[{"TitleName":"Phileas Fogg's Balloon Battles","Publisher":"Zeppelin Games Ltd","Author":"Brian Cross","YearOfRelease":"1991","ZxDbId":"0003692","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 94, Dec 1991","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1991-11-21","Editor":"Lucy Hickman","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Coming to you live from CRASH Towers are:\r\n\r\nEditor: Lucy 'Big Chief' Hickman\r\nDeputy Editor: Nick 'K' Roberts\r\nStaff Writer: Mark 'Corky' Caswell\r\nProduction Editor: Warren 'Wozza' Lapworth\r\nArt Designers: Mark 'KLM' Kendrick and Paul 'Charlie-Failie' Chubb\r\nSystems Manager: Ian 'Big Cheese' Chubb\r\nScreen Grabber: Michael 'Chat Show' Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Roger 'Sir' Kean\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Sheila 'I've got a company car' Jarvis\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: George 'Rick Astley' Keenan and John 'Jay' Needham\r\nAdvertisement Production: Joanne 'Puffer' Lewis\r\nProduction: Jackie 'Hairy' Morris\r\nReprographics: Rob 'Wash 'n' Go' Millichamp\r\nManaging Director: Jonathan 'Boss Man' Rignall\r\nCirculation Manager: David '?' Wren\r\n\r\nProduced and Designed by Europress Impact, using Apple II computers, running Word, Quark Express and Adobe Illustrator - all of which just occasionally works when it's supposed to.\r\n\r\nPrinting BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted]\r\nDistribution 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 being 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 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 write to us at the address below). No person who is related, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either EUROPRESS IMPACT 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 at our current rates. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated by the printed word rate. So it really doesn't look like it's worth winning anything or writing us a word, does it, but if we don't get these boring small-print biz in, our bits get crimped. And just to prove the point, the views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers - so wot's there left to say?\r\n\r\nEuropress Impact Ltd, CRASH [redacted]\r\nThis month's cover: Lemmings. Cover design by Oliver Frey. Powertape inlay by Mark Kendrick."},"MainText":"Zeppelin Games\r\n£3.99\r\n\r\nPhilleas Fogg is a strange little game. It seems this wise man (complete with handlebar moustache) was on one of his trips around the world when he volunteered for a dangerous and daring mission.\r\n\r\nSet in the war fields of 1871, Fogg controls his special hydrogen balloon complete with High Pressure Thrust (oo-er) and splatters the enemy with the bombs he's carrying. Moving around the landscape is bleedin' hard work, as the wind blows you wherever it feels like and floating too low over enemies may result in the balloon being popped and the gas igniting - BOOM!!!\r\n\r\nYou take off by dropping sandbags over the side of the basket to make the balloon lighter. The more sandbags or bombs dropped the easier the balloon is to control. There are four levels of altitude and getting the correct one for your area is a must. The troopers roaming around blast you at level two, cannons get you at level three, hills are tough to cross and mountains can't be passed at all.\r\n\r\nTowns, rocks, lakes and shacks are also dotted around the levels and all affect the balloon. There's also the odd friendly shack, identified by a flag, and landing near one of these will increase your hydrogen, bomb and sandbag levels.\r\n\r\nBalloon Battles is extremely annoying at first. You have to read the instructions over and over before you reaslise what you're supposed to be doing! Once you've got the hang of the game it's quite fun, though. Zeppelin have always been one for the more obscure titles and this is one of them - great fun to play.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Not an immediately playable game but lots of fun when you understand it.","Page":"59","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"76","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"With a name like Phileas Fogg's wouldn't you go around the world to escape the ridicule of your mates!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"67%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"81%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"76%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 71, Nov 1991","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1991-10-03","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":76,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Hutchinson\r\nNew Art Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nGames Editor: James Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michele Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Colin Jones\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC Jan-June 1991 65,444\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is brought to you from the same incredibly tartan people who publish Commodore Format, ST Format, Amiga Format, NCE, Amstrad Action, 8000 Plus, PC Answers, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format and Public Domain and quite possibly three more mages by the time you read this!"},"MainText":"PHILEAS FOGG'S BALLOON BATTLES\r\nZeppelin\r\n£2.