[{"TitleName":"Space Intruders","Publisher":"Quicksilva Ltd","Author":"John Hollis, Rich Shenfield","YearOfRelease":"1982","ZxDbId":"0004669","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 2, Mar 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-02-23","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Quicksilva, 16K\r\n£4.95\r\n\r\nA close copy of Invaders with rather small graphics that work in character blocks. Fast but out of date.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"46","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":128,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Quicksilva, 16K\r\n£4.95\r\n\r\nA close copy of Invaders with rather small graphics that work in character blocks. Fast but out of date.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 1, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Memory Required: 16K\r\nRRP: £4.95\r\n\r\nThere was general agreement from our two players that the Space Invader game, whilst good for its time, was pretty much out of date today, so that should be borne in mind when comparing it to some of the more original phoenix and galaxian games. However, Quicksilva's Space Intruders was summarised as being a, 'reasonable copy of the original arcade game.'\r\n\r\nThis is a close copy of the original. The aliens are a bit small but do include a wobbly mutant worth extra points, as well as the customary space ship across the top of the screen. Although this is a fast version, the shelters at the bottom of the screen disappear in blocks rather than the originals erosion.\r\n\r\nCHRIS PASSEY\r\n\r\nI was a bit disappointed with it, never having played this particular version before. The aliens were disappointing although there are four types as in the original, Invader games suffer from comparison anyway because they are older and there is much better software around.\r\n\r\nLLOYD MANGRAM","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Passey","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Lloyd Mangram","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Spectrum","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"40%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 13, Nov 1982","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1982-10-21","Editor":"Terry Pratt","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nStaff Writer: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Susan Cameron\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAdvertising Executive: Neil Wood\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Louise Flockhart\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\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: £10.00, Overseas surface mail: £12.00, Airmail Europe: £20.00. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n© Computer & Video Games Limited ISSN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover: Stephen Gulbis\r\nNext Issue: November 16th"},"MainText":"LET'S HUNT THE INVADERS\r\n\r\nINVADERS FOR THE SPECTRUM\r\n\r\nAs the race continues among software houses to produce games for the Sinclair Spectrum we decided to test the three Space Invader games that have so far been produced for this fledgling machine.\r\n\r\nSpectral Invaders was the first game on the market for the Spectrum and marked another first for the Liverpool firm Bug Byte.\r\n\r\nThe game is a fairly authentic version of the arcade classic. It loaded without difficulty and started according the instructions.\r\n\r\nThe main drawbacks were that the gun turret responded slowly to the keys and did not explode until a split second after it had been hit, continuing to move right or left. The missiles were also slow movers - jerking awkwardly skywards.\r\n\r\nThe Invaders themselves did not explode immediately they had been hit either - causing you to hesitate, unsure if you had hit them or not.\r\n\r\nOn the plus side Spectral Invaders was the only game of the three we looked at that offered a two player game. It had the fastest and most authentic mystery flying saucers, it also had the best score board, flashing to indicate player one or two.\r\n\r\nDespite its faults, Spectral Invaders was the only version that looked and felt at all similar to arcade Space Invaders.\r\n\r\nPsion Software - the official Sinclair software writers - entered the field with Space Raiders, the slowest version we tested.\r\n\r\nThe Invaders don't move down the screen in vertical columns in this version making them particularly easy to hit. Their side-stepping motion means that the gaps between the columns are blocked so you can hardly fail to hit something once you get a missile in the air.\r\n\r\nThe mystery flying saucers didn't look too much like flying saucers and moved so slowly they could be picked off with ease.\r\n\r\nAbout the only department in which the Psion game beat the other two versions was sound. The Spectrum produced clear well synchronised bleeps as the ships exploded.\r\n\r\nSpace Raiders loaded well - the Psion logo appearing seconds after the play button on tape was depressed - cutting out some of the nail-biting I experienced with other Spectrum games.\r\n\r\nSouthampton firm Quicksilva were hot on the heels of Bug Byte with their version of Invaders for the Spectrum - Space Intruders.\r\n\r\nThis was the fastest of the three games. So fast in fact that it detracted from the playability of the game. Not because it made it impossibly difficult, but because you had such a speed advantage over the advancing fleet that you could shoot them down with ease.\r\n\r\nThe missiles could be fired far too fast and furiously. You could kill a whole column of Invaders in a split second, sometimes without dodging right or left, which in turn made the fleet relatively easy to defeat.