[{"TitleName":"Psytraxx","Publisher":"The Edge","Author":"Andrew Beale, Jack Wilkes, David John Rowe","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0003923","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 10, Nov 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-10-25","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":160,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nGeneral correspondence to: [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nGeneral office [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nPhotosetting by SIOS [redacted]\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £10.50 (UK Mainland post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £17.50 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: The Edge\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £6.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Andrew Beale\r\n\r\nPsytraxx is said by its producers to be the second true mega-game, the first having been their 64 game Quo Vadis? \"Now Spectrum owners can experience the fruits of our unbelievable synergy programming techniques,\" says the PR. No one at CRASH is entirely sure just what 'synergy' is when it's at home, or how it makes Psytraxx different from any other similar game type; and in as much Starbike looks uncannily like Lunar Jetman, Psytraxx looks uncannily like Atic Atac. You have a very large number of rooms, a wandering and questing hero and numerous manifestations of monsters, plus useful items to pick up on the way. As in Atic Atac, it it up to the player to discover how to do what, and what to do with it when you've got it.\r\n\r\nPsytraxx takes place inside that ever popular location, a computer. You are in control of a Microdroid and the object is to do battle with the nuts and bolls of its innards (diodes, chips and the like) while trying to gain access to a CPU by collecting the Key Cards. To keep your spirits up there are little green blocks in each room visited that charge you up so you can fire at and destroy the nasties, although in each life, once eaten the cake is gone. There are only five rooms (all framed in printed circuitry) at the start that you can visit without problem since the last is blocked off by a purple and a blue force field over two exit doors. Collecting the key card a few rooms before, however, will gain you access to the next area which is much larger. The Edge claim that there are over 1060 screens to play through, and as our reviewers discovered, the game isn't as straightforward as it first seems.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: A/Z up/down, O/P left/right, Q-T pick up and drop\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Sinclair, AGF, Protek\r\nKeyboard play: responsive 8-directional movement\r\nUse of colour: above average\r\nGraphics: reasonable size and detail, fast and fairly smooth\r\nSound: useful beeps and some effects, otherwise not much\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 3\r\nScreens: over a 1000","ReviewerComments":["Psytraxx is definitely an Atic Atac look-alike, a sort of arcade adventure in which you must obviously find out how all the various elements are linked in order to see a way through. it's a constant fight against the nasties and a battle to keep the energy up as contact with any of the fixtures in the rooms drains you rapidly, and once that's gone you have no defence against the diodes and resistors until another power pack is found. Each of the key cards found seems to allow you access to further parts of the complex, but there are puzzles too. What is the chip with OR on it? Touch it and you dissolve to be reformed, but the chip that was yellow is now white and all the rooms that were once white are now yellow. Repeating the process reverses the phenomenon. is it useful? This and many other questions will no doubt be answered in the forthcoming weeks! I found Psytraxx extremely playable and challenging. It's obviously a much larger game than Atic Atac, but the graphics are nowhere near as attractive and as far as I can determine at this state of play, there isn't actually as much to do either. Still, a worthwhile buy, and I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that the further in you get the more complicated play becomes, just as it did with the first three levels.\r\r\nUnknown","This game from The Edge is similar in general game idea to Atic Atac (but not as good by far). Generally the game is okay, with all the nasties (chips, diodes etc) looking quite good. But on my encounter I would hardly call it a mega-game; in fact it was a bit on the synergy side.\r\r\nUnknown","I know hype is important when it comes to grabbing attention, but I think The Edge have well and truly overdone it with Psytraxx. I'm not saying that it isn't an interesting game, but if this is a true mega-game then I haven't much hope left for Spectrum advances. Let's face it, with all the nonsense about \"synergy\" programming techniques, what we have here is a pale shadow of Atic Atac, but completely without the charm of that game. I was vaguely reminded as well of Softek's Microbot, which I thought was a much better game that Psytraxx. The graphics here aren't bad, the animation of the various enemies is reasonable but the 1000 plus rooms are pretty boring to look at. I guess this is another \"map\" game, as you can quickly become lost in the maze, but an important part is such games is that the locations should all have something to give them identity. Psytraxx lacks sadly in this respect. Because of this, I didn't find it particularly addictive.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A large-sized game which was generally felt to be above average to good, but over-priced.","Page":"19,20","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"A thousand plus rooms of connections and materialisations in PSYTRAXX."