[{"TitleName":"Krazy Kong","Publisher":"PSS","Author":"Chris P. Cullen","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0002772","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 2, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-23","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"This is quite a close copy of the arcade Krazy Kong and includes barrels, fireballs, conveyor belts and lifts. The \r\r\nbarrels drop through the platforms randomly as well as descending the ladders on top of you. The man is well animated and \r\r\njumps very generously (which doesn't mean it's easy)! I didn't like the key positions - all on the top row, There is a \r\r\ntime limit for a bonus and water buckets for bonuses. Nice loading screen which matches the cassette inlay. Four screens \r\r\nin this version with well combined hazards.\r\nCP\r\n\r\nP.S.S's version, which has only just come out, is very like the arcade original. Your man is well animated and walks \r\r\nsmoothly on his way to rescue the girl. All the characters are a bit small but nothing to complain about, and the man \r\r\njumps very well. The game is colourful, tuneful and very playable - second to Ocean's Kong in fact. All the keys are well \r\r\npositioned - could be used with Sinclair Interface 2 but not stated anywhere (Kempston compatible). Ocean's version comes \r\r\nout with flying colours, closely followed by this one.\r\nMU","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"21","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Passey","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Matthew Uffindell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer (CP)","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Use of Computer (MU)","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics (CP)","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics (MU)","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability (CP)","Score":"95%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability (MU)","Score":"98%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities (CP)","Score":"95%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities (MU)","Score":"95%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value for Money (CP)","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value for Money (MU)","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 23, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":152,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: Nicole Segre\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nSoftware Editor: John Gilbert\r\nProgram Reviewer: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Brian King\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nSales Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to any of the Sinclair User group of publications please send programs, articles or ideas for hardware projects to:\r\nSinclair User and Programs\r\nECC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette and articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe will pay £10 for the copyright of each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1984\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"FAST ACTION IN ARCADE FAVOURITES\r\n\r\nKrazy Kong and Frogger are two original arcade games which PSS has converted to the 16K Spectrum. The name of the latter game has been changed to Hopper.\r\n\r\nIn Krazy Kong you have to get up a tower of scaffolding, using a series of ladders, to save Jane from King Kong, avoiding fireballs, barrels, pies, lifts and flans.\r\n\r\nIf that is not difficult enough the authors have made it almost impossible to get a good control of the movement keys, as they are so close together. You may also have difficulty starting the game, as the control keys are in the top left-hand corner of the keyboard and the start key is at the bottom right.\r\n\r\nHopper is not much easier, although the control keys are all in a better position for play. The difficulty is in the speed of movement which can make you take several jumps at a time.\r\n\r\nAll the usual elements are there, including turtles, crocodiles, a train and some fast cars on the highway but they make the screen overcrowded and it is difficult to follow the path of your frog. That does not make the game unusable but it would be suited to those with knowledge of Frogger who can cope with fast play or many options - is not the beginner.\r\n\r\nBoth games can he obtained from PSS, [redacted]. Cost: £5.95 each.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"52","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 27, Jan 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1983-12-16","Editor":"Terry Pratt","TotalPages":172,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nAssistant Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Robert Schifreen\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nStaff Writers: Seamus St. John, Richard Frankel\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nAdvertising Executive: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Louise Flockhart\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £14. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Computer & Video Games Limited ISSN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Paul Slater\r\nNext Issue: January 16th"},"MainText":"LOOKING FOR TOP OF THE KONGS\r\n\r\nIf you are after a Kong game for your Christmas stocking you've got a pretty bewildering choice on your hands.\r\n\r\nWe managed to acquire four Spectrum versions though there must be at least that many again lurking in the small adds columns of the computer mags.