[{"TitleName":"Shoot-Out","Publisher":"Martech Games Ltd","Author":"Last Chance Conversions, Steinar Lund","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0004466","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 39, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-16","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor Goodall\r\nEditorial Assistant: David Wilson\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Richard Blaine, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine Peters, Rachael Smith, Phil South\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Stephen Bloy\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Katherine Balchin\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Terry Grimwood\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1989 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."},"MainText":"Martech\r\n£8.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Jonathan Davies\r\n\r\nClichesville, Alabama. The town is restless. The boys from Dusty's place are running riot. Raping, pillaging and generally smashing the place up. There's only one thing for it... call in Quick Hand Luke.\r\n\r\nBang! Bang! Peeeow! Zing! Cue digitised horsed hooves, ricochet noises! Yeeharr!\r\n\r\nAt least, that's what I was hoping. Fruitlessly, it turns out, cos Shoot Out is nothing more than a 1953 move-the-cursor-round-the-screen-and-zap-everything game, based on the kind of idea that used to have Vic-20 owners wringing their hands in glee.\r\n\r\nTo be sure, there are two different levels. First, shoot all the tin cans lined up on the fence within a time limit. (Quite how this helps the long-suffering townsfolk is beyond me?) Then, wander along the street blasting baddies as they appear in the windows. Some of them are unarmed, but others have an annoying habit of firing back if you're not quick enough on the trigger.\r\n\r\nSee what I mean? just about everybody's tried writing a game like this at some point in their career, and they always get totally slated, so why does Martech think it's going to get away with this one? Especially as it's made the fatal error of putting screen shots on the back of the box.\r\n\r\nAh, the graphics are excellent though. Nicely drawn, well animated and smoothly scrolled. But how does that help when the game itself is totally, utterly, completely and without exception... boring! Two minutes of it and I'd had enough. Yeurch! Spit!\r\n\r\nAnd as if that wasn't enough, the cursor won't stay still. The flippin' thing whizzes around all of its own accord, so hitting anything is very much down to chance. Obviously a 'special feature' or something...\r\n\r\nIt would have been nice to have had a little atmospheric music playing in the background to liven things up a bit. Or how about a few extra levels in addition to the endless repeats of the two that are already there? Even if it meant, dare I say it, multiloading? Nope. Nothing of the sort.\r\n\r\nThis is a real armpit of a game which needs a thorough taking back to the drawing board. There's potential in them thar graphics, but the rest of it should have been pensioned off years ago. Unless you've escaped from an asylum for incurable Dragon 32 owners, or have just been sucked through a time-warp from the 18th century, avoid it like a strawberry-flavoured Quality Street.\r\n\r\nWake me up in an hour or two, would you?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Bog-standard shooting things with a cursor game. Very, very boring indeed.","Page":"84","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]