[{"TitleName":"ZX Galaxians","Publisher":"Artic Computing Ltd","Author":"William J. Wray","YearOfRelease":"1982","ZxDbId":"0029453","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 2, May 1982","Price":"£0.6","ReleaseDate":"1982-04-15","Editor":"Nigel Clark","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial Director: Nigel Clark\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nProduction Editor: Harold Mayes\r\nDesign: William Scolding\r\nAdvertisement Director: Simon Horgan\r\nEditorial Director: John Sterlicchi\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Les Morton\r\nEditorial/Production Assistant: Margaret Hawkins\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd. it is not in anyway connected with Sinclair Research Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User. please send typed (or beautifully-handwritten)articles or programs to-\r\nSinclair User\r\nECC Publications.\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nWe will pay £10 for each program printed and £50 for each article which should be approximately 1,000 words long.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1982\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by Bournehall Press Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"GALAXIANS INVADE W H SMITH\r\n\r\nA version of Galaxians, the popular arcade game, is now available to ZX-81 users through W H Smith. Called predictably ZX-Galaxians, it requires 16K of RAM and offers personalised high-scoring routines, swooping attackers, full explosions and continuous status reports.\r\n\r\nThe originators, Artic Computing, believe that it was chosen by W H Smith because it is exceptional. Written in machine code, the game runs smoothly with no flicker on the screen, mostly because it uses pixels which split the characters in two.\r\n\r\nW H Smith is selling Galaxians on a cassette at £4.95, which includes a dungeons and dragons random adventure game, Swords of Peace. Artic Computing can be contacted at [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"11","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 11, Feb 1983","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1983-01-20","Editor":"Nigel Clark","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial Director: Nigel Clark\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nProduction Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nStaff Writer: John Gilbert\r\nDesign: William Scolding\r\nEditorial Director: John Sterlicchi\r\nAdvertisement Director: Simon Horgan\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nStates Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nEditorial/Production Assistant: Margaret Hawkins\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd. it is not in anyway connected with Sinclair Research 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\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 each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1983\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nOrigination by Outline Graphics.\r\nPrinted Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"SINCLAIR BRINGS THE THRILL OF THE ARCADE INTO YOUR HOME\r\n\r\nWith the Spectrum, program writers have been able to write more complex games. John Gilbert investigates this new move.\r\n\r\nAlmost every major type of arcade game has been simulated on Sinclair computers. There are also new games which have an arcade format but have evolved on a microcomputer. The Spectrum is an ideal machine on which to play arcade games. The quality of them has improved substantially since the launch of the machine. Some of the first arcade games to be produced for the Spectrum were versions of Space Invaders, the game which started the arcade craze.\r\n\r\nSpectral Invaders was the first to be announced by Bug-Byte, which was already renowned for its arcade and adventure games on the ZX-81. So far it is the game which most closely resembles the original arcade version. Although it is slow it is difficult to score points, as you can fire only one laser blast at a time.\r\n\r\nBy the time the laser bolt has reached the place where you wanted it to go, the target invader has moved on. That means that a great deal of anticipation and skill is required. Graphically, the Bug Byte Invaders is the best, with rows of different-colour aliens crossing the screen and large motherships moving from one side of the screen to the other at random intervals. Spectral Invaders is well-presented and costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nAnother invaders game, Space Intruders, was launched at about the same time as Spectral Invaders. The game is much faster and is recommended for those who like to keep their fingers on the fire button and amass a big score. The only criticism is that the aliens and mothercraft are very small and the mothership is blue on a black background and so is very difficult to hit. Apart from that Space Intruders from Quicksilva is good value at £5.95.\r\n\r\nNamtir Raiders, for the ZX-81, is a space invaders game from Artic Computing with a difference. The player still has to face the hordes of aliens which come down the screen but the laser base can be moved up and down as well as left and right.\r\n\r\nThe greater movement permitted to the player is compensated by the hail of bombs dropped by the aliens and the size and power of alien ships. There are four waves of aliens and as the game progresses the ships get bigger until the giant mothership arrives.\r\n\r\nThe player has five laser bases during the game and they can take only five hits from alien bombs. There are three levels of difficulty - easy to impossible. The game, costing £3.95, is addictive and the graphics are neither awkward in design nor jerky in movement.\r\n\r\nThe game which is gaining popularity with 48K Spectrum owners is Time Gate, from Quicksilva. The authors claim that it is the ultimate in 3D arcade space action. The game is loaded in two parts, the first being a lengthy instruction manual. After the manual has finished you can load the game. The object is to destroy a race of aliens called the Squarm who are trying to colonise Earth. To do that the player must fight the enemy in space and go through time by locating a series of Time Gates to find the Squarm's base.