\r\n\r\nThe most disappointing thing about Spectrum Kong, which all the versions we tested have in common, is that Mario has been reduced to a stick man. This detracts from the cuteness of the game - which was a major reason for its success in the arcades.\r\n\r\nFirst up on screen was Blaby's Killer Kong with a deluge of barrels which were very difficult to hop over. This game also has the unfortunate distinction of having the oddest Mario. The little Italian must have had too much vino as he wobbles along in the most ungainly fashion with his feet pointing inwards.\r\n\r\nIf Blaby's Killer Kong was a bit too difficult then PSS's Krazy Kong is guilty of being too easy. I hopped my way onto the third screen on my first go - which was satisfying but not very challenging.\r\n\r\nNeither Blaby's or PSS's game managed to capture the feel of playing the arcade game and some silly frills like an RIP tombstone which appears in PSS's game every time Mario gets splatted didn't add anything.\r\n\r\nIf software houses insist on ripping off ideas from the arcades then they may as well at least try to do accurate copies.\r\n\r\nBut if these two versions were average at least they were not as bad as C Tech's Krazy Kong which took about half an hour to load, was nothing like Donkey Kong, and had more bugs than a mangy old moggy. Happily there is one reasonably good version available in the shape of Kong from Ocean.\r\n\r\nThe game is fairly close to the arcade game, strikes just about the right balance in difficulty, and has some useful extras. Most useful of these is a training mode which enables you to choose which screen you want to start on and avoid having to go through screens one or two to get to the level which you have not yet mastered.\r\n\r\nSo if you are getting a Kong for your Spectrum - and lets face it the game is as obligatory to your collection as a maze game and a shoot 'em up - then Oceans Kong is C&VG's choice, Kong can be purchased in most high street software outlets at £5.95.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"28,31","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 3, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":176,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nIllustrations: Mark Watkinson, Andy Bylo, Tony Hannaford\r\nPhotography: Ian McKinnel, Chris Bell, Tony Sleep\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill, Louise Hedges\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 48K\r\nJOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional\r\nCATEGORY: Arcade\r\nSUPPLIER: PPS\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nKing Kong is alive and well and living in at least two versions of Donkey Kong for the Spectrum. Always one with a taste for a certain sort of woman, Kong has trapped one called lane and it's your mission to topple him and rescue her.\r\n\r\nJane herself doesn't help much, standing at the top of each of three screens waiting for you to cover the obstacle courses which begin at the bottom.\r\n\r\nThe first screen is one involving ladders connecting girders. Red barrels roll out and drop from one level to the next when they feel like it, and can be avoided (if they're coming your way) by jumping.\r\n\r\nThis is done with the fire button on the Kempston. The same goes for similarly lethal fireballs.\r\n\r\nIf you make it to Jane, there's a second screen involving conveyor belts with pies on them. The pies are probably well past the date stamp, and are also deadly.\r\n\r\nThe third and final screen involves lifts, tricky to catch and likely to make you fall, but if it's completed, it's Kong who takes the tumble.\r\n\r\nWith three lives, it's not impossible to complete the game and still win a time bonus, and it's fun trying. Obstacle courses are interesting, but games such as Manic Miner offer far more screens and ideas.\r\n\r\nKrazy Kong does have irritating aspects - the incessant playing of the funeral march every time a life is lost, for example, or the difficulty in positioning your man at the right spot beneath a ladder to climb it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"51","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Wensley Dale","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ease Of Use","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 4, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-16","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":184,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nGame-of-the-month poster: Mark Watkinson\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Photography: Ko Kon Chung\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill, Louise Hedges\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"WHO'S KING OF THE KONGS?\r\n\r\nOur intrepid reviewer, Peter Connor, braves fireballls, deadly custard pies and vertigo to answer the burning question.\r\n\r\nAre you a man or a mouse? An enormous hairy gorilla has just stolen your sweet little girlfriend. Can you sit there and let this monstrous ape kick sand in your face? Or will you flex your puny little muscles, grit your teeth and go off to the rescue?\r\n\r\nIf you have no stomach for the job then there's not much point playing any of the many Kong games now available, because this is a game that takes guts. The diminutive hero must pit his wit and agility against the brute force of his simian adversary; it's brain against brawn as you try to get beauty from the beast.\r\n\r\nLOVESICK GORILLA\r\n\r\nThe original inspiration for the Kong game was, of course, the film 'King Kong' in which blonde startlet Fay Wray was abducted by the lovesick gorilla. Kong followed her to New York and sought refuge at the top of the Empire State Building where his downfall was eventually brought about by the rather primitive US Airforce.