[{"TitleName":"MASK II","Publisher":"Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd","Author":"Ben Daglish, Chris Kerry, Colin Dooley, Jason Perkins, Marco Duroe, Mark Rogers, Steve Kerry, Ian Naylor","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0003044","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 48, Jan 1988","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-10","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":196,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Dominic Handy, 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\nAdventure Writer: Derek Brewster\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, Nick Roberts, Ben Stone, Paul Sumner, Bym Welthy\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director/Illustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nAssistant Art Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\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 any written material sent to 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.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Gremlin Graphics\r\nRetail Price: £7.99\r\n\r\nSome nasties won't accept a 'game-over' when they see it - VENOM, the association of evil people, is on the march again just months after its defeat in Gremlin Grpahics's monochromatic key-collecting game MASK 1 (81% Overall in Issue 45). And so the agents of MASK are back in action (and in colour) too, saving the world in Gremlin's second licence based on the TV series and Kenner Parker toys.\r\n\r\nMatt Trakker and his colleagues are faced with three missions. Firstly the president of the Peaceful Nations Alliance has been kidnapped and without him a vital treaty cannot be concluded. He must be rescued and taken to a helipad whence he can fly to the summit talks.\r\n\r\nSecondly, VENOM has nearly completed building a base in the Middle East. And as you've guessed, they're out to control oilfields. The base can be destroyed, but only if a missile within it is located and detonated by the MASK team.\r\n\r\nAnd thirdly, a large ruby worshipped by jungle monks has been purloined by VENOM and incorporated into a laser weapon. The gem must be returned and the laser destroyed.\r\n\r\nTo combat VENOM, you start off by selecting your team members and vehicles. The right choice of vehicles is essential, though fortunately you can get different ones as the game progresses and conditions change.\r\n\r\nThere are five MASK vehicles: the Thunder Hawk (sports car/jet), the Rhino (an armed battering ram), the Condor (a motorbike-cum-helicopter) and the Gator (an off-road vehicle that converts into a hydroplane).\r\n\r\nAll MASK vehicles are heavily armed, because VENOM might attack in land-based craft, submarines or helicopters. If a MASK vehicle is damaged, it can aquire extra armour - provided the damage isn't too severe. Otherwise it has to be abandoned.\r\n\r\nRunning out of fuel is another hazard, and the Thunder Hawk uses rather a lot.\r\n\r\nIt's bound to be a dangerous and exciting day for MASK. And no doubt at the end there'll be another licence.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: very colourful with detailed sprites\r\nSound: few sound effects and a simple tune","ReviewerComments":["The difference between this and the last MASK game are incredible. MASK 1 was just another boring scrolling-background game, but here the graphics have been excellently-drawn and colour has been used to great effect. Each mission is as exciting as the previous, because the objectives are so different, and MASK II is a top class game.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n90%","This is an amazing change from MASK 1. The whole concept is much more attractive and playable - with the graphics being the most impressive feature. However, thought the action is fast and involving, I never felt in full control of what was going on; the collision-detection is very suspect, too, and lacks consistency. Still, it's much better-looking than MASK 1, and a much stronger tie-in.\r\nPaul Sumner\r\n82%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A playable and attractive tie-in, much more lively and fun than MASK 1 (which wasn't too bad itself).","Page":"12","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"82","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"MASK II: colourful graphics and varied gameplay."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"81%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 26, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-14","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George, Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nActing Production Editor: Fran Husband\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, David Jones, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\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":"Gremlin\r\n£7.99\r\nReviewer: Duncan MacDonald\r\n\r\nYou know those games with brilliant graphics and astounding gameplay that are just so utterly sponditious that herds of wildebeest couldn't drag you from your joystick? You do? Well, I'm afraid that Mask II isn't one of them (haw haw haw).\r\n\r\nGame in nutshell time: First up, pick your team. You can choose three from a possible five members of the MASK organisation. Each member has his own vehicle and each vehicle its own worth over certain terrain. A sort of Transformers variant, you can opt for a car that doubles as a plane, a buggy that becomes a boat or you might even want the lorry that turns into a banana (are you quite sure about that?).\r\n\r\nAnyway, having picked your troubleshooting MASK team, it's onto the missions, of which there are three. Hold on a minute, there's a message staring at me from the minitor. It says: \"Press play on tape\". Yaaaarrrghh........ It's a multi-load!! You'd better go and clean the budgie's cage or - something while it's loading. Turn te tum te diddly diddly dum (carries on in this vein for several minutes). Aah, it's in. Are you back? Right. I'll continue.\r\n\r\nWhat we have here is a left/right scrolling shoot 'em up with interchangeable craft. Oh dear, I'm the lorry at the moment and I'm about to fall into some water. Quick, press the keyboard to change vehicles. Great. I'm in the car now, and now I can fly, so off I zoom to the right as the screen scrolls (a mite jerkily) towards me. Continuing in this fashion; switching between vehicles, avoiding land-mines, shooting anything that moves and picking up bonus fuel/stamina points by driving over the relevant icons, you can soon hope to complete the first mission (i.e. collecting a small digitized cartoon of Ronnie 'Raygun' and transporting it to the heliport - which you passed en route). It's easy - I did it on my fourth go. Missions two and three (once you've loaded them) are much, much harder, but frankly that is somewhat due to the sluggish and inconsistent directional control.\r\n\r\nWhat with slightly garish screens, unengaging sprites and the wibbly scrolling, this \"product tie-in sequel\" will only really appeal to hardened Mask fans.