[{"TitleName":"Skool Daze","Publisher":"Microsphere","Author":"David S. Reidy, Keith Warrington","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0004549","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 11, Dec 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-11-15","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":164,"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: Microsphere\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor:\r\n\r\nSkool Daze is the best daze of your life and if the gratuitous violence possible in this extraordinary new game is anything to go by, it is probably best to go through them all in a daze! The nefarious hero (or is he an anti-hero) of this piece is called Eric, although the program allows you to input a new name if you prefer to personalise your software, and you can change the names of the other 'actors' in this play. 'Play' and 'actors' are apt words in this game, for it carries on its own life regardless of what you are doing, in fact the demo alone is like watching 'Grange Hill' on the telly!\r\n\r\nThe simple object of Skool Daze is to get the end of term report out of the headmaster's safe, so suppressing the appalling information contained in it. However, achieving this aim is not so simple. In essence, to get the safe combination code, you must set all the school shields hanging on the walls flashing. You do this by hitting them with your catapult. Once they are all flashing, you must extract the code letters from the teachers, each one of which has been entrusted with one letter. This is done by knocking them over. All except the history master who, because of his advanced age has had his code letter implanted in his brain by hypnosis.\r\n\r\nThe methods to be used to set shields flashing, knock over teachers and extract the information are very varied, and typically school-like. But even with the codes, all is not over, because Eric must try out all the combinations on a blackboard. And even with the safe accessed safely, Eric must then cover his tracks by stopping all the shields from flashing by the same method he used to start them.\r\n\r\nThis may all sound involved and fun, and it is, but the bare bones of the plot don't even begin to explain how hard the task is made by the ants nest building of a school! It swarms with kids and teachers, the former milling innocently around, bopping each other in the eyes, scrawling rude messages on the blackboard, tripping up masters and generally causing havoc to Eric's endeavours; the latter handing out lines, ringing bells to change classes, asking daft educational questions, and generally being just like school teachers. Quite honestly, the Department of Education should have this game suppressed before it really causes trouble...\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: cursors or Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, plus; S for sit/stand, H for hit, W for write, J/L jump/leap and O or F for fire\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Protek, Sinclair 2\r\nKeyboard play: very responsive\r\nUse of colour: very good\r\nGraphics: excellent - it seems an inadequate word\r\nSound: very good, good tune\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 1\r\nScreens: scrolling school building\r\nSpecial features: masked character graphics","ReviewerComments":["Skool Daze takes me back a bit, to the good old days - school days. This incredible 3D school time game has many features associated with school, such as 'Whacker' - the teacher that is out to get you with his cane. The object of the game is quite easy although achieving the objective is very difficult, and this seems to add very well to the playability of the game. Among the many things I like, two things that stand out are - the catapult action, where your missile if fired at the back of someone's head, promptly knocks that person down, with the victim scratching his head - and the fact that there is no character disruption when the figures pass in front of the background. Colour, sound and the general idea are all exceptionally good. I think this will provide many hours of joyful skool daze.\r\r\nUnknown","Skool Daze is a fun game to play. The graphics are excellent and the sound is good. You are set an enormous task, which I have only just started. Most of the shields are much too high to reach, and all the teachers are line-happy. When ever you do anything and there is a teacher near you, the teacher will shout remarks at you. I really enjoyed playing this game and recommend it to everyone with a sense of mischief.\r\r\nUnknown","From the moment you see Skool Daze, you fall in love with it, because the graphics are tremendous. The whole playing area is alive with action. The cast of characters is presented in a long menu which introduces each recognisable graphic, tells you who they are and their names and allows you to change them if you want. The game has the feeling of an animated comic strip with the teachers' and pupils' comments all appearing in balloons. Playing the game requires a lot of attention to keep up with everything that is going on, and even if you don't feel up to a day at school, you can always sit back and watch it happen around you on the excellent demo. Microsphere seem to have a knack of finding unusual themes for games, and this is no exception. They also find the great graphics to go with it. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed with Skool Daze.