[{"TitleName":"Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge","Publisher":"Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd","Author":"Ali Davidson, Berni","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0002937","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 84, Jan 1991","Price":"£2.95","ReleaseDate":"1990-12-13","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nArt Editor: Mark Kendrick\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction and Circulation Director: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Robb Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard, Lisa McCourt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Judith Bamford\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kevin Gallagher\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jackie Morris (Supervisor), Joanne Lewis\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Caroline Edwards [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting Apple Macintosh Computers using Quark Express and Bitstream Fonts.\r\n\r\nSystems Manager: Ian Chubb\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nYearly subscription rates: UK £17.20 Europe £24.00, Air Mail overseas £37. US/Canada subscriptions and back issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly subscription rates US$47.00, Canada CAN$57.00 Back Issues US$5.20, Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available; If something untoward happens we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop us a line). No person who is related, no matter how remotely, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the 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 on 35mm transparencies is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated according to the current printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Gremlin\r\n£10.99/£14.99\r\n\r\nJump into the drivers seat of a Lotus Turbo Esprit, buckle up and stick your foot on the accelerator! That's the invitation from Gremlin and you'd be mad if you said no. This is one hot simulation, so hot you have to grab a hand of ice cubes everytime you play it!\r\n\r\nThe ultimate aim of the game is to survive the stomach-churning tracks and quality for the Lotus Licence. This is easier said than done because there are 32 tracks and they can throw up some mean situations! Some have roadworks and rocks, not to mention the other sixteen cars all racing for the same goal!\r\n\r\nCompleting a track involves a lot of skill and some planning ahead as the fuel your car can carry is not always enough. Pit stops appear after the start/finish line and stopping in one will bring up the refuelling screen. To complete a track you need to finish in the top eight: in a two-player game if one player manages it both automatically sent to the next track. Your starting position on a track depends on where you finished in the last. If you finished first you go to the back, second you go to fifteenth, etc.\r\n\r\nThe split-screen two-player option is great fun if you have a friend to play against. The trouble is you can forget which car you're controlling, resulting in some spectacular crashes. All the graphics on the cars, track, introduction screens and background are simply excellent, and the track scrolls by very smoothly. Going over a hill is a little tricky, though, as it's impossible to see what's coming up on the other side. For sound lovers there are three tunes to choose from, although they don't play during the game so there's not much point!\r\n\r\nGremlin have given all players a real incentive to get on in the game by offering a real Lotus Licence to whoever completes it. At the end you'll be given some code numbers. Writing these down on the form included in the pack and sending them off will soon reward you with your well deserved prize. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge is one of the best two-player car simulations around. Speed fans get out there and buy it now!\r\n\r\nNICK 89%","ReviewerComments":["A chap from Gremlin popped down to the office the other day and took everyone for a spin in his Lotus. That was the day I was away. Hurumph! However, the game Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge more than makes up for my disappointment! All credit goes to the programmers for producing such a good looking and very playable racing game. The intro sequence is a masterpiece, whilst the game itself is so playable - especially against a friend. Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between the track and the grass, and so it's all too easy to spin off the track. But despite that, Lotus is a birrova mega-game and racing Smash if ever there was one!\r\nMark Caswell\r\n91%"],"OverallSummary":"A highly playable racing extravaganza, especially with two players.","Page":"80","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"89","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"91","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 61, Jan 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-12-06","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Paul Lakin, Jon North, Rich Pelley, Keith Pomfret, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPublishing Assistant: Michele Harris\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"Gremlin\r\n£10.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nGremlin seem to be setting themselves up as some sort of driving game specialists at the moment - both Lotus and Supercars (which is also a driving game, believe it or not) arrived just in time for this issue, and we've got a Toyota Rally game to come too. (Lucky 16-bitters even have a Suzuki bike game, though that's not slated in for the Speccy at all.)