[{"TitleName":"Out Run","Publisher":"U.S. Gold Ltd","Author":"Alan Laird, Ian Morrison, Jas C. Brooke, Nick Bruty","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0003563","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 49, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-28","Editor":"Barnaby Page","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"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\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nAssistant Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess and Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, 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\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: US Gold\r\nRetail Price: £7.99\r\n\r\nSega's best-selling arcade racing game has just been converted to the Spectrum by US Gold - which claims it sold over 200,000 copies in its first two weeks, breaking all records and setting it to beat Gauntlet on total sales.\r\n\r\nThe objective in Out Run is to race a Ferrari Testarossa to one of eight destinations within the time limit.\r\n\r\nThe screen shows a 3-D view of the track from above and behind the player's Testarossa. The car has two gears and an accelerator, which come into effect as soon as the starting lights go green.\r\n\r\nA digital speedometer and rev counter inform the player of the car's current performance as it negotiates dips and curves and dodges other traffic. Should the car run into the back of another vehicle it loses speed, but driving into a large roadside feature throws the car off the track and leaves the driver and his girlfriend sitting in a dazed stupor till their vehicle is placed back on the road.\r\n\r\nThe action is played against a constantly decreasing time limit. Failure to reach the next checkpoint within the limit ends the game. When a checkpoint is reached one of two routes is chosen, and the next part of the course loaded from tape, and extra time is added to the total so the player can progress.\r\n\r\nWhen the fifth course is completed the game ends.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: the individual vehicles are accurately drawn but jerky animation detracts \r\nfrom this realism\r\nSound: superb 128K rendition of the arcade tunes, the 48K lacks such enhancements\r\nOptions: three levels of difficulty","ReviewerComments":["This must have one of the worst multiloads in history! As soon as the checkpoint is reached the action instantly freezes and the next track loads, and as soon as it's in the action starts without warning. This wouldn't be too bad if you only had to spend a couple of seconds waiting, but sometimes the wait goes on for ages, and it's easy for your attention to wander, the action to restart and the car crash. The gameplay is very slow, and the graphics and sound are generally disappointing. Out Run isn't a great conversion.\r\nBym Welthy\r\n63%","Why are US Gold doing this to me? First California Games turns out to be a massive disappointment, and then Out Run - a classic machine - turns out to be another disappointment. Fair enough, the 128K version has an excellent tune which doesn't appear to slow the game down, but, I ask myself, is it possible to slow it down further than it already is? The traffic on the road is jerky and badly animated and the road itself isn't exactly the paragon of smoothness. US Gold have made the best job they could, but it just isn't enough - Out Run is a full-price, full-scale letdown.\r\nMike Dunn\r\n59%","At last Out Run has arrived on the Spectrum! But all those of you that are expecting this to be just like the arcade version had better leave the room right now, because you're going to be so disappointed. The graphics are as well drawn as is possible on the Spectrum, and sound on the 128K is absolutely fantastic! The only thing that lets the game down is the lack of colour (which is usual for this type of race game). On the 48K you also have to load each track separately which is a mite frustrating, but the problem is resolved on the 128 because once you have loaded the track it stays in the memory. Out Run is an essential purchase for all you budding arcade gamesters - miss it and you'll regret it for the rest of your life!\r\nNick Roberts\r\n93%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Views were split between 'the best you could have expected' and 'a poor translation of a great arcade game'.","Page":"22,23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bym Welthy","Score":"63","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mike Dunn","Score":"59","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Writing off another Testerossa."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"72%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 83, Dec 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-11-15","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":76,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nArt Editor: Mark Kendrick\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction and Circulation Director: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Robb Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard, Lisa McCourt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Judith Bamford\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: George Keenan\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jackie Morris (Supervisor), Joanne Lewis\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Caroline Edwards [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting Apple Macintosh Computers using Quark Express and Bitstream Fonts.