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General rating: Excellent value, plenty to do, addictive, unusual.","Page":"10,11","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"95%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"93%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 9, Sep 1986","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1986-08-14","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":98,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cox\r\nArt Editor: Martin Dixon\r\nDeputy Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nProduction Editor: Sara Biggs\r\nDesigner: Caroline Clayton\r\nImperial Staff Writer: Phil South\r\nTechnical Consultant: Peter Shaw\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nContributors: Stephen Adams, Luke C, Mike Gerrard, Ian Hoare, Gwyn Hughes, Max Phillips, Rick Robson, Rachael Smith, Chris Wood\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Julian Harriott\r\nProduction Managers: Sonia Hunt, Judith Middleton\r\nPublishing Manager: Roger Munford\r\nPublishing Director: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press 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 ©1986 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":"2.99 Classics\n£2.99\nReviewer: Rachael Smith\n\nIt's not so long since I sung the praises of Skool Daze's sequel and now the original ants nest of evil urchins is available at a knock down price - as in knocked down by a catapult shot.\n\nOther ways to get knocked down in Skool Daze are by bully's fist or somebody sneaking into your desk. You get lines for sitting on the floor which seems unfair, but isn't that just like school?\n\nActually, you get lines for anything in this educational establishment, which makes your task of retrieving your rotten report from the head's safe a tricky combination of tactics and timing.\n\nThe odd security system means you have to hit the school shields, sometimes jumping off floored friends for extra height, then knockout the staff for the code. All in a day's work for the scholastic adventurer.\n\nNot so sophisticated in plot as its predecessoir, this is still a Sinclair classic with its good humoured style. If you don't already have it you really must at this price. Top of the Elite re-release form.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"38","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rachael Smith","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 12, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-21","Editor":"Roger Munford","TotalPages":74,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Munford\r\nArt Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nDeputy Editor: Tina Boylan\r\nTechnical Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nProduction Editor: Louise Cook\r\nArt Assistant: Martin Dixon\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: John Torofex, Ian Beardsmore, Tony Samuels, Stephen Adams, Dave Nicholls, Ross Holman, Roger Willis, Stuart Jamieson, Clive Gifford, Simon Goodwin, Adrian Wagner, Chris Somerville, Chris Wood, Hunt Emerson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Joe Harrower\r\nAdvertising: Dave Baskerville\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Jill Harris\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\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 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":"SKOOL DAZE\r\nMicrosphere\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nRoss: In Skool Daze you get a chance to re-live your youth or, as in my own case, do all those things you didn't dare do!\r\n\r\nYou play Eric, and if you want to be able to sit down for the next week, you must retrieve your school report from the safe before your parents get to see it. The first thing to do is to hit all the shields hanging on the walls. This in itself is not so easy and may require using one of the other boys as a spring-board, or even deflecting one of your catapult pellets off a teacher! Once all the shields have been hit the masters can be persuaded to reveal their letter to the safe's four-part combination.\r\n\r\nEric and the other children can go to any room but must obey the bell which signals the start of lessons.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are very clear and well animated, and the independence of all the other characters makes the game fun to watch. However I didn't really find that I wanted to play it for very long. It is, nevertheless, a very clever piece of software.","ReviewerComments":["This is a very original game with good graphics. The playing area isn't very big, and it does seem rather unfair that if you go to a lesson where there aren't enough seats you get lines every time you get pushed out of your seat. I want my Mummy!\r\nDave Nicholls\r\n3/5 HIT","Buy now - before Sir Keith Joseph has it banned! This is as near to the real thing as I'm prepared to get. If you're still at school, learn and inwardly digest...\r\nRoger Willis\r\n4/5 HIT"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"27","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Dave Nicholls","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 HIT"},{"Name":"Ross Holman","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 HIT"},{"Name":"Roger Willis","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/5 HIT"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 36, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-21","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne, Clare Edgeley\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: James McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Maria Keighley\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nAssistant Publisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\n96,271 Jan-June 1984\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nEditorial and advertising departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles:\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. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe pay £20 for the copyright of each program published and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nAll subscription enquiries to\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Peterboro' Web, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd."},"MainText":"SKOOL DAZE\r\nMicrosphere\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\nJoystick: Sinclair, Protek Kempston\r\n\r\nSkooldaze explodes into the imagination with a cloud of chalk dust and a hail of catapult bullets. It is one of those rare games where nothing over-ambitious is attempted in the way of programming but all the elements unite to provide an addictive and satisfying romp.\r\n\r\nThe screen displays a school, with classrooms spread over three floors. The playing area is not large, being about three screensful of scrolling school, but the careful planning of the game allows for plenty of action.\r\n\r\nYou are Eric, a Bad Boy whose dreadful school report is locked in the headmaster's safe. The task is to get it out. Only the masters know the combination of the safe and to make them reveal it you must set all the school shields flashing by hitting them with your catapult. A nice refinement is that Mr Creak the History Master is a doddering fellow who cannot remember his part of the combination and must be forced to reveal it by writing his date of birth on his blackboard.\r\n\r\nIn between performing the quest, you must take part in the normal activities of the school - that is, playing and attending lessons Instructions appear at the bottom of the screen and if you are caught in the wrong place by a master you will receive lines. 10,000 lines and you are sent home, and have to start again.\r\n\r\nThe characters of the game have a cartoon-style quality and represent school stereotypes - the trendy master, the bully, the tearaway and the swot. You can change the names to those of your choice which should make the game even more fun.\r\n\r\nWhether or not you want to attempt the extremely difficult problem of cracking the headmaster's safe, Skooldaze is tremendously enjoyable. You can have a great time simply trying to survive, as masters dole out lines with hideous abandon and, sometimes, quite unfairly. You can have catapult fights with other boys, and if you manage to fool a master into giving the bully or swot some lines then you lose some from your own tally.\r\n\r\nThey may not be the happiest days of your life, but Skooldaze should provide some of the happiest hours of the day.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"35","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Bourne","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"8/10","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":"SCHOOL DAZE\r\n\r\nAnother genuinely original game. The Bash Street Kids brought to life on your very own TV screen. The world of stink bombs, swots, ancient history masters, ink pellets and thrashings as depicted by a vast number of comic sprites wandering around a cut-through section of a school building.\r\n\r\nThe plot is way beyond the most fiendish problems the maths master could devise and involves retrieving your school report from the headmaster's safe before he reads it. Getting the combination involves knocking down a number of masters when they are dazed by the flashing shields, which you hit by jumping, shooting or playing leapfrog with a first year. Making life even more difficult are school bullies and swots.\r\n\r\nSkool Daze is a joke but a good one. It is also a fiendish game with nothing quite like it around. Even now.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"53","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Graham Taylor","Score":"5","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"5/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 41, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nDeputy Editor: Wendie Pearson\r\nEditorial Assistant: Lesley Walker\r\nStaff Writer/Reader Services: Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Sylvia Wells\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: £15. 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 Severn Valley Press. Typeset by In-Step Ltd.\r\n\r\nCover: Jef Riddle"},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum/keyboard or joystick\r\nSUPPLIER: Microsphere\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nThey say school days are happiest of your life. Well, that may be so - but what I know for sure is that School Daze is th most original and entertaining game to be released for any age. Just watching the demo is like viewing a whole series of Grange Hill at one sitting!\r\n\r\nAnd that should give you a clue to what the game is all about. It's set in a typical school, with typical pupils and typical teachers - all of which you'll recognise from your own experience.\r\n\r\nThe hero is Eric. Now, Eric has heard on the grapevine that his end of term report is not all it should be. So he wants get it out of the school safe before it comes to the attention of the headmaster.\r\n\r\nThe combination of the safe consists of four letters known to the headmaster and the masters. To get the combination, Eric has to first hit all the school shields - hanging around on the walls of various rooms - and set, them flashing. This is more difficult than it sounds. You have work out different strategies for different shields.\r\n\r\nOnce you've got all the shields flashing, the masters become strangely disorientated - knock them over and they'll reveal their part of the code. All except the history master that is who has to persuaded in a different fashion which you'll have to find out for yourself.\r\n\r\nOnce you've got all the letters, you still have to work out the combination - and get to the safe in the staff room!