Hawkes","Score":"76","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nathan Jones","Score":"75","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"A gem: Inside Outing"},{"Text":"'The closest thing to real life' or 'just walking around a house'?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"74%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"82%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 26, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-14","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George, Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nActing Production Editor: Fran Husband\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, David Jones, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\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 ©1988 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":"BLUE PRINT FOR BURGLARY\r\n\r\nWhen we offered Rachael J Smith an Outing, she said goody! But when we locked her Inside an old, dark house she was driven to The Edge of distraction!\r\n\r\nFAX BOX\r\nGame: Inside Outing\r\nPublisher: The Edge\r\nOriginal Program By: Michael St Aubyn\r\nConversion By: Timedata/Pamela Roberts/Mike Smith/Hagar\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nReviewer: Rachael Smith\r\n\r\nEeek - sneak thief Smiffy here, trapped and unhappy. Not that I've been banged up (in gaol, you pervy little pustule) No, I just saw all these milk bottles and newspapers piled up outside the big house on the hill you know, the one which used to be owned by the late, local, loony professor, and I couldn't resist it.\r\n\r\nI'm a member of my neighbourhood watch, see (I watch out for places where the occupants are away). So I thought I'd check the front door and gor blimey (as me old friend Mr Knuckles used to say) whatdya know - it was open. What else could a buxom burglar do? I broke an entry.\r\n\r\nAnd that's when strange things started to happen - like the door swinging shut and staying that way! All the windows were locked too. Seems like old man Crutcher (Rest in Pieces - what a messy explosion that was!) had crutched me good. But that wasn't the biggest surprise. Blow me down, guv, if the house wasn't empty after all.\r\n\r\nYes, I strayed into Lady C's bedroom and what do I see but the old bat herself, flittering around and waiting for me. \"At last,\" she cried \"a member of the criminal classes There's never one around when you need one.\"\r\n\r\nThen she went on to explain why shed lured me into her horrible house. Seems her stiffy spouse had odd ideas about security and instead of consigning her sparklers to the local Barclays he'd hidden them around the mansion. Only problem was he'd popped his clogs before telling her where they were stowed.\r\n\r\n\"So I thought who better to find them than a burglar?\" her ladyship summed up. There are twelve diamonds and limited time so you'd better get cracking - as in safe-cracking.\" \"And what if I say no?\" I asked, thinking that NULFI (the National Union of Light-Fingered Individuals) wouldn't be too keen on this sort of non-profitmaking activity. \"In that case I'll feed you to the budgie,\" she smiled.\r\n\r\nFeed me to the budgie?!! Listen, anything less savage than an alsatian don't scare me, so... Argh! The ex-Prof was into genetic Meccano and built himself a killer canary and some monstrous mice to guard his crumbling pile.\r\n\r\nThe thing that really sets Inside Outing apart is that, as well as providing enough nightmares to keep mappers awake for ages, there are also fiendish problems inside the rooms. Imagine searching your bedroom for a lost pin it could be in a drawer, under a plate, behind a picture. Anywhere!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"58,59","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rachael Smith","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"ALL BALLS\r\n\r\nThe billiard room shows the attention to detail. You can actually roll the four balls around the baize - and potting them scores points, which means that it does some good. But don't ask us what! We've been too busy piling up the furniture to reach the cheese pm the shelf above the door."},{"Text":"BITCHIN' IN THE KITCHEN\r\n\r\nSuccessful thieves watch their drawers. No, not their frillys, you daft apeth, but kitchen drawers, which might contain anything from a glass of wine to a flapping bird - or maybe something of real value. Use the pull option to remove the lid then jump down into the cupboard to look around."},{"Text":"OVER THE TOP\r\n\r\nWho'd put a partition right across a room, especially when it's patrolled by a killer mouse? Your best bet is to jump onto the telephone table, then, if the mouse doesn't push it to the shelves, move it yourself. Try searching behind the room divider."},{"Text":"TIMES TABLE\r\n\r\nThere's no exit from this landing - the tables fill the doorways. Like some real-life block-sliding puzzle, you have to become a removal man. To revive your strength there's a glass of wine hidden away and being some cheese too. No, not to accompany the plonk but to pacify the mouse that's running around the ground."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"There's nothing more useful to a thief than a plan of the property so here are the first few rooms of the des-res, courtesy of Messrs Snatch, Pinch, and Steal, estate agents to the light-fingered!\r\n\r\nUnhappy landings. There's a bird in here and it wants to cover you in... consternation, so dodge unless you know how to stun it.\r\n\r\nWell and truly lumbered. There appears to be a door behind this pile of furniture but you'll need to neutralise Captain Canary before you can shift it!\r\n\r\nGrate detail! There's even a flickering fire in here but don't scorch yourself on it or you'll lose strength.\r\n\r\nGoing up. You have to jump to ascend the stairs to the first floor. There are pictures as you go - check them out to see if they conceal a safe!\r\n\r\nThere's a mouse in my kitchen! Actually there are two and they make straight for you. If only you could find some cheese but all there is here are doughnuts and wine.\r\n\r\nWith two mice on patrol you won't want to dawdle so use Hold to look for suspicious panels in the master bedroom, if you want to master a short-cut.