\r\n\r\nIn fairness to Quicksilva their version does have a number of features which the others do not.\r\n\r\nMost useful of these is a hold button which enables you to answer the phone or make a cup of tea and then continue where you left off when you are ready. It also has a high score facility which enables you to enter the top ten high scores of the session with the initials of the players.\r\n\r\nSpace Intruders displays clear instructions on the screen and also gives you the value of the various Invaders. Extra features are, however, no substitute for a good playable game, which I do not feel this version from Quicksilva gives you.\r\n\r\nFor my £5 Bug Byte offers the best game of Space Invaders on the Spectrum so far.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"100,101","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"5/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Computer Issue 9, Sep 1982","Price":"£0.6","ReleaseDate":"1982-08-19","Editor":"Toby Wolpe","TotalPages":130,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Toby Wolpe\r\nAssistant Editor: Meirion Jones\r\nStaff Writer: Simon Beesley\r\nSub-Editor: Paul Bond\r\nEditorial Secretary: Lynn Cowling\r\nEditorial: [redacted]\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Philip Kirby\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Bill Ardley, Peter Rice\r\nMidlands Office: David Harvett\r\nNorthern Office: Ron Southall\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Jeanette Mackrell\r\nPublishing Director: Chris Hipwell\r\n\r\nYour Computer, [redacted]\r\nTypesetting: In-Step Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: U.K. £8 for 12 issues.\r\n\r\n©IPC Business Press Ltd 1982\r\n\r\nPublished by IPC Electrical-Electronic Press Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"SURVEY\r\n\r\nSPECTRUM SOFTWARE\r\n\r\nBoris Allan examines the first software offerings designed specially for your Spectrum.\r\n\r\nAlthough the Spectrum was announced in April the machine has only become available in large numbers recently. For software suppliers it is still early days. We were therefore relieved to find that most of the programs we received worked first time and reasonably well even if some of them lacked originality.\r\n\r\nMost of the software we sampled was based on ZX-81 or arcade games but we also tried out some educational and utility programs. Loading the Spectrum was far less frustrating than the ZX-81. The machine performed well, producing particularly good colours but disappointing sound. The limitations of the internal speaker can at least be bypassed by taking the cassette out of the recorder, connecting the two Mic sockets and switching on the recorder. Tone and volume can then be controlled with the recorder's own controls.\r\n\r\nGames programs are strange things. Long complex programs can be much less enjoyable than a short snappy one incorporating a good idea. So long as the programs are relatively bug-free, as most of these Spectrum games were, then evaluation of any particular cassette is bound to be subjective. To give as objective an assessment as possible we tried out the games on all age groups - even a class of five-year olds.\r\n\r\nBoth Bug-Byte's Spectral Invaders and Quicksilva's Space Invaders approach the standard of real arcade games. Spectral invaders is almost an exact copy of Space Invaders, complete with four different colours for invaders, a flying saucer and high score. Some effects are slightly slower than the Atari original but the graphics quality and the use of colour and sound is excellent. Quicksilva's Space Intruders also had a mutant invader that wobbled and was worth extra points and a hold facility to allow you to stop the game at any point.\r\n\r\nWhile the invader programs were written in machine code, Alien Command was written in Basic and was too slow and crude for a space game. Winged Avengers from Work Force is a Galaxian-type game in which waves of attackers move down the screen towards the player's missile firer, break formation, circle about and then attack again. Six speeds are offered and the action is fast. But with the exception of a formation of birds, which appear in the second attack phase flapping their wings very effectively, the display is a little dull.\r\n\r\nChromasoft's three programs varied from the sublime to the ridiculous. Worm is a simple but clever idea. A worm on the screen has four segments, and the player has to direct the worm around the screen, eating up numbers. Each time a number is eaten, they flash up randomly, the length of the worm increases by that amount. As the worm gets longer, it becomes more difficult to navigate, because you are not allowed to leave the screen or to cross over yourself. One player reached about 125 segments, and could not find any space.\r\n\r\nThe program is as simple as the display but the idea worked. Defined colours and graphics for the segments would be improvements but only cosmeticBomber is an uninspired rendering of Blitz. Golf is not only unexciting but bug-ridden. Amongst other things the game was unwilling to play the right number of holes.\r\n\r\nAVC's Fortune could be a useful stand-in for the crystal ball at children's parties. The company's Tables has a more educational objective. The tests of multiplication tables are quite competent but the program would be more useful as a means of generating interest and enthusiasm for mathematics rather than for teaching the tables themselves.\r\n\r\nWhoever designed it has a keen appreciation of the minds of primary school children, although AVC is stretching a point when it claims the program can be used to the age of 16. One clever ploy to generate interest was the use of the ZX-Printer to give each child a permanent record of its achievement. One kid described it as 'space-age paper'. This theme is reinforced by a countdown to the launch of a rocket each time you play.