[{"TitleName":"Peter Pack Rat","Publisher":"Silverbird Software Ltd","Author":"Lee Cawley, Lee Wilson, Mark Wilson, Mike Follin, Tim Follin, Tiny Williams","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0003668","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 63, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-30","Editor":"Stuart Wynne","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Stuart Wynne\r\nAssistant Editor: Phil King\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Ian Cull, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Richard 'smasherooni' Eddie, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Oliver Frey\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Lee Watkins\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\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 (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 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 the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No 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 is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Silverbird\r\n£1.99 cass\r\n\r\nRodents have often made it to the top in showbiz (Mickey Mouse, Roland Rat, Esther Rantzen etc), but Peter Pack Rat is far too busy collecting things to bother about fame. He just loves to hoard items of minimalistic art: namely old bottles and cans from his local junkyard. However, nasty Riff Rat is out to get Peter - perhaps he's also a closet junk-collector! And Riff is not alone: Peter's long list of enemies includes dogs, cats, spiders, owls, bats, snakes, and even an alligator - is this guy popular or what?!\r\n\r\nWhile avoiding these baddies, Peter must collect a set number of treasures within the time limit, and take them back to his nest. The cute furry rodent is an agile little fellow, climbing ladders, jumping across gaps and sliding down chutes and pipes. They say there's nothing quite so vicious as a rat backed into a corner, and in tight situations Peter can throw collected stones at his assailants. This stuns them for a while (I'm not surprised; have you ever seen a rat throwing stones?!), and also allows Peter to be carried by dazed bats and birds, until they decide to drop him! When Pete has collected all the 'treasure' from the junkyard, he can look for more in the sewer and up a tree.\r\n\r\nIf you think you've seen something like this in your local arcade, you're right: Peter Pack Rat is an old Tengen coinop. It has been converted to the Spectrum by ace programmers, Software Creations (Bubble Bobble, Bionic Commando, LED Storm), and it shows. The various animals are nicely animated, while sound is even better; good effects plus a brilliant 'whistling' 128K in-game tune. Although Peter Pack Rat is a simple 'platform and ladders' game, it's amazingly addictive. For a mere two quid, you can't miss it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"83","Denied":false,"Award":"House Hit","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"85%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 88, Jul 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-06-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Meet the Team\r\n\r\nJIM \"Invisible Man\" DOUGLAS (Editor)\r\nWrapped (warped?) from head to fool in bandages to disguise his horrible secret, Jim is forced to wander the world trapped in a crepe tomb. While lie likes to put about the rumour that he concocted a potion so strong that it turned him invisible, the actual truth is that the rest of the SU Team were so fed up with him being \"away on business\" they endowed him with the name and handed out a right good punching into the bargain, hence the bandages.\r\n\r\nALISON \"Wunder Woman\" SKEAT (Production Editor)\r\nFaster than a speeding thing, able to correct pages in a single bound. Skeat wreaks terrible havoc upon poor copy with her special Red Pen in her quest to rid Sinclair User of any spelling mistekes. She can deflect bad grammar with her super steel ear-rings and head butts away repetition every single time, and head-butts away repetition every single time.\r\n\r\nTIM NOONAN (Art Editor)\r\nIs it a plane? Is it a bus? Is it a Bond Bug? No, you bloody idiot, it's Timothy Noonan. An Editor extraordinaire, cutting a swathe through the barren wasteland of computer magazine layout, producing colour pages to STUN, SHOCK and DELIGHT every single month. Unfortunately, Tim has only one leg. Well, it's more unfortunate for Tim than anyone else, since he can never stay upright once he stops moving.\r\n\r\nTONY \"Ice Man\" DILLON (Contributor)\r\nTony knows no fear. He doesn't know many people, but he certainly knows even less fear. His super-cool demeanour and ability to fit nearly all his bottom into a medium sized refrigerator have made him legendary through the games industry. If a job wants doing, tell Tone to dry his trousers and get going.\r\n\r\nSpecial thanks this month: John 'Er, tomorrow?' Cook, Gareth 'Grandad' Jones, Clive '43' Pembridge, Graham 'Still here' Taylor.\r\n\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nDirty Tricks: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine 'Ooh my sore throat' Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Martha 'A diddly diddly' Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma 'Wonderful' Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie \"Have you seen this photo?\" Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'Well...' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'Knuckle Sandwich' Pembridge\r\n\r\nDrop us a line at: [redacted] or Fax us on: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Silkworm from Virgin Mastertronic\r\nCover Artist: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nTypeset by Professional Reprographics Services [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Frontline.