\r\n\r\nBut anyway, Lotus is what we're interested in here, and (would you believe it?) Gremlin seem to have come up with an (almost) brilliant game. Even more so than with footie games. It's speed that really counts when you're talking driving games, and Lotus is (in one-player mode) as fast as a very, very fast thing indeed. Unfortunately, proceedings grind to a bit of a halt in the two-player version - the Speccy just can't cope with moving both rolling roads at a decent sort of speed - but as a one-player this gives as good an impression of zooming along at 140mph as anything since, ooh, Stunt Car Racer.\r\n\r\nThe two-player mode may be a bit of a failure rapidity-wise, but it's actually rather interesting all the same. Unless you're talking overhead view games, like Supersprint or Ironman, 'two-player mode' on a driving game normally means you take it in turns. Not so with Lotus - Gremlin have made the unusual move of splitting the screen horizontally, so the first player views the action from immediately behind his car through the letterbox-shaped slot at the top, while player two uses the bottom half of the screen. (When there's only one player the bottom half gets filled up by a nice big piccy of the car.) This way both drivers get a different view of the same action, and can jostle away with each other (and the rest of the pack) to their heart's content. Great fun for head-to-heads, it has to be said.\r\n\r\nThe only slight problem with this is that since every single car on-screen is identical (they're all Lotus Esprits, you see, which to be honest are fairly boring-looking cars from the back) it's not all that easy to tell one car from another - you'll certainly have problems trying to spot your human rival amongst the field of computerised cars.\r\n\r\nThen there's this narrow slot business, which has become a bit of a bone of contention around here. It's a love-it-or-hate-it thing I fear - people either complain that the playable area of the screen is just too small, meaning you can't see all that far ahead (often just the back end of a hugeish car sprite) which is sort of true, or they go \"Great! it's just like the view out of a real racing helmet/sports car window whatever!\" Certainly, the fact that the window is relatively small may go some way to explaining how they got such impressive speed out of it (I don't know).\r\n\r\nThis sort of 'now you see it, now you don't' effect is further exaggerated by the tracks you drive around (which look more like desert roads than anything, though they're based on real racing circuits and go in a loop). They're simply the hilliest, dippiest things you've ever seen in a driving game - half the time you're swooping down into hollows (meaning you can't see very much at all except for the road curving up ahead), and the other half you're coming up over the crest of a hill which is even weirder. All you can see is car and sky until you're over it, meaning there could be anything in front of you (or the road could twist either way) and you wouldn't know until you were right on top of it. It's very like going over a real humpback bridge, and as such is rather disorientating and roller coaster-ish. Quite scary, and not to everybody's taste (lots of people seem to think you should be able to see in front of you at all times) though I must admit I think the effect is great.\r\n\r\nWhat else is there to say? Well, the game comes with some neatish opening screens giving you the tech spec of Lotus cars (though you'll need a magnifying glass to read it all), nine circuits (based on real tracks), a choice of manual or automatic gears, pitstops (where you can refuel on the longer tracks) and a system where the player (or one of the two players in a two-player game) has to finish in the top eight to progress onto the next level.\r\n\r\nAll of which is very well, but what really counts is the impression of speed, and thankfully - as I've said already, I know - Lotus is really, really (really) fast (with a little bit of fastness added on). It's a shame it all slows down so much with two players - it's a two-player system that almost works perfectly on the Speccy, but not quite - and I can't help thinking that perhaps it would have been a better idea to have junked that mode, and concentrated on the one player game instead, giving it more room in the process. Then again perhaps not - despite being flawed, the two-player game is still fun.\r\n\r\nI dunno. This is such a borderline Megagame case I'm not quite sure what to do. The two-player bit is seriously slow, but then so much else is good about it... I reckon it gets one, but only just. Off you go then, Lotus - you're a Megagame. (Just be thankful you caught me in a good mood.)","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Very fast and pretty smooth driving game, with interesting (but slower) two-player option.","Page":"12,13","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"One of the tech-spec screens at the start of the game. As you can see, the car's 178.5 somethings long, 45.3 somethings high with a boot 86 somethings long. (Fascinating, eh?)"},{"Text":"The one player game, and - oops! - we're not really doing all that well, are we? In fact, we're last. (I blame it all on the odd, letter-box shaped screen, myself.)"},{"Text":"The two-player game, which splits the screen horizontally and presents the same action from two different viewpoints. Unusual, but - oh no! - far too ponderous to be a total success. (Don't Lotus Esprit Turbos look boring from the back though, eh? They could be anything really.)"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"91%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 78, Jun 1992","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-05-17","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"HERE COMES THE SUMMER!\r\n\r\nFor him in vain the envious season rolls, who bears eternal summer in his soul. What are you most looking forward to the summer?