[{"TitleName":"Professional Go-Kart Simulator","Publisher":"Zeppelin Games Ltd","Author":"Hugh Mo","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0003896","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 81, Oct 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-09-20","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writer: Mark Caswell\r\nEditorial Assistant: Viv Vickress\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nContributors: Nick (Pie Scan!) Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nProduction Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nArt Director: Mark (Sparkie!) Kendrick\r\nReprographics: Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Rob (the Rev) Hamilton, Jenny Reddard\r\nDesign: David Western, Melvin Fisher\r\nSystems Manager: Ian (\"E\") Chubb\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Production Assistants: Jackie Morris, Joanne Lewis\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nUK Subscriptions and Back Issues enquiries Robert Edwards [redacted]. Yearly Subscription Rates UK £15.40 Europe £22 Air Mail Overseas £35.\r\nUS/Canada subscriptions and Back Issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly Subscriptions Rates US$47 Canada CAN$57 Back Issues US$5.20 Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nDesigned and typeset on Apple Macintosh II computers using Quark Express and Adobe Illustrator '88, output at MBI [redacted] with systems support from Digital Reprographics [redacted]. Colour 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\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 Viv Vickress a line at the main 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. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Colour photographic material should be 35mm transparencies wherever possible. 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":"Zeppelin Games\r\n£2.99\r\n\r\nGo-karting hasn't been used as a game theme for, um... well, it's never been used! So, if you fancy racing it up, jump in!\r\n\r\nThere are three circuits to race around, each different in layout, featuring hills, valleys and plenty of scenery that flies past at a rate of knots. Racing against three other crazy 'karters and the clock, your kart is equipped with a hell of a lot of speed: four gears, and a turbo booster for that extra thrust.\r\n\r\nGameplay is incredibly simple - push down on the accelerator and keep your kart on the track! But it's not easy, especially as there are so many signs, billboards and hay bales lining the route - crash into one and your kart goes flying sky high! Pro Go-kart Simulator, as the inlay says, is all about speed - unfortunately there's just a bit too much. Your 'kart has two speeds: none and too fast, making it tough to keep total control of the 'kart. The action happens screen centre, surrounded with decorative bits and bobs, but the playing area is too small to clearly see what's happening on the track. Well programmed and technically very good, it suffers from lack of solid playability to keep you coming back for more.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"47","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Richard Eddy","Score":"66","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"66%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 59, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-11","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Director: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: SM Distribution [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":"PROFESSIONAL GO-KART SIMULATOR\r\nZeppelin Games\r\n£2.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nStill no sign of Andy 'Street Hawk' Ounsted's Crap Bike Simulator, only this Pro Go-Kart Sim from Zeppelin. Which is a pretty good thing really, because I'm sure you'd agree that a game which is murder to start up, breaks down every five minutes and won't go above 27 and a half mph (on a good day) would be a bit crap. Very crap, in fact. Luckily, though, Pro Cart Sim is a whole bucket of carrots better, so let's talk about that instead, eh, sports-fans?\r\n\r\nHmm. Not that much to say really. (Make up your mind! Ed) It's a back-view-of-your-vehicle- drive-into-the-screen jobby (along the lines of OutRun, Enduro Racer etc), but you could've probably worked that out from the screenshot. The whole thing chugs along at a cracking pace - almost too fast to handle sometimes because you do tend to start crashing into walls and things which appear from absolutely nowhere. That's more than a bit annoying, and forces me to lower its mark by absolutely loads. But there is lots of variety (four tracks to choose from), and the thing's really quite playable and dead easy to get into.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"59","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Pity the view you've got here isn't from some whopping great Mack truck, eh? Then you could squash all those poncy go-karts right into the tarmac! Heh heh."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"59%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 105, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nActing Dept Editor: Gary 'Wide Boy' Liddon\r\nDesigners: Jenny Abrook, Gareth 'Boyo' Jones\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim 'Brummie Git' Owens\r\nAd Production: Emma 'Cor Blimey' Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistants: Sarah 'JR' Ewing, Sarah 'No vices' Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham 'Interesting' Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry '....er..' Pratt\r\n\r\n©1990 EMAP Images, [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by G'n'G, output to a 20260 Liddontype\r\nColour work: Pro Print.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher Web Ltd, Peterborough.\r\nDistributed: Frontline.\r\n\r\nIf any part of this magazine is reproduced without permission you're in BIG trubs sonny!"},"MainText":"Label: Zeppelin\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nOh dear. This isn't so much Pro Go-Kart Simulator, more Pro Making You Go Blind As You Squint at the Awful Graphics Simulator.\r\n\r\nTrouble is, in the effort to convey the speed and excitement of go-kart racing, the programmers have decided to make the screen as busy as possible, with the track lurching up and down and things whizzing out of the background at breakneck speed, zooming from side to side and disappearing in a whirl of pixels.\r\n\r\nThe result is a completely messy display which may look fine from the screenshots, but just you try playing it and keeping track (agghh!) of what's going on.\r\n\r\nYou begin on the starting grid with all four of your competitors in your sights. As the timer finishes counting down, they zoom off, leaving you in hot pursuit as you crash through your four gears, which change automatically as you pick up speed. At the appropriate moment you can floor the accelerator to get a Turbo Boost, but when you do the likely outcome is that you'll bash into one of the obstacles on the track, such as straw bales and lap boards, spin through space and end up in a heap of dust on the side of the road.\r\n\r\nThere's a bit more to it than just flooring the accelerator and smashing into something, but not much. The position indicator at the top of the screen shows you the remaining distance to go, and there are speed, lap and fuel indicators at the bottom of the screen. On either side are pictures of your leering opponents who pursue you over the three available tracks.\r\n\r\nThere's the seed of a good game here, but even if the animation wasn't so blindingly messy, it wouldn't have fared much in the way of originality.\r\n\r\nOn the whole, then, it's the pits (pun).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"This game is most easily summed up by: \"Crap on four wheels!\"","Page":"73","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"47","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"47%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 108, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-16","Editor":"Julian Rignall","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nAssociate Editor: Paul Glancey\r\nArt Editor: Angela Walker\r\nStaff Writers: Robert Swan, Richard Leadbetter\r\nAdvertising Manager: Nigel Taylor\r\nDep Ad Manager: Martha Moloughney\r\nProduction Assistant: Glenys Powell\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nCover Artist: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: C+VG Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted By: Kingfisher Web, [redacted]\r\nColour By: Proprint, [redacted]\r\nTypeset By: PG's Romulan Printer Fleet\r\nDistributed By: BBC Frontline\r\n\r\n©C+VG 1990\r\nISSN No: 0261-3697"},"MainText":"Zeppelin Games\r\nSpectrum £2.99\r\n\r\nBurn along to three test tracks and race YOUR Go-Kart against four of the craziest Go-Karting enthusiasts ever to hit the face of the Earth. Aha! But you have a secret weapon up your sleeves (and presumably on your Kart) - turbo boost power!\r\n\r\nAs you can tell from the screenshot, the viewing area in this 3D game isn't quite large enough, and even with this reduced space, the 3D itself is jerky and unconvincing. My advice is to forget about this tepid release right now and choose something better, like that fine golden oldie (now also at budget price) Enduro Racer.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"This isn't really that bad, but quality games of this ilk are two a penny at the budget price.","Page":"70","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"52%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]