<Author>Craig Galley, David Crummack</Author><Publisher>The Power House</Publisher><Reviews><Review><Award>Not Awarded</Award><BlurbText /><CompilationReviewScores /><Denied>false</Denied><Issue><Editor>Steve Jarratt</Editor><FlannelPanel>EDITORIAL [redacted] Editor: Steven Jarratt Deputy Editor: Dominic Handy Assistant Editor: Katharina Hamza Staff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts Technical Writers: Jon Bates, Simon N Goodwin Editorial Assistant: Frances Mable Photography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant) Contributors: Robin Candy, Raffaele Cecco, Mel Croucher, Paul Evans, Philippa Irving, Brendon Kavanagh, Paul Sumner PRODUCTION [redacted] Art Director: Mark Kendrick Assistant Art Director: Wayne Allen Design & Layout: Yvonne Priest, Melvyn Fisher Pre-Print Manager: Jonathan Rignall Reprographics/Film Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard, Ian Chubb, Robert Millichamp Publishing Controller: David Western Editorial Director: Roger Kean Advertisement Manager: Roger Bennett Sales Executive: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman Assistant: Jackie Morris [redacted] Mail Order: Carol Kinsey Subscriptions: Denise Roberts [redacted] Typeset 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] COMPETITION RULES The 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. Total: 96,590 UK/EIRE: 90,822 ©CRASH Ltd, 1988 Cover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey</FlannelPanel><HasCoverTape>false</HasCoverTape><Name>Crash Issue 54, Jul 1988</Name><Price>£1.5</Price><ReleaseDate>1988-06-30</ReleaseDate><TotalPages>116</TotalPages></Issue><MainText>Producer: The Power House Retail Price: £1.99 Author: David Crummack and Craig Galley Earth is under attack from a fleet of colossal alien ships and you're the only one that knows about it. Your tiny scout ship is the only thing that stands between earth and its imminent destruction. Enemies fly in over a monochrome, vertically scrolling background of aerially viewed space cruisers, firing bullets. Collision with aliens or their fire results in the immediate loss of one of five lives. Shooting the energy-giving solar panels on the huge cruisers slows down the fleet giving time for Earth's forces to regroup. Equipment can be improved by flying over a series of flashing squares which hold extra speed, lives and ammunition. Each level culminates in a confrontation with an alien mothership. Destroys it or simply avoid its shots to allow passage to the next level. COMMENTS Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: monochromatic. Originally drawn aliens, very smooth animation Sound: limited spot effects</MainText><OverallSummary>General Rating: An addictive little shoot 'em up representing good value for money.</OverallSummary><Page>21</Page><ReviewScores><ReviewScore><Header>Presentation</Header><Score>60%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Graphics</Header><Score>55%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Playability</Header><Score>65%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Addictive Qualities</Header><Score>68%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Overall</Header><Score>61%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore></ReviewScores><ReviewerComments xmlns:d5p1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays"><d5p1:string>As another vertically scrolling, monochrome shoot 'em up to add to the ever-growing list, Powerama definitely holds its own. It's nothing spectacular but, within the limits it sets itself, it's competently presented and very playable. As much as possible has been done to increase the life-time of the game. Aliens descend in different formations on every level so you don't need to go into automatic pilot every time you play and you can begin on any one of the first four stages. If you're after a cheap and standard shoot 'em up, and as long as you're not too bothered about designer graphics, Powerama might just be the one. Kati Hamza 62%</d5p1:string><d5p1:string>For two pounds Powerama is quite a pleasing little shoot 'am up. At first the graphics may not seem up to much, but the alien hordes are originally drawn and swarm around the screen at a controllable pace. Colour, not extensively used in games of this type, is limited - only a few blobs on bonus objects - but are, like the game in general, smoothly scrolled. Some of the ground objects may seem familiar (like the main ship and those little blocks, both from Uridium) but for £1.99 you can't complain. Good to see a starting level option - although even the first level is reasonably frantic. Let's hope that The Power House continue producing software of this higher quality. Paul Sumner 60%</d5p1:string></ReviewerComments><Reviewers><Reviewer><Name>Kati Hamza</Name><Score>62</Score><ScoreSuffix>%</ScoreSuffix></Reviewer><Reviewer><Name>Paul Sumner</Name><Score>60</Score><ScoreSuffix>%</ScoreSuffix></Reviewer></Reviewers><ScreenshotText><ScreenshotAndBlurbText><Text>The Power House's best.</Text></ScreenshotAndBlurbText></ScreenshotText><TranscriptBy>Chris Bourne</TranscriptBy></Review><Review><Award>Not Awarded</Award><BlurbText /><CompilationReviewScores /><Denied>false</Denied><Issue><Editor>Teresa Maughan</Editor><FlannelPanel>Editor: Teresa Maughan Art Editor: Darrell King Deputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann Technical Editor: Phil South Production Editors: Jackie Ryan, Sophie Moorcock Designer: Catherine Higgs Contributors: Richard Blaine, Owen & Audrey Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Graeme Kidd, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, Nat Pryce, Peter Shaw, Ben Stone Advertisement Manager: Mark Salmon Advertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield Advertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay Production Manager: Judith Middleton Marketing Manager: Bryan Denyer Art Director: Hazel Bennington Publisher: Kevin Cox Publishing Director: Roger Munford Finance Director: Colin Crawford Managing Director: Stephen England Chairman: Felix Dennis Published by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Typesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted] Reproduction: Graphic Ideas, London Printers: Chase Web Offset [redacted] Distribution: Seymour Press [redacted] All 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.</FlannelPanel><HasCoverTape>false</HasCoverTape><Name>Your Sinclair Issue 32, Aug 1988</Name><Price>£1.5</Price><ReleaseDate>1988-07-12</ReleaseDate><TotalPages>92</TotalPages></Issue><MainText>POWERAMA Power House £1.99 Reviewer: Nat Pryce A fleet of huge alien spaceships is heading towards earth and only you, a humble scout ship, can stop them in time. Isn't it fortunate how routine patrols are always around when megalomanic aliens go on the rampage? Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how good a pilot you are), you decide to do what any empty headed space hero would do, blow them aliens to smithereens! So you zoom along each alien dreadnought and suddenly... you're in a vertically scrolling monochrome shoot em up! As with all blasters these days, there are some bolt on goodies to stick on your ship and great lumpy mother ships to blow away at the end of each level. The scrolling is smooth and the graphics are neat, if not incredibly imaginative, but unfortunately the game itself is incredibly run-of-the-mill. I'm not saying that it's bad, mind, but just that there are better games, in a similar vein, in this price range.</MainText><OverallSummary></OverallSummary><Page>36,37</Page><ReviewScores><ReviewScore><Header>Overall</Header><Score>6/10</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore></ReviewScores><ReviewerComments xmlns:d5p1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays" /><Reviewers><Reviewer><Name>Nat Pryce</Name><Score>6</Score><ScoreSuffix>/10</ScoreSuffix></Reviewer></Reviewers><ScreenshotText /><TranscriptBy>Chris Bourne</TranscriptBy></Review><Review><Award>Not Awarded</Award><BlurbText /><CompilationReviewScores /><Denied>false</Denied><Issue><Editor>Graham Taylor</Editor><FlannelPanel>Editor: Graham 'El Presidente' Taylor Staff Writer: Jim Douglas Production Editor: Tamara Howard Art Editor: Gareth Jones Designer: Andrea Walker Adventure: The Sorceress Zapchat: Jon Riglar Technical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins Contributors: Tony 'I'm a headbanger' Dillon, Chris 'Leave off my jelly babies' Jenkins Advertisement Manager: Katherine Lee Deputy Advertisement Manager: Margaret 'I'll spell that for you' Caddick-Adams Advertisement Executive: Alison Morton Ad Production: Emma Ward Publisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson Publisher: Terry Pratt Marketing: Clive Pembridge Phone: [redacted] Fax: [redacted] Subscriptions: [redacted] Back Issues: [redacted] Editorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted] This Month's Cover: Bryan Talbot Printed by Nene River Press, [redacted] Distributed by EMAP Publications Ltd. ©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458</FlannelPanel><HasCoverTape>false</HasCoverTape><Name>Sinclair User Issue 76, Jul 1988</Name><Price>£1.5</Price><ReleaseDate>1988-06-18</ReleaseDate><TotalPages>108</TotalPages></Issue><MainText>Label: Power House Author: D. Drummack and C. Galley Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Chris Jenkins What a spiffy little shoot-'em-up! Not a jot of originality, to be sure, but the software equivalent of a really hot, steamy Big Mac - greasy but satisfying. Powerama (is it meant to be Power-ama or Pow-erama? I dunno) features some neat designs, excellent sprite masking and scrolling, and a good deal of vertically-scrolling havoc. Whilst your spaceship looks a bit like a distorted Smiley Face (I think the features are meant to be portholes and vents) the alien fighters are suitably sinister and threatening, and the features of the enemy battle cruisers over which you fly are nicely designed. All you have to do is blast the surface features in order to deactivate the fleet's solar energy converters and give your fleet a chance to regroup and attack. Rather than sitting watching Neighbours, the aliens churlishly decide to blast you to atoms, so as you proceed upwards you'll have to fight them off. The attack waves are semi-random, so every game is different. Swirling from the top and side of the screen, all the aliens can be destroyed with one blast from your laser, but some move faster and less predictably than others. As you progress you'll see small flashing icons which you must fly over. This gives you extra speed (which you'll definitely need if you want to get through the early stages), extra bullets and bonus lives. At the end of each level there's a mother ship which can probably be destroyed, but as it throws bombs at you at a generous speed, it's better to keep well out of its way. Get yourself killed, and you'll disintegrate convincingly. On the high score table you can choose to start on any of the first four levels. I can't see anyone regretting investing in Powerama; gameplay's fine, the sound's OK and the graphic design is good. I particularly like the way in which the alien ships are always highly visible, despite the fact that your own ship, the aliens and the background are shown in the same colour. That's the sign of meticulous work.</MainText><OverallSummary>Excellent budget vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up.</OverallSummary><Page>45</Page><ReviewScores><ReviewScore><Header>Graphics</Header><Score>80%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Sound</Header><Score>70%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Playability</Header><Score>80%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Lastability</Header><Score>92%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore><ReviewScore><Header>Overall</Header><Score>82%</Score><Text></Text></ReviewScore></ReviewScores><ReviewerComments xmlns:d5p1="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/Arrays" /><Reviewers><Reviewer><Name>Chris Jenkins</Name><Score>82</Score><ScoreSuffix>%</ScoreSuffix></Reviewer></Reviewers><ScreenshotText /><TranscriptBy>Chris Bourne</TranscriptBy></Review></Reviews><TitleName>Powerama</TitleName><YearOfRelease>1988</YearOfRelease><ZxDbId>0003856</ZxDbId>