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Dreamy days dangling a leg in the water while drifting down the Avon in a punt & snogging French exchange students. Or both at the same time) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (Going to America, hopefully) Ounsted\r\nDeputy Editor: Linda (Glastonbury festival) Barker\r\nStaff Writer: Jon (Leaving his duck shaped brolly at home) Pillar\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne (Picnics in Vicky Park) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Alison (Looking sexy & brown) Booth\r\nSenior Sales Exec: Jackie (Drinking ice cool beers at the Crystal Palace) Garford\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (Ice cream sundaes with Martini) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (Barbies & Pimms) Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle (Cycling to Mrs Miggins' bun & tea shop) Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara (Riding a horse through a field of long green grass) Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg (Peace, love & understanding) Bingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Windsurfing) Hartley\r\nAssistant Publisher: Julie (Cream teas) Stuckes\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Champion the Wonder Horse repeats), Future (The Company Weekend) Publishing, [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director: Chris (Strawberries and cream on the front lawn) Anderson\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from Charlie Footstool from Dingley Dell.\r\n\r\nISSN: 0269 69683\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair leaps onto passing cars with it bottom a-waving with notables periodicals like: Commodore Format (The scuba-diving season), Amstrad Acton (Sitting in the beer garden of The Brewers Arms in the evening), Amiga Format (Beetle Bash and the beach), PCW Plus (Wimbledon), PC Answers (Winter), PC Plus (Reptile dayy), Sega Power (Softball in Vicky Park on a Thursday), Amiga Power (Sailing, snogging and softbaallll!), Amiga Shopper (Cold beers by blue seas), Classic CD (Watching us stuff Pakistan in the test matches), Needlecraft (Myxomatosis), Cycling Plus (Going saddle-less), Photo Plus (Hampstead Heath of an evening), Mountain Biking UK (Outdoor rumpy-pumpy), PC Format (See Mountain Biking UK), Public Domain (Sun), ST Format (Fire Walk With Me: The Film), Total! (Driving an MR2 with the top up) and Today's Vegetarian (Two weeks of sun,sea, sand and sex in Greece) and coming soon... Calculator Operator's Chronicle.\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know why is... who the hell elected Mary Whitehouse as defender of public morals anyway?"},"MainText":"LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO CHALLENGE\r\nKixx\r\n£3.99\r\n[redacted]\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nHowever much other computer users may slag off the Spectrum, it has to be said that the Speccy is good for two things - propping doors open and speed. Take Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge for example. Then take your Speccy (from behind the door) and load it up. It's a driving game and (once loaded) you'll be able verify that things certainly whip along at a cracking rate. Hooray!\r\n\r\nHowever, the \"hooray it's fast so let's instantly give it a high mark\" theory doesn't quite apply here, due to a number of factors that I am now about to mention. Firstly, the size of the playing area. In one-player mode it's only a third of the screen high so things tend to get a little squashed up to say the least. There is a good reason for this though, and that's that in two-player mode, up opens the bottom of the screen so you can race against each other in a head to head. Which leads me quite nicely onto my criticism concerning the two-player option - it's a great idea (and works a treat on the 16-bit machines) but slows down absolutely tonnes I'm afraid.\r\n\r\nPerhaps playing the 16-bit version has addled my mind a little, but playing Lotus Esprit on the Speccy I can't help thinking the cars are a bit too big (and difficult to overtake), the tracks all a bit too similar (scenery-speaking) and the handling of the car a bit too unresponsive. But then again, maybe I'm being a bit too picky. Chase HQ aside, Lotus Esprit is probably the best driving game you'll pick up on budget. Just don't raise your hopes too high.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"77","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"80","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"While Sidney roared into 16th place, Lionel sat by his car and read a newspaper."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 133, Mar 1993","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1993-02-18","Editor":"Alan Dykes","TotalPages":36,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Alan Dykes\r\nArt Editor: Sarah Pruce\r\nDesign: Yvette 'Bye Bye' Nicholls\r\nSU Crew:\r\n Mr Hacking Squad: Garth Sumpter\r\n Mr Checkout: Steve Keen\r\n Mr Patrick Eggle and a few reviews: Philip Lindey\r\n Nigel Mansell's Best Mate: Tony Kaye\r\n Mr Historic Games: Mark Patterson\r\n Mr Reviews: Paul Davis\r\n Mr Pain In The Butt: Tom 'Call me Tom' Guise\r\n Mr Technical: Graham Mason\r\n Mr Adventure: Pete Gerrard\r\nAd Manager: Tina 'Absolutely wonderful and always part of the SU Crew' Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Tina Gynn\r\nMr Marketing: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing: Fiona 'Doh!' Malloch\r\nPublisher: Mike Frey\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\nPart of EMAP PLC\r\nTel: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Colourtech\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Gillingham\r\nTypeset by Altyp Inc\r\nSubs [redacted]\r\nBack Issues [redacted]\r\n\r\nAbsolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or copied without the express permission of the publisher. If Tom Guise doesn't stop telling Big Al' to 'just call him Tom' he's going to be in serious trouble! Signing off from another issue, stay cool folks."