[{"TitleName":"Microbot","Publisher":"Softek International Ltd","Author":"Andrew Beale, Jack Wilkes, Mervyn Bagshaw","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0003177","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 2, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-23","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Softek\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Andrew Beale\r\n\r\nAndrew Beale has done a number of games for Softek and this one will probably be accounted as among the best. It has similarities in its scenario with the 'you're inside this computer' school. In this, possibly your millionth re-incarnation now, you are a microbot, a miniaturised robot, whose task is to enter the electronic brains of proper-sized robots and repair damage to them. The scenario points out that you wanted to be either a Brain Surgeon or a truck driver, and as you couldn't possibly meet the necessary specifications, you had to become a Brain Surgeon!\r\n\r\nA nice touch about this game is that the inside of these highly advanced but somewhat brain-damaged robots resembles the basement of some huge and rambling Victorian mansion with unlagged heating pipes. There are two types of pipe - purple ones and green ones (scenario explains the difference, but it's all far too high in technology to repeat here) and there are various bugs which are causing damage to the delicate electronic brain. Despite their varied shapes they come in two hues - blue and yellow (this is important, but wait for it).\r\n\r\nYour job as microbot is to prowl around armed with repulsa blobs and fix the pipes. The repulsa blobs keep the nasties at bay for a mo, but lying around in each brainy chamber are blue and yellow fix-a-rive blobs. Touching one turns microbot into that colour, and if he fires a blob of the correct hue at a nasty of the same colour, the blob will destroy it. But despite all these fun and games, the true nature of the coloured blobs is to fix the pipes. When fired close up a blue blob will fix a damaged purple pipe, and a yellow blob fixes a green pipe. Once used the fix-a-tives are instantly replaced ready for picking up again.\r\n\r\nThe brain consists of twelve chambers, and can be seen to the left of the playing area in plan form. This scanner also informs you of where the worst damage is being done by colour coding. It's frightening!\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: A/Z up/down, O/P left/right, M = fire\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Sinclair, AGF, Protek\r\nKeyboard play: responsive\r\nColour: good\r\nGraphics: good\r\nSound: very good\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 3\r\nScreens: 12","ReviewerComments":["Fixing holes in the pipes made by the nasties is not so easy, I found that this only worked if you bumped into the hole several times and then fired the fix-a-tive ball at point blank range. The graphics are very good with a number of animated bugs (there's a yellow Pac Man on legs in there somewhere) the game is fine, but there was something about it that made it not as much as It could be. Just a feeling, it's still a good and interesting game and highly original.\r\nUnknown","Graphics in Spectrum games have got to be so good in the last few months that it's easy to forget how primitive they were only recently. In Microbot the scenery is mostly angled pipes on black, quite simple, yet they are very good pipes. You wouldn't have seen pipes like those only a year ago! The creepies are good, too, and well animated. Microbot himself moves swiftly, but getting the hang of the game techniques takes some time, and could have been explained better. I shall certainly go back and get better.\r\nUnknown","Nice large graphics and very smoothly moving. Not too sure about the overall qualities of the game - it grew on me with playing, but I get the feeling there aren't quite enough objectives involved to make it very addictive, although it is fun to play. I got a bit irritated with the finickiness of fixing holes, and it seems a pity that the blue and yellow blobs can only be fired sideways when the damned bugs move all over the place. An original game.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Very good.","Page":"16","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Broken pipes and brain damage in Microbot."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"73%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":128,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Softek, 48K\r\n£5.95 (2)\r\nAuthor: Andrew Beale\r\n\r\nThe scene is set inside a robot's head, whose brain is being damaged by bugs (creepy ones). These robots, however, resemble the basement of some rambling Victorian house with purple pipes in 12 chambers. A scanner keeps you informed of where the worst damage is occurring. Your microbot is armed with repulse blobs which keep the nasties at bay for a few seconds, but the only way to kill them off (which must be done if the pipes are to remain in a sound condition) is to use the fix-a-tive blobs in each room. Yellow ones kill yellow bugs (as well as fixing green pipes) and blue ones kill blue bugs (and fix purple pipes). The graphics are excellent and the game is fun to play. It could have done with clearer instructions on playing. But in the end it fails to be quite as addictive as it should be, given all the elements in it. Sensible keys, joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, AGF, Protek. General rating: very good and original. Overall CRASH figure 73%.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"77","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"73%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Big K Issue 3, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-20","Editor":"Tony Tyler","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tony Tyler\r\nAssisted By: Richard Burton\r\nContributors: Paul Walton (Features); Paul Rambali (Arcades); Andy Green (Technical); Nicky Xikluna; Steve Keaton; David Rimmer; Richard Taylor; Bernard Turner; David Ellis; David Eastbury; Tony Benyon\r\nArt/Design: Central Art Studio\r\nGroup Art Editor: Doug Church\r\nGroup Advert Controller: Luis Bartlett\r\nPublishing Director: John Purdie\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nTelephone: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising: Robin Johnson [redacted]\r\nFront Cover: Global Handshake by Ron Embleton\r\n\r\nPublished approximately on the 20th of each month by IPC Magazines Ltd. [redacted]. Monotone and colour origination by G.M. Litho Ltd [redacted]. Printed in England by Chase Web Offset, Cornwall. Sole Agents: Australia and New Zealand, Gordon& Gotch (A/sia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. BIG K is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold or hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated constitute or any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. IPC MAGAZINES 1984."