\r\n\r\nTime Bandits from Newsoft comprises six separate games on side 1 all combined in an Adventure-style game on side 2. Most of the games have pretty graphics but are rather elementary. Minotaur's Labyrinth is a matter of collecting objects in a maze and Napoleon's army is similar - but without the maze. In Titanic you rely on luck to avoid being sunk by an iceberg while Tower of London is at least distinguished by the appearance of random Beefeaters. Combination is just a matter of remembering a number but Castle of Evil is a little more out of the ordinary.\r\n\r\nYou have to work out the best strategy to cross a web with hostiles converging on you - rather like the Adventure game which used to be shown on BBC 2. Most of the games had not been carefully thought out. It was sometimes possible for instance to offer bribes of minus amounts of money, and thus become richer.\r\n\r\nBackgammon from Keith Archer worked well enough but was easy to beat and again vulnerable to cheating. There was nothing to prevent you putting more than five counters on a point for instance.\r\n\r\nRichard Altwasser's Cambridge Colour Collection costs £9.90 for a book of 64 pages and a cassette. Though some of the programs are original, in that they use specific features of the Spectrum, many are not: Maze is marred by a poor algorithm. There is also Breakout, Nim, and most others, including a version of King called Kingdom. The cassette was unfortunately unloadable - the company has had to replace many of the cassettes.\r\n\r\nWe reviewed two graphics packages. Phantasmagraphics plots 2D and 3D patterns and allows you to modify the patterns by entering height, width, perspective and distortion variables. The program is written in Basic and takes up to six minutes to draw a shape. The program contains a bug which causes it to be interrupted by an 'integer out of range' error message for large height and width values.\r\n\r\nSuperdraw 16 is an exceptional program. For £5 you are supplied with an instruction booklet, a pad of screen design pads, and a cassette with a spoken commentary on one side, all in a polythene bag. No other program gave such value for money. The program is written in Basic and allows the user to design screens which can then be saved for incorporation in other programs, which make use of high- and low-resolution graphics, text, and user-designed alphabets of large letters. The 'slide-show' option automatically toads successive screens. High-resolution pictures of a bicycle and southern England among others flash up in turn very much like a slide-show for the unemployed.\r\n\r\nTwo simulation games are available from Case Computer Simulations. Autochef allows you to work your way up as manager of a small catering company. At first you have to avoid being taken over by Trust House Forte - later if you survive you can try to take over Forte yourself. Airline is exactly the same as Autochef except that you are running a small airline.- The two assemblers were useful because they save you money by not buying at inflated prices books which disassemble the Spectrum ROM. Of the two the Campbell version is more attractive as it is written in Basic, and one can learn from studying the program listing - warts and all.\r\n\r\nThe Artic version was difficult to follow, as the documentation had not been prepared, but if the Spectrum documentation is as good as the ZX-81 documentation then it will be terrible. Given the incomplete nature of both offerings, the cheaper price, and the ability to convert from hex to dec and vice versa, sometimes with amusing results, the Campbell Systems offering may be better value.","ReviewerComments":["High quality invaders.\r\nBoris Allan"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"28,29,30","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Boris Allan","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 1, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Quicksilva, 16K\r\n£4.95\r\n\r\nA close copy of Invaders with rather small graphics that work in character blocks. Fast but out of date.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"46","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 4, Dec 1982","Price":"£1.75","ReleaseDate":"1982-11-26","Editor":"Tim Hartnell","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"ZX Computing\r\nVol. One\r\nNumber Three\r\nOct/Nov 1982\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Hartnell\r\nEditorial Assistant: Helen Bruff\r\nAdvertising Manager: Neil Johnstone\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\r\nManaging Director: 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: Henry Garnett Ltd., Rotherham.\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 the Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©1982 Argus Specialist Publications Limited."},"MainText":"SPACE INTRUDERS\r\nQuicksilva\r\n\r\nThe race to put new home computers on the market is matched only by the software companies race to be the first to market versions of the \"standards\" - Invaders, Asteroids, Defender etc. for each new machine. There must be a strong temptation to put speed before quality, but fortunately Quicksilva have produced two arcade games for the Spectrum as good as anything they produced for the ZX81.\r\n\r\n\"Space Intruders\" is the best version of Invaders that I have yet seen on any home computer. There are three types of invaders, plus a wobbly \"mutant\" which you can try to zap before it turns into an ordinary invader. Each hit is marked by a little starburst, including ones on the command ships which cross the screen in both directions.