[{"TitleName":"Revenge of the C5","Publisher":"Atlantis Software Ltd","Author":"Barry Jones","YearOfRelease":"1985","ZxDbId":"0004117","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 28, May 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-04-24","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writers: Hannah Smith, Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Robin Candy, John Minson, Rosetta McLeod\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton\r\nProcess Camera: Matthew Uffindell\r\nPhotographer: Cameron Pound\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nInformation and Bookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted];\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nJULY-DEC 1985\r\nTotal: 93,356\r\nUK: 89,441"},"MainText":"Producer: Atlantis\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\n\r\nA certain bespectacled, balding, small person by the name of Clive is out to prove how reliable his electric car is after receiving more than a fair amount of bashing by nasty media people. To prove what a reliable and Milton Keynes form of transport his plastic pram is, he's entered it for the arduous and raucous annual cross country competition. Not wanting to be made to look silly and seeing a chance for yet another dig at the CE the press have laid in wait several anti-C5 devices that should make the C5 driver's journey more than a little hairy. The country to be crossed is not what you would call 'nice' at all - it's mostly roads but the obstructions within the roads are the things to be avoided. Electrically motorised connection with anything that's not particularly road-like results in a mixture of entrails and C5 plastic spread all over the street.\r\n\r\nThere are 41 different sections to the course traversed by moving up the screen and being flicked into the next. Displayed from a very tall person's point of view, everything is seen from above. As in real life the controls for the C5 are far from comprehensive. Left and right comes in three different varieties: slow, medium and fast. Four keys are used, two for each direction, one is slow the other medium speed while both held in unison brings in a burst of mega turbo speed. Another key is supplied which adds pedal power to the weak battery, giving a bit of a boost.\r\n\r\nThe nasties planted by the press wander along predetermined paths on each screen and more often than not there's only one of them. On some screens a line of traffic presents a bit of a problem and careful speed control is needed to get past such sheets. Every tenth section a handy bonus screen is presented with the promise of lots of extra points dependent on your skill. The first, for instance, asks for the C5 to be parked in a trickily small garage.\r\n\r\nEven though there are no other contestants in sight, it is a race and if all 41 screens are completed then a comment and placing is delivered to you and you can judge your own progress. Otherwise no rating is given and the next day the whole of the media will be poking fun at Clive's plastic wonder and you wouldn't want that would you?\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: 1/0 slow left/right; 2/9 fast left/right; in combination for very fast left/right, Space to peddle Joystick: none\r\nKeyboard play: awkward with fairly slow responses\r\nUse of colour: average\r\nGraphics: primitive, although some nicely detailed sprites Sound: poor\r\nScreens: 41","ReviewerComments":["Though the scenario is quite fun it's a shame the game doesn't really live up to it. It really is a horror from our computing past. Revenge of the C5 is one of the most tediously simple things that's been thrown my way for a long time. There are no outstanding features to be found however hard you may look. What's more it's awkward, for some strange reason the A key is of some important significance to the game and repeated presses of it are required to move between various option and title screens, Compared to other budget releases Revenge of the C5 does look rather silty. Miss it at your fortune.\r\r\nUnknown","I couldn't help laughing on reading the inlay - 'evil newspaper reporters' after the C5. This is a game which was written for a budget buy and the scenario and game suit the price. Going on looks, it looks like 'one of the first Spectrum games' (as an enquiring head muttered over my shoulder - it was Roger Kean, he should know). The game has flickery graphics and of course attribute problems, which could easily have been avoided. Revenge of the C5 has that certain amount of simple addictivity which occurred in games such as Roller Coaster and Jetpac, but I'm afraid it lacks in sound, graphics and presentation, all of which are of a very simple nature. It's very poor on all aspects but will require a lot of patience, memory and skill to complete it. You could be hooked after your first game but I shouldn't think you'd load it again.\r\r\nUnknown","This is not the best Atlantis game I have seen but it certainly isn't the worst. The idea behind it is quite fun although it isn't very original, win a race and dodge all the nasties. The graphics seem to suffer from inbuilt flicker which is pretty hard on the eyes after a while. The characters are undetailed and they move around the place abysmally but there are lots of them - the playing area is about the best feature of the graphics with bushes, houses, trees and the like by the side of the road or littering your path, which are all nicely drawn. The sound is pretty awful and there are no effects during the game itself other than the horrid sound when you crash your buggy, this horrid sound repeats itself on the title screen whenever you press a key. After forcing myself to play this one until I got a decent-ish score I discovered to my amazement that I was quite enjoying it. Quite a jolly game this one but I can't really see myself playing it for long.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A very dated looking and feeling game with some addictive merits for its low price.","Page":"29","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"41%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"34%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"38%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"42%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"42%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 53, Aug 1986","Price":"£0.98","ReleaseDate":"1986-07-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nSenior Staff Writer: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writers: Clare Edgeley\r\nDesigner: Gareth Jones\r\nEditorial Secretary: Norisah Fenn\r\nAdventure Writers: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nHardware Correspondent: John Lambert\r\nContributors: Jerry Muir, Gary Rook, Tony Kendle, Richard Price, Mike Wright, Brian Cooper\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Rory Doyle\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Lee Sullivan\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nOriginal programs should be on cassette and articles should be typed. Please write Program Printout on the envelopes of all cassettes submitted. We cannot undertake to return cassettes unless an SAE is enclosed. We pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 90,215 July-Dec 1985"},"MainText":"REVENGE OF THE C5\r\nLabel: Atlantis\r\nProgrammer: B Jones\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nReviewer: Jerry Muir\r\n\r\nLet's face it, that undignified larger-than-life electric skateboard was always set to end up as the central joke of a computer game.\r\n\r\nIts energy-saving, pollution-free promise for a better future was highly admirable - but would you really want to be seen riding one? Sir Clive doesn't mind, and to prove it he's entered it in a rally.\r\n\r\nHowever, Fleet Street's finest are in search of a good story and are out to stop the C5's record breaking bid. As Clive pedals he'll encounter obstacles ranging from prosaic traffic to more exotic emanations - or ghoulies to you!\r\n\r\nWhat this means is a simple Steer the Sprite game without even a scrolling screen. Instead you choose your course from the paths available, swerve to either side, with three angles of turn, and perhaps pedal faster as you avoid the menaces.\r\n\r\nIt's quite addictive for a short while, but it's also about as primitive as the vehicle in question. Unless you really want a reminder of that fateful project - or of what Spectrum games were like when the machines first appeared - forget it.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Scrappy sprites and unsophisticated gameplay make this as tired and old-hat as the 'joke' at its core.","Page":"46","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jerry Muir","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]