[{"TitleName":"Judge Dredd","Publisher":"Melbourne House","Author":"Beam Software, Mike McMahon","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0002648","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 38, Mar 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-02-26","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishers: Roger Kean, Oliver Frey, Franco Frey\r\nPublishing Executive/Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nSub Editor: Ciaran Brennan\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Lee Paddon, Hannah Smith\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Philippa Irving\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nContributing Writers: Jon Bates, Brendon Kavanagh, John Minson\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrators: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction: Seb Clare, Tim Croton, Mark Kendrick, Tony Lorton, Nick Orchard, Michael Parkinson, Cameron Pound, Jonathan Rignall, Matthew Uffindell\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\nBookings [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 Magazine 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: Melbourne House\r\nRetail Price: £8.95\r\nAuthor: Beam Software\r\n\r\nDredd has been a long time coming, unusual in one of such tempestuous certitude. It must be over two years ago that GAMES WORKSHOP confided they were developing a computer game based on the cult 2000 AD comic-strip hero - but the Workshop stopped producing software. Dredd then moved surreptitiously over to MELBOURNE House some months later, and their game has been many moons in the making.\r\n\r\nThe time is the future; a postpunk, post-industrial world, where the minority managers run automated factories and write the laws, while the teeming masses celebrate their terminal boredom in crimes ranging from petty to megalomaniac. The law is unforgiving - in Mega-City 1 the equivalent of being hung for stealing a loaf is to be shot for jay-walking, presumably because you shouldn't get in the way of a busy, car-bound manager.\r\n\r\nMeanest of all the Judges is Dredd, a man-myth who wears his beliefs in a holster.\r\n\r\nMELBOURNE HOUSE now offers you the chance of a few hours inside Dredd's death-black armour, astride his Lawmaster motorcycle, and with his faithful Lawgivet strapped to your side, in the eternal hunting down of perpetrators (or 'perps') who threaten Mega-City 1 with anarchy and destruction. Moving through city streets on foot is considered an A 7 risk, so Dredd, following basic procedures as laid down in the Justice Department Regulations, prowls his sector on his Lawmaster. From this mobile position, monitoring crimes as they're reported on the crime display screen is simplicity itself. By moving an icon (representing himself) over a reported incident on the display and pressing fire. Dredd is whisked to the incident - and dismounts.\r\n\r\nThe game now switches to a side-on-view platform game. A status panel below the playing area offers three selectable readouts. The first shows remaining levels of stamina and ammunition, and also states the Judge's response; three may be selected. Halt is a shouted warning, Warn fires a shot across the perp's bows, while Kill speaks violently for itself.\r\n\r\nDredd moves from screen to screen by running along platforms and jumpping up or down. Alternatively, lifts and doorways may be used to reach the last known position of the peril and bring him to book. In responding to Halt or Warn, the perp sticks his hands in the air and 'comes quietly'. But should Johnny chance his arm, it's out with Lawgiver-and BADAAM! When the crime is first selected on the crime display, its 'normal'level of threat is set for Dredd, but some perps are more desperate for foolish) than others and the Lawgiver is designed accordingly.\r\n\r\nThe ammo comes in six grades: Normal, Armour-Piercing, Heat- Seeking Bullets, Ricochet, Incendiary and Hi Explosive. Armour- Piercing Bullets can be fired right through platforms. Heat-Seeking Bullets track down the perp. Ricochet Bullets can be bounced off walls and floors, while High Explosive and Incendiary Bullets are extremely prejudicial to a perp's well-being.\r\n\r\nAs Dredd deals with one crime, others are continually being perpetrated, so having dealt successfully with one, it's back to the crime display to check on progress throughout the sector. Should there ever be more than eight crimes on screen at once, the game is over and the criminals have overrun the city.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: T-P choose bullet type; J-L choose response level; ENTER select report; movement keys definable\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2\r\nUse of colour: garish, with attribute problems\r\nGraphics: reasonable backdrops, but awesome Dredd is reduced to an ill-defined cypher\r\nSound: no music, poor spot FX\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: over 50","ReviewerComments":["If you are a regular CRASH reader you may have noticed that we have a great liking for 2000 AD and its characters. I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED with this awful effort. Judge Dredd had potential to be one of the strongest characters ever to appear in a computer game; unfortunately the situation here cramps his style. The game has been badly planned and abysmally programmed, It's hard to play and eventually repellant I'm afraid that this does no justice to the original cult cartoon strip whatsoever - stay well clear of it.\r\r\nBen Stone","Judge Dredd seems to be in the same vein as V, both look pretty but are boring to play. Some of the characters are well drawn, but none are solid enough to resemble humans. The game has no music, the sound effects are poor variations on simple white noise. The key-define section is badly thought out - defining separate keys for moving diagonal is outdated. I can't see Judge Dredd appealing to 2000 AD readers because it isn't half as much fun as the comic strip.\r\r\nPaul Sumner","Judge Dredd isn't all that bad - though I didn't like it much at first playing. Later on I started to get into it, and it became more playable. Unfortunately, by that time, it wasn't long before it became boring. The graphics aren't up to much, but they serve their purpose. Dealing with the different crimes in different ways is initially quite enjoyable, but the game's staying power is limited. Sorry MELBOURNE HOUSE, but I reckon that I would find 20 copies of 2000 AD much better value for money.