[{"TitleName":"Badlands","Publisher":"Domark Ltd","Author":"Jim McLeod, Matt Furniss, Peter Andrew Jones","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0000380","Reviews":[{"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":"Domark\r\n£9.99/£14.99\r\n\r\nIt is fifty years since a nuclear conflict decimated the population and turned the world into a Mad Max style wasteland. But from the ruins has arisen a new sport: heavily armed and armoured cars race round tracks built on the rubble of the holocaust in a zone known as the Badlands.\r\n\r\nThree cars participate, although up to two of them can be human controlled in this fast and violent game from the creators of Super Sprint. Badlands is set over eight different tracks, but things aren't as simple as they sound. You have to finish the race in first place else one of your two credits is lost (lose both and it's Game Over).\r\n\r\nApart from human and computer driven cars that fire machine guns and missiles at you, obstacles include hairpin bends, oil slicks, sand banks, collapsing buildings and falling power lines. The first few tracks are fairly clear of these hazards, so you have a chance to concentrate on watching out for the spanners strewn around. Collection of these allows you to purchase add-ons at the end of each race: missiles, tyres, turbo rower and shields.\r\n\r\nI'm a great fan of this type of game, with this and Super Off Road Racer (reviewed last month) I'm being spoiled! Though Badlands doesn't have the detailed graphic style as Super Off Road Racer, the cars and backdrops are more colourful. Another bonus is that the cars in Badlands are more controllable, and it's easier to avoid disasters! Super Sprint with guns is how I would describe Badlands. I personally prefer Super Off Road but this game runs a fairly close second (mainly 'cos it's more violent).\r\n\r\nMARK 78%","ReviewerComments":["It's a pity Domark have chosen to release this game at around the same time as Virgin's Super Off Road Racer, the two games are rather similar. This is nowhere near as detailed though. Badlands is a lot of fun, due to the demolition derby aspect of the gameplay, if a bit easy to complete. The tracks are nothing special - some are simply boring and others are spiced up a little with tunnels and jumps (wooo!). It's a pity you can't actually destroy the opponents - blast 'em with your gun and they just flash and carry on. Badlands is a good conversion, but the coin-op isn't innovative enough to make the game really exciting.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n59%"],"OverallSummary":"Sadly overshadowed by superior counterpart Super Off Road.","Page":"67","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"59","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"78","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"67%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 60, Dec 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-11-01","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Julia O'Shea, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: MMC [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":"Tengen (Domark)\r\n£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Linda Barker\r\n\r\nHi. I'm the new girlie and I don't like this driving lark at all. In fact, it scares me silly - I cower in the back seat with the window open in case of emergencies. Even racing round a screen makes me feel a bit funny. But just for you I've persevered and got round all eight tracks without throwing up once! (Well, I was impressed anyway.)\r\n\r\nBut all eight tracks of what, I hear you ask? Well, this game of course - a sort of post-holocaust Super Sprint. Come on, take my hand and we'll go off for a good old gander at the future together, shall we? Right, were here. but what's there to see? Well, if I'm not very much mistaken, right over there are the Badlands, a series of tracks which've been built in the devastated nuclear landscape (apparently after the bomb drops it's going to be the survivor's top priority to get a racetrack together. All perfectly natural and sensible it seems to me). It's 50 years after all-out mega-destruction then, and this is where it's all happening.\r\n\r\nThere are eight tracks in the Badlands, but that's about all - it's a bit of a boring place really, unless all you want from life is some good racing (in which case its probably dead exciting. Me, I'd rather have a good chippy and some flowers).