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"59%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"69%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 10, Dec 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-11-15","Editor":"Roger Munford","TotalPages":106,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Munford\r\nDeputy Editor: Tina Boylan\r\nTechnical Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: John Torofex, Tony Samuels, Trevor Merchant, Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis, Ian Beardsmore, Martin Evans, Robert Stockton, Max Phillips, Terry Bulfib, Mike Leaman, Toni Baker\r\nArt Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nArt Assistant: Steve Broadhurst\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Jill Harris\r\nAdvertising: Dave Baskerville\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint\r\nGroup Art Director: Perry Neville\r\nPublisher: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Spectrum ©1985 Felden productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Spectrum is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"PSYTRAXX\r\nThe Edge\r\n£7.95\r\r\n\r\nRoger: A sample tape with hardly any instructions didn't increase the likelihood of my establishing instant rapport with this game. I'm still not completely sure what you're supposed to achieve and/or whether there arc hidden programming secrets that incompetence and general lack of Willis-interest failed to unlock.\r\n\r\nIf my eyes haven't decieved me - which is always possible - the on-screen action occurs on a circuit board and involves the usual four-key control of movement plus the ability to zap any oppostion with what one can only assume are graphic attempts to represent electro-magnetic energy.\r\n\r\nI would call it a one-screen stand even though it's claimed to have over 1000! It's not that other screens didn't exist, they're just not that different. The graphics are abysmal - unclear and unoriginal. The screens seemed to suggest the programmer had defined a few characters at the most, and then used them around the edge.\r\n\r\nIf your vocabulary in Basic is even smaller than your basic vocabulary, then it might just hold your interest for longer than it did mine, but I doubt it. I'm afraid 1 have to report that this is one of the most boring and overrated games I've had the misfortune to play since an old schoolfriend brought out his conkers!","ReviewerComments":["A competent piece of software but rather dull in play and certainly not original. If you like mapping games, look no further.\r\nRoss Holman\r\n3/5 MISS","Very like Atic Atac in approach but with less interesting graphics. The Edge is claiming a new programming technique called Synergy allowing it to get over 1000 screens in 48K; Similar would probably be a better name 'cos that's what the rooms are.\r\nDave Nicholls\r\n2/5 MISS"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ross Holman","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"},{"Name":"Roger Willis","Score":"1","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"},{"Name":"Dave Nicholls","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 12, Nov 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-10-18","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":156,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nDeputy Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nStaff Writers: Peter Connor, Bob Wade\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nGame-of-the-month poster: Jeff Riddle\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublisher: Tony Harris\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Sarah Barron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Phil Pratt\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Susie Cooper\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Peter Goldstein\r\nAdvertisement Production: Noel O'Sullivan\r\nSales Executives: Ian Cross, Marion O'Neill\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 48K\r\nCONTROL: Keys, Kemp, Sinc\r\nFROM: The Edge, £7.95\r\n\r\nBRAIN DRAIN CHALLENGE\r\n\r\nFrom the same stable as Quo Vadis comes another 1,000-screen arcade-adventure starring a microdroid called Psytraxx.\r\n\r\nTrapped in the confines of the Emperor robot's brain circuitry this rebel droid is trying to deactivate his master and free all the other enslaved components.\r\n\r\nYou start your quest at the edge connector and have to find your way to the CPU and turn it off. Many problems and hundreds of rooms bar your way and a map will be essential in the long run.\r\n\r\nEach room is ringed by circuitry and contains components, some stationary and others which can move around. Contact with the circuits and electronics will deplete your energy in the form of your regeneration factor (RF).\r\n\r\nIf you hit a bit of moving micro hardware you lose a life although to start with they are fairly easy to avoid. You can also shoot these with your electric sparks which only zap to your left and right and use up your RF as well.\r\n\r\nAs you explore the rooms force field doors are encountered which can only be opened by the appropriate identity cards. These and several other objects can be found lying around for you to pick up.\r\n\r\nThe doorways between rooms appear a tight fit for your droid at first, but they allow you to get through even if you don't hit them spot on. Some are partially blocked by other circuitry and a steady hand is needed to avoid RF losses.\r\n\r\nIn nearly all the rooms there are green pills which replenish your RF, though they should be used as sparingly as possible. A keen eye is needed on this or you may find yourself with no energy and surrounded by hostile capacitors, resistors and diodes.\r\n\r\nThere are four circuit boards and hence four different levels to explore. You can move between levels by way of 'OR' gates which are colour-coded appropriately.\r\n\r\nThe main asset of the game is again size and hence the screens and characters are not that great to look at and there is no music or stunning sound effects. It is compulsive though as you explore and familiarize yourself with the layout, especially since the game gets tougher for every bit you solve.\r\n\r\nThere is actually a real arcade feel to this game as you blast your way about and it's large enough and complicated enough to keep the old grey matter moving as well.","ReviewerComments":["An impressive program by any reckoning - pleasant enough to look at and use, with a really challenging long-term goal.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe point about the 1,000 screens is not that you get great variety of graphics - you don't - but that you've got an absorbing task on your hands finding your way around. In this sense it's five times bigger than Atic Atac.\r\r\n\r\r\nMost of the aliens are animated drawings of electronic components and look very pretty. One nice touch is that as the game progresses more than 25 different species appear - and they get meaner the longer you go on.\r\r\n\r\r\nI also like the fact that at the very end of the game, when you've deactivated the CPU, a clock starts counting down, giving you about three minutes to escape. This should mean a pulsating finish!