},"MainText":"LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO CHALLENGE\r\nLabel: GBH\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Mark Patterson\r\n\r\nTake to the highways in a turbo-charged Lotus Espirit as you participate in a race against other equally expensive sports cars. There are a staggering 32 courses ranging in difficulty from easy to ridiculous. If that's not enough for you there's also a two-player, split-screen, head-to-head mode where you can pit your skills against a mate.\r\n\r\nLotus is one of the best driving games on the speccy in years. It's fast, addictive and there are enough tracks to keep you occupied for ages.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"18","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Patterson","Score":"87","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"87%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 107, Jan 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-12-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Hotlips' Walker\r\nDesign: Amanda Young, Margaret Goldrick\r\nStaff Writer: Jason Nalk\r\nSU Crew: Chris 'Hateful' Jenkins, Matt Regan, John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Gary Liddon\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim Owens\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Titters' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistants: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1990 EMAP IMAGES\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION; FRONTLINE\r\n\r\nTypesetting by Garthtype\r\nTypos by A.C.C. Ident\r\nColour work by Proprint. B&W filming by PRS. I'd just like to say a merry Christmas to all you SU Crewers and Squaddies out there. Have a great time and the all new Crew and I will see you in January.\r\n\r\nReproduction of any part of this magazine is illegal. However, as it's Christmas, we might not sue you this time. Also, the first person to write in with the last word of this sentence will win the Christmas number one game. Have a nice break - Garth."},"MainText":"Label: Gremlin\r\nPrice: £10.99/£14.99 48K/128K\r\nReviewer: Jason Naik\r\n\r\nGremlin build their lotus's tough. After driving my white Esprit Turbo numerous times into boulders and barriers on the long curves of Verona(!), I began to wonder how the fibre-glass body of the Esprit could take the punishment. I wiped the sweat off my brow, pulled my black driving gloves on just that little bit tighter, flicked a tic-tac, adjusted my Raybans, scratched my side-burns... etc, etc. I was ready. Tom Cruise eat your heart out...\r\n\r\nYou select your options, 1 or 2 players, manual or automatic gears, and one of two tunes that you can hum along with nonchalantly as you're being lapped by rival turbos. Automatic gears and acceleration are the best bet, for beginners using forward on the stick to accelerate and fire or space bar for brakes.\r\n\r\nThere are 32 different courses, 7 easy, 10 medium and 15 hard to rip around as you progress through the different levels and are forced to drive through worsening conditions. Icy roads, dusty roads, deserts, etc. None of the races take place on actual race tracks but on roads. Weird ones. I found that it was easier to drive on automatic as I'm a lazy sod.\r\n\r\nInteresting going over a hill. The car flys into the air, you have no idea of the direction that the road is going to swing in, but you can still STEER YOUR LOTUS IN MID-AIR!!! This must be one of the latest improvements to the new Lotus. I was impressed.\r\n\r\nAt the starting line, the snort of high powered turbo engines fill the air (well, the computer makes a farting sound. And... you're off! Watch out for sudden bends and bumps although the car seems to be invulnerable, crunching barriers & boulders in it's path as you oversteer and swing off the road.\r\n\r\nNice skidding noises accompany you round bends whilst the (monochrome) graphics are good. The movement of the road as you progress is smooth, the car responsive. Maybe too responsive. But then, I haven't driven a Lotus before.\r\n\r\nAvailable for both the 48k and 128k speccy, the 48k version gives you the snarl of the Lotus engine, but no tune to hum along to...","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A great race game with good graphics and a silky movement. Vroom!","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jason Naik","Score":"87","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"87%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 123, May 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-04-18","Editor":"Alan Dykes","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Alan Dykes\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSU Crew: Garth Sumpter, Steve Keen, Ed Laurence, Pete Gerrard, Graham Mason, Phillip Fisch\r\nAd Manager: Tina Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Matthew Walker\r\nMr. Marketing.: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing Ladies: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Mark Frey\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Colourtech\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher\r\nTypeset by Altyp Inc\r\n\r\nAbsolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or used to prop up televisions or other electronic equipment without the express permission of the publisher. Summer is almost here again folks so it's nearly time to start going down to the beach for some mega fun. Remember though, don't get sand in your Spectrum! It doesn't work very well if you do. Oh yes, sorry about Mother's day mum, hope you enjoy your holiday! Pictures from Addams Family the movie were supplied by Columbia Tri-Star Films (UK). (c) Columbia Tri-Star."