\r\n\r\nUpstairs, downstairs, in my Lady's chamber... so be careful you don't put your foot in it! This is where you deliver the diamonds. A number on her dresser shows how many are left!\r\n\r\nMouse-trapped. There's something stuck behind these shelves - a mouse, we think, trapped by a chair. Would it be there if it didn't have something to guard?\r\n\r\nIt's for yoo-hoo. Whenever a phone rings, pick it up. Seems the irritating trimphone warble is as off-putting to the guards as it is in real life.\r\n\r\nThe front door - only it's shut to you. This is the hallway where you start, and there's no time to lose."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 71, Feb 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"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, Tony Bridge, Chris Jenkins, Tony Dillon, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nSales Executive: Steve Prescott\r\nClassified Sales/Production: Alison Morton\r\nPublisher's Secretary: Debbie Pearson\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: Jim Davis\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 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: The Edge\r\nAuthor: Michael St Aubyn\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nNow there have been quite a few 3D room-based games since Knight Lore first stunned everybody.\r\n\r\nThe Edge changed things a bit with Fairlight I and II which took the basic game look and added an extended range of possible options - objects to collect and the like.\r\n\r\nBut even that wasn't the end of it - now we have Inside Outing possibly the most sophisticated 3D room game yet.\r\n\r\nInside Outing is set in an authentic Hammer horror type mansion. You are a burglar, an expert in the dodgy arts. Specifically you can find things that other people have hidden. Valuable things. This time, though, you're one of the good guys. The lady of the house has actually employed you to search the house, there to hunt out twelve missing jewels hidden by the deranged previous owner of the mansion.\r\n\r\nStill with me? Anyway the jewel hider was a mad inventor (some surprise!) and the result of his bizarre experiments provide the principle obstacles in the game. Not bats and vampires in this family ruin but giant canaries and massively enlarged household pets. You may be surprised just how intimidating a canary can be...\r\n\r\nActually the plot is pretty much your standard looky-collecty stuff but here is the awesome bit: virtually everything can be moved and virtually everything has an authentic weight and momentum. You can push and pull tables around, move pictures - perhaps to reveal something behind? You can not only push the snooker table around - you can jump up on it and push the snooker balls down the holes!\r\n\r\nThis is the closest to a miniature world in a computer I've ever seen. In other games you would try something silly and it would fail. In Inside Outing you try something silly and it actually works!\r\n\r\nSometimes the problems are not dissimilar to Knight Lore or Head Over Heels. For example in one room the way out is made inaccessible by a great pile of furniture. The objective then is to move it all out of the way, the problem being a giant mutant canary which (presumably by its deadly pecks) drains your energy pronto. Attempting to tough it out just doesn't seem to work - your energy never lasts long enough. The solution must be to find something to distract or stun the canary with. But what?\r\n\r\nThe use for the mysterious lumps of cheese was easier to guess - there are these giant rats you see...\r\n\r\nOther problems are in the Fairlight mould - assorted objects just crying out for a use to be found for them or subtle combinations of objects which get you other objects which solve another problem...\r\n\r\nThe nearest point of comparison with Inside Outing is Get Dexter - a superb game which was just about the only game that ever made me wish I had an Amstrad. The virtues of both games are that they are very detailed, with stylish graphics and utterly ingenious puzzles.\r\n\r\nYou'll soon learn to search everywhere in this game - leave no picture unturned, no table unmoved.\r\n\r\nWithout a doubt the best 3D game since Head Over Heels.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Astoundingly detailed 3D collect and explore game. The best 3D game since Head Over Heels.","Page":"70","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Classic","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Graham Taylor","Score":"10","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"10/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 4, Jan 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-03","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jon Beales\r\n\r\nCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY\r\nStuart Baynes Photography [redacted]\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [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\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1987 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"THE EGDE'S LITTLE GEM\r\n\r\nIsometric three dimensional games still make an appearance every once in a while and if the game's good as this,then why not?\r\n\r\nInside Outing is a witty isometric romp that has the player roaming through rooms that would grace many a stately home. The object is to collect 12 hidden jewels and take them to the lady of the house - who spends her time wandering aimlessly around in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Collecting the jewels is far easier to say than do however, because many are hidden and only reveal their whereabouts after the player has solved a puzzle. Colourful graphics add a lot of atmosphere to a game that bears more than a passing resemblance to Get Dexter.\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nC64, £8.99cs, £14.95dk, Out Now\r\nAms, £8.99cs, £14.95dk, Dec 87\r\nSpectrum, £8.99cs, Dec 87\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 70/100\r\n1 hour: 75/100\r\n1 day: 80/100\r\n1 week: 60/100\r\n1 month: 30/100\r\n1 year: 10/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"86","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Smith","Score":"702","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"702/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]