\r\nChris Anderson","It seems that the current thinking in software is: 'the bigger the game, the better' and this game follows the trend featuring 1,026 rooms - and that's BIG! Who's dogged enough to map that?\r\r\n\r\r\nGraphics are only so-so though your man is well-animated. The sound is extremely good and the control keys are nicely positioned. But it's the sheer size which is the main attraction. It'll be a good while before Psytraxx is completed I would think.\r\r\n\r\r\nThe key to its compulsiveness is the hope of discovering the elusive CPU.\r\nMartyn Smith","Being so similar to Ultimate's Atic Atac it will inevitably be compared with it.\r\r\n\r\r\nHowever, it is bigger than Atic Atac, it has an original scenario, quite pretty graphics and smooth animation.\r\nPeter Walker"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"72,73","Denied":false,"Award":"PCG Hit","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Wade","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"},{"Name":"Chris Anderson","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Martyn Smith","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Peter Walker","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Psytraxx was programmed by 17-year-old Andrew Beale from Tolworth in Surrey. He wrote the game over a five-month period in between study for A-levels. Previous games for Softek include Microbot and Megapede."},{"Text":"Zany action with Psytraxx inside the Emperor's brain."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 37, Nov 1984","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1984-10-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":212,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nStaff Writers/Reader Services: Robert Schifreen, Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Mary Morton\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertising Executives: Bernard Dugdale, Sean Brennan, Phil Godsell\r\nProduction Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £14. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nPrinted by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd, [redacted]. Typeset by In-Step Ltd.\r\n\r\nCover: Steinar Lund"},"MainText":"SOFTEK HAS THE EDGE\r\n\r\nSoftek, the producers of the highly successful Quo Vadis? and Star Bike games, have changed their name.\r\n\r\nFollowing a large reshuffle in the company's employees and a change of direction in the company's approach to games production, the company has decided to rename its newly enlarged software development team, The Edge.\r\n\r\nPsytrazz is the first game published under the new label.\r\n\r\nIt uses the software house's newly developed programming technique - \"Synergy\" which allows the programmer to incorporate over 100 different screens into a single Spectrum game.\r\n\r\nThe original company, Softek International, has been split in to several different arms because of the increasing diversity of the firm's business. Psytrazz will be available at the beginning of October. It runs on the 48K Spectrum and costs £7.95.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"30","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 85, Nov 1984","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1984-10-26","Editor":"Peter Worlock","TotalPages":66,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Peter Worlock\r\nProduction Editor: Lauraine Turner\r\nSub Editor: Harriet Arnold\r\nEditor's Assistant: Karen Isaac\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writer: Ralph Bancroft, Sandra Grandison\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPeripherals Editor: Kenn Garroch\r\nHardware Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nPrograms Editor: Nickie Robinson\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: Dave Alexander\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Tim Brown\r\nLayout Artist: Bruce Preston\r\nPublisher: Cyndy Miles\r\nPublishing Assistant: Tobe Bendeth\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Peter Goldstein\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Bettina Williams\r\nAssistant Advertisement Managers: Laura Cade, Claire Rowbottom\r\nSales Executives: Claire Barnes, Phil Benson, Mike Blackman, Julian Burns, Steve Corrick, Tony Keefe, Andrew Flint, Christian McCarthy, Isabel Middleton, Sarah Musgrave, Tony O'Reilly, Anita Stokes\r\nProduction: Richard Gaffrey\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Jan Moore\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper"},"MainText":"PRICE: £7.95\r\nPUBLISHER: The Edge [redacted]\r\n\r\nDescribed as a mega game, Psytraxx boasts 1,000 screens of playing area, something unknown to the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nThe hero is a small, dome-headed, pincer-handed robot who has been let loose inside a gigantic network of rooms - the 1000 screens. The entire network is supposed to be the internal circuitry of a tyrannical Emperor Robot who created and placed the microdroid there.\r\n\r\nNow the microdroid has decided to avenge his fellow oppressed druids. To complete his mission he must seek out the key program cards to deactivate forcefields, gain access to the CPU and pull the Emperor's plug.\r\n\r\nThe game has a basic similarity to Berzerk - you have to move from chamber to chamber, dodging or firing at the inhabitants. Although the microdroid can move in any direction, he can only fire his tiny bolts to the left or right.\r\n\r\nThe opposition turn out to be animated chips, transistors and sundry other computer components. Each of these appear first as dispersed molecules before forming into a more solid and mobile state. Contact with the enemy spells immediate loss of one of three lives.\r\n\r\nEach room has several obstructions and at least one exit. This may be blocked by a force field which can be deactivated by collecting program cards. Once an exit is used, the screen changes instantly to the next room. The microdroid can recharge his ever-draining batteries by passing over little green fuel cells.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are colourful. If fairly simple, and the animation of the various enemies is neatly and humourously done (chips with moving legs!). The game theme can hardly be said to be original, but it has been implemented with style.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Chappell","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]