\r\n\r\nSystems Manager: Ian Chubb\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nYearly subscription rates: UK £17.20 Europe £24.00, Air Mail overseas £37. US/Canada subscriptions and back issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly subscription rates US$47.00, Canada CAN$57.00 Back Issues US$5.20, Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available; If something untoward happens we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop us a line). No person who is related, no matter how remotely, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the 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 on 35mm transparencies is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Copy published in CRSH will be edited as seen fit and payment wil be calculated according to the current printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Kixx\r\n£2.99 re-release\r\n\r\nBecome a real speed demon and put yourself behind the wheel of a classy sports car in Out Run. Race through five stages (out of a possible fifteen) of tyre burning mayhem against trucks, maniac Volkswagens other road nutters! Your car has only the two gears, high and low, and careful use of these is needed to survive some of the bends and twists.\r\n\r\nLuckily for the more amateur players there's an option to change the amount of traffic in the game. I just can't walk past an Out Run arcade machine without sticking 20p in. With this version though, you'll be lucky if you can stand having a second go. The graphics are not too bad but its things like speed, the multi-load and music that let it down.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"58","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"58%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 27, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-11","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editors: Fran Husband, Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Soo Abram, Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, 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":"US Gold\r\n£8.99\r\nReviewer: Jonathan Davies\r\n\r\nAfter what must be of the longest and most nail-biting build-ups in the history of computer games, my most favouritest arcade game ever finally been crammed into our rubbery buddy's miniscule memory. Has it survived the operation intact? Read on and see folks...\r\n\r\nOut Run the arcade machine, places you in the driving seat of an open-topped Ferrari Testarossa with a stunning blonde in the passenger seat (ladies have to pretend it's a right-hand-drive vehicle), the idea being to negotiate a series courses as quickly as possible.\r\n\r\nAs you probably already know the YS mega-preview a while ago, every effort has been made by the programmers, Probe Software, to reproduce the original in full. And by heck have they made a good job of it. Obviously the pneumatic bits 'n' pieces and the jiggling steering wheel have had to go, but graphically it's all there.\r\n\r\nIn fact, the graphics are excellently drawn and true to the original, if a little on the monochromatic side. There's even a copy of the arcade version's cool 'n' groovy soundtrack thrown in for you to listen to on your Walkman as you play (or, indeed, review).\r\n\r\nLike most things these days, it's a multi-load job. Every time you complete a stage you'll have to load the next in, but the 128K seems to store them as they load in, so next time round they're still there. All the same, the enormous amounts of rewinding and fast forwarding do spoil the fun a bit.\r\n\r\nThe one big snag, though, is the speed. It's to be expected really, but everything moves at a pretty sedate pace, and when you get to the bit with the stone tunnels, the whole thing slows down to the speed of a Commodore owner's brain waves. This doesn't actually affect the gameplay too badly, but you're constantly aware that you're playing around with five and a half year-old technology.\r\n\r\nIn most respects this is a superb conversion, despite the fact that US Gold may have been trying to achieve a bit too much in the first place. It's a shame that even the awesome power of the Speccy wasn't quite enough to pull it off.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Almost but not quite a brilliant conversion of the totally wonderful arcade machine.","Page":"28","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 59, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-11","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Director: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: SM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"OUTRUN\r\nUS Gold\r\n\r\nHere's a controversial one. When I reviewed it in YS ages ago I thought it was quite good, while everyone else thought it was utter tosh. In fact, it's quite surprising that I'm still doing reviews today. So let's be diplomatic, and say that it's 'aged' quite a lot. The idea, as you'll know if you've seen the arcade version, is to drive along a series of roads getting to the end of each one within a time limit. Not too thrilling, you might think. But the success of the coin-op lay in its corkingly fast graphics and hydraulic cabinet, neither of which have made it to the Spectrum. It looks okay in stills, sure, but everything moves horribly slowly, especially when you go into one of the tunnel things. And the multiload really doesn't help at all. There are some nice 128K tunes though.