[{"TitleName":"Ole, Toro","Publisher":"Dinamic Software","Author":"Ignacio Bergareche, Jesus J. Puente, Snatcho, José Puente González","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0003500","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 34, Nov 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-10-23","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":164,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishers: Roger Kean, Oliver Frey, Franco Frey\r\nPublishing Executive/Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nStaff Writers: Lee Paddon, Lloyd Mangram, Hannah Smith\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nContributing Writers: Jon Bates, Brendon Kavanagh, Rosetta McLeod, John Minson\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nIllustrators: Ian Craig, Oliver Frey\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton, Cameron Pound, Jonathan Rignall, Matthew Uffindell\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\nBookings [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 Magazine 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©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCRASH ABC FIGURE:\r\n101,483 Total\r\n97,992 UK and EIRE"},"MainText":"Producer: Americana\r\nRetail Price: £2.99\r\n\r\nIn most civilized countries, bull fighting has now been banned, although it remains a popular tourist attraction in many parts of Spain. This gory sport has now been brought to your Spectrum courtesy of AMERICANA.\r\n\r\nYou take on the role of bullfighter who. armed with all manner of very sharp and deadly weapons, competes for superiority with an ill-fated bull. The bullfighter, if successful, is awarded hero status whereas the bull merely gets an extended stay of execution. The fight runs over five rounds with the bull getting increasingly tired and angry and the crowd becoming more and more frenzied.\r\n\r\nThe first section consists of a series of six passes, either 'Veronica' or 'de pecho', where the bull is tricked into charging the cloak instead of the bullfighter. Points are awarded for each pass successfully made and an overall average of five must be achieved to progress to the next round. If the bullfighter makes a mistake during this section then the bull gets to have its revenge and impales the fighter on its sharp and pointy horns.\r\n\r\nThen it's on to the Picador. Mounted on a dummy horse, your bullfighter 'calls' the bull and when it's in range tries to stab it with a very long sword. This must be achieved twice to ensure that the bull is sufficiently weakened to pose little threat in the subsequent rounds. However, if you miss the bull, then it charges your 'horse' and tramples you under.\r\n\r\nBy the time stage three comes around, the bull is considerably weaker than it was initially, whereas the bullfighter is running high on all the encouragement from the crowd. In this round the bullfighter must perform an energetic Banderilla leap and at the same time stab the bull with his deadly Banderillas. The Banderillas must be stuck into the bull three times before moving on to round four.\r\n\r\nThis consists of another six sets of non-violent, but very frustrating, passes for the bull. These are different from the first set of passes earlier in the game and serve only to exhaust the bull even further.\r\n\r\nOnce these passes have been completed then it's on to the last stage, the Matador. Your bullfighter stands alone in the vast and silent arena armed only with knives. He calls the bull by shaking his brightly coloured cloak at him. Enraged, the bull makes one final charge at the bullfighter. At precisely the right moment he impales the bull with all his might. One mistake and the bull will split him from neck to gizzard.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: calling the bull, B-Space; turning, CAPS-V; passes. Picador, Banderilla, and Matador, Y-P: thrust, Q-T\r\nJoystick: any\r\nKeyboard play: slow to respond\r\nUse of colour: limited, but effective\r\nGraphics: adequate\r\nSound: uninspiring\r\nSkill levels: five\r\nScreens: five","ReviewerComments":["It's not often that a game as tacky as this gets played so much. I've been playing it for hours now trying to get past the last level and I won't give up until I do. Graphically there isn't really much I can say about this one - nice arena and a couple of very well animated characters. The sound is run-of-the-mill, with two good tunes but no effects during play… The game is fairly simple, as there are only a few things to do, so really it all boils down to a matter of timing. I enjoyed it, but can see that Ole' Toro will lose its appeal once it has been completed.\r\r\nUnknown","AMERICANA has again come up with another nice little game that contains nothing much new, but will keep you going for quite a while. It's based on a very gruesome and inhumane sport, and the writers have brought this to the fore, with the bull fighter getting thrown all over the place if the bull hits him - fortunately they have left out the blood. All the characters are well animated - even the crowd jump up and down when you get past each level - but the sound FX are mainly white noise with a beepy Spanish tune at the beginning of each game. All the features are well done, but the game you are left with is very basic and not worth the asking price.