\r\n\r\nNow for a joke. Cripes, I can't think of one.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A not particularly impressive shoot 'em up/get something & take it somewhere else-ish type game. For Mask fans only.","Page":"66","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Duncan MacDonald","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 70, Jan 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Chris Jenkins, Tony Dillon, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nSales Executive: Steve Prescott\r\nClassified Sales/Production: Alison Morton\r\nPublisher's Secretary: Debbie Pearson\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Richard Winnington\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Gremlin\r\nAuthor: Chris Kerry\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\n\r\nMatt Trakker is one of those good, clean, all-American, cleft-chin individuals who you just know is going to put things right. So when VENOM start kicking up the most almighty fuss, it's going to be Matt who gets in there and sorts the rotten so and sos out.\r\n\r\nBut what happens when there are just too many bad guys for our hero? You get a team together boy.\r\n\r\nThat's what Gremlin's MASK II is all about really. Teamwork. The game is made up of three missions, each mission requiring different agents to complete it successfully. successfully.\r\n\r\nMASK headquarters is at Boulder Hill, and it's here, in the MASK canteen, or something similar, that all the agents are sitting rapping at the end of a long hard day. Suddenly, an alert warning flashes on the screen, followed by one of the three mission briefings. Choose a mission, and then select your agents, using the MASK computer. A MASK icon can be moved around the screen, and as it touches each agent's chair, a picture of him will be built up on the right-hand side, together with details of his vehicle and his codename.\r\n\r\nOnce you've chosen three agents, you load in the mission, and off you go. Because each mission takes place in very different terrains, you need to make sure that you have the right agents with the right vehicles. Matt's car becomes a jet the motorbike becomes a helicopter and the big truck thingy becomes a hydroplane. Not that a hydroplane would be much use to you in a jungle, mind, so you can forget that one for a start.\r\n\r\nNow comes the real skill, as you hurtle across the landscape, scrolling at furious speed into all those evil VENOM agents, using the appropriate vehicle at the appropriate moment. No use trying to drive your motorbike through the river - better change to the speed boat instead. Luckily, the vehicles convert themselves to appropriate form automatically.\r\n\r\nApart from that, the gameplay is what one would expect. High speed chases across desert and jungle locations, with a good look at the VENOM base itself to boot.\r\n\r\nAnd very good it looks too. The graphics are nice and big, and a lot of the VENOM agents appear to drive Renault 5s, which made me think that they can't be as bad as everyone makes out.\r\n\r\nOn the chase around the town level. MASK II is great. It's fast, furious, and mighty tricky. Just keep going and firing, and maybe you'll get to the end, maybe not. And if you take into consideration the nifty selection process, which is truly impressive to look at, not to mention the necessity of changing between vehicles are precisely the right moment, then you have yourself a pretty whacky game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Excellent sequel to MASK., Lots of hard shooting and tearing about, and a brain-aching selection part.","Page":"53","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tamara Howard","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PROGRAMMERS\r\n\r\nColin Dooley and Chris Kelly are regular programmers at Gremlin Graphics, who converted the original C64 code, originated by US company Mindscape, on to the Z80 machines.\r\n\r\nSoftography: Chris Kerry: Way of the Tiger (Gremlin, 1986), Avenger (Gremlin , 1986), Trailblazer (Gremlin, 1987), Bounder (Gremlin , 1987), Thing Bounces Back (Gremlin , 1987)\r\n\r\nSoftography: Colin Dooley: Trailblazer (Gremlin, 1987), Thing Bounces Back (Gremlin, 1987)."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 5, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-07","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nArt Team: Angela Neal, Sally Meddings\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jon Beales\r\n\r\nCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY\r\nStuart Baynes Photography [redacted]\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1988 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"More Venom from Gremlin.\r\n\r\nBoulder Hill, the home of do-gooders M.A.S.K. is the starting point for another attack against do-badders VE.N.O.M. That Vicious, Evil, Network Of Mayhem have upset everybody by kidnapping the president and it's down to you to save him.\r\n\r\nThe game is played over a right-to-left scrolling terrain (full of flying, crawling, swimming and driving VENOM agents) with the player controlling one of three MASK vehicles. Initially the player has to make his choice of vehicle from a selection of five possibles. Each one has peculiar characteristics which have to be considered before selection Thunderhawk (car) can transform into an airborne attack craft at will, whereas Gator turns into a high speed power boat on contact with water. Switching between vehicles is easily achieved at the press of a key, and is necessary in order to complete the three different missions in the game.\r\n\r\nIf you're a fan of the toys, or you enjoyed the first MASK game, then you will find MASK II just as much fun.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Andy Smith\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nC64/128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent\r\nSpec, £7.99cs, Out Now\r\nAms, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent\r\nMSX, £7.99cs, Imminent","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"The CPC graphics are slightly superior, as is the gameplay, but there's a lot of fun to be had from both versions.","Page":"40","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Smith","Score":"813","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Amstrad version: That's you in Rhino - just what you need for smashing through boulders."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD VERSION\r\n\r\nSprites are cumbersome and have a blocky look, but they are colourful. Plays well, with plenty of speed and just as much fun as on the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 75/100\r\n1 hour: 85/100\r\n1 day: 85/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 50/100\r\n1 year: 20/100"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nLarge sprites across colourful backgrounds make this a good-looking game. It's straightforward blasting good fun that won't overtax the brain and is a worthy successor to the original."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"813/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]