\r\n\r\nIt's not quite as bad as most people said, just a bit of a let-down after the fabby coin-op. The sequel, Turbo OutRun, is a bit better, so take a gander at that instead.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"79","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"61","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Right, now to find some groovy hitch-hiker chick to, er, pick up. (Hur hur.)"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDY 'STREETHAWK' OUNSTED\r\n\r\nFew people would have guessed that YS had its own resident driving expert. We certainly didn't until our Design Asst told us so.\r\n\r\n\"So, you've got a motorbike, have you, Andy?\"\r\n\"Yeah, I've got a bike. And call me 'Streethawk'. All my friends do.\"\r\n\"Right. So, Andy...\"\r\n\"Streethawk.\"\r\n\"Er, Streethawk, what sort is it exactly?\"\r\n\"It's a Yamaha or something, I think. It's well hard. It shifts.\"\r\n\"Does it really?\"\r\n\"Yeah. It'll burn off anything.\"\r\n\"Terrific. Could we have a look at it, do you think?\"\r\n\"Er, no. I didn't bring it in today.\"\r\n\"Oh? Why not?\"\r\n\"It, um, wouldn't start. I had to get the bus instead.\""},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-BEHIND ONES\r\n\r\nThese are the most common by 'miles' (yuk yuk), being those games where you see your car on the screen in front of you from a position behind and slightly above it, and with the road coming towards you in 3D. They all started in the arcades with stuff like Pole Position and moved onto the Speccy via Chequered Flag and later things like OutRun. And, of course, there was the classic Road Racer on the front of the May '87 YS. They're generally good fun, but can be a bit samey and tend to be just a case of pressing Left and Right at suitable moments. And an element of violence tends to creep in - you often get a gun or something mounted on your car to bag other vehicles with.\r\n\r\n(Roadblasters - um, looking at it from behind. And slightly above. (Simple really))"},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-ON-TOP ONES\r\n\r\nKicking off, these are the ones where you get a bird's-eye view of the course and see your car as a little blob hammering round the track (which may scroll if it doesn't all fit onto the screen at once). The basic idea takes its cue from a vintage coin-op called Super Sprint, and you can sometimes get anything up to 29 players on the screen at one time (giving them the edge where competitiveness is concerned). They do tend to lose out graphically though, as there isn't much scope for scrolling 3D roads etc.\r\n\r\n(Championship Sprint - yes, but is it ass much fun as a Scalextric set?)"},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-THE-SIDE ONES\r\n\r\nWe're heading into dicey territory here, as we could start wobbling on about scrolling shoot-'em-ups if we're not careful. They do generally scroll however, but they're a bit weird as you don't actually have to worry about steering. All you really have to do is get the speed right when going over ramps and maybe launch the odd missile now and again. Motorbikes, rather than cars, tend to feature prominently in this sort of game, which seems reasonable enough as they look a bit thin when viewed from the rear. One thing we've got to be careful of here is bicycles - they seem to crop up in these rather a lot and, as we already know, they don't count."},{"Text":"OH NO, IT'S EVERY SINGLE DRIVING GAME EVER\r\n\r\n3D Stock Car Championship - Silverbird\r\n4x4 Off-Road Racing - Epyx\r\nAmerican Turbo King - Mastertronic\r\nAPB - Tengen (Domark)\r\nBattlecars - Summit\r\nBeach Buggy Simulator - Silverbird\r\nBuggy Blast - Firebird\r\nBuggy Boy - Elite\r\nChampionship Sprint - Activision\r\nChase HQ - Ocean\r\nContinental Circus - Virgin\r\nCrazy Cars - Titus\r\nCrazy Cars II - Titus\r\nCycles, The - Accolade\r\nDeathchase - Micromega\r\nDuel - Test Drive II, The - Accolade\r\nDukes Of Hazard - Elite\r\nEddie Kidd Jump Challenge - Martech\r\nEnduro - Activision\r\nEnduro Racer - Activision\r\nFire And Forget - Titus\r\nFormula One Simulator - Mastertronic\r\nFull Throttle - Micromega\r\nFuture Bike Simulator - Hi-Tec\r\nJuggernaut - CRL\r\nGrand Prix Circuit - Accolade\r\nGrand Prix Master - Dinamic\r\nGrand Prix Simulator - CodeMasters\r\nHard Drivin' - Tengen (Domark)\r\nHot Rod - Activision\r\nInternational Speedway - Silverbird\r\nItalian Super Car-  CodeMasters\r\nIvan 'Ironman' Stewart - Virgin\r\nKnight Driver - Hewson\r\nKnight Rider - Ocean\r\nLast Duel - US Gold\r\nLED Storm - US Gold\r\nMaze Death - PSS\r\nMotorbike Madness - Mastertronic\r\nMotor Massacre - Gremlin\r\nNigel Mansell's Grand Prix - Martech\r\nOutRun - US Gold\r\nOverlander - Elite\r\nPass Your Driving Test - Audiogenic\r\nPole Position - Atarisoft\r\nPower Drift - Activision\r\nRally Cross Simulator - CodeMasters\r\nRally Driver - Alternative\r\nRally Simulator - Zeppelin\r\nRoad Blasters - US Gold\r\nRoad Racer - Ocean/YS\r\nScalextric - Virgin\r\nSpeed King II - Mastertronic\r\nSpy Hunter - US Gold\r\nStreet Hawk - Ocean\r\nStunt Bike Simulator - Silverbird\r\nStunt Car Racer - Microstyle\r\nSuper Cycle - US Gold\r\nSuper Hang-On - Electric