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nPhileas Fogg is a somewhat mad and totally fictitious character who once, and for no apparent reason, decided to venture around the world in eight days. During his travels, he came across lots of yummy snacks and sent them all back to his Aunt Agatha. Zeppelin have completely ignored this and, using a decidedly hefty chunk of artistic licence, have got him stopping over mid-journey to help out some Allies who are at war at the time.\r\n\r\nActually, the game has got nothing to do with Phileas Fogg, but I suppose Zeppelin had to find some excuse to produce a game which has you flying a balloon around a sparse play area and dropping bombs on enemy installations. In fact, after much thought, I couldn't come up with a better one than the Phileas Fogg story either.\r\n\r\nSo why don't I like this game? Well, it's boring. There are no map making skills required, there's no map (the background graphics cease to exist), no technique is needed to bomb installations or baddies, it's all up to chance whether or not you're shot down, the graphics and sound are pretty shoddy and overall the game plays more like a sub-game than anything worth releasing. In other words, there is just far too little to it. Call me Mr Complete B... (I will not! Ed), but I would have severe difficulty recommending this game to even the most narrow-minded of people. It's repetitive and utterly unaddictive and certainly not worth the bother.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"67","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"48","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"I say, Phileas, that dratted factory is following us again. Hit the turbos old bean.\" (Puff, puff.)"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"48%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 117, Nov 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-10-15","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign: Andrea Walker\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSoftware Editor: Steve Keen\r\nSU Crew: John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Phillip Fisch, Ian Watson, Alan Dykes\r\nAd Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAd Production: Jo Gleissner\r\nMarketing Man.: Mark Swan\r\nMarketing Women: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1991 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Proprint.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher"},"MainText":"Label: Zeppelin\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: 3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Alan Dykes\r\n\r\nI have it on good authority that Phileas Fogg never actually used a balloon in the book but he has been immortalised on film in \"Around the World in Eighty Days\" in one and it is roughly around this plot that Phileas Fogg's Balloon Battles is based.\r\n\r\nBasically the idea is to travel around in said balloon, destroying enemy cities, soldiers, gun emplacements and buildings. Control isn't complicated, because you are flying a lighter than air craft with no power of it's own and basically it gets blown all over the shop. The only way you can change direction is to deflate the balloon and fall, or lose weight by dropping sand bags and rise, this enables you to catch different air currents which will shoot you in another direction.\r\n\r\nFoggy world rotates between day and night, and this time cycle effects the hydrogen in your balloon. During the day it expands, making your craft more buoyant, conversely during the night it contracts and you need to use much more of the gas to stay in the air.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are all black and yellow whilst icons around the screen show your current score, the proximity of friendly troops, the coming of night and day and the direction the wind is blowing. Gameplay is easy and once you get used to the unusual movements of wind and balloon the game is quite playable and becomes reasonably interesting.\r\n\r\nPhileas Fogg's Balloon Battles is just about a fun game, it's such a good idea that it will fascinate you for awhile but ultimately, even though it is a budget title, it lacks the class needed to be really good.","ReviewerComments":["This is certainly a novel idea for a game - but certainly better executed than Virgin's Atlantic Challenge or Sam Fox Strip Poker, but just about similar in the complete tit stakes.\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"Adventurous idea for a game and really not a bad budget title, amusing, silly gameplay makes up for poor graphics.","Page":"45","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"52","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Balloon battle alert, but that's not all!!"},{"Text":"Get off the ground very fast!"},{"Text":"Phileas is in a bit of a mess."},{"Text":"Wind coming from all directions!"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"SU GAME BUSTER\r\n\r\nMake sure you stay above the flak because venturing too low over the battlefield will bring a hail of cannon shells and musket fire, threatening to prematurely end your aeronautical endeavours in a cloud of smoke.\r\n\r\nTo destroy your targets you use bomblets, with the shadow of the balloon acting as an aiming device. You can replenish stores of bombs, sandbags and hydrogen at friendly cottages dotted, not so frequently around the landscape.\r\n\r\nBombing a musketeer gives you 20 points, if you hit a cannon emplacement you get 100 points, a shack 150 points and a twon 200-300 points."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"52%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]