[{"TitleName":"Ninja Hamster","Publisher":"CRL Group PLC","Author":"Colin Ajayi-Obe, Ian Ellery","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0003435","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: CRL\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: Colin Ajayi'Obe\r\n\r\nAfter many years abroad, Ninja Hamster returns to the village of his birth. But his birthplace has been overrun by Sinister Rat, Loony Lobster, Ninja Monkey, the Lizard Of Death and their nefarious crew of mean mammals, crazy crustaceans, belligerent bees and alligatorial alliterations.\r\n\r\nSkilled in the ways of the ninja, our hero goes into battle, teeth unsheathed, claws like flick knives, paws full of muscular intensity.\r\n\r\nThis Rambo rodent meets each of the gang in turn, pitting his fighting skills against theirs. Ninja Hamster can kick high and low, duck, punch, and block and avoid opponent's blows.\r\n\r\nEvery successful hit adds to Super Hamster's points and reduces the stamina of his opponents; some blows are more powerful than others. When either the hamster or his opponent runs out of energy, a bite is taken from a large apple at the top of the screen. If his opponent's Granny Smith is all gone, our hamster warrior is the victor and he can go on to meet the next of the ruthless villains. But at higher levels weapons such as maces cross the screen to cause greater problems for our hero...\r\n\r\nWhen the last of the obnoxious bunch has been laid low, Ninja Hamster has saved the day and can end his days comfortably as someone's pet.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: I left, O right, Q jump up, W jump forward, K flying kick, I&P block, A duck, P punch, P low kick (while ducking), S high kick, L middle kick, YOY?\r\nJoysticks: Kempston, Sinclair\r\nUse of colour: adequate\r\nGraphics: layout like every beat-'em-up, pretty characters which lose definition when fighting\r\nSound: title tune and spot FX\r\nSkill levels: eight\r\nScreens: eight","ReviewerComments":["Heeha, heeha, wha! Oops, sorry, must have been the Ninja Hamster coming out in me. We've had Ninja Master, The Last Ninja and even just Ninja, but this must be the ultimate name. The graphics are really well drawn and the colour is effective, despite some clash; the screen layout is very similar to the Fist games. And there's a good tune on the title screen. The only problem is that you have to load more code from the tape when you've killed two baddies. This is a highly addictive game, and I'll be buying it.\r\r\nNick Roberts","Barbarian showed that there may be a few more goodies to scrape out of the fighting aims barrel - and Ninja Hamster is one of them, though its qualities are a little dubious. Joystick control is similar to the Fist games and International Karate so It's fairly easy, but if you prefer keys you'll have to spend a lot of time teaming them (and grow another hand!. The game itself is a plain and straightforward beat-'em-up. No tactics are required, other than getting in as many hits as possible, so it gets quite boring on later levels.\r\r\nBen Stone","Ninja Hamster is yet another bash-and-beat-'em game. The graphics may be slightly more detailed and squatter than in other games of this genre, but that's a hindrance - you often can't see a thing that's going on. The armoury of moves is very small, and those that do exist are 'cutely' (yeerggh!!) animated. Ninja Hamster offers very little to do, and a weak atmosphere - I didn't have much fun bashing hell out of other little animals.\r\nPaul Sumner"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A cuddly little beat-'em-up.","Page":"84,85","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Level 25?! Foul play at work here, as Cameron takes on the role of Ninja Hamster."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"53%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"62%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 22, Oct 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-10","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Peter George\r\nActing Production Editor: John Leach\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nSoftware Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nDesigner: Darrell King\r\nEditorial Assistant: Angela Eager\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Chris Donald, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tony Lee, Rick Robson, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Mischa Welsh, Tony Worrall\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":"CRL\n£7.95\nReviewer: Phil South\n\nAaayyyiii-yyyaaahhh! Eh? That hardly seems appropriate to the review of a game about a cuddly little hamster. Mind you, this is no ordinary hamster, for he is a Radioactive Black Belt Hamster, based on the comic-book of the same name. From the same stable (hutch?) that brought you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, these wacky cult comics have been the toast of the Independent American comics circuit (cheers, you guys) for a couple of years now. I suppose it was inevitable that some bright spark would figure that these humorous rodents would translate very rapidly to the small screen.\n\nYou play the part of Ninja Hamster, a hard-fisted, fully qualified fluffy little hamster of doom, against the might of the Lizards of Death. You take on the renegade martial artists one after the other as they terrorise the plains of the Orient First the Doom Rat, then a Lizard of Death, then a Killer Bee, and then the rest of them, Karate Lobsters, Black Belt Parrots and a variety of other deadly housepets out squawking for your blood.