\r\n\r\nThe game gets progressively harder by speeding up and by allowing the invaders to drop a greater density of bombs at you. The bombs fall at two speeds, and you have to be on your toes to avoid the quick ones. There are several features to help you win a high score - the fire button \"auto-repeats\", an extra base is earned at 50,000 points, and if your base does get hit, all the invaders' bombs are cleared from the screen to give your new base a fighting chance. In addition the game can be \"frozen\" on the screen by pressing \"h\" and then continued with \"s\". We didn't have this kind of luxury in my day - you needed endurance to win a high score then! Unfortunately the program does have one bug - every hit scores 660 points whatever kind of invader is knocked out. I found this rather spoilt the game for me as it made me change my tactics since there was no point in chasing mutant invaders.\r\n\r\nExcellent use is made of the limited Spectrum sound effects - by using warbling rather than steady tones there is no slowing of the action. On-screen scoring and highest score, plus a highscore table, full use of colour, and \"self-play\" demonstration mode make this a really excellent, full-featured invaders.\r\n\r\n\"Space Intruders\" is £5.95 from Quicksilva, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"77","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil Garratt","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue Annual 1984,  1984","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1983-12-01","Editor":"Nigel Clark","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nDeputy Editor: Nicole Segre\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nSoftware Editor: John Gilbert\r\nProgram Reviewer: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Brian King\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nSales Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User Annual is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd. It is in no way connected with Sinclair Research Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to any of the Sinclair User group of publications please send programs, articles or ideas for hardware projects to:\r\nSinclair User and Programs\r\nECC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms 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 £10 for the copyright of each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1983\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"ARCADES BROUGHT INTO THE HOME\r\n\r\nJohn Gilbert reviews more complex games.\r\n\r\nAlmost every major type of arcade game has been simulated on Sinclair computers. There are also new games which have an arcade format but have evolved on a microcomputer. The Spectrum is an ideal machine on which to play arcade games. The quality of them has improved substantially since the launch of the machine. Some of the first arcade games to be produced for the Spectrum were versions of Space Invaders, the game which started the arcade craze.\r\n\r\nSpectral Invaders was the first to be announced by Bug-Byte, which was already renowned for its arcade and adventure games on the ZX-81. So far it is the game which most closely resembles the original arcade version. Although it is slow it is difficult to score points, as you can fire only one laser blast at a time.\r\n\r\nAnother invaders game, Space Intruders, was launched at about the same time as Spectral Invaders. The game is much faster and is recommended for those who like to keep their fingers on the fire button and amass a big score. The only criticism is that the aliens and mothercraft are very small and the mothership is blue on a black background and so is very difficult to hit. Apart from that Space Intruders from Quicksilva is good value at £5.95.\r\n\r\nNamtir Raiders, for the ZX-81, is a space invaders game with a difference from Artic Computing. The player still has to face the hordes of aliens which come down the screen but the laser base can be moved up and down as well as left and right.\r\n\r\nThe player has five laser bases during the game and they can take only five hits from alien bombs. There are three levels of difficulty-easy to impossible. The game, costing £3.95, is addictive and the graphics are neither awkward in design nor jerky in movement.\r\n\r\nThe game which is gaining popularity with 48K Spectrum owners is Time Gate, from Quicksilva. The authors claim that it is the ultimate in 3D arcade space action. The game is loaded in two parts, the first being a lengthy instruction manual. After the manual has finished you can load the game. The object is to destroy a race of aliens called the Squarm who are trying to colonise Earth. The enemy fighters are also seen in 3D and so are the planets on which the player can land to refuel and repair the ship. It is by far the best arcade action game so far for the Spectrum and costs only £6.95.\r\n\r\nAsteroids is also becoming popular on Sinclair machines. One of the first companies to launch a version for the ZX-81 was Quicksilva. It was a good version on such a small machine and is still proving popular.\r\n\r\nQuicksilva has also introduced a Spectrum version called Meteor Storm. It has the added attraction of speech before play. It is difficult to hear the words but we are informed by the authors that it says \"Meteor Alert... Meteor Alert...