\r\n\r\nThe pleasant thing about the game is its graphics. The player is at the controls of a space fighter and look out into a 3D representation of space. The enemy fighters are also seen in 3D and so are the planets on which the player can land to refuel and repair the ship. It is by far the best arcade action game so far for the Spectrum and costs only £6.95.\r\n\r\nAsteroids is also becoming popular on Sinclair machines. One of the first companies to launch a version for the ZX-81 was Quicksilva. It was a good version on such a small machine and is still proving popular.\r\n\r\nQuicksilva has also introduced a Spectrum version called Meteor Storm. It has the added attraction of speech before play. It is difficult to hear the words but we are informed by the authors that it says \"Meteor Alert... Meteor Alert...\". Meteor Storm is a novel version of Asteroids and costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nSinclair Research has a good game of asteroids, called Planetoids, in its new Spectrum Software library. The asteroids are in 3D and much careful design work on both the asteroids and the player's ship seems to have gone into the game. Planetoids costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nArtic Computing seems to be the only company to have produced a version of Galaxians for the ZX-81. ZX-Galaxians looks like Space Invaders but the invaders are 'V'-shaped and are supposed to be inter-galactic birds. The birds swoop from formation and bomb the player's laser base. ZX-Galaxian is slow in action but can still be a very addictive game. It costs £4.95.\r\n\r\nDefender is still a much-sought-after game in the arcades and Artic Computing took advantage of that early by producing a version for the ZX-81. The graphics are not particularly interesting and the spaceship which the player flies across the landscape is made up of a series of blocks which look only slightly like a ship.\r\n\r\nDespite those criticisms, the original idea behind the game is still there and the Artic version can be exciting, as you see the enemy ships rushing at you from the other side of the screen.\r\n\r\nNow that the Spectrum has arrived, many manufacturers have found an interest in the arcade game Scramble. The best and fastest version so far is from Mikro-Gen. In the game you have to go through caves which become smaller and smaller as it progresses. There are four sectors to the game, including Missiles, UFOs and Meteors. The player has to destroy the missiles which are fired from the ground at the players' ship, destroy UFOs with a laser blaster, and dodge the meteors.\r\n\r\nThe game becomes progressively more difficult and can be run in slow, normal and fast modes. It costs £3.95.\r\n\r\nSilversoft has a Scramble-type game called Ground Attack. It works on the same principles as the Mikro-Gen game but is much slower. There is a good deal of blank screen between game rounds and the average waiting time between rounds is 15 seconds. Ground Attack costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nThe range of arcade-type games on Sinclair machines is always increasing. Manufacturers seem to feel safe in producing standard arcade games such as Space Invaders and Scramble. Those games, especially for the Spectrum, are becoming more imaginative and the graphics and sound more impressive.\r\n\r\nManufacturers have to be careful about copying ideas from other games but with the imagination of some of the firms in the Sinclair market, children and many adults will be kept happy with arcade-type games on the ZX-81 and Spectrum for a long time.\r\n\r\nSpace Invaders games have now been overtaken by Pacman in popularity. A number of them have been produced for the ZX-81 and several companies are producing them for the Spectrum. It looks as if Pacman may provide the next boom in Sinclair software - but that is another story.\r\n\r\nBug-Byte, [redacted].\r\n\r\nQuicksilva, [redacted].\r\n\r\nArtic Computing, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSinclair Research, [redacted].\r\n\r\nMikro-Gen, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSilversoft, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62,63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'With the imagination of some of the firms in the market, users will be kept happy with arcade games for a long time'"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 8, Jun 1982","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1982-05-16","Editor":"Terry Pratt","TotalPages":101,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nAssistant Editor: Elspeth Joiner\r\nEditorial Assistant: Susan Cameron\r\nDesign: Linda Freeman\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAdvertising Executive: Neil Wood\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 SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION. 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: £10.00, Overseas surface mail: £12.00, Airmail Europe: £20.00. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n© Computer & Video Games Limited\r\nISBN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover: Model - Dorian Cross\r\nPhotograph - Geoff Howes"},"MainText":"SURPRISING ATTACKERS\r\n\r\nCritics of the ZX81 would not believe that an arcade game such as Galaxians could be transferred to the Sinclair - but now it has happened.\r\n\r\nZX Galaxians has all the usual features of the game The Galaxians move across the screen and you have to hit them with bullets from your base ship at the bottom of the screen.\r\n\r\nThe Galaxians swoop down in random formations and drop bombs, trying to destroy you. You have four lives which are indicated on a scoreboard at the right of the display.\r\n\r\nThe board also shows you who has scored the greatest number of hits in a game. The Galaxians also have the knack of surprising the player. One minute you think that you have nearly finished them off and the next more Galaxians arrive.\r\n\r\nIf you manage to score more points than anyone else has the computer will ask for your name and will display it in the highest score box until someone else beats it. The graphics are very good.\r\n\r\nZX Galaxians runs in 16K and is available on cassette from Artic Computing. It costs £6.95.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"18","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]