[{"TitleName":"Spitting Image","Publisher":"Domark Ltd","Author":"David Beresford, Graham Stafford","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0004765","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 62, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-23","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic 'bye bye' Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Stuart 'here I come' Wynne\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Raffaele Cecco, Mel Croucher, Ian Cull, Mike Dunn, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales, Lee Watkins\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\nTo DW and DH, thanks for all the good times!\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Latex leaders fight it out\r\n\r\nProducer: Domark\r\nBuckets of Spit: £9.95 cass, £14.95 disk\r\nAuthor: Walking Circles\r\n\r\nIf you're a regular watcher of Spitting Image you shouldn't be surprised by the game, which has got some great presentation but - like the show's jokes - is a little rough around the edges and lacking in originality. The basic idea is that in seven year's time WWIII will happen and all the leaders are battling it out to be top dog. The six contenders are Ronnie Reagan (I'm right because Nancy says so), the Pope (I'm right because God tells me so), the Ayatollah Khomeini (and me), PW Botha (we're right because we're white), Mrs Thatcher (we're right because we're right-wing) and, of course, Gorbachev (I know we're wrong, I know).\r\n\r\nPortraits of these world leaders are arranged around a picture of the world (complete with burning fuse). You start the game by picking which leaders are going to fight it out next and the second leader you pick is the one you control. The scene then switches to a background appropriate to one leader and combat begins. Now we all know world leaders never engage in physical violence - they have armies and Oli North for that - but here they do, each with his or her own special move. Mrs T, for example, blows cigar smoke in her opponent's face, while Reagan head butts. You can also call in a friend who will run on to lob missiles at an opponent, Mrs Thatcher uses Denis while the Pope has his cardinals. On 128K machines it's all one load, on 48K machines leaders must be loaded individually.\r\n\r\nOnce a leader has been beaten five times he's out of contention for 'leader of a thermonuclear pile of dust'. If your leader survives you can then pick another two leaders to tango together. When all of them have been beaten the lights go out and you take on a mystery guest.\r\n\r\nThe identity of this mystery guest isn't all that hard to discover, I've finished the game quite a few times and wasn't too impressed by its difficulty. What did impress me was the quality of the graphics which amusingly recreate the puppet caricatures used in the TV show. Sound isn't too bad either. The humorous effect soon wears off, however, when you've got to struggle with a sluggish control response. In two-player mode it's obviously more fun, but hardly enough to justify purchase if you've got any other kind of two-player beat-'em-up game.\r\n\r\nMARK 68%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: beautiful title screen and some easily recognisable ingame characters\r\nSound: great title tune but only simple bashing, ingame effects\r\nOptions: definable keys. Choose which leader you play","ReviewerComments":["The six world leaders are excellently drawn, with presentation to match. Sadly, the gameplay is far too easy to master. Once the best tactics are discovered, completion becomes a mere formality by repeated use of one move. Even ignoring this problem, I'm disappointed that more imagination wasn't used for such an intriguing licence. Spitting Image is just a mediocre beat-'em-up which looks far better than it plays.\r\nPhil King\r\n55%","Spitting image is one of those games that will obviously sell because of its name, which is fortunate for Domark, since there's little other reason to buy it. As you can see from the tips gameplay is repetitive and flawed. The best part of the game is undoubtedly the graphics - like so many other licensed games.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n68%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Disappointing after the hilarious TV series.","Page":"64","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"68","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"55","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"68","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The caricature graphics are great, gameplay isn't."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"BURNING RUBBER\r\n\r\nStand on the left-hand edge of the screen and keep using the special weapon.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, keep calling up your sidekick.\r\n\r\nTo defeat the last leader, just keep jiggling the joystick and pressing fire - you should win."