Dreams\r\nSuper Scramble Simulator - Gremlin\r\nSuper Stock Car - Mastertronic\r\nTaxi! - Digital Integration\r\nTechno Cop - Gremlin\r\nTranz Am - Ultimate\r\nTT Racer - Digital Integration\r\nTurbo Bike - Alternative\r\nTurbo OutRun - US Gold\r\nTwin Turbo V8 - CodeMasters\r\nWEC Le Mans - Ocean\r\nWheelie - Microsphere"},{"Text":"OTHERS\r\n\r\nWith a theme as wide ranging as 'driving' we're bound to come across one or two miscreants that don't really fit into any of the previous categories (the scamps). Well, I have anyway. First of all there are ones like Hard Drivin' and Stunt Car Racer where you get a 3D view out of the window. Then there are the vertically-scrolling ones such as LED Storm which are really a cross between looking-at-it-from-behind ones and looking-at-it-from-the-top ones. And there are boring 'management' ones like Grand Prix. Best forgotten, those.\r\n\r\n(Erm... an 'other'.)"},{"Text":"TEN SIGNS THAT HE'S A CRAP DRIVER\r\n\r\n1. He drives round with his foglamps on all the time.\r\n\r\n2. He wheelspins every time he pulls away.\r\n\r\n3. He drives 3mm from the car in front, and as far to the right as possible ready to overtake.\r\n\r\n4. He's always first off at the lights.\r\n\r\n5. He's got an Escort 1600 Sport with all the usual accessories.\r\n\r\n6. He always parks on double-yellow lines.\r\n\r\n7. His car's heavily battle-damaged.\r\n\r\n8. He makes frequent use of his three-tone horn.\r\n\r\n9. He keeps revving up the engine at traffic lights for no apparent reason.\r\n\r\n10. One of his brake lights doesn't work."},{"Text":"TEN SIGNS THAT SHE'S A CRAP DRIVER\r\n\r\n1. She's driving a Mini.\r\n\r\n2. She's got a Garfield stuck to her back window.\r\n\r\n3. Simon Bates is blaring out and the Our Tune 'theme music' has just started up.\r\n\r\n4. There's another girl with exactly the same style haircut sitting next to her in the passenger seat.\r\n\r\n5. She's driving a Porsche."},{"Text":"THE FIRST EVER DRIVING GAME\r\n\r\nDespite a sore knee and a terrible fear of the dark, I crouched down in the murkiest corner of the YS shed to browse through our collection of cardboard-boxed archives. And did I come up with anything? Well, not really. I did find out that the Van Houten Chocolate in the YS drinks machine is actually the remains of a consignment of rations from during the war (no-one wanted to drink it then either) and I also came across some rather compromising photos of Andy when he was four years old, but nothing really very interesting in the driving games department. I was hoping to turn up some really ropey-looking Basic game from about 1982, but the best I could come up with was Chequered Flag, a Sinclair game that came out a year later. It's quite good actually - a bit like Polo Position without any other cars to race against.\r\n\r\nWe'll give it a thorough going-over later, but in the meantime perhaps you'd like to think back and see if you can come up with anything better if you find anything older than Chequered Flag, do write in and tell us as we'd be jolly interested to know."},{"Text":"TOP FIVE GEARS\r\n\r\n1. Third\r\n2. First\r\n3. Fourth\r\n4. Second\r\n5. Fifth (where available)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Drive","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Road Holding","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"FOATLF","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"61%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 70, Jan 1988","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-12-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":124,"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\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, 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: Richard Winnington\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 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 84,699 July-Dec 1986"},"MainText":"Label: US Gold\r\nAuthor: Probe Software\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nHugely ambitious tasks that never quite came off:\r\n\r\n- Raising the Titanic.\r\n\r\n- Crossing the Atlantic really fast in a speedboat.\r\n\r\n- Going out in not entirely blistering heat in the Antarctic when your name is Scott.\r\n\r\n- Outrun? Well, though it's by no means a disaster, one feels that US Gold may have overstretched its programmers a little on this one.\r\n\r\nOutrun in the arcades came in a number of forms. There was the ultimate version which jerked around in a hydraulic fashion as you sat in it, and various in/betweenies until you got down to the bog-standard cabinet version. It's main appeal, at least in the novelty stakes, was the way it lurched and bucked at every corner and dip in the road. OK, for a kick-off you have to scratch 30% of Overall Greatness - you're not going to get that on your Spectrum.\r\n\r\nSo what's left? Another 3D road-race? Well, not exactly. Outrun sits you in a Ferrari Testarossa - a shiny red slab capable of 185 mph, on an American interstate heading into an unspecified horizon. The road curves left and right in usual 3D fashion. And it also dips and rises very nicely.\r\n\r\nSimply creating the style of graphics used in the coin-op on the Spectrum is clearly impossible, and moving them at the sort of speed necessary to give a feeling of exhilaration is asking for miracles.