\r\n\r\nSo how's the game work? Well, to start with I'd better say you can play this one on your little ownsome or, if you're really lucky, with a friend. Other players can join in at any point (so it your pal comes round in the middle of a race there's no problem) which also works out pretty handy if you think the other player is crap and boring - you can just ditch him (or her) and start having some real fun. Having said that, this is one of those games where it's much better fun with two (unless you're one of those aloof and enigmatic - ie boring and unsociable - types of course).\r\n\r\nThe eight tracks correspond to eight levels of play, and the plan is to get round the lot in superfast time. If you come last out of the three cars more than once you lose a life (at least one is always computer-controlled). Lose all three lives and it's game over, matey.\r\n\r\nOkay, so you're tucked up nice and cosy in the hot seat and ready to go. In true Super Sprint fashion (those of you with shorter memories might be better off comparing it to last month's Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off-Road Racer or numerous old Codies games) you're looking down on the complete course which neatly wraps around to fit on the one screen. Some are a figure-of-eight shape (with slightly wobbly bits where your car goes under the track and you can't see what you're doing), some are simply a loop.\r\n\r\nWhat they all have in common though is a black featureless surface (so the little coloured cars and icons that litter the track show up quite well) and rather more complicated static background graphics. There aren't many controls to worry about (just Accelerate, Brake, Left, Right and Fire) so you won't need to over-exert those precious brain cells (a good thing, especially for old people like me).\r\n\r\nThe first couple of tracks should prove pretty easy - use your time to pick up any strange spanners you see lying around. These may look a bit stupid but they're in fact incredibly useful - get enough and you can earn extra big points with which you can buy all manner of tab and groovy additions to your car. You can make it go even quicker or arm it with more weapons and shields (sorry, I forgot to mention - this game has a Roadblasters-style shooting element tacked on). What they won't do is help you dodge all the things littering your way - oil slicks, missiles, nasty sharp turns, falling masonry, barriers which have a tendency to shut the minute you reach them and horrible, horrible tunnel things which (as I mentioned earlier) force you to drive blind and can be very confusing.\r\n\r\nSo, what's the verdict? Well, Badlands is a pretty straight coin-op conversion (it seems like about the 60th Tengen one Domark have done now) and is pretty much like any other overhead-view track game you could mention really (though with the addition of shooting to spice things up). The graphics aren't brilliant, but it's still fast and fun and just a little bit addictive - especially when you get onto the freeway overpass where there's a good roundabout. (Well, I liked it)\r\n\r\nBasically what this comes down to is another racing offshoot of Super Sprint, and while it's not the most exciting one around by a long shot, it's all right. Mind you, the graphics do tend to smack horribly of budget game territory - it's not half as pretty, fun or clever as Ironman for instance, with its bumps and nicely animated little 3D trucks.\r\n\r\nThere are some neat touches (like the helicopter that picks up the ruined enemy cars once you've trashed them) but it's not especially recommended - especially since the vast majority of you will own at least one very similar game already. Still, it's no great embarassment either.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Rather ordinary Super Sprint lookalike with knobs on. Pales massively next to Ironman.","Page":"72","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Linda Barker","Score":"68","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"And here we have it - a typical Badlands screen. Would you believe you're the little blue car, at the back as ever?"},{"Text":"Here's a more complicated one - a roundabout, a bridge over the track and some other stuff that won't fit in this space."},{"Text":"Last again, but not for long - that weedy little yellow dot between us and the green car is actually a bullet! Fry, matey!"},{"Text":"Nope, it's not some spooky blue hazard - that's actually a helicopter in the middle, returning an injured car to the track."