[{"TitleName":"Mutants","Publisher":"Ocean Software Ltd","Author":"Mark R. Jones, Sean Pearce, Bob Wakelin","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0003340","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 43, Aug 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-07-30","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Richard Eddy, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nOffice: Sally Newman\r\nTechnical Editor: Simon N Goodwin\r\nAdventure: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy: Philippa Irving\r\nLondon: John Minson\r\nContributors: Gareth Adams, Jon Bates, Robin Candy, Mel Croucher, Mike Dunn, Franco Frey, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nLayout: Tony Lorton, Mark Kendrick, Tim Croton, Seb Clare\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\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\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]\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 unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be 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: Ocean\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: Choice Software\r\n\r\nFrom the turmoil of interstellar war springs a splinter group which plans to destroy the ultimate weapon system - Macrogenetic Mutoids, known as Mutants.\r\n\r\nThe Mutants are contained in 15 test zones, which can be destroyed if the self-destruct components in each zone are collected and assembled in the 16th, the control zone. (When that's done you go on to the next level.)\r\n\r\nYou teleport to a test pen in Rainbow Warrior, a small one-man patrol ship. Each pen is surrounded by an energised surround which can destroy shipsm and guarded by Mutants which can destroy one of the ship's three lives.\r\n\r\nThe Mutants can be taken out using the ship's three weapons systems - slow, but big blasting missiles, rapid-fire low-level photon torpedoes, and barriers that provide a temporary shield. Only one system can be used at a time.\r\n\r\nComponents of the self-destruct device must be picked up and carried by teleporter out of the test zone and into the control zone. There you must find a way through its deadly walled corridors to the assembly point, where components can be deposited, the mechanism constructed and the universe saved as usual.\r\n\r\nFACT: to Greenpeace environmentalists' ship sunk in New Zealand by French agents in 1985 was the ... Rainbow Warrior. Shome coinshidenshe shurely?\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: redefinable and preset (Q/A up/down, O/P left/right SPACE to fire) Joystick: Kempston, Interface II\r\nUse of colour: well used throughout\r\nGraphics: very attractive\r\nSound: little except for a few sparse spot FX\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: constantly scrolling","ReviewerComments":["Though I managed to score 70 billion points in Mutants without any effort at all, literally (see future PLAYING TIPS…), the game has no addictivity at all! The graphics are nice, and the smooth ship movement is excellent, but 'there's no point having pretty graphics if the game is naff', as the old saying runs. Ocean obviously hasn't got a copy of Lloyd's Ludlovian Proverbs. Not recommended.\r\r\nMike Dunn","The use of an icon system sets the scene for what promises to be a sophisticated game - especially as it's from a Denton Designs concept. The loading screen is very good and overall presentation is up to the Ocean standard; the graphics are striking and colourful. But the use of biological terms to describe each Mutant (a bit pointless, except to high-level biology students) and a rough icon-selection system seem to be hiding the fact the Mutants is basically a shoot-'em-up with a few extras chucked in. As shoot-'em-ups go it's playable but not compelling, and though it's a nice-looking game it's sadly lacking in gameplay.\r\r\nRobin Candy","My first reaction to Mutants was positive, but after a while I started to realise that for all its pretty graphics and icon-selections it's just a basic shoot-'em-up with a difficult control system. The graphics are good, clear and well-defined, especially on the icon choice/launch screen, but sound consists of deafening silence (save for the inevitable blasting effects). Mutants is a good game let down by limited and repetitive gameplay.\r\nMark Rothwell"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Initially interesting but offers little long-term challenge.","Page":"16","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Robin Candy","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Mark Rothwell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"One of the game screens in Mutants - you're into the galactic dump where you deposit collected objects."},{"Text":"The attractive main option screen from Mutants; from the icnons you select fire power (top three) and start play (lower icon)."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"58%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 20, Aug 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-07-09","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":98,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nSoftware Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nEditorial Assistant: Angela Eager\r\nContributors: Audrey Bishop, Owen Bishop, Richard Blaine, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Cliff Joseph, Tony Lee, John O'Molly, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nManaging Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nPublisher: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing 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 ©1987 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":"Ocean\n£7.95\nReviewer: Rachael Smith\n\nI've been out with some pretty weird types in my time but none so totally mutant as this collection of blobs, lines and what looks like animated dandruff. Throw in a handful of icons and what've you got? The newie from Denton Designs, that's what.