[{"TitleName":"Starfire","Publisher":"Virgin Games Ltd","Author":"Martyn Charles Davis","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0004859","Reviews":[{"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: Virgin, 48K\r\n£5.95\r\nAuthor: M C Davis\r\n\r\nVirgin always have good, clear instructions, and this was one of the better first issue games. Features: Galactic war report, detailing mission, aliens left, starbases and stardates left: Computer call - main menu: Long range scan, well laid out with the eight adjacent sectors shown: Navigation, menu (or moving from sector to sector: Battlestations, arcade style viewscreen with four-directional movement and fire at visible enemy. Docking with a starbase is tricky, and there are also time portals in space as well as asteroid storms to contend with. On balance a reasonable game with ten skill levels.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"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: Virgin, 48K\r\n£5.95\r\nAuthor: M C Davis\r\n\r\nVirgin always have good, clear instructions, and this was one of the better first issue games. Features: Galactic war report, detailing mission, aliens left, starbases and stardates left: Computer call - main menu: Long range scan, well laid out with the eight adjacent sectors shown: Navigation, menu (or moving from sector to sector: Battlestations, arcade style viewscreen with four-directional movement and fire at visible enemy. Docking with a starbase is tricky, and there are also time portals in space as well as asteroid storms to contend with. On balance a reasonable game with ten skill levels.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"57","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: Virgin, 48K\r\n£5.95\r\nAuthor: M C Davis\r\n\r\nVirgin always have good, clear instructions, and this was one of the better first issue games. Features: Galactic war report, detailing mission, aliens left, starbases and stardates left: Computer call - main menu: Long range scan, well laid out with the eight adjacent sectors shown: Navigation, menu (or moving from sector to sector: Battlestations, arcade style viewscreen with four-directional movement and fire at visible enemy. Docking with a starbase is tricky, and there are also time portals in space as well as asteroid storms to contend with. On balance a reasonable game with ten skill levels.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"74","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 15, Oct 1984","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1984-09-27","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Jamie Clary\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSales Executive: Penny Scoular\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Beverley McNeill\r\nCopy Controller: Ann McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\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 1984"},"MainText":"I must admit that I would not have gone all out to find and pay £5.50 on it, its front cover not being too eye-catching. But when I received Starfire as a present, I was pleasantly surprised. It's clear, extensive instructions and excellent colour photograph of one of the screen dumps in the game, do a great deal for the user. There is even a condensed list of all control keys used for easy access when playing the game (and I must say, you certainly need it for at least your first ten games). There is also information on the author of the game which is a very good idea as it gives an indication of how long the program took to write, etc.\r\n\r\nOnce the program has spent four minutes loading (my copy loaded every time) your name is entered and the skill level chosen, of which there are 10. Number one (ZX80 Brain) is supposed to be easy, but I haven't found it easy to complete yet, and level ten is the hardest (impossible is a better word). I am just about up to level two (ZX81 Brain) and I have had the game for two months now!\r\n\r\nAfter this interaction, a data sheet appears, informing the Starship Captain (you) for the number of aliens to kill, starbases to refuel at, and time available to do all of this in.\r\n\r\nEventually, the game starts and the controls provided can be called up from the shipboard computer. Briefly these are:-\r\n\r\nAbort - abort attempt at alien or starbase.\r\n\r\nBattlestations - to attack the aliens using keys B, H, F, T and 4 to fire.\r\n\r\nComputer Call - calls up a list of controls for the forgetful, damage to ship, or energy distribution.\r\n\r\nDock - to dock with starbase (if you're lucky) for refuelling and repair.\r\n\r\nLong Range Scan - to see which are the lucky aliens to be blasted this time or to locate starbases.\r\n\r\nNavigate - to move from one subsector to another.\r\n\r\nGalactic War Report - shows how many aliens, starbases and stardates (time) remain.\r\n\r\nSmart Bombs - the ultimate in weapons, destroys all aliens and starbases in adjacent sectors and usually yourself if you haven't enough power left.\r\n\r\nThe graphics when used are relatively slow with a slow reaction time on the keyboard but this, however, does not make the game any worse as the alien stops moving and firing when the button is pressed. This makes the game easier on level one while still being difficult on level ten as the alien is moving so often that it is usually impossible to get him (it) into your sights.\r\n\r\nThe game is mostly in 3D but there are a few screens when two dimensional graphics are used. These are when the ship needs to navigate an asteroid field, time portal or dock with a starbase. In these, the ship is seen in 20 as the precision and skill needed would be lost in a third dimension.\r\n\r\nThe whole program is written in BASIC and is easily listed. The REM statements make the listing easy to understand and I have seen a couple of areas that I have not come across in the game yet, such as a black hole and a self destruct mode. The game runs for over an hour and one disappointment at the end is that no score is employed thus, skill needs to be determined by the amount of aliens destroyed, my total being twenty-one.\r\n\r\nIn a summary, then, I found the game exciting, strategic and enjoyable though it could be vastly improved with better graphics.\r\n\r\nStarfire runs on the 48K Spectrum.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"119","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nigel Stutt","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]