[{"TitleName":"Beaky and the Egg Snatchers","Publisher":"Fantasy Software [1]","Author":"Bob Hamilton","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0000488","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 7, Aug 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-07-26","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":112,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nGeneral office [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\n\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nGeneral correspondence to: [redacted]\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Limited.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nPhotosetting by SIOS [redacted]\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £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: Fantasy\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £6.50\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Bob Hamilton\r\n\r\nAs we reported a month or two back, Fantasy have given their super hero Ziggy a holiday, and in this, their new game, a new hero emerges - Beaky. Beaky lives on the planet Crackit, and the place is of the type that would give David Attenborough shivers of ecological pleasure. This is survival of the fittest. As Beaky your task stretches across three screens of furious activity and the aim is to raise more Beaky's like yourself. Don't worry - this is no sex education game - Beaky's broody habits are restricted to saving eggs, hatching them and feeding the resultant chicks.\r\n\r\nIn effect there are 12 different screens, consisting of three distinct phases. The object is to rear four generations of Beakys to complete the game. Beaky is an Andromedan Condor and possessed of magical powers, he also spits magic seeds which kill off his aggressors. In the first screen the Eggsnatchers have robbed the nest of its eggs. These can be seen dotted about on the five platforms above the nest. Eggsnatchers keep materialising and then picking up the eggs. After a second or two they dematerialise with the egg. Beaky must fly around rescuing the eggs. Because they are too heavy to pick up, he must wait for an Eggsnatcher to get one, then shoot the beast before it dematerialises. The egg is dropped and falls, Beaky must zoom down and catch it before it drops and smashes, eventually landing on the nest to deposit it. Contact with an Eggsnatcher will cause it to dematerialise with a resultant loss of some of Beaky's magical power. When all power is lost the game is over. On subsequent levels poison green eggs will fall into the nest. These are best shot out of the air as they destroy the already collected eggs one at a time. Leaving the first phase is up to the player and is a strategical decision. Too soon and you won't have enough eggs - too late and there won't be enough magical power to sustain you through the next two phases.\r\n\r\nHaving collected some eggs they must now be hatched out. For this they need warmth. Fortunately they only take two minutes to hatch. However life is made difficult by the snowflakes which keep dropping on the nest lowering the eggs' temperature. These may be shot at, in which case they turn to water, which has less effect. Another shot when the drop turns blue will vapourise altogether. If the temperature drops to zero an egg will be lost. On top of this is the Froogle (claimed to be a distant relative of Googly Bird from Doomsday Castle), which hops slowly along and flicks squid nitrogen into the nest causing a drop in its temperature. Froogles are dissuaded from this unsavoury habit by shooting the spheres which float around and causing their central nuclei to fall on the Froogle's head. Contact with a Froogle causes severe depletion of magic power.\r\n\r\nSuccessfully hatching out an egg takes you onto phase three - feeding the chick. This is accomplished by catching large quantities of a green flying worm and taking it back to the thick. The worms are not easy to catch, being naturally shy of vicious Andromedan Condors. More Eggsnatchers will appear in this phase (they also like green flying worms) and will drop missiles into the nest, further depleting any food you have already collected. Rearing a chick through this phase returns you to the first at a higher, more difficult level. Completing all four levels will result in a hi-score code appearing for Fantasy's Hall of Fame (as well as Lloyd Mangram's Hall of Slime).\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: preset - O/P left/right, Q flap, M fire, E quit (to next level), but keys may be user-defined\r\nJoystick: Kempston, ZX 2, AGF, Protek\r\nKeyboard play: very responsive\r\nUse of colour: very good\r\nGraphics: smooth, large, detailed and very good\r\nSound: good noises, not too much of it\r\nSkill levels: progressive difficulty\r\nLives: the magic you're given\r\nScreens: 3\r\nOriginality: very original","ReviewerComments":["This is one of those games which starts off fairly difficult and boring but gradually grows on you. I thought the graphics were a bit of a come down after Doomsday Castle although the animation is quite good. Beaky has a mind of his own and is hard to control, especially when landing. The game becomes progressively more interesting. Colour and sound are well above average. It gets to be very addictive although I still think DDC was a better game, but certainly worth buying.\r\r\nUnknown","Fantasy certainly go in for games with a lot going on, and Beaky is no exception. There's a very long and amusing set of instructions with the game objectives and methods of play very clearly laid out. It's just as well, because Beaky is hard to get used to at first. The controls are simple and good, left, right, flap and fire, but he has an inbuilt instrument landing system which means he operates quite erratically (it seems at first). Once mastered, the game stops being unfortunately hard and becomes plain hard! The Eggsnatchers, particularly, are well designed and animated, and the graphics throughout are very good indeed. There isn't quite as much going on as in DDC but saving eggs is sweaty work. At first I thought the fact that you can exit phase one on your own decision lowered the playability and point of the game, but in fact it's very much a case of too many or too few eggs. You have to be careful in deciding when to go on to the next screen. In the end I think Beaky lacks all the excitement and addictivity that Doomsday Castle had, but it's certainly a good game and very original and very playable.\r\r\nUnknown","After really enjoying Fantasy's last two productions I was really looking forward to this one. But I was somewhat disappointed with it. The game has great graphics (perhaps not quite as varied as usual) and it is highly original. It just didn't seem very playable or addictive to me. The bird is difficult to control so that you can get in good shots at your enemies. Perhaps Fantasy are trying to be too adventurous. Still it is above average to the point of being good.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Quite mixed feelings between the reviewers - we felt everyone was trying to compare it of Doomsday Castle - which ranged from above average, to good, to very good. Generally recommended.","Page":"90,91","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Above: the first screen. Below; the Froogle attacks."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"66%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 8, Oct 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-09-20","Editor":"Roger Munford","TotalPages":90,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Munford\r\nManaging Editor: Bruce Sawford\r\nDeputy Editor: Tina Boylan\r\nTechnical Editor: Peter Shaw\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: Ron Smith, Leon Heller, Stephen Adams, Dr D C Threlfall, Simon Goodwin, Peter Freebrey, Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls, Mike Leaman, Bill Shaw, Penny Page, The Saltcoats Computing Club, Mark Roberts, Sue Denham\r\nArt Editor: Hazel Bennington\r\nArt Assistant: Steve Broadhurst\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Jill Harris\r\nAdvertising: Shane Campbell, Nik Saha, Dave Baskerville\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Art Director: Perry Neville\r\nPublisher: Steven England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Spectrum ©1984 Felden productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Spectrum is a monthly publication.\r\n\r\nCover photography by Ian McKinnell"},"MainText":"BEAKY AND THE EGG SNATCHERS\r\nFantasy Software\r\n£5.50\r\r\n\r\r\nBeaky, a member of the Andromedan Armed Condors, has chosen to lay her eggs on the planet Crackit. