[{"TitleName":"Sidewinder II","Publisher":"Mastertronic Plus","Author":"Dave Thompson","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0004493","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 85, Jan 1993","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-12-13","Editor":"Linda Barker","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"YOUR SINCLAIR\r\nABC 40,648\r\n\r\nEditor: Linda Barker\r\nArt Editor: Andy Ounsted\r\nStaff Writer: Jon Pillar\r\nEditorial Contributors: Steve Anderson, Craig Broadbent, Dave Golder, Tim Kemp, Stuart Campbell, Simon Cooke\r\nArt Contributors: Nick Davies, Phil McCardle\r\nCover Artwork: Mike Roberts\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Jackie Garford\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Lisa Read\r\nProduction Technicians: Chris Stocker\r\nScanning: Simon Windsor, Jon Moore, Simon Chittenden\r\nPublisher: Colin Campbell\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director Chris Anderson\r\n\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: Future Publishing Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written permission of W Scribo.\r\n\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair has got more gold glitter in its little fingernail than Commodore Format, Amstrad Action, Amiga Format, PCW Plus, PC Answers, Mega, Super Play, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Cycling Plus, Photo Plus, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format, Public Domain, ST Format, Total! and Today's Vegetarian put together."},"MainText":"Virgin Mastertronic\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\n[redacted]\r\nReviewer: Linda Barker\r\n\r\nI've no idea why we've never reviewed Sidewinder 2. Originally released by Mastertronic back in the heady days of 1989, (I lived in a house called Dalrod that year, y'know) this is a perfectly respectable spacey shoot-'em-'up a la a monochrome Xecutor. Okay, so it's nothing amazing but it's simply not bad enough to ignore.\r\n\r\nI suppose you could call it discrimination, but I like games where you have jump into a space-hopping podule and blow up lots of things. I like crashing into planets and disintegrating into tiny glowing particles. I know that Sidewinder 2 is an old game with old-fashioned graphics and bleepy sound, but I enjoyed it. Yep! I was expecting it to be completely dire, but it's the most throwaway, bubble-gum kinda fun game I've played in, oooh, about half an hour. There is a plot to Sidewinder 2 but it's not worth going into, the gameplay too is the usual kind of thing, simply get into your spaceship, fly up the vertically-rolling screen, blow up everything in sight and replace your wasted bullets by picking up more along the way. (Well, I did say it was simple.) The game itself is far from the most difficult of its ilk that I've played, but neither is it ridiculously easy. With games like this you either a) decide early on to keep on trying or you b) leave it for now and go and fix a marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich. The decision depends largely on how good the game is (and how much you like marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwiches) and Sidewinder 2 isn't a good enough game to hook you. Still, after a few sandwiches you won't be able to move and with the joystick in your marshmallowy mitt and all your other games upstairs you'll probably start to enjoy Sidewinder 2 more than you thought.\r\n\r\n£3.99 doesn't go far these days... (I suppose you remember when crisps were five pence a packet? Jon) (Well, yes I do. What are you doing? Stop mucking around with my letter groupings. Go away!) As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, four quid can't even buy you a Curtis Stigers CD single in HMV these days. So why not thrown caution to the wind and pick up an game that's nearly as much fund as Mr Stigers' hair? I know that's not saying much, but hey! Sidewinder 2 isn't too bad really.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Uppers: Easy to grasp and simple to play. Shallow fun.\r\n\r\nDowners: Nothing new, nothing taxing. We've seen it all before, basically.\r\n\r\nIt doesn't matter how old-fashioned games like this are, they're always fun.","Page":"16,17","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Linda Barker","Score":"68","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The electric current around the new Zanussi was particularly strong. One had to be careful not to open the fridge whilst wearing metallic gloves. The results could be, and often were, disastrous."},{"Text":"The Mother Superior cruised into view, Princess Abbot, her closest neighbour, fired her guns in welcome. It was a little ritual they'd practised for nigh on twenty years."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"68%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]