},"MainText":"QUICK, NURSE - THE SCREENS!\r\n\r\nMAKER: Softek\r\nMACHINE: Spectrum 48K\r\nFORMAT: cassette\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nA fantastic droid voyage, no less! In this new offering from Softek you become a miniscule brain surgeon incarcerated within the bug-ridden bonce of a not-so-super-robot. These bugs are busy sabotaging the poor ol' droid by ripping up his plumbing. As resident micro surgeon you must skate around the 12 sectors of the damaged droid and clean up the mess.\r\n\r\nYou'll need to repel the bugs with your stun balls and repair the dripping pipes before cumulative damage causes the poor old thing to collapse into an undignified pile of nuts and bolts.\r\n\r\nThen, if you get the damage level down to around 12%, you're transported to another dodgy robot. Some reward, huh?\r\n\r\nThe concept behind Microbot is refreshingly novel; unfortunately it's rather shafted by some sluggish gameplay. Your little micro surgeon can only trundle about in first gear and consequently the ensuing bug-battles are somewhat unexciting. A shame. Still the graphics are very good indeed and there's a wonderful selection of bugs to avoid.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"25","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Keaton","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/3"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/3","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Computer Issue 6, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-17","Editor":"Toby Wolpe","TotalPages":220,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Toby Wolpe\r\nAssistant Editor: Meirion Jones\r\nStaff Writer: Simon Beesley\r\nProduction Editor: Ian Vallely\r\nSub-Editor: Paul Bond\r\nEditorial Secretary: Lynn Dawson\r\nEditorial: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: U.K. £11.50 for 12 issues.\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Shobhan Gajjar\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Nicholas Ratnieks\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Nigel Borrell, Julian Bidlake, Kay Filbin\r\nNorthern Office: Ron Southall\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Jeanette Mackrell\r\nClassified: Claire Notley\r\nPublishing Director: Chris Hipwell\r\n\r\nYour Computer, [redacted]\r\n©Business Press International Ltd 1984\r\n\r\nPrinted in Great Britain for the proprietors of Business Press International Ltd, [redacted].\r\nISSN 0263-0885\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Ltd, [redacted], and typeset by Instep Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nABC 122,642 July-December, 1983."},"MainText":"Spectrum 48K\r\nShoot-'em-up/Maze\r\n£5.95\r\nSoftek\r\n\r\nYou are a disgruntled droid who would rather have been a truck driver than a brain surgeon: debugging the large positronic brains of the new batch of QT robots is very risky. Left screen displays a map showing the 12 sectors of the robot brain. Below this are readouts showing damage status and power level. You destroy blue bugs with blue fix-a-tive balls, and yellow ones with yellow ones. You also can drive them away tor a bit with repulsa blobs. Colourful with good graphics.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"59","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 31, May 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-04-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":172,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CREDITS\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAssistant Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nStaff Writers/Reader Services: Robert Schifreen, Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Mary Morton\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertising Executives: Bernard Dugdale, Sean Brennan\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nProduction Assistant: Roy Stephens\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. 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: £14. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\nSpiderman TM and The Hulk TM copyright ©1984 by Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation.\r\n\r\nCover Illustration and Lettering: Jerry Paris"},"MainText":"MINI-DOCTOR BIDS TO SAVE ROBOT!\r\n\r\nRemember the film where a team of doctors is miniaturized and injected into a patient in an attempt to save his life? It was called Fantastic Voyage.\r\n\r\nIn this new game from Softec, the story line is the same except for one twist - the patient isn't human, he's a robot. You play the part of a 4XTC robot surgeon trained to sort out any robots who have a few screws loose or overcharged chips.\r\n\r\nArmed with a Supa Fix-a-Tive gun and stun balls, you are shrunk down to a few millimetres high and injected into the arm of a bugged robot. But the patient is far more damaged than you first thought. Huge areas of his brain are damaged and you'll have to act fast before his restraint circuits breakdown or he could go berserk and kill hundreds of people.\r\n\r\nThe most likely place of damage is the pipes carrying lubricating fluid and mezo-plasma. To mend them, you must be carrying the correct fixative in the gun and don't forget you only have a limited supply.\r\n\r\nIf you become really tangled, you can use the stun balls as a last resort to drive back the nasty bugs.\r\n\r\nMicrorobot is available for the 48K Spectrum from Softec International and costs £5.50.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"18","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]