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"66%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 83, Nov 1992","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-10-15","Editor":"Linda Barker","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"YOUR SINCLAIR\r\nABC 40,468\r\n\r\nEditor: Linda Barker\r\nArt Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nStaff Writer: Jon Pillar\r\nEditorial Contributors: Craig Broadbent, Dave Golder, Tim Kemp, Simon Cooke\r\nArt Contributor: Phil McCardle\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Jackie Garford\r\nSales Executive: Audrey Smith\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Lisa Read\r\nProduction Technicians: Chris Stocker, Jerome Clough\r\nScanning: Simon Windsor, Jon Moore, Simon Chittenden\r\nPublisher: Colin Campbell\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\nAssistant Publisher: Julie Stuckes\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair. Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director Chris Anderson\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Future Publishing Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission of K9. (Apart from the bit where Jon says that K9 was a useless piece of metal that you wouldn't want to use as a doorstop).\r\n\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair exterminates the following on a daily basis... Commodore Format, Amstrad Action, Amiga Format, PCW Plus, PC Answers, Mega, Superplay, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Cycling Plus, Photo Plus, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format, Public Domain, ST Format, Total! and Today's Vegetarian\r\n\r\nToday's sandwich suggestions - Ham, pork, luncheon meat, liver sausage, corned beef or spam topped with slices of tomato. Or how about tinned sardines mashed and mixed with mayonnaise and chocolate vermicelli?"},"MainText":"Hit Squad\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\n[redacted]\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nIvan 'Iron Man' Stewart's Super Off Road Racer? Professional Grand Prix Simulator? Supersprint? Ring any bells? BADLANDS?? All (but the Codies' effort) coin-op conversions, all basically the same game, and now all available for less than the cost of a very small, decent(ish) meal at your nearest Little Chef.\r\n\r\nAnd as ever, these overhead racing things always tend to be fun, and especially with a friend. Fun, in fact, in this order.\r\n\r\n1) Super Off Road Racer\r\n2) Badlands\r\n3) Grand Prix Sim\r\n4) Supersprint\r\n\r\nSupersprint and Grand Prix sim were pretty crap anyway, so let's not bother scrutinising them any more. Then came Off Road Racer - a game that simply oozed quality (as opposed to bad programming). Here you didn't race around on a black void - you raced over bumps and jumps. So the handling of the car and the graphics had to compensate - there are 112 different truck sprites the game can choose from. And believe me, it's effective - give or take quite a lot of colour, you could probably almost mistake this for the arcade original. (Well, after a few jelly babies, anyway). The satisfaction of successfully pulling off a jump, deliberately ramming an opponent from the track or skidding around a corner to the relatively boring accelerating and braking necessity of Badlands is like riding a BMX pulling wheelies, jumping from kerbs and skidding over grass as opposed to riding it sensibly along the road.\r\n\r\nOf course, both games involve the usual expedient of collectables-as-you-drive in order to soup up your vehicle, Badlands perhaps winning here with a case of 'if at first you don't succeed, buy some missiles, blow up your opponents or even annihilate some of the scenery instead'. Both also feature eight tracks (Badlands' are again more varied) but at the end of the day, Road Racer is more fun, and that's (let's face it) what counts. Wibble.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"42","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"(Oh, it fair takes me back to my younger days. The world seemed a nicer place back then. Ed) Get a grip, Linda!"},{"Text":"(Oh, it's the first game I reviewed for YS. Sob. Sniff. How it beings a tear to my eye. Wibble. Ed) Nostalgia, eh?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 107, Jan 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-12-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Hotlips' Walker\r\nDesign: Amanda Young, Margaret Goldrick\r\nStaff Writer: Jason Nalk\r\nSU Crew: Chris 'Hateful' Jenkins, Matt Regan, John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Gary Liddon\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim Owens\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Titters' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistants: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1990 EMAP IMAGES\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION; FRONTLINE\r\n\r\nTypesetting by Garthtype\r\nTypos by A.C.C. Ident\r\nColour work by Proprint. B&W filming by PRS. I'd just like to say a merry Christmas to all you SU Crewers and Squaddies out there. Have a great time and the all new Crew and I will see you in January.