\r\r\nUnknown","West Bank was a brilliantly playable game, I thought, but Ole, Toro certainly hasn't the same appeal. Bull fighting comes right down on the bottom of the list of sports I like to watch, so a game based on it doesn't really arrive with much of a fanfare. The graphics are reasonable, but the animation isn't up to much. As for playability, it fairs well, but I got very bored quickly. Not bad, overall, but it lacks anything worth even its meagre price.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Original concept, but lacks appeal.","Page":"23,24","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"61%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"53%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"57%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 11, Nov 1986","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1986-10-09","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":113,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nArt Editor: Martin Dixon\r\nDeputy Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nDesigner: Caroline Clayton\r\nStaff Writer: Phil South\r\nTechnical Consultant: Peter Shaw\r\nContributors: Stephen Adams, Luke C, Mike Gerrard, Tim Hartnell, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, ZZKJ, Tommy Nash, Chris Palmer, Max Phillips, Rick Robson, Rachael Smith\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Managers: Sonia Hunt, Judith Middleton\r\nPublishing Manager: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press 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 ©1986 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":"Americana\n£2.99\nReviewer: Phil South\n\nThe opportunity to say that a game is a load of bull comes once in a lifetime, so far be it from me to pass up such a gift. I dunno why (I must've forgotten T'zer's birthday of summink) but it has fallen to me to experience the first, and if there's any justice, the very last bullfighting simulation. When you're writing a game, especially a budget one, it must be very easy to get so absorbed in the graphics and animation that you forget that some poor berk will want to play it. In order to play Ole Toro, the said berk would have to have eight fingers, half a brain and the co-ordination of a cross between an air-traffic controller and a gibbon.\n\nFor a start, there are too many keys to press. You can turn, attract the bull's attention, pass (flip the cape), picador (whatever that means), banderilla jump, thrust (well he is Spanish), and matador (something you wipe your feet on?). All these keys, when pressed seem to have the same effect, causing arbitary jerks and spasms of your puny little toreador, most of which result in him being casually flipped into the air and trampled by the character scrolled bull sprite. If you think this sounds awful you should play it.\n\nIt's boring, it's slow, it's painful, it's confusing... In it's all the things about real life fact you play computer game to avoid. Budget games have come on leaps and bounds recently, some competing on level ground with the best full price games, and in one or two cases getting to the top of the charts. So in the light of this fact, there's no excuse for this kind of unplayable and badly conceived rubbish.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"73","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil South","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 61, Nov 1986","Price":"£98","ReleaseDate":"1986-10-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Boughton\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nSub-Editor: Seamus St. John\r\nDesign: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdventure Writers: Keith Campbell, Paul Coppins, Steve Donoghue\r\nAmerican Correspondent: Marshall M. Rosenthal\r\nArcades: Clare Edgeley\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nPublicity: Marcus Rich\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Katherine Lee\r\nAd Production: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\nCover: Gary Ward\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nJuly-December 98,258"},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum\r\nSUPPLIER: US Gold/Americana\r\nPRICE: £2.99\r\n\r\nA sick \"sport\" becomes a sick \"game\" thanks to the Spanish Dinamic programming people. They've taken their national pastime of butchering bulls in public and turned it into the nastiest bit of \"software\" I've seen for some time.\r\n\r\nJust like the real thing the idea of the game is to get your little matador to butcher the bull in the most \"artistic\" manner possible.\r\n\r\nThe people who created this game ought to have THEIR ears chopped off - and US Gold ought to be ashamed of themselves actually releasing it.\r\n\r\nIf you see this on the shelves of your local computer store get them to take it off and put it where it belongs. In the bin. It's a crude and barbaric game that should never have been released.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"24","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tim Metcalfe","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"0/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"0/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"0/10 (less than)","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"0/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]