[{"TitleName":"Microball","Publisher":"Alternative Software Ltd","Author":"Steve Evans","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0003175","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: Alternative Software\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: Steve Evans\r\n\r\nThe pinball table awaits your pleasure...\r\n\r\nA ball is fired on to a sloping table, and once on the table can't fall off - there's a surrounding retaining wall. But the ball can run through a gap at the lower end of the table, and the challenge in Microball - as in real-life pinball - is to use a pair of flipper-like bats to deflect the ball when it runs toward that gap. (If it does, it's lost and the next of five balls appears.)\r\n\r\nBounced back up the table by a flipper, the ball rebounds around a network of circular bumpers and other targets, collecting points. Hitting targets in particular combinations earns bonus points, and other targets activate a score-multiplier - it doesn't just add points but can double or even quintuple your score.\r\n\r\nAn extra ball is awarded after 250000, 480000 and 720000 points.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: None\r\nGraphics: simple, not unlike the real thing\r\nSound: simple, not unlike the real thing\r\nOptions: one to four players, if they can't be bothered to find the real thing","ReviewerComments":["As pinball games go, this isn't much fun. For a start, it's far too easy (hardly like real pinball!), and doesn't get any harder. Different table layouts, or even a single layout more complex and exciting than this, would have helped.\r\n\r\nAnd though the pinball moves reasonably well, it sometimes gets stuck in places where it shouldn't (the end of the flipper, for example).\r\n\r\nThe graphics are bright and cheery, but the black background and the sound add nothing. Microball is quite playable (for a little while) and it does have some addictive qualities simply because it is pinball. But I wouldn't recommend it.\r\nGordon Houghton\r\n39%","Microball is another uninteresting pinball game. You remember the type: two flippers at the bottom of the screen, a few boring obstacles and a flashing display that doesn't seem to do anything. The final burst of excitement comes when you get three friends round and have a game all together! Microball is reasonable as pinball games go, but they don't go very far - stick with the real thing.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n38%","I wouldn't mind a decent pinball game, something with features and graphics 1988-style, but this weak game has missed its time. Some of the bugs are appalling: the ball regularly gets stuck on the very end of the flipper (that screw-up which would take considerable skill on a real table), and twice in half an hour of play the ball got stuck in the border of the 'table', necessitating reloading. Microball is simple and simply unattractive.\r\nMike Dunn\r\n47%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Little content, little interest (not unlike the real thing - Man Ed).","Page":"96","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Gordon Houghton","Score":"39","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"38","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"47","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Bugged: Microball"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"36%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"41%","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":"Alternative\r\n£1.99\r\nReviewer: Tony Worrall\r\n\r\nCripes! A pinball simulation on the Speccy. I haven't seen one of these for a long, long time. Macadam Bumper was the last, and that was light years ahead of this budget offering from Alternative.\r\n\r\nIn fact there's not an awful lot to say about Micro Ball. If you go for pinball machines it may satisfy you for a while, but it will bore the pants off anyone else.\r\n\r\nThe trouble is Micro Ball is so average. Neither mega-good or terribly bad - just oh-so-average. It is perfectly adequate as a simple pinball conversion, but there is nothing special about it. Nothing flashy, nothing different enough in the programming to make you suit up and take notice.\r\n\r\nIt features, if you really want to know, a four player option, two flippers (wow!), a selection of very complicated bonuses and a useful tilt button. The ball can travel at a fairly nifty pace at times which makes it interesting to play, but because of a bug in the layout the ball sometimes gets stuck making a system reset the only way to continue. Bad news.\r\n\r\nIt is below par budget fare (try saying that fast!), but if you like this kind of thing it could be good value. One thing's for sure - it will never turn you into a pinball wizard.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"So-so pinball simulation. If taken in large doses a very good cure for insomnia.","Page":"86","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Worrall","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 71, Feb 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Tony Bridge, 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: Jim Davis\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 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: Alternative Software\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nI was never convinced of the virtues of pinball on a computer. I mean, it's all very well to convert an arcade game to the Spectrum, but the main attraction of pinball is the physical effect of the solid steel ball rumbling up and down the table end ricocheting off anything in the vicinity.\r\n\r\nAll the usual pinball features are included (there's even a tilt option) and the ball moves around smoothly enough to make the game playable. You can adjust the power of the initial 'pull' which sends the ball spinning, and there's a reasonable amount of skill needed if you're to get the right angle off your flipper. Another good point - four players can play in competition, with all scores displayed authentically to the left of the machine.\r\n\r\nThe most annoying thing is that there's only one table to play on. After a while you'll get to know the workings of the table inside and out, and it really wouldn't have been too tricky to incorporate a bit more variety.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Highly playable though ultimately unsatisfactory Pinball conversion. Not enough variety.","Page":"91","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]