},"MainText":"Label: GBH\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Alan Dykes\r\n\r\nI've wanted tp drive a Lotus Esprit Turbo ever since Mr. Bond himself, Roger Moore blasted his one around in the 'Spy Who Loved Me'. Gremlin first launched this game in 1990 and I'd almost forgotten about it when suddenly, like a Sheffield based Q, GBH drive it onto my desk yet again.\r\n\r\n\"The name is Al... Big AL\" I said as I pulled on driving gloves, deserted all the lovely ladies and headed out on the road in my white Lotus Esprit Turbo. There are in fact no less than 32 different roads to burn up in this game; seven easy, ten medium and fifteen hard, though the terms easy and medium are loosely applied in this instance. There is a option on automatic or manual gears and to be honest I would heartily recommend the auto box as it considerably eases the job.\r\n\r\nThe featured courses are planned against a background of lush, wood-lined European style countrysides, dusty desert tracks, a ice covered highways. Luckily one doesn't meet traffic in the opposite direction because control is, to say the least loose, but this does add a bit of spice to the game.\r\n\r\nOne of the more unusual aspects of Lotus is the car's ability to steer while in the air after driving over a particularly big in the road... This just about makes up for the sad lack of underwater gear which Bond's Lotus had.\r\n\r\nTurbo Challenge operates in single or two player mode. In two player the screen splits in half with a car featured simultaneously in either section. This makes for some very competitive racing indeed! Graphics are monochrome but very well defined and sound consists of a fine variety of tunes as well as engine sounds in 128K mode but just engine noises in 48K.\r\n\r\nLotus Esprit Turbo Challenge is definitely one of the better outright road racing games available on the Spectrum and it's not really that long since it was out as a full price. If you're into this sort of action it's well worth taking a look at this game.","ReviewerComments":["Call me a boring old fogey bit I've never been very keen on this game. I found control a little too loose and the two player mode looks too squashed up for my liking. That's what I thought of it as a full pricer anyway. However as a budget I must agree that it warrants a look.\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"This is one hell of a racing game. It's got lots levels with big increases in difficulty and your Lotus doesn't seem to mind bashing around on track side obstacles - within reason. Well worth a look as a budget title.","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"86","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"86%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"86%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 42, Mar 1991","Price":"£1.8","ReleaseDate":"1991-02-07","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EMAP IMAGES [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jim Douglas\r\nProduction Editor: David Upchurch\r\nDesign Editor: Jim Willis\r\nTrainee Design Assistant: Jenny Abrook\r\nConsultant Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: John Cook, Christina Erskine, Richard Haynes, Pat Winstanley, Gareth Harper, Garth Sumpter, Ciaran Brennan, Chris Jenkins, Russell Patient, Mark Smiddy, John Minson\r\nIllustration: Geoff Fowler\r\nPhotography: Edward Park\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jo Cooke\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAdvertising Production: Melanie Costin\r\nPublisher: Garry Williams\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nACE Subscriptions Dept [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nBalmoral Graphics [redacted]\r\nProprint Repro [redacted]\r\n\r\nTYPESETTING\r\nCXT [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nEMAP Frontline [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nSevern Valley Press, Caerphilly\r\n\r\n©EMAP IMAGES 1990\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Gremlin, £10.99cs/£4.99dk\r\nAmiga version reviewed Issue 38; Ace Rating: 875\r\n\r\nOfficially licensed by Lotus, this racing simulation doesn't offer a great deal not seen in dozens of other cockpit-view racing games, except for the two-player split-screen view - and even this brings back memories of the classic Pitstop II.\r\n\r\nWhile the Amiga version features 32 tracks, the 8-bit versions have only 9; you still have a field of 20 others to beat, with Easy, Medium, Difficult and Practice modes, featuring different numbers of races which have to be completed, and a choice of three in-game tunes. The Spectrum versions of these are pretty good, and the sound effects acceptable. You also have the choice of manual or automatic gears and two forms of joystick controls.\r\n\r\nIn one-player mode the lower half of the screen is taken up with a nice illustration of your car. While you're racing, although the nicely-designed graphics are understandably mainly monochrome, the animation is fast; the road twists and dips convincingly, and even when you are in two-player mode and there are several other cars on the screen, you get a decent impression of speed.\r\n\r\nA fair game, but not an original enough basic idea to compete successfully with the dozens of other road racing games for the Spectrum.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Officially licensed by Lotus, this racing simulation doesn't offer a great deal not seen in dozens of other cockpit-view racing games, except for the two-player split-screen view - and even this brings back memories of the classic Pitstop II.","Page":"74","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge on the Spectrum. The trade off between colour and speed makes this version more enjoyable than the CPC incarnation."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"789/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]