[{"TitleName":"Loco","Publisher":"Alligata Software Ltd","Author":"David Wright, Nigel Speight, Richard Stevenson","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0002908","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: Alligata\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: R Stevenson and N Speight\r\n\r\nA steam-train journey is rudely interrupted by the outbreak of war, and the locomotive is in deadly danger. Taking the controls, it's up to you to guide the engine along a five-track railway, avoiding hazards and trying to hang on to your three lives for as long as possible.\r\n\r\nThe main screen gives a side view of the train as it progresses, with the background scrolling from right to left at a constant rate. Enemy planes zoom in for a low-level pass, emptying their payload of bombs in your direction. Runaway carts rumble down the track towards the loco and explode on contact, while airships hover in the sky attempting to drop bombs onto the roof of the engine. Evasive action is out of the question - the screen scroll forces the pace.\r\n\r\nTrouble was obviously anticipated by the railway company, as the locomotive is not defenceless. Puffs of smoke can be released from the smoke stack to destroy falling bombs or blind enemy pilots, while the explosive trucks can be destroyed by firing blasts of steam from the front of the engine. Points are awarded for dealing death to the enemy and for blowing up trucks. A long-range radar display occupies the bottom of the screen, and warns of dangers lurking further along the track.\r\n\r\nThe fuel available is monitored on a bar to the right of the screen: the engine loses steam and grinds to a halt when the coal runs out, becoming a defenceless target. Coal dumps are scattered around the network of sidings, and it's possible to change the points and move onto a branch line to pick up supplies when you come to a junction.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: Q up and A down at points; P release steam, SPACE release smoke\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2\r\nUse of colour: basic, with some clash\r\nGraphics: fair detail, but simplistic\r\nSound: the occasional spot effect\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: five scrolling levels","ReviewerComments":["A mindless shoot 'em up no less - goody! Loco is the sort of game that will get loaded up, played for hours, and then never played again. The gameplay is compelling at first but appeal dwindles into apathy after a relatively short time. The graphics are simplistic but effective - the screen scrolls in half characters so it jerks a bit and the use of colour is dubious. The sound is also on the minimal side: the odd effect is all that is on offer. For the price, you could do a lot worse than buy this!\r\r\nBen Stone","This game is so playable. I can't believe it! Okay, so the game is a bit dated amongst the Top Guns and Gauntlets of today - but there's no denying the fact that Loco is great fun to play... for a while. The backgrounds are well drawn, but they don't change much and lack colour. The map at the bottom of the screen is a good idea, but can get out of synchronization with what is really happening above it. I would say that Loco is a brilliant game for the age range of 9-13, but anybody older than that would get bored fairly quickly.\r\r\nPaul Sumner","Loco is boring. The graphics are average, and the whole thing isn't much fun at all. The price, although only a few quid, is too much. Loco doesn't look like much or play like much. The title screen picture is neat, but then again, that hardly makes up for the fact that the game isn't very good. A very simple idea, but one that's far too simple to make an interesting game. Not recommended.\r\nMike Dunn"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A simplistic game the would only have long-term appeal to the younger player.","Page":"18","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"An airship hovers menacingly above your engine."},{"Text":"Wheeee! A chunky bomb falls from the belly of an enemy plane. Get ready with that smokestack, Casey..."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"51%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"44%","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":"Alligata\n£1.99\nReviewer: Rick Robson\n\nAlligata's latest romp is a split screen arcade based on an idea from an old Frank Sinatra movie. You must drive your train across enemy territory, taking on fuel along the way. And it's your job to blow up exploding handcarts as well as avoiding bombs dropped from passing planes and airships.\n\nThe lower screen is a map of rail lines (looking remarkably like my mother's varicose veins) which shows the dumps and where you must change the points to re-fuel. It also displays your position relative to the planes (which sneak up from behind) and the carts (which come head on). You repel the planes with smoke and the carts with steam.\n\nMuch of the information, though, is irrelevent, 'cos unless you've got the reflexes of a three-toed sloth both adversaries can be zapped on visual contact in the upper screen. In fact the enemy is so slow that simple manic thrashing of the joystick will allow you to zap everything in sight, maintain all your lives and get you through the five levels of difficulty.\n\nStill, it is only aimed at nine year olds and above and it's great fun to pretend you're Casey Jones at the throttle. Well, I enjoyed it anyway.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rick Robson","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]