\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nNo part of this magazine may be copied, translated, transcribed, read aloud in the pub or used to swat flies without the written permission from the Publishers, EMAP B&C, which - we'll tell you now - is pretty hard to get."},"MainText":"Label: Silverbird\r\nAuthor: Software Creations\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony Dillon\r\n\r\nPeter Pack Rat is a simple game. It's also a conversion of an old arcade title of the same name by Tengen which, strangely enough, I've never heard of. That said, it's FAB!\r\n\r\nYou are Peter Pack Rat and you live in a little ratty pad, somewhere really dirty. That's the problem. Not only is Peter a rat, he's a social outcast. A bit like a heavy metal fan in the rat scene. Anyway, the thing that's sort of ruined his chances of ever being socially accepted as normal is that he's tidy. Not only does he not like mess, he absolutely hates it. So much so that he's prepared to go out into the dangerous world, against the will of Riff Rat, the leader of the evil gang of the Rats of Flatbush.\r\n\r\nHe starts in the junkyard, and somehow, probably rat-intuition, he knows that hidden out there, there are three pieces of junk. Off he sets, with the aim of finding and retrieving them.\r\n\r\nThe game is viewed side on with loads of platforms, ladders and miles more beside. There are springboards that catapult you to previously unreachable areas, that might just contain one of the missing pieces of junk. Some areas of the platforms are covered in moss, making them slippery. Normally to be found at either side of these slippery ledges are slopes, which lead down to a large pool of water, which takes you a while to climb out of and usually results in you being killed by something that can move a lot faster than you.\r\n\r\nThe enemy consists of Flatbush the rat, who wanders about the levels, killing you on contact. Scrapper is a dog that runs along the ground. Sticky the spider has a large web somewhere on the map and more often than not, one of the pieces of rubbish is hidden in his web. Nite Owl and Slugger the Bat fly around the map with the intention of giving you as much grief as possible. The good thing about the owl and the bat is that if you shoot them, you stun them. While stunned, they can be used to carry you to any location. Great huh?\r\n\r\nThe graphics are pretty dam good. All the sprites have been really well defined and animated. Backdrops are nice and colourful but the scrolling (optional) isn't too good. One out of four isn't bad.\r\n\r\nSound has been neglected slightly. There is no in-game music, only the odd effect here and there, and no title tune either. Not even in 128K. Naughty naughty.\r\n\r\nPeter Pack Rat has to be one of the best games I have seen in ages. It plays well, is challenging, is fun and what's more, it's original! What more could you want?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Playable arcade collecty romp from an unknown coin-op. Well worth the dosh.","Page":"40","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"83","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"39%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"83%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 17, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-05","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Future Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet: 0458 74011\r\n\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nReviews Editor: Bob Wade\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Jarratt, Andy Smith (Don't believe everything you read in the masthead last month!)\r\nProduction Editor: Damien Noonan\r\nConsultant Editor: Brian Larkman (Graphics)\r\nAdventure Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: Gwyn Hughes, Phil South, Tony Tyler Andy Wilton\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Angela Neale\r\nProduction: Diane Tavener\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jonathan Beales\r\nAdvertising Sales Executive: David Lilley\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\n\r\nCover by Simon Bisley\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nAvon Direct Mail [redacted]\r\n\r\nSPECIAL OFFERS\r\n(Christine Stacey) [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\n© FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1989\r\n\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Amstrad, C64 and Spectrum: £1.99\r\n\r\nBased on the Atari coin-op of the same name, Peter Pack Rat is a jolly little collect-em-up where the tubby rodent is charged with collecting goodies and taking them back to his den within a time limit. The junkyard-style backdrop is littered with obstacles, including ladders, pipes and slides which Pete has to negotiate, and is also home to a selection of creatures intent upon interfering with the hero's progress.\r\n\r\nWhile the Amstrad and Spectrum versions are identical, with a detailed monochrome display, the C64 profits from a multicolour backdrop and smoother and faster gameplay. Amstrad and Sinclair users might think twice about the purchase, but 64 owners should enjoy the action on offer.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"70,71","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Spectrum - Could that be a Mountain Bike in the junkyard?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"695/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]