[{"TitleName":"Iron Lord","Publisher":"Ubi Soft Ltd","Author":"Jonathan Medhurst, Nigel Kenward","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0002543","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 69, Oct 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-09-19","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nEditorial Assistants: Viv Vickress, Caroline Blake\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Nick Roberts, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Robin Hogg\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Robert (the Rev) Hamilton, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nDESIGN\r\nRoger Kean, Mark Kendrick, Melvin Fisher\r\n\r\nSystems Operator: Ian Chubb\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Lee Watkins, Wynne Morgan\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSubscriptions\r\n[redacted].\r\n\r\nDesigned and typeset on Apple Macintosh II computers using Quark Express and Adobe Illustrator '88, output at MBI [redacted] with systems support from Digital Reprographics [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution 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 Viv Vickress 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. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Colour photographic material should be 35mm transparencies wherever possible. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Ubi Soft/Ashminster Computing\r\n£14.99 cass, £19.99 disk\r\n\r\nIt's the Middle Ages: After many years fighting in the Holy Wars, the Iron Lord returns home to France. But, nom de dieu! Things are not what they were! His father, the king, is dead. Murdered by his evil uncle, who now rules through tear and torture a land of misery. Parbleux! The Iron Lord decides it is time for a better world! An army must be raised and the evil uncle despatched forthwith!\r\n\r\nIron Lord is an arcade adventure played from a beautifully realised overhead view of the land with roads, hamlets, towns and castle. Mounted on his trusty steed, Iron Lord rides from location to location, which on arrival is shown in more detail ready for exploration. The land is populated, of course, and meeting and communicating with the locals is the name of the game: some will trade information, others will provide items essential to your mission (the odd weapon would not go amiss).\r\n\r\nFirst of all he must win the support of the people: by completing skill testing arcade sequences, like archery, arm winding, dice games and sword fighting.\r\n\r\nArchery finds the brave knight on the firing range wanging great arrows at a target, of which there are five. Icons on screen bottom allow him to increase and decrease shot strength, and alter angle of aim. Wind speed and direction (changing constantly) are found here too. Just to make life difficult, the targets keep moving as well. No easy task to get a hit!\r\n\r\nArm wrestling and dice throwing in the taverns are also similarly controlled, with neat graphics of opponents adding atmosphere, and joystick waggling physical exercise! Unfriendly knights are a hazard, and only clever swordplay and nifty footwork will save iron Lord.\r\n\r\nOnce he has raised an army, its time for our hero to turn his attention to the home castle. Ensconced on the top of the tower Iron Lord directs the climactic battle with his uncle's army. Turns of aggressive action are taken, and depending on the strength of the forces, the vile despot will hopefully be beaten.\r\n\r\nBut even then the fight is not yet quite won. The uncle flees for his life into a mazelike labyrinth and turns into a demon (!) in one last attempt to destroy Iron Lord. Whether he does or not is entirely up to how nifty you are on your pins. Both adventure and joystick wielding junkies are well catered for in Iron Lord, and Ubisoft haven't done too badly in attempting an 'epic' type game. Sadly what at first glance seems to be a game of great depth, reveals rather less body than one would like, Graphically its great with a nice mixture of monochromatic and colourful sprites. Pity.\r\n\r\nMARK 72%","ReviewerComments":["Iron Lord looks good, but sadly falls short of expectations due to the fact that only a couple of things can be done in each town on the first level, okay - there are the arcade sections archery, gambling etc. But things would have been livened up a bit if there were a few more tasks to perform, or more people to visit. If you ever dreamed of becoming a Knight on a white charger take a look at Iron Lord anyway.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n65%"],"OverallSummary":"A brave attempt to produce an epic that looks good, but sadly lacks long term interest.","Page":"44,45","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"65","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"72","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"61%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"69%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 46, Oct 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-09-18","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nStaff Writer: David Wilson\r\nDesigner: Catherine Peters\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Peter Shaw, Phil South\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Lynda Elliott\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Stephen Bloy, Chris Skinner\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Claire Baker\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nNewstrade Circulation Manager: Stephen Ward\r\nSubscription Manager: June Smith\r\nPublisher: Teresa Maughan\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: Point Five [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinted By: Riverside Press [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":"Ubi Soft\r\n£12.95 cass/£17.95 disk\r\nReviewer: David Wilson\r\n\r\nEnfin, mes Spec-amis. Ironlord est arrive! After having been Future Shocked way back in June, French software house Ubisoft's newie has finally arrived in Angleterre.