\r\n\r\nWhile Eric attempts to get his school report, the life of the school continues independently. Eric has to go to lessons too - which interrupts his quest. If he isn't in the right place at the right time he gets lines. Over 10,000 lines and Eric is expelled.\r\n\r\nThe other characters in the game - like The Swot, The Bully and Angelface - also give Eric a hard time. They attempt to hinder his quest for that school report by getting him into trouble with the masters. With friends like that...!\r\n\r\nThe entire game is like an animated version Beano's Bash Street Kid strip - complete with cartoon-style voice bubbles which appear as the various characters \"speak\".\r\n\r\nPoor old Eric really has a hard time at school. And you really get into the character as you play. Each of the masters, and Eric's school-friends, have their own characteristics too. You learn about them as you play!\r\n\r\nA nice touch is the feature which enables you to change the names of Eric's mates and teachers to suit yourself. You can populate the game with all your least favourite teachers and your best mates. You can also make yourself the hero!\r\n\r\nThe graphics and animation are terrific and the sound isn't bad either.\r\n\r\nOverall, School Daze is an entertaining and amusing game. Well worth the asking price - but don't let it stop you doing your homework!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"24","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Big K Issue 10, Jan 1985","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-12-10","Editor":"Tony Tyler","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Tony Tyler\r\nAssisted By: Richard Burton\r\nArt Editor: Ian Stead\r\nFeatures: Nicky Xikluna\r\nSoftware: Fin Fahey\r\nContributors: Kim Aldis (Features); Steve Keaton; John Conquest; Richard Taylor; Nigel Farrier, Gary Liddon; Tony Benyon; Steve Way; Sean Cox\r\nPublisher: Barry Leverett\r\nPublishing Director: John Purdie\r\nGroup Advertising Controller: Luis Bartlett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Erica Vickers [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nTelephone: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished approximately on the 20th of each month by IPC Magazines Ltd. [redacted]. Monotone and colour origination by G.M. Litho Ltd [redacted]. Printed in England by Chase Web Offset, Cornwall. Sole Agents: Australia and New Zealand, Gordon& Gotch (A/sia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. BIG K is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold or hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated constitute or any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. IPC MAGAZINES 1984."},"MainText":"PICK OF THE MONTH\r\n\r\nFROM: Microsphere\r\nFORMAT: cassette\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nA short-panted Fin Fahey finds Microsphere's Skool Daze just too, too disturbingly like the real thing.\r\n\r\nThis is a game on a theme of horror and despair, a game populated by wandering monsters, a game where no-one can really be trusted, and everyone is a potential enemy.\r\n\r\nThrough this alien landscape of paranoia and imminent catastrophe you must make your way, your single goal, to wrench victory from the jaws of universal defeat.\r\n\r\nFor this is the strange world of Skool Daze, where even in the eye of God you are a mere pupil.\r\n\r\nMicrosphere master programmer David Reidie has it off to a T. The claustrophobia and creeping terror of the education system are laid bare for all to see.\r\n\r\nWe start with a normal day somewhere near the end of term. The Head (Mr. Whacker, who bears a close resemblance to Mr. T) has closeted in his safe a fearful indictment of your year's performance, your School Report. There is only one way out. You must open that safe. Each of the teachers possesses one letter of the safe code and they'll only reveal it if they are first disoriented and then knocked down.\r\n\r\nThe first is easy, you simply use your trusty catapult, Beakslayer, but for the second you have to set all the school trophy shields flashing, by hitting them. This is done by either bouncing a pellet of the balding pate of one of the monstrous masters, or by clobbering one of the other boys and climbing on his back (real Nature-red-in-tooth-and-claw stuff!).\r\n\r\nBut beware, 'cos just as in real life, you'll get lines to do if caught doing anything out of order, and there are a lot of things you can do wrong, from missing class to jumping in the corridors, and the school sneak is always ready to squeal on you. 10,000 lines and you're sent home.\r\n\r\nSo much for the tortuous plot. It's the brilliantly realised graphics that make School Daze such a treat to play. The school building is good as you scroll through its boxy structure, but it's the characters that really stand out. You can insert your own names for all the main characters, from Angelface the school bully to Mr. Creak the History Master. Somehow Microsphere have inserted real individuality into what are very spare cartoon miniatures. They all have a life of their own, and even as you sit through another dreary geography lesson with Mr. Withit, the swinging Geography teacher, things are going on around you in the other classrooms and corridors.\r\n\r\nThe teacher characters are capable of a wide range of animation, from falling over to gesturing and writing on the blackboard.\r\n\r\nThe only flaw, if it is one, is that the game is so fascinating to watch, I found it hard to play seriously, and ended up mischievously knocking over the teachers and wellying the school bully at regular intervals.\r\n\r\nAn achievement in social realism and fun to play too.