\". Meteor Storm is a novel version of Asteroids and costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nSinclair Research has a good game of asteroids, called Planetoids, in its new Spectrum Software library. The asteroids are in 3D and much careful design work on both the asteroids and the player's ship seems to have gone into the game. Planetoids costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nArtic Computing seems to be the only company to have produced a version of Galaxians for the ZX-81. ZX-Galaxians looks like Space Invaders but the invaders are 'V'-shaped and are supposed to be inter-galactic birds. The birds swoop from formation and bomb the player's laser base. ZX-Galaxian is slow in action but can still be a very addictive game. It costs £4.95.\r\n\r\nDefender is still a much-sought-after game in the arcades and Artic Computing took advantage of that early by producing a version for the ZX-81. The graphics are not particularly interesting and the spaceship which the player flies across the landscape is made up of a series of blocks which look only slightly like a ship.\r\n\r\nDespite those criticisms, the original idea behind the game is still there and the Artic version can be exciting, as you see the enemy ships rushing at you from the other side of the screen.\r\n\r\nWith the arrival of the Spectrum, many manufacturers found an interest in the arcade game Scramble. The best and fastest version so far is from Mikro-Gen. In the game you have to go through caves which become smaller and smaller as it progresses.\r\n\r\nThe game becomes progressively more difficult and can be run in slow, normal and fast modes. It costs £3.95.\r\n\r\nSilversoft has a Scramble-type game called Ground Attack. It works on the same principles as the Mikro-Gen game but is much slower. There is a good deal of blank screen between game rounds and the average waiting time between rounds is 15 seconds. Ground Attack costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nThe range of arcade-type games on Sinclair machines is always increasing. Manufacturers seem to feel safe in producing standard arcade games such as Space Invaders and Scramble. Those games, especially for the Spectrum, are becoming more imaginative and the graphics and sound more impressive.\r\n\r\nManufacturers have to be careful about copying ideas from other games but with the imagination of some of the firms in the Sinclair market, children and many adults will be kept happy with arcade-type games on the ZX-81 and Spectrum for a long time.\r\n\r\nSpace Invaders games have now been overtaken by Pacman in popularity.\r\n\r\nBug-Byte, [redacted].\r\n\r\nQuicksilva, [redacted].\r\n\r\nArtic Computing, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSinclair Research, [redacted].\r\n\r\nMikro-Gen, [redacted] RG12 2BK.\r\n\r\nSilversoft, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"20","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 11, Feb 1983","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1983-01-20","Editor":"Nigel Clark","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial Director: Nigel Clark\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nProduction Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nStaff Writer: John Gilbert\r\nDesign: William Scolding\r\nEditorial Director: John Sterlicchi\r\nAdvertisement Director: Simon Horgan\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nStates Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nEditorial/Production Assistant: Margaret Hawkins\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd. it is not in anyway connected with Sinclair Research Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to any of the Sinclair User group of publications please send programs, articles or ideas for hardware projects to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nECC Publications.\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms 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 will pay £10 for each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1983\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nOrigination by Outline Graphics.\r\nPrinted Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]"},"MainText":"SINCLAIR BRINGS THE THRILL OF THE ARCADE INTO YOUR HOME\r\n\r\nWith the Spectrum, program writers have been able to write more complex games. John Gilbert investigates this new move.\r\n\r\nAlmost every major type of arcade game has been simulated on Sinclair computers. There are also new games which have an arcade format but have evolved on a microcomputer. The Spectrum is an ideal machine on which to play arcade games. The quality of them has improved substantially since the launch of the machine. Some of the first arcade games to be produced for the Spectrum were versions of Space Invaders, the game which started the arcade craze.\r\n\r\nSpectral Invaders was the first to be announced by Bug-Byte, which was already renowned for its arcade and adventure games on the ZX-81. So far it is the game which most closely resembles the original arcade version. Although it is slow it is difficult to score points, as you can fire only one laser blast at a time.\r\n\r\nBy the time the laser bolt has reached the place where you wanted it to go, the target invader has moved on. That means that a great deal of anticipation and skill is required. Graphically, the Bug Byte Invaders is the best, with rows of different-colour aliens crossing the screen and large motherships moving from one side of the screen to the other at random intervals. Spectral Invaders is well-presented and costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nAnother invaders game, Space Intruders, was launched at about the same time as Spectral Invaders. The game is much faster and is recommended for those who like to keep their fingers on the fire button and amass a big score. The only criticism is that the aliens and mothercraft are very small and the mothership is blue on a black background and so is very difficult to hit. Apart from that Space Intruders from Quicksilva is good value at £5.95.\r\n\r\nNamtir Raiders, for the ZX-81, is a space invaders game from Artic Computing with a difference. The player still has to face the hordes of aliens which come down the screen but the laser base can be moved up and down as well as left and right.\r\n\r\nThe greater movement permitted to the player is compensated by the hail of bombs dropped by the aliens and the size and power of alien ships. There are four waves of aliens and as the game progresses the ships get bigger until the giant mothership arrives.\r\n\r\nThe player has five laser bases during the game and they can take only five hits from alien bombs. There are three levels of difficulty - easy to impossible. The game, costing £3.95, is addictive and the graphics are neither awkward in design nor jerky in movement.\r\n\r\nThe game which is gaining popularity with 48K Spectrum owners is Time Gate, from Quicksilva. The authors claim that it is the ultimate in 3D arcade space action. The game is loaded in two parts, the first being a lengthy instruction manual. After the manual has finished you can load the game. The object is to destroy a race of aliens called the Squarm who are trying to colonise Earth. To do that the player must fight the enemy in space and go through time by locating a series of Time Gates to find the Squarm's base.\r\n\r\nThe pleasant thing about the game is its graphics. The player is at the controls of a space fighter and look out into a 3D representation of space. The enemy fighters are also seen in 3D and so are the planets on which the player can land to refuel and repair the ship. It is by far the best arcade action game so far for the Spectrum and costs only £6.95.\r\n\r\nAsteroids is also becoming popular on Sinclair machines. One of the first companies to launch a version for the ZX-81 was Quicksilva. It was a good version on such a small machine and is still proving popular.\r\n\r\nQuicksilva has also introduced a Spectrum version called Meteor Storm. It has the added attraction of speech before play. It is difficult to hear the words but we are informed by the authors that it says \"Meteor Alert... Meteor Alert...\". Meteor Storm is a novel version of Asteroids and costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nSinclair Research has a good game of asteroids, called Planetoids, in its new Spectrum Software library. The asteroids are in 3D and much careful design work on both the asteroids and the player's ship seems to have gone into the game. Planetoids costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nArtic Computing seems to be the only company to have produced a version of Galaxians for the ZX-81. ZX-Galaxians looks like Space Invaders but the invaders are 'V'-shaped and are supposed to be inter-galactic birds. The birds swoop from formation and bomb the player's laser base. ZX-Galaxian is slow in action but can still be a very addictive game. It costs £4.95.\r\n\r\nDefender is still a much-sought-after game in the arcades and Artic Computing took advantage of that early by producing a version for the ZX-81. The graphics are not particularly interesting and the spaceship which the player flies across the landscape is made up of a series of blocks which look only slightly like a ship.\r\n\r\nDespite those criticisms, the original idea behind the game is still there and the Artic version can be exciting, as you see the enemy ships rushing at you from the other side of the screen.\r\n\r\nNow that the Spectrum has arrived, many manufacturers have found an interest in the arcade game Scramble. The best and fastest version so far is from Mikro-Gen. In the game you have to go through caves which become smaller and smaller as it progresses. There are four sectors to the game, including Missiles, UFOs and Meteors. The player has to destroy the missiles which are fired from the ground at the players' ship, destroy UFOs with a laser blaster, and dodge the meteors.\r\n\r\nThe game becomes progressively more difficult and can be run in slow, normal and fast modes. It costs £3.95.\r\n\r\nSilversoft has a Scramble-type game called Ground Attack. It works on the same principles as the Mikro-Gen game but is much slower. There is a good deal of blank screen between game rounds and the average waiting time between rounds is 15 seconds. Ground Attack costs £5.95.\r\n\r\nThe range of arcade-type games on Sinclair machines is always increasing. Manufacturers seem to feel safe in producing standard arcade games such as Space Invaders and Scramble. Those games, especially for the Spectrum, are becoming more imaginative and the graphics and sound more impressive.\r\n\r\nManufacturers have to be careful about copying ideas from other games but with the imagination of some of the firms in the Sinclair market, children and many adults will be kept happy with arcade-type games on the ZX-81 and Spectrum for a long time.\r\n\r\nSpace Invaders games have now been overtaken by Pacman in popularity. A number of them have been produced for the ZX-81 and several companies are producing them for the Spectrum. It looks as if Pacman may provide the next boom in Sinclair software - but that is another story.\r\n\r\nBug-Byte, [redacted].\r\n\r\nQuicksilva, [redacted].\r\n\r\nArtic Computing, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSinclair Research, [redacted].\r\n\r\nMikro-Gen, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSilversoft, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62,63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'With the imagination of some of the firms in the market, users will be kept happy with arcade games for a long time'"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]