\r\n\r\nIt's set in a medieval world of swords and sorcery. You play Monsieur Ironlord himself, fresh back from the Crusades and looking forward to the huge 'welcome home'street party in his honour. But, wot, no bunting? Nope, looks like your evil uncle has taken advantage of your absence and nicked your bloomin' throne! What a villain, eh?\r\n\r\nYour aim then, is to regain it and live happily ever after. Needless to say, this isn't as simple as it sounds. The game has three main parts, the largest being the first, which also features four sub-games! Read about the component parts, then I'll come back to tell you how it plays...\r\n\r\nRight how does it play? On the whole I think it works well. The individual sub-games are well executed though some are simplistic. The sword fight is nice, especially with 128K sound. The archery is like a sports sim in itself, and I can see it will take a lot of practice to master. (But you'll have to if you want to get the maximum number of armies!)\r\n\r\nThe adventure game relies mainly on large, colourful, graphical representations of the towns or scenes therein. Then you get a cursor arrow. Click, say, on an important character and the computer will give you a picture of that character plus a menu from which you can choose to 'talk', 'give', 'buy' or summon a description of him (or the barmaid! ). The game map appears small and there are only about a dozen key characters, but since they interlink and do things like offer you puzzles to solve there are sufficient for playability.\r\n\r\nThe wargame's a novel part - it contains most of the strategy elements in complete wargames but isn't of the size and complexity that I know put many people off this type of game.\r\n\r\nFinally, the labyrinth game has large and colourful graphics, but the actual playing area is small and monochrome. Mind you, at the end of the day, the sprite is no worse than those in Gauntlet, and the size of the playing area means that the extra memory can be devoted to really smooth scrolling. Lastly I found that the fact you cant see around the next corner nicely conjures up the feel of being in a gloomy corridor.\r\n\r\nSo, a massive, colourful game, with something in it for everyone. Some component parts are small as a result of the overall size but no less playable for that. Although you can enter the wargame section you can't win (and therefore see the third part of the game) without having completed all or most of the adventure components! But the choice is yours! if you can't solve one or two of the ten problems, then you can still go to war with eight armies. A harder task but not impossible! Ironlord is an innovative treatment of a familiar scenario that manages in incorporate elements of many different games.\r\n\r\nTHE ADVENTURE GAME\r\n\r\nYou start in an adventure-type game in which you recruit up to ten armies to do battle with your uncle's forces. You're presented with a main map scene on which you can move a cursor to travel an visit the local towns. You can then move about each scrolling town plan and find the important inhabitants. These people hint at things they would like, and by performing your tasks you can convince them into giving you their armies.\r\n\r\nTHE ADVENTURE SUB-GAMES\r\n\r\nIn order to achieve the tasks set by the inhabitants you have to, among other things, enter an archery contest, an arm wrestling match, and defeat several of the knights who attack you at random. These sub-games can be fairly comprehensive in themselves. Arm wrestling is a joystick waggler, whilst archery is a sort of leaderboard-type simulation on its own. Short on cash? Then try your luck at the dice gambling game!\r\n\r\nTHE WARGAME\r\n\r\nAll the action takes place on one screen where your armies are represented by square icons. Passing your cursor over these tells you their size and strength, and also enables you to give them movement orders. Clicking on the 'next turn' icon initiates the first movement section. When armies overlap a combat sequence is initiated. The info on the units involved appears in the top left of the screen, whilst in the top right there's a little battle sequence. Resting units increases their strength, and supply icons often appear on to which you can move fatigued units. After you've defeated his armies, however, you still have to find your uncle. Can you guess where he's hiding?\r\n\r\nTHE LABYRINTH\r\n\r\nThe final section, the labyrinth. See it? it's that small bit in the mouth of the skull! It's a sort of Gauntlet-type, dungeon exploring game. Collect keys to open locked doors and find an arrow indicating the way to the next level. Oh, and you also need to pick up a sword on each level too. Did I say this game was massive or what? Yep, that's right... but there's more! At the end of each floor of the labyrinth you go into a simple arcade Shoot about a dozen or so bats and you then get on to the next level of the maze! Six levels and arcade sequences in all - beat the lot and you've got your throne back.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A sort of French answer to Times Of Lore. On a smaller scale in some respects, but with a much greater variety of gameplay. Enjoyable, and colourful.","Page":"16,17","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David Wilson","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"This is the sub-game in the adventure bit, and fairly comprehensive it is too! Tricky to master, but... TWANG!... WHHEEEE... THOK! \"Nice arrers, m'lord!\"\r\n\r\nHere I am in the labyrinth - in the skull's mouth! Now, there's the arrow leading to the next level, but how do I get around this blummin' wall?!?