\n\nOr rather, that's not what because this is a conversion from the C64 and I have my suspicions that it lost out somewhere along the way. Either that or Denton has totally lost its once almighty touch.\n\nIt's a shoot 'em up combined with a minimum amount of strategy. Part one takes place a four by four grid where you try to collect fifteen parts of a self-destruct mechanism, which are reassembled in the sixteenth zone, at the top left hand corner.\n\nEach of the zones is a sort of inter-stellar field, bounded by an electrified fence, but their content is far more deadly than cowpats. The mutant strains that inhabit the fields are lively little things, always running about (perhaps that's how they strained themselves) and making your life a misery.\n\nThere's only one type of weapon to deal with each strain - see. I said there was an element of strategy - and you can only kit up at the mother ship, between zones. If you don't get the right one I'd suggest you make like a parasite and flee.\n\nThe control zone takes the shape of a maze, and once again you have to be careful not to collide with its walls as you search for the re-assembly point. As it isn't free of nasties, which probably escaped from an ancient Pac-Man program, you'd do well to wait until you've collected enough bits to make the risk worthwhile.\n\nAn all-right sort of game, you might think. Well, it could be if not for the fact that it shows all the signs of a hasty conversion. Your ship's reactions are poor and its movement is sluggish. Collision detection appears to be erratic. ( We'll have none of that! Ed). I said erratic, not erotic, cloth-ears - particularly in the maze.\n\nIt also suffers from my least favourite game-feature ever - the instant death syndrome, which doesn't give you time to escape - and on the loss of your final life there's an immediate Game Over message with singular lack of finesse. Add to that the absence of music and all but the most primitive effects and there's little to make you want to continue playing.\n\nIn fact the game is so badly balanced that I didn't reach the second level, where you take on the mutant colony, and about which the instructions are strangely vague. It may be that this half is one of the all-time classic computer games... but unless the programmers mutated along the way, somehow I doubt it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A disappointing mutation from the Commodore that lacks the speed and playability to make it addictive.","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rachael Smith","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 65, Aug 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-07-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"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\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nTypeset by PRS Ltd, [redacted]\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: Ocean\r\nAuthor: Choice Software\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nAn odd one this. Odd to play. Odd design history (Denton Designs thought up the idea but Choice Software programmed it) and odd concept. You blow away mutant germs with the good ship Rainbow Warrior. The germs are the result of weapons research by warmongering bad guys. The Greenpeace connections are obviously intentional which must make this about the most right-on game plot ever.\r\n\r\nLike many Denton Designs game ideas this is a weird one. It is a good twenty minutes or so, even after reading the instructions, before you get the faintest idea what's going on. In fact the closest comparisons I can think of for the game are all by Jeff Minter - well known creator of bizarre plots.\r\n\r\nAfter much reading and re-reading of the instructions I figured out it works like this: you select a region to enter, in each region is a germ species and an object you need to collect. If you get all the objects from 15 quadrants you can then take them to yet another section which is a sort of maze affair - somewhere in the middle of it is a sort of assembly plant where all the objects are assembled and you get to enter the next bit.\r\n\r\nGetting each bit of the object means getting past the germs. This requires a bit of dexterous joystick juggling and the correct selection of weapon. There are three to choose from - laser-type things, bomb-type things and space mines. The problem is with some of the germs you have to choose the right weapon or... well you're going to look pretty silly and not save the federation.\r\n\r\nThe actual germ attack bits are the key to the game. Making the aliens an 'abstract' concept like germs means you can get away with all kinds of pleasing graphic effects and weird technical stuff. Some of the germs look like the night sky over Eastbourne, others look like comets and some look like second-rate laser shows. (Actually all of them look like out-takes from Colourspace, possibly Jeff Minter's most psychedelic game ever.)\r\n\r\nSome germs sort of explode at you, others weave web-like patterns around you, some just sort of run at you. The end result is usually death. You can teleport between regions at will simply by finding the landing pad - so if you choose the wrong weapon - and haven't died yet, you can have another try.\r\n\r\nIt all looks quite nice - the germs are quite entertaining in a cosmic sort of way and there are icon-select systems all over the place.\r\n\r\nThe snag is actually the game doesn't hold the interest for long.\r\n\r\nThere is more to addictiveness than pretty patterns, but pretty patterns are all you'll find here.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A touch of originality here and there and quite pleasing to look at but not, in the end of lasting interest.","Page":"52","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Graham Taylor","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]