\n\nThe controls for the game are pretty much the same as for any ninja/martial arts type game with Mid Punch, Squat Kick, High Kick, jump and the inevitable Flying Kick. The game is played in a one screen arena like Exploding Fist, and you can score by how many hits you place on the body of your opponent. The hits are registered by huge apples at the top of the screen, which have chunks bitten out of them the more hits you or your opponent score. When you get down to a core (Cor!) you're out for the count. A bit like the Yin-Yang symbols in Way Of The Tiger, but with a Golden Delicious, if you get my gist.\n\nNow, I would have thought that another ninja game would be one too many. Just shows how wrong you can be. (Okay, how wrong I can be.) There was room for just one extremely funny ninja animals game, and so here it is. Ninja Hamster is a brilliantly funny game, with a profound sense of the ridiculous, and the most original new twist yet on the usually snoreworthy ninja/karate scenario.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A superb cartoon-style martial arts game with a unique combination of fast, gritty action and an oddball sense of humour.","Page":"41","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil South","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Here we see Ninja Hamster heroically tackling the Lizard of Doom. The thing to watch about this particular assailant is that he has a huge club, which gives him better hitting power. Just take him out with a series of well-timed flying kicks. Be sure to step back a bit first, though."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 45, Oct 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-09-24","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Richard Eddy, Lloyd Mangram, Ian Phillipson, Ben Stone\r\nPhotographers: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nAdventure Column: Derek Brewster\r\nPBM Column: Brendon Kavanagh\r\nStrategy Column: Philippa Irving\r\nEducation Column: Rosetta McLeod\r\nLondon Correspondent: John Minson\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Dominic Handy, Nick Roberts, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nDesign: Tony Lorton, Markie Kendrick, Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, 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\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 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":"NINJA HAMSTER\r\nCRL\r\n\r\n62% Issue 43\r\n\r\nROBIN: After many years abroad, Ninja Hamster returns to his homeland to find it overrun by evil creatures. Your mission as the Ramboesque rodent is to defeat them all in turn.\r\n\r\nGraphically Ninja Hamster is very detailed, though some of the detail is lost when the fighting begins. And it's easy to get into, despite problems with the keyboard - there are so many keys needed.\r\n\r\nI feel Ninja Hamster was sightly underrated in the CRASH review; it makes a good beat-'em-up, though it doesn't leave any lasting impression\r\n70%\r\n\r\nRICKY: And you thought hamsters were cute? Dig this baby for one hell of a fighting rodent, saving a village from Sinister Rat, Loony Lobster and a host of other monsters. The humour adds to this traditional beat-'em-up's appeal, but doesn't disguise a very average combat game.\r\n55%","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"38","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Richard Eddy","Score":"55","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Robin Candy","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"THOSE BEAT-'EM-UPS IN FULL\r\n\r\nThe Way Of The Exploding Fist\r\nFist II\r\nGladiator\r\nYie Ar Kung Fu\r\nYie Ar Kung Fu II\r\nInternational Karate\r\nThe Way Of The Tiger\r\nAmazon Women\r\nKung-Fu Master\r\nNinja\r\nUchi Mata\r\nBarbarian\r\nKick Boxing\r\nNinja Hamster\r\nRenegade\r\nSai Combat"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall (Robin Candy)","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall (Richard Eddy)","Score":"55%","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: CRL\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tamara Howard\r\n\r\n'Fraid so. CRL's latest is no ordinary martial arts thrash. Ninja Hamster has something that no other combat game has ever had. This special ingredient? The Hamster himself.\r\n\r\nFor a start he's cute. He comes complete with a nifty Ninja eye mask to disguise him, and a lot of very serious-looking, if rather manky fur.\r\n\r\nIn play, yes it's true, the game suffers from some rather obvious attribute problems, characters merging into one another and generally making a technicolour mess all over the telly screen.\r\n\r\nWho cares? This game is terrific. The opponents are all wonderful - all the way from Sinister Rat (who does look like a monkey in boxing gloves, there's no denying that) to the Loony Lobster who, owing to the fact that he's got more arms than the hamster, is pretty difficult to defeat. Barmy Bee even has a real sting in his tail.\r\n\r\nGameplay is much as you would expect to find it - better than I expected actually. By waggling the joystick around and pressing the Fire button from time to time, the usual series of movements can be achieved, such as high kick, low kick, punch and run away.