\r\n\r\nAll that considered. Probe - the programmers - hasn't done too badly. Your car is recognisable as a Ferrari, you can identify the other vehicles and the road twists and turns and rises and falls.\r\n\r\nThe biggest problem is the combination of speed and numbers of graphics. As you can see from the screens, there are some serious-sized objects around, and if they total more than about four, the poor old Z80 begins to cough and protest and slows down noticeably.\r\n\r\nTo remedy the problem a little, the numbers of objects have been trimmed, and the game generally moves at an acceptable, if not gob-smacking pace.\r\n\r\nAn interesting feature of Outrun is the way you can, at least to a certain extent, decide where you are going to drive. Every few kilometres you'll find a branch in the road. You've got to decide which way to go. Usually there's a route which is easier than the other, so it's a question of remembering to try each route to see which is the fastest.\r\n\r\nIf the game had been released as Sunday Driver, or something, everyone would have been bowled over by the graphics and the speed, which are pretty good for the Spectrum. Instead, everyone feels at a little bit diappointed that it's not closer to the original - impossible task though it was.\r\n\r\nIf you can manage to forget how great the original arcade version looked, vou may end up pretty impressed by Outrun though.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A tall order falls short of expectations though not by much. It's still about as close to the original as anyone could expect.","Page":"13","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PROGRAMMERS\r\n\r\nProbe is one of the country's larger development teams, employing around fifty programmers.\r\n\r\nSoftography : Xevious (US Gold, 1987), Enduro Racer (Activision, 1987), Metrocross [US Gold, 1987), Brave Starr [Go!, 1987), Rygar (Go!, 1987)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 105, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nActing Dept Editor: Gary 'Wide Boy' Liddon\r\nDesigners: Jenny Abrook, Gareth 'Boyo' Jones\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim 'Brummie Git' Owens\r\nAd Production: Emma 'Cor Blimey' Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistants: Sarah 'JR' Ewing, Sarah 'No vices' Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham 'Interesting' Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry '....er..' Pratt\r\n\r\n©1990 EMAP Images, [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by G'n'G, output to a 20260 Liddontype\r\nColour work: Pro Print.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher Web Ltd, Peterborough.\r\nDistributed: Frontline.\r\n\r\nIf any part of this magazine is reproduced without permission you're in BIG trubs sonny!"},"MainText":"You're cool, the engine hot, the girl's gorgeous, the tank is full of gas and it's an open road - but have you remembered your sandwiches and are you wearing a clean vest?\r\n\r\nThis is the question no-one thinks to ask in Out Run, that most splendiferous of coin-op driving games. The Spectrum version is pretty good, incorporating the twisting, dipping road of the Sega original with fast-moving graphics.\r\n\r\nControls are simple; left/right, accelerate/decelerate and fire button to change gears. You don't have the automatic gear option found on the sequel Turbo Outrun, but I always thought this was a bit of a cheat. On-screen displays are limited to score, time, speed and time limit; you have to complete each course within a time limit or you'll be disqualified.\r\n\r\nThere are five different courses to complete, each with five scenes (though some of the scenes are shared - there are fifteen different backgrounds in all, including seaside, valley, autobahn, beach and wilderness). The constant tape loading is an unavoidable annoyance.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Classic racing coin-op converted for max fun!","Page":"60,61","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"81","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"81%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 3, Feb 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-01-21","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":117,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nAssistant Editor: Nik Wild\r\nSoftware Co-ordinator: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writer: Robin Hogg\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Robin Evans, John Gilbert, Robin Candy, Martin Coxhead, Mel Croucher, Martyn Lester, Mark Rothwell, Rob Steel, John Woods\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nDesign/Layout: Wayne Allen\r\nProcess/Film Planning: Jonathan Rignall (Supervisor), Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard\r\n\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order\r\nCarol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSubscriptions\r\nDenise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow with colour origination taken care of by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCompetition Rules\r\nQThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of THE GAMES MACHINE. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Fran Mable a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into THE GAMES MACHINE - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©Newsfield Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.99\r\nSega Two-Mega Cartridge £24.95\r\nCommodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: 11.99\r\n\r\nTESTABUSTER\r\n\r\nMastertronic are marketing the Sega cartridge conversion from this very popular coin-op hit, while US Gold deal with the popular micro versions. US Gold claimed well before Christmas that Out Run was selling like hot cakes long before any reviews were written, for the copies were in the shops to meet the Christmas sales period before review copies were despatched. Was it worth the purchase? The main section of this review deals with the official Sega version.\r\n\r\nAren't you a lucky chap: a nice sunny afternoon, at the wheel of a Ferrari Testarossa, girlfriend at your side, out for a pleasant drive. Well actually you are about to participate in possibly the most gruelling race of your life, as you sit tensely at the starting line waiting for the chequered flag.\r\n\r\nHold on though, you forgot to switch on the radio and there are three in-game tunes to choose from, Magical Sound Shower, Passing Breeze and Splash Wave. Having selected music to drive by, you are presented with a view of your car at the starting point - the chequered flag drops, and you are off. Control is simple, pressing up on the direction button puts you in low gear, pressing down selects high gear, button one is the brake, button two the accelerator, and pressing left or right on the direction button steers the car.\r\n\r\nAs the race starts, it is wise to select low gear until you have gained sufficient speed to warrant the change to high (usually at around 170 kph). There are five landscapes to be raced through, each with its own check point. An 80-second time limit is allowed to reach the first, 65 seconds for the next and so on, decreasing as you go along: however, crossing a check point within the time limit adds those remaining precious seconds to the next stage's time allowance. Failing to reach the end of a route within the limit means disqualification and an end the game.\r\n\r\nAt various points along the track, forks in the road appear. These allow you to choose which of the goal lines you wish to pursue, and there are five in all: the Vinyard, Death Valley, Desolation Hill, Autobahn and Lakeside. But whichever path you choose to reach your goal, there are plenty of people on the road trying to stop you, so good luck, you will probably need it.\r\n\r\nOf all the versions, the Sega cartridge comes closest to the original coin-op in appearance, feel and addictive qualities, but nonetheless, it does suffer in comparison. The home micro versions have all had to make their own compromises with memory size.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Nearly all the features of the arcade machine have been squeezed into the Spectrum, but at the expense of speed and an arduous multi-load. At the end of each track, the action freezes while another level is loaded, and depending on the course taken, waits can be teeth-grittingly long. The sound is surprisingly good, and even though the road stops a little short of the horizon, the 3-D effect is convincing. Playability is unfortunately poor as the car is often sluggish to respond to joystick or keyboard command, and when things get busy, the action seriously slows down, which can be very frustrating. US Gold still have yet to prove that you can squeeze a gallon into a pint pot!","Page":"60,61","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Perhaps not unsurprisingly, it works best of all on the Sega."},{"Text":"US Gold's brave attempt at outrunning an arcade hit."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"...the Sega cartridge comes closest to the original coin-op, but nonetheless, suffers in comparison.\""},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64/128\r\n\r\nOverall: 67%\r\n\r\nInitial impressions are very favourable, with the Commodore version of the classic Sega race game seeming to sport nearly all the features of the original, including two reasonable renditions of the arcade soundtrack, hills, and some colourful, if rather blocky graphics. The 3-D is fast and convincing, and generally the game is playable. In fact, the only things missing are the intersections, which have been removed and replaced by five different tracks, one of which is loaded at the start to represent a possible course that could be taken on the arcade version. All this sounds good, but unfortunately Out Run has a serious flaw, which only becomes apparent on playing. It's far, far too easy, and completing a course within a few goes is a task even the most novice of budding Testarossa drivers won't find difficult. Consequently, lasting appeal is severely lacking."},{"Text":"SEGA\r\n\r\nOverall: 72%\r\n\r\nOut Run is instantly very playable, with good sound - although the three tunes do rather resemble each other, they do add a nice atmosphere. The graphics, however, are a let down; the backgrounds are well drawn, but on the racetrack things are not all good. Passing rival cars often causes them to judder violently or disappear totally, and the same fate occasionally afflicts your own car when spinning or flipping in an accident. Equally, the overhead gantries fail to work and appear to jerk forwards and backwards rather than pass overhead as they should. But despite the tacky graphics it's not all that bad."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"61%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]