[{"titleName":"Loco-Motion","publisher":"Mastertronic Ltd","author":"M.J. Child, P. Bates, John Smyth","yearOfRelease":"1985","zxdbId":"0002910","reviews":[{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 17 , Jun 1985","price":"£0.95","releaseDate":"1985-05-30","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":132,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Reviewer: Angus Ryall\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone, John Minson\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £14.50 post included (UK Mainland); Europe: 12 issues £21.50 post included. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\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. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nMICRONET:\r\nYou can talk to CRASH via Micronet. Our MBX is 105845851\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Mastertronic\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: M Child and P Bates\r\n\r\nCrossing Europe by train is a chancy move, now Mastertronic set out to convince us that it safer by car, even across France.\r\n\r\nLocomotion is based on a train race across Europe, through ten of its major cities in fact. The game really seems to capture the European spirit - as you journey city to city you will find that the locals have torn up and rearranged the tracks, they have even gone so far as to place themselves, their cars and sundry objects in the way.\r\n\r\nThe playing area consists of a box with 55 squares, one of which is left empty to allow room for the others to be shuffled about. On most of the boxes there is a piece of track, it may be a bend a 'T' junction or simply a straight piece. The player must re-arrange the boxes so that the track is continuous, thus allowing the train to make its way to the next station. As each screen is completed more track boxes are replaced with obstacle boxes which include cars, trees, boulders and Europeans. Clearly these cannot be included in the track so they must be kept out of the way. The more squares that the train crosses the more points are awarded to the player and extra points are given for passing through squares with water or coal symbols.\r\n\r\nThe puzzle is very difficult to solve and quick thinking is essential to build up a complete unbroken line. The authors have thoughtfully included a feature that will arrest the trains progress while you think, but even so you are only allowed one minute between stations.\r\n\r\nMost of the screen is taken up with the playing area, however, on the right hand side the name of the destination station is given, below that a clock shows how much of pause time you have used and the number of lives remaining. Initially each of up to four players have three lives each.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: cursor keys\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Fuller\r\nKeyboard play: very quick\r\nUse of colour: fairly simple\r\nGraphics: smooth neat and clear\r\nSound: little but good\r\nSkill levels: 1 but each screen gets harder\r\nLives: 3\r\nScreens: 10\r\nSpecial features: a superb 'trick' loading screen which describes the game idea excellently - a bit time consuming though","reviewerComments":["To be frank I am pretty useless at these sort of games, the bit of track that I needed always seemed to be at the other side of the screen. The facility to stop the dead in its track was much needed but I would have preferred a delay facility more in line with British Rail standards, perhaps a couple of hours, by then I might have a got the situation under control. One of the games features that caught my eye was the loading screen, initially it is divided up into 55 chunks and gradually rearranges itself to form a picture, all this while the program pretends to load because the yellow and blue lines behind the picture are there to give that impression. I also enjoyed the demo mode which the program throws itself into when it has grown weary of my blunders. All in all a very tidy game with attractive fast moving graphics with some nice detail, such a shame I can't play it\r\r\nUnknown","Doing the locomotion could catch on again as a result of Masterttonic s new budget game Locomotion. Owing more than a little to K'tang K'tong, a game which reportedly wowed them in the Japanese cafe arcades, the game requires you to shuffle blocks around the screen. Arcade adventures? Why not arcade strategies? I think I preferred Incentives block moving puzzle Confuzion, but for the price Locomotion presents enough of a challenge to merit a place in any puzzle freaks library.\r\r\nUnknown","The Locomotion moving square loading screen is something that one does not expect to see in a £1.99 game. The idea of the game is great, it too is based on the moving square principle but it is a little on the hard side with only a 1 minute pause. Perhaps skill levels with different pause times would help. If things are going okay then it's not too bad but with ten countries and no stops things are going to be difficult. The graphics are reasonable but not spectacular. Locomotion will drive you loco, it's a real tough challenge but not a game for arcade zappers.\r\nUnknown"],"overallSummary":"General Rating: A fast-thinking puzzle game, with much more sense of fun than most, and a fair amount of addictiveness - certainly excellent value at £1.99","page":"21,22","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Unknown","score":"","scoreSuffix":""},{"name":"Unknown","score":"","scoreSuffix":""},{"name":"Unknown","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[{"text":"A nightmare network of lines, curves, points and cross-overs."},{"text":"Three stages in the clever loading screen for LOCOMOTION."