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"64%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"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":"Domark\r\n£9.95 cass/£14.95 +3 disk\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nWho are the six most important people m the world? According to my morning paper they'd be cuddly Emma Ridley, family-sized Fergie, oddish Michael Jackson and the swoony' Bros triplets, or some similar combination. 'Not so!' chorus the decidedly posh' Domark boys, who obviously read rather more upmarket publications than yours truly. Their six-pack includes such bastions of sense and moderation as P. W. Botha, Ayatollah Khomeni and the (newly unemployed) leader of the free world, Mr Ronald 'McDonald' Reagan What a nice, happy go lucky bunch!\r\n\r\nAlong with Maggie, Gorby and the Pope these feature as the combatants in Domark's first (licensed) beat 'em up based on the Spitters TV show. It's a pretty standard sort of slash 'n' bash (or m this case fart 'n' gob) affair, with the various obnoxious world leaders swinging away at each other with the prize being - gosh! gasp! eek! - the World!\r\n\r\nIt's a good licence, even if the TV pundits around here reckon the mother show is currently riding the slippy slope down the televisual dumper. From the box featuring the famous Fluck and Law puppets, to the 'witty' instruction sheet, the whole package does its little best to reproduce the look and feel of the family favourite, and this continues on screen with each large sprite looking and acting the part to a tee.\r\n\r\nBiff! Duck and dive as our 'beloved' leader Thatch lets loose with the boxing glove and flying spittle! Thwack! Stagger under the onslaught as Ronnie attacks with head-butts and broken bottles! Pok!' Squirm as groovy Gorby and his holiness the Pope jab away with the finger and banjo! Wallop! Drip as Botha 'piddles' in your direction and choke as the Ayatollah gets his hands around your larynx! The main selling point seems to be that it's all rather rude, naughty and cheeky compared to standard beat 'em up fare.\r\n\r\nTo start you must choose a world leader to play with (Oo-er) and then take on the others in turn against a series of suitably cartoony backdrops. Battles tend to be fast and fun, and with some competent playing will eventually leave only one homicidal statesperson - yourself.\r\n\r\nHang on a minute though! The world needs saving from you too, doesn't it? Sounds like a job for... the Queen?! Yep, Ma'am' herself leaps down from her action-watching spot on the icon strip to mud-wrestle you into the pavement. Unfortunately this takes place at night so all you can see is pairs of eyes in established comic strip (and code-saving) fashion. In the experience of all the YS players there is absolutely NO WAY to win this last bit of the game, so whatever your efforts the world remains safe. Phew, what a relief, eh? And to think we owe it all to Her Majesty.\r\n\r\nThe game is generally well thought out and designed and has proved to be quite a lot of fun on other systems but unfortunately on the Spectrum it has two rather glaring faults. The first is that once you've had fun discovering all the rude and bizarre bits you're left with a rather ordinary and not particularly hard beat 'em up. The other - far more serious problem - is with the loading. First you must load side one of the tape, then flip it over to take the characters themselves from the other side which takes ages. Then each time you lose and want another go you have to reload all six characters from side two again! Yaaghh! At this rate you'll spend 40 minutes loading out of every hour! Since both copies we got acted in exactly the same way, it doesn't seem to be a fault with the tape but a design problem. How silly.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Nicely packaged and well executed beat 'em up which would be birrova goodie if not for deadly long loading sequences.","Page":"88","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"6","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 66, Jun 1991","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1991-05-02","Editor":"Andy Ide","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Andy Ide\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nGames Editor: James Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Philip Davenport\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPublishing Assistant: Michele Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair, Future Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Robert Bliss\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC July-Dec 1990 60,368\r\n\r\nYS comes to you from the same folks who 'knock out' Commodore Format, ST Format, Amiga Format, New Computer Express, Amstrad Action, MacPublishing, Classic CD, PC Plus, 8000 Plus & Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper & Needlecraft"},"MainText":"SPITTING IMAGE\r\nThe Hit Squad\r\n£2.99\r\nReviewer: Jon Pillar\r\n\r\nBased on the telly programme (in case you hadn't guessed) you play one of 6 world leaders (4 of whom have since either resigned or died) with the aim of destroying your opponents' credibility and thus blow up the Earth. To do this you must struggle through the 'hilarious' instructions and the 'crap' jokes, before taking on each leader in 5 no-holds- barred bouts. Apart from the normal bashing moves, the leaders have a special weapon (Gorby's got a deadly yo-yoo, for example) and a loyal sidekick (who can be called upon to lob suitable items at the other players). Beat them all and you face the ultimate challenge - mud-wrestling with a mystery opponent in the dark.