[{"TitleName":"Los Angeles SWAT","Publisher":"Entertainment USA","Author":"Chris Fayers","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0002934","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 50, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-25","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Acting Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Dominic Handy, Gordon Houghton, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson\r\nSubeditor: David Peters\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nPBM Writer: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Writer: Rosetta McLeod\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dave Hawkes, Nathan Jones, Nick Roberts, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy, Nik Wild\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nAssistant Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard, Ian Chubb, Robert Millichamp\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\nPlease address correspondence to the appropriate person!\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow\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 anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Competition entries and letters to the CRASH Forum, to other sections and to staff are always read with interest but cannot be acknowledged even if an SAE is included, and letters submitted for publication may be edited for length and style.\r\n\r\n©1988 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Entertainment USA\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\n\r\nIt's 1999. You're leading a mean squad of three dudes trained to perfection as killing machines, members of the police SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) division. The mission this time is to rout out a nest of terrorists in a district of Los Angeles and release their hostages.\r\n\r\nThis should have been an operation as sharp as a Bic disposable razor - well, probably a little sharper than that. But to complicate matters, a few civilians remain in an evacuated area and neither they nor the hostages must be harmed by you and your men.\r\n\r\nYour squad is on toot patrolling through the vertically scrolling streets of LA. You control the leader of your team, who is at the front of the patrol. When the terrorists home in on him, lobbing grenades, he must move fast -and risk the hidden snipers.\r\n\r\nIf the leader falls in action, his place is immediately taken by another squad member; when he in turn needs a body bag, the final man is on his own.\r\n\r\nEach member of the team is equipped with a gun, but only the leader's can be controlled. He can fire in the direction that he moves, and diagonally - always taking care not to hit innocent civilians, which knocks the points off him.\r\n\r\nReach the junction where the terrorist leader hangs out, and you'll find those hostages. Now things can really get tough.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: poorly-defined characters, bad use of colour\r\nSound: very basic","ReviewerComments":["My, Los Angeles SWAT, what slow graphics you've got! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what limited sound you've got! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what ludicrous colours you use! My, Los Angeles SWAT, what awkward controls you've got!\r\n\r\n'All the better for selling me off cheaply with.'\r\nBym Welthy\r\n36%","The graphics and colour in Los Angeles SWAT are awful - curious checkerboard blocks are meant to represent buildings, indistinct 2-D line drawings pass for upturned cars, poorly-animated characters litter the gaudy background. If the action was more exciting this might be forgivable (as might the colour clash), but the controls are awkward, the gameplay is repetitive and even the sound is a letdown.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n22%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A poor vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up.","Page":"99","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bym Welthy","Score":"36","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"22","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Los Angeles Sprites Wander Around Tediously."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"30%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"21%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"31%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"21%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"26%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 28, Apr 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-03-10","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Guy Bennington, Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nArt Director: Hazel Bennington\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\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: 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 ©1988 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":"Entertainment USA\r\n£1.99\r\nReviewer: Nat Pryce\r\n\r\nTerrorists are on the streets, punks have taken control and LA is riddled with Commies. As usual there's only one thing to do, and this time it's a SWAT team that has to save the world, snore, drivel, bilge. The tactics are as complex as you'd expect - run up roads, shoot everyone you see and avoid the grenades that are bunged at you by the punks.\r\n\r\nEh wot? Isn't this just a bit like Commando? And indeed, SWAT is as near a copy as is possible without anyone calling their lawyers. And it's not nearly as good.\r\n\r\nI mean, look at the scrolling - or rather don't, 'cos it's slower than Seb Coe and almost as flickery. Attribute problems are everywhere, and the graphics make Platoon look like an Amiga. What's more, don't bother playing on the keyboard, as you'll only be able to use the cursor keys. And when you're shooting, you cannot move. This can be awkward sometimes - such as when you want to move, but can't, because if you stop shooting you'll die, or vice versa. If there is a way out, you're bound to be zapped when you press the wrong key!\r\n\r\nLos Angeles SWAT must be just about the worst game I've ever played. Beside it, even Kai Temple pales into insignificance. Lemme out of here!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Awful Commando clone which makes VU-File look addictive. You're best off burying it in a mound of peat and exploding it from a safe distance.","Page":"86","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nat Pryce","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"1/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 72, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon 'Call me Bon Jovi' Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'a fiver if my name goes first in the list' Dillon, Chris 'a fiver? You must be joking!' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Alison Morton\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'I'll leave that with you then' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Brian Talbot\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458"},"MainText":"Label: Mastertronic\r\nAuthor: Beech Nut Software\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony Dillon\r\n\r\nA SWAT team is a very exciting all action thing. So it naturally follows it would make an exciting and generally profit making game, right? Wrong. LA Special Weapons and Tactics is one of the worst games I have ever played (again) Basically, a vertically scrolling Commando sort of jobbie, you patrol through a seemingly endless city street shooting your little pop gun at marauding cavemen and deformed shoppers alike, whilst avoiding black undefinable things in the road.\r\n\r\nThe scrolling is astoundingly slow, tedious pixel by tedious pixel and the controls respond very sluggishly. Bad news in an action game. One nice touch is the way they have avoided the game slowing when there is a lot on screen by making the game to impossibly slow that if it slowed down any more, it wouldn't be moving. Har har. Awful.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Very popular when first released on other machines, though not very good, is bound to be very popular on the Speccy and is still not very good.","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]