}],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Use of Computer","score":"79%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Graphics","score":"60%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Playability","score":"75%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Getting Started","score":"80%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Addictive Qualities","score":"72%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Value For Money","score":"88%","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Overall","score":"81%","text":"","overallScore":81}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 40 , Jul 1985","price":"£0.95","releaseDate":"1985-06-18","editor":"Bill Scolding","totalPages":116,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\nEditor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne, Clare Edgeley\r\nDesigner: Craig Kennedy\r\nEditorial Secretary: Norisah Fenn\r\nPublisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nAdvertising Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: Jim McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\n\r\nMAGAZINE SERVICES\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\n\r\nTELEPHONE\r\nAll departments [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\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. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Peterboro' Web, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\n91,901 Jun-Dec 1984","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Publisher: Mastertronic\r\nPrice: £2.50\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Fuller\r\n\r\nA gem has turned up in Mastertronic's range of budget software.\r\n\r\nLocomotion is similar to Incentive's Confuzion, which itself was by no means original. Despite that it is surprisingly addictive with well graded difficulty levels.\r\n\r\nYou are a track layer on the railways trying to lay a section of track ahead of a train before it catches up and goes off the rails.\r\n\r\nThe track is lying around in jumbled sections and you have to create order from chaos in the same way as those slide puzzles where you have one empty space into which to move the tiles.\r\n\r\nAssembling the track within the time limit is simple at first but as you move from London to the continent, the tracks from Paris and other stations become progressively more difficult to unjumble and piece together.\r\n\r\nThe game can be slowed down by depressing the fire button - that will give you one minute's breathing space before the train charges ahead at full speed. Coal and water should be laid along the train's route when ever possible to earn bonus points.\r\n\r\nUp to four players can play this simple game which for its price is a bargain. Well worth digging into your pockets for.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"28","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Clare Edgeley","score":"4","scoreSuffix":"/5"}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Overall","score":"4/5","text":"","overallScore":80}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair Programs Issue 33 , Jul 1985","price":"£0.95","releaseDate":"1985-06-20","editor":"Rebecca Ferguson","totalPages":60,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nStaff Writer: Colette McDermott\r\nDesign/Illustration: Elaine Bishop\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Shahid Nizam\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Serena Hadley\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Maria Keighley\r\nSubscription Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nSinclair Programs is published monthly by EMAP Business and Computer Publications.\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like your original programs to be published in Sinclair Programs, please send your contributions, which must not have appeared elsewhere, to:\r\nSinclair Programs\r\nEEC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included. We pay £25 for the copyright of listings published and £10 for the copyright of listings published in the Beginners' section.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair Programs\r\nISSN No. 0263-0265\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by: Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nAll subscription enquiries:\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business and Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"PRICE: £1.99\r\n\r\nRemember those sliding puzzles you used to win as prizes in lucky dips, or buy for a few pence in the shop on the corner? They contained 15 plastic squares and one empty space. By sliding the squares into the space you could form them into a picture.\r\n\r\nMastertronic have taken up this theme with Locomotion. The idea is introduced by an excellent loading screen which starts with a mixed up picture and then shuffles the elements around until the screen is complete.\r\n\r\nThe aim of the game is to move your train from the top left to the bottom right of the screen by sliding tracks around to keep it on the rails. Moving the track would be straightforward if it were possible to keep a level head, but the train keeps moving, and the pressure is on all the time.\r\n\r\nAs the levels progress the track becomes more confused and obstacles such as trees begin to appear more frequently. Eventually it is necessary to push the pause button which allows you to hold the train for a minute whilst you frantically push track around.\r\n\r\nA gripping game, excellent value for money, Locomotion is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Mastertronic, [redacted].","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"17","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Colette McDermott","score":"59","scoreSuffix":"%"}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Rating","score":"59%","text":"","overallScore":59}],"compilationReviewScores":[]}],"reviewsCount":3}]