\r\n\r\nThe sprites are smooth and there are some very nice graphic touches (like the large, animated caricatures) but unfortunately the game designers forgot one thing - the game. It only takes a couple of picoseconds to cotton on to how to win everytime (and no I'm not going to tell you), after which there's, rather unsurprisingly, no desire to. Tsk, tch and oh, as they say, well.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"76","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jon Pillar","Score":"55","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The Pope serendaing the Ayatollah? He's up to mischief more like!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"55%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 84, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham 'logic' Taylor\r\nDeputy Editor: Jim 'native wit' Douglas\r\nProduction Editor: Alison 'thorough' Skeat\r\nArt Editor: Tim 'brute force' Noonan\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'saucy' Dillon, Chris 'whingey' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine 'top girlie' Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Martha Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma 'choccy face' Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'location unknown' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'starless and bible black' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Jerry 'Mr Amiable' Parks\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]"},"MainText":"Label: Domark\r\nAuthor: Walking Circles\r\nPrice: £9.95/£14.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nDo you ever get the feeling that there's nothing that isn't getting licensed as a computer game? If Domark can make a game out of a satirical comedy puppet series, what can we expect next? John Ketley's Weather Game? Emmerdale Farm Arcade Adventure?\r\n\r\nAt least Spitting Image manages to be fairly funny and fairly gamey at the same time, rather than sacrificing one to emphasise the other. In effect this is a martial arts-style combat game, in which the combatants are world leaders; Margaret Thatcher, Ronnie Reagan, the Pope, President Gorbachev, the Ayatollah and lovely old Pik Botha. In order to avert a world war, you must choose one a your hero, and control him or her as he (or she) takes on all the others. There's also a two-player option in which the format is the same but you don't get to save the world at the end.\r\n\r\nThe cartoon-style characters are nicely drawn and animated. Particularly clever are the little details which you hardly notice during the battles; the way Mrs Thatcher's wig slips loose, Ronnie's neck telescopes out and so on.\r\n\r\nOnce you've chosen your characters, the scene switches to the defending premier's home country; outside Number 10, on a South African rugby field and so on. The portraits of each character appear on each side of the screen, and there's the familiar energy bar to left and right. Now it's you job to punch, kick, butt, knee and jab your opponent into oblivion, just like in the U.N., in a best of five series.\r\n\r\nFighting moves are controlled by joystick or keyboard, and include hits to head, body and feet, and a special move which changes for each character - Botha, for instance, hits out with what looks like a yo-yo(!?!). You'll find, though, that you're constantly under attack from your opponent's little sidekick, who appears from the right hand side of the screen and bombards you with missiles. Apart from jumping out of the way, you can also hit back by pressing the space bar to summon your own sidekick into the fray, as many times as you like.\r\n\r\nThe sound effects are fine, and the music, a version of Phil Pope's theme tune of the series, is an excellent David Whittaker bash which, in the 128K version, will have you tapping your feet as you bash heads.\r\n\r\nOK, the world doesn't actually need another martial arts game - not even a FUNNY martial arts game, because what with Ninja Hamster and Usagi Yojimbo, there are already a few of those about.\r\n\r\nStill, Spitting image is excellently programmed by Walking Circles, provides a few laughs along with the mayhem, and manages to offend everyone, so it can't be bad.