\r\nMike Dunn"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A valuable licence shot to pieces in Mega City 1 - an awful pity.","Page":"24","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Even a heavily-armed murder suspect can't escape from the long arm of Judge Dredd."},{"Text":"The soulless City-Blocks of Mega-City 1 form a fitting back drop for the Crime display screen."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"38%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"36%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"38%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"42%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 16, Apr 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-03-12","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":114,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nSenior Art Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nAssistant Editor: Phil South\r\nStaff Writer: Markus Berkmann\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nContributors: Luke C, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Tony Hetherington, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tommy Nash, Rick Robson, Rachael Smith\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: 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":"Melbourne House\n£8.95\nReviewer: Phil South\n\nIn the dark and grimy streets of Mega City One, crime lurks around every corner There's a perp in every doorway, just waiting for an opening to do you over, rip you off, sell you some tobacco, or shine your shoes. There are a million scullion sob stories in the naked mega city, and it's your job to see that you, or anyone else, doesn't become yet another one.\n\nYou are Judge Dredd, the most feared, respected, efficient, sharp shooting, square jawed, and just plain rugged, stubbly Judge in the whole darn city. It's just as well 'cos all hell is about to break loose. You've got to drive to a handful of crime scenes, seek out (and dispense a bit of rough justice to) the gun toting perps, without accidentally icing any innocent citizens, and get on to the next job. Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Phew! It's hard work, 'cos the perps are spreading through the city faster than you can say 'I Am The Law!\"\n\nThe game takes place in the great Ghostbusters tradition on a map of the city. You race your little Dredd cursor around the streets of the map, clicking your fire button on the flashing crime scene. Once you've selected a city block the scene changes suddenly you're leaping (and what leaps!) around the platforms of the city, where you must hunt out and kill the perp before he literally gets away with murder.\n\nJudge Dredd plays very well, and is similar to Virgin's Dan Dare in style with lots of gritty action, and a horde of animated baddies. You have to shoot, but avoid being shot, which involves a sort of Space Invaders tactic. You remember the old shoot, move, shoot, move... etc. When you push up on the joystick. you jump high up to the next street level out of harms way. There are about ten levels in each cityblock, and lots of ways to nip around them.\n\nThe graphics are particularly zarjaz, especially the little figure of Dredd who has a range of macho poses to suit even the most demanding 2000AD snobster.\n\nI love it! Enjoyable to the very last drok!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"41","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil South","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"At last! You've cornered the perp twerp on level 2-1 of Erwin Rommel Block. He's armed and dangerous... but so are you, Dredd. The big problem is trying to tease him onto a level where there are no obstructions, like robot dogs... better still, blast the robot dogs, and fight on the cleared level. Oh yes, don't try to shoot around the guardian robot (like the one on the top platform). They're impervious to your shots, and will only deflect them away from your intended collar."},{"Text":"Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! Oh, no it's not. It's the map of Mega City One, from the first part of the game. You are the Dredd cursor (near the top of the building on the right) and it's on this screen you select a crime scene by pressing Fire. The crimes pop up pretty quickly, though, so you'd better get going fast! Each crime is depicted with an icon on screen, like tobacco smoking, mugging, arson, fatness... you know the type of thing. Go get them perps, Lawman!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 60, Mar 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-02-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"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: Chris Jenkins, Clare Edgeley\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\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\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Lee Sullivan\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 1987 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 90,215 July-Dec 1985"},"MainText":"Label: Melbourne House\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nJoystick: various\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nJudge Dredd is probably the best game I've seen this month. Based (as if you didn't know) on the absurdly successful character in 2000AD comic.\r\n\r\nDredd is part of an elite squad of law-enforcement officers, authorised to try any criminal on the spot and deliver sentence accordingly. Often it's necessary for Dredd to put a heat-seeking bullet through the kidneys of a fleeing 'perp'. Still, I guess that's the price you have to pay if you insist on dropping litter on a 21st century sidewalk.\r\n\r\nMelbourne House has managed to pull off a game that has nearly all of the atmosphere of the cartoon. You can run along the walkways, blasting anything that moves. It's great. After running for a while, something - criminal/robot/rat/innocent bystander etc - will make the mistake of stepping out in front of you. With a flick of a button, you switch to high-explosive shells and waste the offending creature.\r\n\r\nThat's crime-prevention, folks! MegaCity One is a vast sprawling city of high-rise buildings, freeways and cityblocks. these latter monstrous constructions a single one of which houses more people than a whole town of today.