\r\n\r\nReproduction of any part of this magazine is illegal. However, as it's Christmas, we might not sue you this time. Also, the first person to write in with the last word of this sentence will win the Christmas number one game. Have a nice break - Garth."},"MainText":"Label: Domark\r\nPrice: £9.99/£14.99 48K/128K\r\nReviewer: Jason Naik\r\n\r\nTengen's Line Of Fire coin-op conversion is a fast, pacey and armed road-racer game. Set in the future, fifty years after a nuclear war, the sport of sprint car racing has turned into a deadly battle to the death.\r\n\r\nAction begins in the city where you need to watch out for the oil spills, boulders and the occasional crosses (they're supposed to be wrenches but they look more like crosses to me), which appear on the screen. Pick them up and you'll gain enough credits to customize your car (between tracks), with turbos, missiles, shields & tyres. No go-faster stripes though. Still, you can't have everything. Follow the arrows as they appear, and you can't go wrong. Trust me my son, just trust me.\r\n\r\nEventually you'll come rushing up to a wall. No, this isn't the end that you so justly deserve, but in fact it's a tunnel, taking you to another section of the track. Just try not to change direction while you're driving through, or you'll end up scraping all the paint off your wings (and presumably, skin off your skeleton!) The normal fire-power of your car can only slow the drones down, but if you gain enough credits you can wipe out other racers with your missiles. But watch out for the helicopter as it speeds to your fallen opponents aid. Overall the graphics are excellent, but the cars are a little disappointing. Music is good but who needs sounds once you've got a battery of missiles to unleash - just the thing for rush hour traffic. All in all this post-apocalyptic vision of the future makes for a teeth grinding, nerve snapping game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Great overhead view race game that is only bettered by Ivan Stewart. Vroom!","Page":"12","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jason Naik","Score":"86","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"86%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 128, Oct 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-09-18","Editor":"Alan Dykes","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Alan 'Paint Psycho' Dykes\r\nDesign: Yvette 'Easel' Nicholls\r\nSU Crew: Graham 'Brush' Mason, Steve 'Palette Knife' Keen, Pete 'Water Colour' Gerrard, Garth 'Silk Screen' Sumpter, Marc 'Detail' Richards, Gaz 'Squaddie' Harrod\r\nAd Manager: Tina 'Broad Stroke' Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Tina 'Potty' Gynn\r\nMr Marketing: Mark '18th Century' Swallow\r\nMarketing Ladies: Sarah 'Impressionist' Ewing, Sarah 'Madonna' Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Mike 'Modernist' Frey\r\nManaging Director: Terry 'Old Master' Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\nPart of EMAP PLC\r\nTel: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Colourtech\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher\r\nTypeset by Altyp Inc\r\nSubs [redacted]\r\nBack Issues [redacted]\r\n\r\nAbsolutely no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or copied without the express permission of the publisher. So there! And believe me, this Mike Frey guy is a really nasty piece of work so watch out. Many thanks to Messrs Hals, Gogh, Holbien, Da Vinci and Dobson. Please don't turn in your graves as it's only a joke, honest. Many thanks to Rudi who came all the way from Slovakia to show us the Brava demo. Always wear your head in the right place and keep your toes warm."},"MainText":"Label: Hit Squad\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Ed Laurence\r\n\r\nOoh, those gritty future realities do get into the spots other genres just can't touch, don't they? Everywhere you look... At books, comics or films, there's some bloke dressed in grey with a dull metallic road car and a big gun. Not even your Spectrum is safe from the onslaught of these post-Mad Max road warriors. And to prove it the coin-op Badlands has now been released at a fine budget price.\r\n\r\nBadlands is the follow up to possibly the best race game ever from Atari, Super Sprint (well, the best one which includes the words 'Super\" and \"Sprint\" in its title anyway). This game saw a three-quarters overhead view of a race track, with four cars, each one a different colour, haring around trying to complete four laps of the circuit before anyone else. Badlands is the logical (???) progression, casting the sport into the far future, probably after a holocaust or something, and gives the drivers guns, armour and a death wish.