\r\n\r\nEach character has his own personality, but if the truth be told, they're all pretty nasty. Mad Dog is kitted out as an American football player (I thought this was Japan!!!) and has the truly unpleasant habit of headbutting the poor hamster. Crazy Cat (that's quite enough alliteration for one game) has a set of lethal looking claws, and Perilous Parrot (no comment) has one sharp looking beak which he's not shy about using.\r\n\r\nAll these are portrayed larger than life, well, larger than your average Spectrum screen character, upon a background of charming Japanese lettering. If it weren't for the colour mixing and merging, this would be a hugely impressive visual game.\r\n\r\nThere are a grand total of eight characters to defeat to save the village. A tall order. And quite a lot of work.\r\n\r\nBoth characters have an energy allowance level at the side of the screen. The level is depleted each time you take a blow, and can be increased by running away and having a bit of a breather. Once the energy runs out, the character will lose consciousness and his opponent will get to take a bite out of his apple.\r\n\r\nNo, I've not gone stark staring mad. Each player has an apple. Once his opponent has taken eight bites out of it, and reduced it to little more than a core, Ninja Hamster will die. Uttering a very unhappy sampled squeal.\r\n\r\nBored with martial arts games? Don't be. Perhaps you're finding it difficult to see just how exciting Ninja Hamster is. Well, believe me, it's not the dross that you probably expected when you read the title.\r\n\r\nNever fear! Somehow Ninja Hamster manages to keep alive the excitement of Martial Arts games. Probably because it's the most bizarre twist that we've seen on that particular theme. Or any other, come to that. Those guys at CRL need their heads testing.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A truly bizarre game concept to revitalise the Martial Arts style games. Tremendous fun watching hamster croak.","Page":"23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tamara Howard","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 71, Sep 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-08-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"C+VG TEAM\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesly Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Steve Donoghue, Matthew Woodley\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Clive Pembridge\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Katherine Lee\r\nAd Production: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nCover: Gary Ward\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 106,571"},"MainText":"MACHINES: Spectrum\r\nSUPPLIER: CRL\r\nPRICE: £8.95\r\n\r\nSo you thought you'd seen every possible angle on martial arts? Well, you couldn't have been more wrong. Meet the Ninja Hamster - a fiendishly furry blur of flailing fists and feet.\r\n\r\nThis game started out life as a joke - an irritated company PR person making up a title just to get a journalist off his back. But then the idea of a Ninja Hamster seemed to stick and so a legend was born!\r\n\r\nWell, not quite a legend - more a bit of fighting fun. And by your response to our Ninja Hamster Competition you think it's a laugh too. More on that next issue - but meanwhile back to the review.\r\n\r\nThe story goes like this. Old Hammy has been in training in a mountainside rodent monastery for absolutely ages - a fortnight at least.\r\n\r\nSpinning round in a little wheel, eating sunflower seed sandwiches, that sort of thing.\r\n\r\nNow he's heard that his village is under attack by a gang of joy-seeking villains lead by the Lizard of Death, the Sinister Rat and the Loony Lobster to name but a few.\r\n\r\nIt's Hammy's job to battle this motley crew in hand to hand Ninja combat.\r\n\r\nLoad the game up and you'll be confronted by the regular karate combat screen layout - except that the fighters are big, cartoony style comic characters. And it's this that makes the game different from the run of the mill combat challenge.\r\n\r\nEach character is dressed up in a neat way, The Sinister Rat looks a bit like a Wallaby with boxing gloves, The Lizard is a mean monster with a spiky club, Mad Dog is dressed as an American Football star, and so on.\r\n\r\nThere are eight villainous vermin to defeat in order to save the village - two on each load. Yup, I'm afraid you'll have to keep going back to the tape player in order to complete the whole game. A bit of a bind this.\r\n\r\nThere's a two player option as well - which as with all combat games - makes the thing a whole lot more interesting to play. I found that after the novelty of the funny graphics, little comic style speech balloons had worn off the whole thing got a bit too easy.\r\n\r\nI defeated The Rat using the tried and trusted low sweeping kick time after time - the computer controlled opponents seem to be too easy to overcome.\r\n\r\nYou have to defeat each of the opposing animals about four times before you get to move on to the next one. The number of falls your enemy or you have taken is indicated by apples at the top of the screen which have bites taken out of them with every fall.\r\n\r\nGraphics aren't bad, sound is minimal and gameplay gets a bit repetitive.\r\n\r\nNinla Hamster doesn't add much to the martial arts theme - except to generate a bit of humour. But sadly the joke isn't enough to last long enough for me to want to shell out for a full price game - at budget price things might be different.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"31","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tim Metcalfe","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]