\r\n\r\nUnder such pressurised living conditions, we are told, tempers are frayed more easily. Crimes such as murder are rife, and are induced by the slightest things. Smoking and littering reach such remarkable proportions, they are filed as Serious Crimes.\r\n\r\nJudge Dredd begins by displaying an overview of Mega City One. Instantly, small icon-style windows pop up over certain cityblocks. Each window indicates that a crime is in progress. The illustration contained within will give you an insight into the severity of the incident. As new Judge you may not wish to handle an armed robbery on your first assignment, whereas an old hand will quite happily wander into dangerous zones with a view to reducing the population significantly.\r\n\r\nOnce you've decided which area of the city you want to visit, highlight the appropriate block with your Dredd-selector-logo and hit Fire. Next the screen will change to show a street scene with you, as Dredd, standing on one of the platforms.\r\n\r\nRunning around below you are numerous innocent citizens. These are easy fodder and crumple up and die after a single shot.\r\n\r\nCriminals, though, are much such years of deprivation and social pressure they have become almost bullet-proof and take a good many shots before they'll go down. The manner in which the bad guys 'buy it' is extremely pleasing. Everything is executed in comic-book style, from the Blam! of your gun to the Aarg! of the perp and his wonderfully exaggerated buckling, sprawling stance. After a few shots, they collapse in an untidy heap on the floor.\r\n\r\nOnce you've dealt with the creep at hand, you can go back to the menu and decide where to go next.\r\n\r\nMost parts of the city found in the comic are represented, in some form or other. Even the underground bits, probably the most dangerous, as they're wholly un-policed. In such areas, you'll encounter all kinds of strange things. Robot dogs are the biggest problems. They'll bound up and clank you to death if you're not careful. These suckers take bullets in the rump without flinching. I frequently found myself crouching on the sidewalk, blasting away at an enormous on-coming monster that appeared to eat the bullets like Scooby snacks.\r\n\r\nDredd is great fun to play, and there's also a fair bit of snap decision making - it hardly qualifies as real thought - involved between the killing sprees. It feels like a comic strip, and scores major points in the entertainment-while-blasting chart.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Finally. A decent licence conversion. Futuristic reactionary oppression of a big scale. From 2000AD's bad good-guy.","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The authentic 'Zap' and 'Pow' bubbles give the whole thing a real comic feel - a bit like Melbourne House's other program Kwah! but much better."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 37, May 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-04-23","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bryan Ralph\r\nAssistant Editor: Cliff Joseph\r\nConsultant Editor: Ray Elder\r\nAdvertising Manager: Peter Chandler\r\n\r\nDesign: A.S.P. Design Studio\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":"Melbourne House\r\n£8.95\r\n\r\nYou are the one and only Judge Dredd and Mega City Ones last chance to stop crime sweeping through the streets. Now at last you can be the 2000 AD comic book hero as you patrol the streets on your lawmaster bike.\r\n\r\nYou are armed with your \"lawgiver\" gun that can fire six different projectiles which you use to \"arrest\" the perps of such evil crimes as murder, tapping (mugging), stookie glanding and tobacco smoking.\r\n\r\nA sector of your patrol area of Mega City One warns of any crimes in progress. Move the bike over a crime to rush to the scene. The scene now changes to the ramps, lifts and swamps that form the city which is populated by all sorts of low life. You are here to arrest a murderer, and since gunning down innocent people is frowned on, you'd better get on with the job. Since murder is a minor crime you decide to give the perp a chance and select the Halt response level. This shouts \"halt\" at the perp when you press the fire button. Warn, the next level up, fires a warning shot but the most common mode used is Kill.\r\n\r\nPressing the enter key swaps between three different displays that appear at the bottom of the screen which are the crime report, informing you of the perps last reported whereabouts, your current location and display showing your response level, bullet type, score and energy gauge.\r\n\r\nFinally, you track him down in the rat infested swamp and yell halt! He not only ignores your command he shoots at you. This is no problem to a representative of the Justice Department as you swap to KILL level, select normal bullets and gun him down. They all go quietly, eventually!\r\n\r\nFor more persistent perps you can make use of the specialist bullets such as armour piercing, that can fire through the games platforms, incendiary and high explosive that pack an extra punch, ricochet for bouncing around comers (make sure you don't hit yourself) and the heat seekers that always get their man.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, you haven't got time to shoot it out with every perp as you have to get back to the sector map and onto another crime if you don't you'll lose the game as soon as eight crimes appear in your sector.\r\n\r\nYou'll soon find out that even Judges can be killed, but luckily this isn't fatal as a replacement is rushed to the sector.\r\n\r\nAt times it's hard to remember that you're supposed to be the good guy as you can arrest perps by gunning them down. You can also gain bonus points by ridding the city of other vermin such as rats and droids that roam free in the seedy side of the city such as the swamp and the Norman Tebbit block. However, you'll soon know when you've shot something you shouldn't have as your score will plummet.\r\n\r\nThe game captures the atmosphere of crime fighting in the future although it has strayed from the comic character which will no doubt annoy the connoisseurs. The rest of us will love it. \"Go on perp make my day!\".","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"ZX Monster Hit","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]