\r\n\r\nNow the object is not just to beat your opponents to four laps, but also to beat them to a pulp in the process.\r\n\r\nHowever, all this technology does not come cheap. In order to buy new weapons or shields, or even standard gear such as acceleration or higher speed, you need to be in possession of at least four golden wrenches. These wrenches are found of random points on the course, although no more than one will appear per lap. and extra bonus wrenches are earned by breaking course records and top lap times.\r\n\r\nExtra missiles can also be found by blowing up some of the destructible scenery around the tracks.\r\n\r\nBadlands is quite a fine conversion of a coln-op which is knocking on a bit now but has still lost none of its appeal.\r\n\r\nThere is still the all-important two-player mode (one player on Joystick, one on keys) which improves the fun no end. although it might have been fairer to have two joystick players.\r\n\r\nGraphics are good despite the small sprites and there's some nice colour, while movement is smooth. Sound is fair enough, nothing to get excited about but nothing too dire either.\r\n\r\nBadlands is quite a speedy and highly enjoyable racer the like of which has not been seen since the original Super Sprint At budget price, there is no reason to miss out on this (unless you've already got it).","ReviewerComments":["Welcome to the order of the Golden Wrench! Bit too complicated for me. My fave race game is still Chase HQ and nothing has changed my mind so far. Badlands is a different animal though and although the graphics and game speed are pretty good it didn't retain my attention as much as it did Ed's.\r\nAlan Dykes"],"OverallSummary":"Spiffing road racer based on the Tengen coin-op of the same name. A Good, fast paced combination of racing game and shoot 'em up that'll keep you coming on back for more.","Page":"45","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ed Lawrence","Score":"83","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Alan Dykes","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"81%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"82%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"83%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 41, Feb 1991","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1991-01-08","Editor":"Steve Cooke","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EMAP IMAGES [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Steve Cooke\r\nAssistant Editor: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: David Upchurch\r\nDesign Editor: Jim Willis\r\nNews Correspondent: Rik Haynes\r\nTrainee Design Assistant: Jenny Abrook\r\nContributors: John Cook, Christina Erskine, Rick Haynes, Pat Winstanley, Gareth Harper, Garth Sumpter, Ciaran Brennan, Chris Jenkins, Russell Patient, Mark Smiddy, John Minson\r\nAdditional Design: Parson Hawkes\r\nIllustration: Geoff Fowler\r\nPhotography: Edward Park\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jo Cooke\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAdvertising Production: Melanie Costin\r\nPublisher: Garry Williams\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nACE Subscriptions Dept [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nBalmoral Graphics [redacted]\r\nProprint Repro [redacted]\r\n\r\nTYPESETTING\r\nCXT [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nEMAP Frontline [redacted]"},"MainText":"From the post-Apocalypse rubble they came - men and women so hard that they used barbed wire for dental floss. No more Mr Softy Super Sprint larks for them. They armoured their cars and mounted cannons on top and took up the dangerous and ruthless pastime of racing in the Badlands; the desolate ruins left after the nuclear conflict.\r\n\r\nThe bare bones of the game are identical to Super Off Road. You (and a friend) play on eight tracks. Finishing behind the computer drones loses you one of your two credits. Occasionally gold wrenches appear on the track and can be picked up by running over them. These can be used to buy upgrades between races.\r\n\r\nControls are the same as Super Off Road, except there are no Nitros, but this is compensated for by your roof-mounted cannon. Shooting another car slows them down and also makes them drop any wrenches they may have picked up. so you can nip in there and take them for yourself (ha!).