\r\n\r\nThe box in the top right hand corner is the town plan. I'm that dot about to go into the pub, while the long blob with a little blob on top's ma hoss! I can press fire when I'm at the door and go into the pub or I can walk about a bit to find the mercenaries' captain.\r\n\r\nPhwaoah! I fink the barmaid fancies me! If me joystick waggling's up to it, perhaps I could impress her by entering the arm wrestling contest!"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 91, Oct 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-09-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Meet the super hard-working SU team!\r\n\r\nJIM \"Editor\" DOUGLAS\r\nAs Sinclair User;s pioneer of New Technolog,. Jim is completely at home with thousansd of pounds worth of high quality laser equipment. On top of deciding what goes where in the mag, Jim can explain to the simplest of simpletons the pica/point conversion system on a Mac hard drive DTP 123 system. And not once has he sat and stared and sworn at a blank screen for a whole afternoon. Not many.\r\n\r\nALISON \"Production Editor\" SKEAT\r\nAl loves her PC to PIECES (arf). With its special ergonomic vertical keyboard and - rather expensive - blank-o-screen Alison's Cray XMP Wysiwig can spell check, delete lines, write extra copy and even sample the current text and suggest a witty headline. Never again will you find a typographical error in Sinclair User. For example, the Cray has written the next piece.\r\nXyndfi31 \"f hthecat\" I:LK\r\nSJ:Jmnr23jouo >54t,6 > . 6tgv nonsytemdiskretryerror .....\r\n\r\nTIM \"Art Editor\" NOONAN\r\n'Nah. Vis new tech's a load of donkey's bums' muses Mr Philosophy. Tim has always preferred the traditional way of doing things. Descended from 11th century monks. Tim continues to keep some of their practices alive in his design work. Every letter that appears in all of the 120,000 issues printed each month is carefully printed onto each page by Tim using an ivory stencil. Here Tim can be seen working on his 53,000th \"E\". As you can see, it's fascinating work.\r\n\r\nGARTH \"Staff Writer\" Sumpter\r\nA hard man to track down, staffer Garth managed to elude the camera's eye once more. You see, if he's not writing something at his desk, he's looking at a new game, and if he's not looking at a new game he's trying to get hold of a new game, and if he's not trying to get hold of a new game then he's driving thousands of miles to research some information on a new game that may be coming out. And if he's not doing any of that, he's probably completing his work for the CIA. Alright for some eh?\r\n\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nDirty Tricks: Jon Riglar\r\nHow The Hell: Andrew Hewson\r\nI've Got This Problem: Rupert Goodwins\r\nExtra Stuff: John \"Payments overdue\" Cook, Chris \"Payments very overdue\" Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Nigel \"Two jobs?\" Taylor\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Martha 'Is he not?' Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean 'Jiggy jiggy' Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistant: Sarah 'Where's my film?' Ewing\r\nPublisher: Terry 'The big man' Pratt\r\n\r\nOur Address: [redacted]\r\nOur Phone Number: [redacted]\r\nOur Fax No: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Cabal from Ocean\r\nCover Artist: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nTypeset by Professional Reprographics Services [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Frontline.\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458"},"MainText":"Label: UBISoft\r\nAuthor: In-house\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Garth Sumpter\r\n\r\nCest formidable! That's the only way to describe the latest game to cross the channel and we have it hotfoot (or hotwing), all the way from la belle Paris courtesy of UBISOFT. In Ironlord, you take the role of a young French knight who, upon his triumphant return to his homeland after long crusades, finds that things are not quite the way he remembers them and a few changes have taken place. We're not talking a few Wimpey starter homes that have suddenly sprung up - Ph no siree! We're talking BIG family trouble. His father, has been deposed from the throne by none other than his crafty old uncle. This is a fairly serious state of affairs as it puts our poor hero right out of the family business.\r\n\r\nIt's all too much! All our hero's job opportunities are dashed and he frms a plan of action based upon his current skills. He will raise an army from amongst the massed, unwashed ranks of the local surfs and depose regain his former standing by giving him a good going over.\r\n\r\nAnd so the scene is set. The die is cast. The plot unfolds (GET ON WITH IT! JD). To raise an army he must travel the kingdom and stir the locals into a fever of rage and honor as they rally to his cause. Unfortunately, the locals couldn't be stirred with a five foot teaspoon as they all have their own small problems and you must direct the knight's actions so as to gain their trust and respect by helping them in their particular needs.\r\n\r\nIron Lord unfolds as an adventure/strategy/arcade game and as you travel around this countryside, you will interact with key members of the various communities and from time to time get drawn into one of the four arcade sequences that consist of an archery contest, arm wrestling, gambling with dice and just having a jolly good fight.\r\n\r\nEach of these sections is masterfully handled with line graphics and plenty of colour (there's a novelty).\r\n\r\nAlthough it's been a long time in the making Ironlord has made the cross-channel trip successfully. We're just glad there weren't any sub-titles.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Excellent sweeping epic.","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"80","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]