[{"TitleName":"Splitting Images","Publisher":"Domark Ltd","Author":"David Whittaker, Ernest Peske, Mark Strachan, Ruud Peske","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0004770","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 30, Jul 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-06-26","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writers: Hannah Smith, Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: John Minson, Jon Bates, Rosetta McLeod\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton\r\nProcess Camera: Matthew Uffindell\r\nPhotographer: Cameron Pound\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nInformation and Bookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted];\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Domark\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: Ernisoft\r\n\r\nSliding block puzzles and jigsaws are as old as the Ark, but Domark and the Dutch software house Ernisoft have come up with a new, computerised variant. Although the name might suggest a tie-in with a certain TV program - don't be fooled, there's no wicked satire to be found in this game, and rubber puppets don't appear. All you have to do is work against a time limit and assemble caricatures of the famous from little blocks.\r\n\r\nAll you have to do? Well not quite. Starting with Ronald Reagan, ten cartoons of famous faces have to be pieced together if the game is to be played through to the end. At the start of each level the main playing area is empty - a zone enclosed with blue buffers. A pulsating square cursor is under your control and sits under a flashing arrow at the top left of the screen. The image that has been split appears in a small window in the status area on the right, the bar display that monitors the time you have remaining is refreshed, and play commences.\r\n\r\nThe cursor is used to shift the blocks around in the playing area. It can be moved in four directions, and once the cursor has been placed over a piece to be moved, pressing fire grabs the block. Holding fire and then moving the cursor whizzes the selected block off in the chosen direction. A moving block continues to travel in a straight line until another block or the blue buffer is hit, when it comes to rest. Pieces are brought on to the playing area by zipping the cursor under the flashing arrow, pressing fire to seize the hidden piece and moving right to fetch it into view. While the cursor is over a piece in the main play area, one of the squares on the little status panel picture turns white, revealing the correct location for that segment of the puzzle.\r\n\r\nTwenty pieces have to be shuffled into the right order to make up each picture, and there are only four spare block positions at the top of the playzone - so some careful juggling is called for. Just to add a little variety to the game, cracks appear in some of the buffers. Blocks that are moved onto a cracked section of buffer bounce off, returning to their start point. Some of the cracks remain in the same part of the buffer throughout a level, while others hop around the place during play. Little sliding doors in the top, left and bottom buffers open and close. While a door is closed it acts as a normal section of buffer, but if a piece is shoved towards an open door it disappears from the playing area and joins the queue of pieces behind the flashing arrow.\r\n\r\nEvery so often, objects associated with the character whose likeness is being assembled are dragged into play. These objects can lead to bonus scores if you do the right thing with them - shoving the American Flag against the Russian flag for instance, earns a bonus of 1,500 points on the Ronnie Reagan screen. If one object is thrown against another object, they both dematerialise and if the right pairing has been achieved the bonus value flashes up at the point of collision before being added to the score.\r\n\r\nBombs are bad news - they explode five seconds after they are brought into play and have to be shoved against a tap (bonus of 5,000 points) or whisked out of an open doorway before they detonate. Failure to dispose of a bomb results in an explosion and the loss of a life. Other objects appear at random and can be combined: throwing a pistol against a bullet doubles your bonus score on that level, while matches and fuel should be kept well apart!\r\n\r\nThe number of points awarded for completing a level depends on the amount of time remaining when the final piece is slotted into place. Running out of time results in the loss of a life - but providing all three lives haven't been lost, the blocks stay in place when you die. An extra life is awarded for reaching 100,000 points and extra time can be won on later screens by sliding a diamond into another gem.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: O left, P right, Q up, A down, CAP SHIFT to SPACE fire, R and T abort, H pause, J continue\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2\r\nKeyboard play: responsive, but a bit tricky\r\nUse of colour: neat - no clashes\r\nGraphics: fast moving; good caricatures\r\nSound: start and end tunes and spot effects\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: ten","ReviewerComments":["While this game has almost nothing in common with the TV series it isn't based on, I thought it was great. The caricatures of the characters are excellent, and the game moves at a very rapid pace, which adds to the fun. Things like the bombs and other bonus elements contribute towards this too, making it an extremely playable game. The graphics and sound effects are nicely executed, and the game is highly addictive, with that 'one more little go' element about it. I like it. It's nice to see Domark getting their act together after the awful Friday the 13th.\r\r\nUnknown","This is definitely the best Domark game ever! I know that's not saying much, but Splitting Images IS a really good game, and the most surprising bit about it is that the game is so simple in construction. The presentation is well above the normal Domark stuff and suits the game perfectly - simple but stunning. I found Splitting Images was totally compelling from the first time I picked up the joystick. The graphics are excellent with very smooth scrolling and some nice sound effects. Domark seem to have got the right balance of difficulty, with the 'Reagan' screen being easy to get past and 'Maggie' being a bit harder and each subsequent level presenting that bit more of a challenge. The game features lots of nice bonuses, which can improve your score tremendously and keep you addicted to the game for ages. I would recommend you buy this, as it's definitely something different from the normal game.\r\r\nUnknown","Well done Domark, you've finally broken your spell of releasing poor games. I am well impressed. This is a very original, playable and compelling game. The graphics are colourful, detailed and generally well 'finished'; the characters are all recognisable; the sound is nice too - there is a tune at the beginning and some very reasonable effects during the game itself. Playing the game can be a bit tricky until you get the hang of the control, but once you do, the action gets fast and furious. Disposing of the bombs is also tricky, and going for bonus scores means some extra thinking is called for. I enjoyed playing this one as it is fun and fast moving.