\r\n\r\nWhen, 50 years later, Kong arrived as a game in the arcades the Empire State became a load of old girders. The girders though are arranged on several different screens, thus providing a variety of dangers for the player to negotiate before sending Kong to his doom and providing himself worthy of the girl.\r\n\r\nBARRELS AND FIREBALLS\r\n\r\nThese obstacles vary slightly from game to game but they are essentially the same. First of all Kong rolls barrels down a series of inclined girders up which the hero is trying to climb.\r\n\r\nTo avoid them the hero is gifted with enormous jumping ability and one of the main points in any version is how well your man leaps. Is he smooth? How far can he go? Can he jump backwards?\r\n\r\nThese are just a few of the questions that the dedicated Kong'er will ask himself before even considering whether a game is worth buying.\r\n\r\nOther hazards to be found on this first level, especially dangerous when trying to climb the ladders linking the girders, are fireballs; these are more troublesome than barrels as they have a habit of following you. Handy in this case are the hammers often hanging around with which you can quickly 'bonk' an enemy or two.\r\n\r\nOn the second level the player is usually confronted with the problem of conveyor belts which move him in the direction of a vat of boiling oil. In some versions, though, this location is a pie factory with lethal custard tarts and a vat of what is presumably boiling custard.\r\n\r\nFurther on, the problem is how to get to the top of a series of unconnected girders. The only way up is to jump on lifts as they move up and down. Needless to say, there are always nasty creatures pursuing you.\r\n\r\nHAPPY ENDING?\r\n\r\nOn the fourth, and usually final, level the hero has to rush around an arrangement of girders knocking out the pegs which support them. If he succeeds, Kong tumbles to his death and he gets the girl for evermore. What happens then is not really our business here.\r\n\r\nFor the home micro the nearest version to the arcade is Donkey Kong for the Atari. You might expect this, but even so it is a remarkably good game. The graphics have a clarity that is worthy of the arcade, with impressive colour and sharpness. Kong himself is a mean-looking redhead who beats his chest in frantic anger. The girl who is the cause of all the trouble seems well worth fighting over in her pigtails and blue dress.\r\n\r\nYour hero, Mario the carpenter, is also a very accomplished figure. In fact, he is one of the most manoeuvrable figures in computer games. His running and jumping are a joy to behold, and he will even, given a little nifty joystick work, jump backwards. In Kong this sort of thing counts for a lot: it's no good buying a game where your man can't even jump over a barrel.\r\n\r\nSMART APE\r\n\r\nThe sound too in this version is pleasing with jaunty tunes and good sound effects. All the features of the arcade game are there in splendid graphics. At the top level the ape even summons up enough brainpower to switch the dame from side to side, making your task just that little bit more difficult.\r\n\r\nHowever, not everybody has an Atari and not everybody who does is willing to fork out a small fortune for the software. But owners of other micros need not despair: there's no shortage of Kongs for the leading micros.\r\n\r\nFor the Spectrum there are at least three versions available. Ocean's Kong has long been a best-seller and it's by no means a bad version.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are clear with strong bright purples, yellows and blues. Your man himself is quite cute as is his kidnapped girlfriend, but Kong, unfortunately, looks more like a golliwog than a fearsome gorilla.\r\n\r\nAll the necessary obstacles are there. On level one the barrels come raining down pretty quickly but since your man is a good jumper it's not too difficult to overcome them.\r\n\r\nLevel two is a bit puzzling. Are those things on the conveyor belts meant to be fireballs? Or are they perhaps pies? Vats of flaming oil possibly? I'm sure I don't know what they are.\r\n\r\nThe last two levels hold no surprises except that the girl seems to disappear from time to time making you wonder why you're going through this hell.\r\n\r\nBut it's gratifying all the same when you knock out the last pin and send the ape for the Kong Goodbye.\r\n\r\nBlaby's Killer Kong is of a similar standard. The graphics are very clear and colourful in red, green, and yellow. The rather unattractive girl is exactly half green and half yellow. The little hero is, poor thing, slightly bow-legged but despite his handicap he's a game jumper.\r\n\r\nKong stands at the top, glowering with his hand on his hips like an angry mother-in-law. When you get to the top of the first screen you get a big kiss from the girl and two pretty hearts appear.\r\n\r\nA curious innovation in this version is the replacement of the hammers (bonking, for the use of) by bonus hamburgers. They must be a strange flavour since they're a shade of green I've never seen at MacDonalds.\r\n\r\nThe most impressive feature of this game though is its sound, which is much better than in any other Spectrum Kong.\r\n\r\nCONVINCING\r\n\r\nKrazy Kong, from P.S.S., starts off very well: the title page displays a disgustingly convincing picture of a slavering gorilla. This can lead to a certain amount of disappointment when the game has loaded, since the real Kong is a rudimentary figure with no such frightening detail.\r\n\r\nYour man is not too impressive either; although he jumps well enough he doesn't look as if he gives a damn about rescuing the girl. On the other hand, Jane - for that is her name - is not half bad and seems worth the trouble.