[{"TitleName":"Pogostick Olympics","Publisher":"Silverbird Software Ltd","Author":"Daren White","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0003796","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 55, Aug 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-07-28","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Katharina Hamza\r\nProduction Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nEditorial Assistants: Frances Mable, Glenys Powell\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Raffaele Cecco, Paul Evans, Simon N Goodwin, Ian Philipson, Philippa Irving, Brendon Kavanagh, Paul Sumner, Stuart Wynne\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nAssistant Art Director: Wayne Allen\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Yvonne Priest, Matthew Uffindell\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executives: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman\r\nAssistant: 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 Frances Mable 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\nTotal: 96,590\r\nUK/EIRE: 90,822\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Silverbird\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: Probe Software\r\n\r\nOlder readers may recall a strange craze that caught on a good few years ago which involved standing on a stick with a spring on the end and bouncing around. This ancient art was known as pogoing.\r\n\r\nPogostick Olympics revives this weird pastime and elevates it from the pages of The Beano to the status of a sport. The game is divided into five events.\r\n\r\nEvent number one has you bouncing along trying to pop floating balloons with a spiked helmet. Next is the 110m hurdles which is closely followed by the triple jump, target practice and an obstacle course.\r\n\r\nThe player gets three attempts to qualify for each event before being eliminated from the contest.\r\n\r\nIf all three events are successfully completed with a high enough score, the player has himself into the elite hall a fame.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Kempston\r\nGraphics: simplistic sprites and samey backdrops for every event\r\nSound: sparse spot effects","ReviewerComments":["After skateboarding in 720° and rollerskating in Skate Crazy, the designers of Pogostick Olympics had to look back a few years to find a suitable craze on which to base a game. I thought the only place where pogoing remained in fashion was within the pages of The Beano. The game itself contains five very tedious events, none of which is in the least bit playable. Progress is so easy that even a three-year-old could complete the game. Every event is very similar in both graphics and gameplay, with a simply drawn figure bouncing through a horizontally scrolling landscape and the controls themselves are very basic. This, along with the ease of completion, makes this a dodo instead of a pogo simulation. If this is what pogoing is about give me a skateboard any day!\r\nPhil King\r\n21%","At least when you're pogoing out in the open air there's scope for a little variety: you can wave your arms about (look no hands!), perform daredevil hops, and hurtle headfirst into the flowerbed. This sort of action is painfully absent from Silverbird's simulation. In fact, it doesn't really simulate anything very much. All you can do is waggle the joystick, press fire every now and then, and hope for the best. Jerky graphics and simplistic backdrops mean that you can't even enjoy the scenery as you're bounding along.\r\nKati Hamza\r\n19%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: It's probably safer to stick to the real thing.","Page":"15","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"21","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Kati Hamza","Score":"19","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Who needs muscles when you've got a pogostick?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"20%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"30%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"25%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"19%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"20%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 31, Jul 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-06-14","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Richard Blaine, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Mike Gerrard, Gwyn Hughes, Sean Kelly, Graeme Kidd, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Ben Stone\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":"POGOSTICK OLYMPICS\r\nSilverbird\r\n£1.99\r\nReviewer: Nat Pryce\r\n\r\nThere haven't been many joystick waggling games released for quite a while, but now Firebird has brought out Pogostick Olympics, and what a ridiculous game it is too. You control a bloke on a pogostick who wears a spiked helmet and must compete in five events, scoring as many points as possibile. Score zero points three times and you're out of the contest.\r\n\r\nThe first event is balloon popping, where you use the spike on your helmet. Next is the 110 metre hurdles and then the triple jump where you must pop a balloon, jump over a bush and long-jump into the sand pit. After that is target practice where you fire champagne corks at bouncing balls and finally there's an obstacle course.\r\n\r\nThe presentation of Pogostick Olympics is excellent, but the game itself is boring and unplayable. If you like waggling your joystick, you might like this, but I didn't find it that much fun.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"78","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nat Pryce","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]