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A different, compelling and original game.","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Maggie seems to have gone to pieces. That's well out of character for the Iron Lady."},{"Text":"Ronnie has been placed back together again, and appears in all his glory against the Stars and Stripes. Pity Humpty Dumpty didn't have a chance to get the benefit of SPLITTING IMAGES."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 57, Sep 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-08-09","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Joe Davies, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Rich Pelley, Jackie Ryan, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Director: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: SM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"Split Personalities\r\nDomark\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nA bit of an oldie this, but its still quite good all the same.\r\n\r\n(A few plays later.) In fact, I'd almost go as far as to say that I quite like it. But what's it all about, eh?\r\n\r\nWell, it's kind of like those slidey puzzle games (where you must slide those plastic square bits around to make up a normally-crap piccy of Lassie or some such equally attractive persona), but with a few subtle changes to add to the fun. Firstly, you can collect the pieces one at a time, keeping them or temporarily chucking them out through a gap in the wall. Once you've got one you can't just put them where you want either - just like in the similar puzzles of the plastic kind, you have to slide them completely to one side or the other - if you see what I mean. And things get more complicated as you progress (Clive Sinclair really is a bummer to get together for instance) with things such as bombs (which blow everything up), holes in the wall (where pieces can fall out), bonuses which you can throw together (for extra score and lives) and a variety of other things which I, erm, can't quite remember, cluttering everything up. Still, it's actually not too bad at all.\r\n\r\nAND FINALLY...\r\n\r\nThere we have it! As I predicted (and Matt and Jonathan got totally wrong) it took me absolutely blooming ages. And most of that time was spent arguing about what a puzzle game actually is and what qualifies and what doesn't (which is one reason why we don't have a giant list of all the ones ever made - we just couldn't agree what they were!).\r\n\r\nNext month - Flight Sims. (Something everyone can agree on.) Hurrah!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"64","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"This was Domark's unofficial Spitting Image game (from before it got the licence) but it's actually more fun than the 'real' one. (Not sure why anybody would want to put Maggie back together again though.)"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Fiendishness","Score":"91%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lack Of Sleep Factor","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Pull Your Hair Out Factor","Score":"18%","Text":""},{"Header":"Variation","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"93%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 52, Jul 1986","Price":"£0.98","ReleaseDate":"1986-06-14","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"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: Richard Price, Gordo Greatbelly\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nHardware Correspondent: John Lambert\r\nBusiness Correspondent: Mike Wright\r\nContributors: Jerry Muir, Gary Rook, Chris Bourne, 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: Stuart Hughes\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 Peterboro' Web, [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":"Label: Domark\r\nAuthor: Ernieware\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: Various\r\nReviewer: Clare Edgeley\r\n\r\nHave you ever wanted to rearrange someone's face? Well, here's your chance.\r\n\r\nFor starters, you can put Reagan's mouth where it ought to be. As for the Iron lady, she's got metal fatigue and gone to pieces.\r\n\r\nIn Domark's Splitting images (nothing to do with the hit TV series). You've got to piece together parts of famous faces - like one of those sliding block puzzles. The idea sounded awful to us, but then, we wuz wrong. Its fast, addictive and very, very fast.\r\n\r\nYou start off with a blank screen and waiting behind the scenes are a number of picture squares which make up the portrait. Bring them on to the screen and arrange them in the right order before your time runs out. Sounds easy? Wait till you try it. Apart from being fast there are additional bogus and bonus squares. Some have to be got rid of instantly, like the bombs. Otherwise, someone's carefully constructed head is liable to go up with a bang. Brains all over the place YUK!\r\n\r\nIn fact the bombs can be doused with the water tap to earn bonus points. Likewise, match the pistol and bullet for a higher score. Don't light the fuel with the match though, or you'll get singed. Push the American flag into the Russian one for extra points. Other objects include a hammer, ice cream and diamonds. Some good, some bad, throw them into other objects and see what happens.\r\n\r\nTo get rid of the bogus squares, line them up with the sliding hatches in the wall, and chuck them out when the doors open. The squares will then rush round and join the end of the queue to reappear later.\r\n\r\nThe problems start when the screen is almost full, then it becomes almost impossible to shunt round the squares before the time runs out. Try to complete the bottom of the picture first and move upwards and try not to block off the sliding hatches. Watch out for the cracks in the wall, these act as springs and repel all squares if they are placed head on. Approach from the side and slide the squares into position.\r\n\r\nThere's a time limit on each screen and they can be fiendishly tight, especially with characters that come later on in the game. Ronnie and Maggie come first - which must be some sort of political statement.\r\n\r\nFor Ron you have to knock out the Russian flags with the American flags. Then for Maggie you hammer the Labour symbol with the Tory symbol. Dodgy stuff. For each character the objects change, though the bomb is constant throughout.\r\n\r\nOn hearing the title, Splitting images, I wondered what was in store for me when I loaded up. After the disappointments of Domark's Friday 13th and Friday 13th and View to a Kill I was fully prepared not to like it.\r\n\r\nThe game however, is very fast, very difficult and very playable.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Let's not split hairs: this is pretty fast. Much better than expected, in fact. Domark back on form","Page":"40","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Clare Edgeley","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]