\r\n\r\nThe game, though, does have some engaging features. When a barrel drops on your head and you meet your Maker a gravestone appears on which is inscribed R.I.P.\r\n\r\nThe game starts quite slowly but gets much faster as your man moves through the levels and the pies, conveyor belts and lifts. On the whole the graphics are well up to scratch.\r\n\r\nTOO FAST\r\n\r\nCalisto's Wally Kong, also for the Spectrum, was unfortunately christened: Wally by name, Wally by nature. The graphics in this game are not bad and Wally himself is an engaging enough fellow even if he does seem to have his hands tied behind his back and to be doing deep knee-bends. The problem is that the game is far too fast: it took me a long, long time to reach level two and then, when I finally made it, the program went and crashed on me.\r\n\r\nThe less popular micros aren't Kong-less either although there's not as much choice as for the Spectrum. Microdeal's Donkey King, for the Dragon 32, is an enjoyable version: as the blurb says, it's 'barrels of fun'.\r\n\r\nYou have a very nice little man trying to save a very nice little girl. The gorilla is big and blue and gleefully rolls out the barrels. The graphics, in fact, are good throughout this game, but it's the sound which is especially fine with a rollicking organ background.\r\n\r\nAll the usual obstacles are there as well as the usual bonus objects, such as the young lady's handbag. A nice detail is the flashing 'L' which warns you when your bonking time on the hammer is about to run out. A drawback is the Dragon joystick; since it's not self-centring it's very difficult to keep control of your man.\r\n\r\nEven Oric owners can play the game, or one game at least: Severn Software's Dinky Kong. But they should only buy it if they're absolutely desperate to monkey around with a Kong - there's no joystick option and you're forced to use the dreaded Oric cursor keys.\r\n\r\nUnless the hemispheres of your brain are opposite to the normal position you will find it very frustrating. There's also a terribly long gap between pressing the space bar and your man jumping.\r\n\r\nThe graphics don't make up for the unresponsive controls. The barrels are empty circles and the big K himself is just the merest outline. Furthermore, when you stay awake long enough to get to the top of the first screen you find out you have to go through it all over again. I'd rather spend an hour in the ape-house at London Zoo than play this game again.\r\n\r\nSMOOTH ACTION\r\n\r\nAs far as I know there's only one version available for the BBC: fortunately it's excellent. Program Power's Killer Gorilla features the best graphics, except for the Atari, of any micro.\r\n\r\nThe colours are very bright and the action is really smooth. The homicidal ape is a virulent shade of bright red, while your girl is a pretty little Goldilocks. Sound, too, is very good although it can become annoyingly repetitive if you don't quickly make progress.\r\n\r\nThere is the conventional order of screens; once you have done for Kong on the highest level you start all over again but at a much faster speed. There are few more satisfying barrel-bonks in the business than Killer Gorilla.\r\n\r\nApe fanciers with a Commodore 64 are faced with rather more choice; the quality, though, doesn't match the quantity.\r\n\r\nFor instance, the most striking point about Anirog's Kong is the size of your man's nose; it's an enormous wobbling proboscis which rather distracts your attention from more important issues.\r\n\r\nAnother curious feature is that instead of a hammer for bonking you're given a mallet, as if you wanted to invite your old churn Kong out for a game of croquet.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, level one does have some good grinning fireballs which leap out of their can to grab you. Your man, though isn't easy to control, sometimes behaving very erratically at crucial moments.\r\n\r\nMOVING\r\n\r\nKongo Kong, from Mogul, also has rather unsophisticated graphics, hut they are at least very clear. Your smart man emerges from a little pink house and is very easy to control. When he gets to the top of a screen a heart appears and a love theme from Tchaikovsky is played. It's very moving.\r\n\r\nThis version is quite slow on level one but does get much quicker. On later screens there are some original features such as hostile birds and magic keys. Overall it's a pleasant version, scoring well for playability.\r\n\r\nSupersoft's Crazy Kong is very disappointing. The graphics look like something for the first colour ZX81 and the sound is little better, consisting of a repeated Laurel and Hardy tune. The girl is an unappetizing creature with ratty pigtails and Kong is no more attractive; they seem a good match. If I were Mario I'd let her go.\r\n\r\nTHE VERDICT\r\n\r\nSo which Kong is King? There are reasonable versions available for most micros but few outstanding ones. Despite the choice for Spectrum and Commodore 64 owners no single game is clearly superior. Atari's game has obvious advantages but when you consider the price of Atari software enthusiasm might wane. The choice then falls on Program Power's Killer Gorilla for the BBC which stands out for the quality of its graphics and its smooth playability; this Kong's certainly no donkey.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"50,51,53","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Peter Connor","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Gorilla warfare - four scenes of Kong craziness from (top to bottom) Donkey Kong, Kongo Kong, Krazy Kong and Killer Gorilla."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"'This is a game that takes guts'"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ease Of Use","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]