\r\n\r\nReviewer: David Upchurch\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nAmiga, £24.99, Out Now\r\nAtari ST, £24.99, Out Now\r\nIBM PC, £24.99, Imminent\r\nC64, £19.99 cart, Out Now\r\nAmstrad CPC, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now\r\nSpectrum, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 3/5\r\n1 hour: 4/5\r\n1 day: 2/5\r\n1 week: 1/5\r\n1 month: 0/5\r\n1 year: 0/5","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Mediocre presentation. The action holds your attention for a while and the weapons add much-needed spice, but on Speccy and CPC the poor graphics and slowness kill any addictiveness very quickly.","Page":"55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David Upchurch","Score":"689","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD CPC - Yes, this is NOT a Spectrum screenshot! Do not adjust your computer... the two versions are near identical."},{"Text":"ATARI ST - Tearing around the Prison Yard. Take care not to get crushed between the opening and shutting gates or picked off by the snipers in the towers!"},{"Text":"C64 - In the City there's a thousand things I want to shoot at you... (Yes, it's spot the lyric time!)."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMIGA\r\n\r\nThis is just a straight rehash of Atari's earlier Super Sprint with guns and seriously lack the bounce 'n' bash fun aspect of Ironman. While it's well programmed and fun for a while (especially with a friend to shoot at), there nothing here to really grab your attention unless you're a committed fan of the genre.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nAudio: 6/10\r\nIQ Factor: 3/10\r\nFun Factor: 7/10\r\nAce Rating: 780/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 3/5\r\n1 hour: 5/5\r\n1 day: 4/5\r\n1 week: 3/5\r\n1 month: 1/5\r\n1 year: 1/5"},{"Text":"AMSTRAD VERSION\r\n\r\nBy far the worst version. The background graphics are identical to the Spectrum's; very blocky and lacking any 3D effect (i.e. foreground buildings to travel behind). This might have been excusable had the game played okay, but it doesn't - everything is painfully slow. Avoid.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 4/10\r\nAudio: 4/10\r\nIQ Factor: 3/10\r\nFun Factor: 4/10\r\nAce Rating: 656/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 3/5\r\n1 hour: 4/5\r\n1 day: 2/5\r\n1 week: 1/5\r\n1 month: 0/5\r\n1 year: 0/5"},{"Text":"ATARI ST\r\n\r\nAgain, nothing new to report on the Atari front - identical to the Amiga.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nAudio: 6/10\r\nIQ Factor: 3/10\r\nFun Factor: 7/10\r\nAce Rating: 780/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 3/5\r\n1 hour: 5/5\r\n1 day: 4/5\r\n1 week: 3/5\r\n1 month: 1/5\r\n1 year: 1/5"},{"Text":"C64 VERSION\r\n\r\nAs with Ironman, this is the best 8-bit rendition of the game. Suitably fast, but the background graphics are a messy collage of pixels. Play-wise, the problems are the same as 16-bit machines.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 6/10\r\nAudio: 5/10\r\nIQ Factor: 3/10\r\nFun Factor: 7/10\r\nAce Rating: 765/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 3/5\r\n1 hour: 5/5\r\n1 day: 4/5\r\n1 week: 3/5\r\n1 month: 1/5\r\n1 year: 1/5"},{"Text":"GAME SPECS\r\n\r\nNumber Of Vehicles On Track: 3 - Up to 2 can be human controlled.\r\n\r\nNumber Of Tracks: 8 - Pretty straight forward, just scoot round as fast as possible. Occasional hazards, such as oil slicks, and spikes, add danger. Some tracks are animated, with opening and closing short-cut gates, snipers firing at you from towers and other goodies. Later you can bump into trackside objects to cause further mayhem (i.e. knock over water towers to make the track slippy). The different tracks are played one alter another, so it won't be long before you've soon all the variations.\r\n\r\nUpgrades: Missiles - Allow you to totally destroy other cars.\r\n\r\nShields - Protect you from attack by other vehicles.\r\n\r\nSpeed - Increases maximum speed possible.\r\n\r\nTurbos - Increase rate of acceleration.\r\n\r\nTires - Improve road holding when cornering.\r\n\r\nBrakes - Help you reduce speed more quickly.\r\n\r\nYou can have up to 99 Missiles and Shields. The rest of the upgrades have six possible \"levels\" of effectiveness."},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nVery drab backgrounds. Because the cars are coloured differently our old friend Mr Colour Clash pops up again. Unfortunately it's more than a minor niggle - when the cars are crashing, it's easy to lose track of which is yours in the mess of colours."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"689/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]