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Comedy martial arts game with the accent on satire.","Page":"57","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 16, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-16","Editor":"Jon Rose","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jon Rose\r\nReviews Editor: Nik Wild\r\nFeatures Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Robin Hogg, Warren Lapworth, Robin Candy\r\nEditorial Assistants: Vivien Vickress, Caroline Blake\r\nResearcher: David Peters\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Mel Croucher, Warwrick Brompton, Robin Evans, Richard Henderson, Andrew Riston, Marshal M Rosenthal, Pete Warnes, John Woods\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Yvonne Priest, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Robert Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENTS\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nGroup Advertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow and on our Apple Macintosh II running Quark Xpress 2.0. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of TGM. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Viv Vickress a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into TGM - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Occasional material from Electronic Game Player reproduced by kind permission of Sorjana Publications, California. Other Newsfield publications are CRASH (Spectrum), ZZAP! (Commodore 64/Amiga), FEAR (fantasy and horror) and MOVIE - THE VIDEO MAGAZINE. Now that's interesting, but why are you reading all this when there 119 pages to go?\r\n\r\n©TGM Magazines Ltd, 1989\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95\r\nAmstrad CPC Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95\r\nCommodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £12.95\r\nAtari ST Diskette: £19.95\r\n\r\nLEADERBORED\r\n\r\nAlthough Domark have themselves been on the receiving end of Spitting Image's wrath, thanks to their '86 release, Split Personalities, time has healed the wounds it seems. They return to the take-the-piss-out-of-all-and-sundry world of latex with a game they claim is more exciting than Ninja Gerbil - proud boasting indeed.\r\n\r\nYou get to play one of six world leaders - including Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachov and the Pope - in an effort to beat up the other five in one-on-one confrontations and eventually rule the world.\r\n\r\nEach leader has different attack methods, tricks and tactics and they go about duffing each other up in what Domark hope is an amusing fashion. It isn't!\r\n\r\nSeeing a drunken Dennis sway on-screen to aid an ailing Maggie is a tired attempt at humour. And watching PW Botha urinate over his adversaries was so funny I wet myself - almost.\r\n\r\nEven though this is basically a combat game, one expected more depth than that of IK or Exploding Fist. Unfortunately, the limitations of four moves, plus a partner to help out, proves otherwise.\r\n\r\nResting wholly on its tie in with, and so-called humour of the TV programme, Spitting Image fails to rise above the ranks of a very poor man's Exploding Fist. If you're buying it for the humour (why else?) you may have a fun time for the first hour - but that's all.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Spectrum Spitting Image is no better to play, but at least the graphics and presentation better than average.","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Botha, Sooty and the Ayatollah (below, on the ST), decide to settle their differences in the way they know best - with senseless violence."},{"Text":"Cigar-smoking, hairless Mags on the Amstrad - she is shorter and I are taller."},{"Text":"Right, on the C64 : blocky dwarfs and cheap backgrounds abound in this trashy format."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"Fails to rise above the ranks of a very poor man's Exploding Fist\""},{"Text":"AMSTRAD CPC\r\n\r\nOverall: 35%\r\n\r\nLooks the best of the 8-bit versions, though backgrounds aren't brilliant. It plays better than the C64 game, but not as well as the Spectrum. It still lacks addiction, playability, amusement and lastability."},{"Text":"ATARI ST\r\n\r\nOverall: 32%\r\n\r\nGraphics are the selling point, featuring detailed backdrops and characters to match - these don't help in any way though. A limited move, limited interest slapstick fighting game like Spitting Image can't hope to compete with the likes of IK."},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64/128\r\n\r\nOverall: 28%\r\n\r\nConfusion reigns on the C64 and small world leaders scampering around in front of more-than-average backdrops don't help. An attractive title screen and front-end doesn't make up for desperately poor gameplay."},{"Text":"OTHER FORMATS\r\n\r\nAmiga owners may indulge in rubber for £19.95 - if they so desire."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"39%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]