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"14","Denied":false,"Award":"Big K Pick of the Month","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Fin Fahey","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/3"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/3","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair Programs Issue 29, Mar 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-02-21","Editor":"Rebecca Ferguson","TotalPages":60,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nStaff Writer: June Mortimer\r\nDesign/Illustration: Elaine Bishop\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Howard Rosen\r\nProduction Co-ordinator: Serena Hadley\r\nSubscription Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nSinclair Programs is published monthly by EMAP Business and Computer Publications.\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like your original programs to be published in Sinclair Programs, please send your contributions, which must not have appeared elsewhere, to:\r\nSinclair Programs\r\nEEC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included. We pay £25 for the copyright of listings published and £10 for the copyright of listings published in the Beginners' section.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair Programs\r\nISSN No. 0263-0265\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by: Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nAll subscription enquiries:\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business and Computer Publications\r\n[redcated]\r\n\r\nCover Design: Paul Carney"},"MainText":"PRICE: £5.95\r\nGAME TYPE: Arcade\r\n\r\nTake 600 lines boy, you are not a kangaroo, barks the harsh history master. Not an auspicious start to Skooldaze, and there is worse to follow. You arrive in your geography class to find that overcrowding in schools is worse than you thought. There are six boys, and only four seats. Two people are going to have to stand. Well aware that if you stand you will be given lines, you push the swot, Einstein, out of his seat. The creep pushes you out again. You push the smallest boy in the school to the floor and sit down smugly. The master enters and begins the lesson as the smallest boy pushes the next boy to the floor, he then pushes the tearaway down, the tearaway hits the bully, the bully and the swot fight for a seat, and then the inevitable happens, the bully pushes you to the floor. The master looks up from the list of questions he is reeling off, \"600 lines, Eric, get off the floor immediately\", \"Oh, but Sir...\"\r\n\r\nYour main worry, though, is not the injustice of school life, but the fact that, locked in the school safe, is your school report. This is bound to be bad news if anyone sees it, so you find and destroy it. How? Now , that is a good question. Each of the masters knows one element of the safe combination. Of course, though, they do not want to tell it to you. Your only chance is to set all the shields in the school flashing in order to disorientate the masters, and then knock the masters down so that they involuntarily shout out part of the code. A very complex plan.\r\n\r\nProduced by Microsphere, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"16","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Colette McDermott","Score":"75","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Rating","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 19, Jun 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-05-30","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Cliff Joseph\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSales Executive: Jonathan McGary\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\r\nPublishing Director: Peter Welham\r\nChief Executive: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Garnett Print, Rotherham and London.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the Law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1985"},"MainText":"Microsphere\r\n£6.95\r\n\r\nMicrosphere have produced a game that will not teach you to spell, as in the title, not teach obedience or good manners, but will enable you to enter a classroom where you can do what you like, and even invent names for the lengthy cast.\r\n\r\nYou are ERIC, a mischievous little brat whose school report is locked away in the staffroom safe. You have to get this report before the headmaster does, or else. In order to uncover the hidden combination, the shields that are hanging on the walls have to be hit. The masters will become disorientated by the flashing shields and will reveal part of the combination. The only problem, of course, is the history master, who cannot remember his part, so you must get his birthday out of him, and write this on the blackboard, at which point his memory will be jogged and he will reveal all.\r\n\r\nAs well as this task, you must take part in the normal activities of school, which involve going to lessons and playing. If you do not go to the correct classroom at lesson time, you will receive lines as punishment. More than 10,000 lines will end this game as Eric is suspended from the school with writer's cramp. Finding a seat during a lesson is not always as easy as it seems as they are soon taken up by other pupils. Even if you manage to find a seat, you are invariably shoved off onto the floor, gaining more lines. This school is very much like a cartoon strip, and the characters could be straight from the Beano. The graphics are fair, but not so clear although they do not really let the game down too much, as it is very enjoyable playing school, fighting the bully, using catapults and having lessons with Mt. Withit and Mr. Creak. A must for all Non-Skolars.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"33","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David Howard","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Instructions","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"ZXC Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 90, Dec 1984","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1984-11-30","Editor":"Peter Worlock","TotalPages":66,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Peter Worlock\r\nDeputy Editor: David Guest\r\nProduction Editor: Lauraine Turner\r\nSub Editor: Harriet Arnold\r\nEditor's Assistant: Karen Isaac\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, 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: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Microsphere, [redacted]\r\n\r\nI'm going to stick my neck out and say that Skooldaze is the most original, entertaining game I've seen on the Spectrum this year, if not ever.\r\n\r\nEric's lot is not a happy one. The school reports are stashed in the staffroom safe and the young lad must remove his before the headmaster sees it. The safe works on a four-letter combination, each letter known to one master only, and the headmaster's comes first in the sequence.\r\n\r\nTo get the letters Eric must hit all the shields hanging on the school walls. This starts them flashing which confuses the masters. Then you can knock them down and force them to reveal their letters.\r\n\r\nThere's so much going on in Skooldaze that it's difficult to know where to start. Imagine the screen as a window on the school. There are three floors and as Eric approaches the right or left of the screen, it scrolls to reveal a side of the school. There are staircases at the extreme left and right, and the graphic detail is fantastic.\r\n\r\nThe map room on the top floor comes complete with a tiny black and white map of the world on the wall. Many of the rooms have blackboards and you'll occasionally see some urchin chalking up graffiti like 'I hate fizzicks'.\r\n\r\nThe school is a hive of activity - masters and pupils wander about, bullies flatten classmates, catapult shots are rife and should Eric be struck he's out for the count for a few seconds.\r\n\r\nAnd woe betide him if he's caught flat on his back, punching a fellow or using a catapult. The punishment is lines, lines and more lines. The worse his behaviour, the more lines he cops. If he accumulates more than 10,000 he's expelled and the game ends.\r\n\r\nFrom time to time a bell sounds, marking a change in lessons and Eric must hurry to the room indicated at the foot of the screen. Some rooms are obvious, but before you can get very far in this game you have to master the geography of the school.\r\n\r\nArriving too early usually gets Eric involved in a scrap with his pals, but being late will earn him more lines. Even when he finds a seat and sits on it and not the floor, he can't look forward to a peaceful lesson. Pupils are in constant motion, may sneak round and unseat him, fire catapults at him from behind, rat on him to teacher for things he's not done and worse.\r\n\r\nSpeech is handled brilliantly. A tiny, cartoon bubble appears by the speaker's head and acts as a window through which the words scroll.\r\n\r\nDuring a lesson, questions are posed by the teacher and pupils answer, generally beginning, 'Please Sir, I cannot tell a lie...'.\r\n\r\nAnd if Eric tries to escape the mayhem of the lesson, someone's bound to tell tales and it's more lines. It's unnerving to approach a group of schoolmates and be told that someone has hidden something implicating you in some misdemeanour, and that if one of the masters finds it you'll be in trouble - I had visions of the counter soaring to the 9,000 mark.\r\n\r\nA clever touch is that you can use names of your own choosing for the characters.\r\n\r\nBut what about the shields? Well, it'll take you some time before you get anywhere close to even thinking about that nasty report sitting in the safe. Merely existing for more than a few minutes is beyond the skill of the novice.\r\n\r\nMost of the shields are too high to reach by jumping, but one method is to knock down a teacher with a catapult, then bounce another shot off his head while he's sitting dazed on the floor, hoping that the ricochet will strike the shield. Risky it may be, but it's not the only means at his disposal. He could knockdown another pupil, then stand on him and jump or fire. Other methods I leave to your imagination.\r\n\r\nBut it's still not that simple. The History master cannot remember his letter. To find it out Eric must establish his year of birth (different for every game), get to a room with a clean blackboard before him and write it down, and when the master sees his birthdate he'll reveal his letter.\r\n\r\nLetters won't be given in sequence - Eric may have to make several attempts at opening the safe by writing guesses on clean blackboards, then rushing to the staffroom to try out the sequence. Once the safe's open all the shields have to be hit again to stop them flashing and conceal the evidence of Eric's errant ways. And then Eric moves on to the next class in school... I told you it wasn't easy.\r\n\r\nThe only criticisms I have are that it's so good that it distracts you from your aim, and it's too hard. But seriously, sometimes the keys repeat as if a keyboard buffer were being used. This means that if you hold the catapult key down too long, and get punished for the first shot, more, involuntary shots will be fired and more lines given. Also, it can be difficult to position Eric accurately at the foot of the stairs to make an ascent, and there are some attribute problems.\r\n\r\nMinor niggles apart, Skooldaze is brilliant. It's got the most detailed and interesting display I've ever seen in a Spectrum game, the setting and idea are original, the execution a triumph of the programmer's art.\r\n\r\nIt could even create a cult following and if it's not number one by Christmas I'll be very surprised.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"51","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bryan Skinner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]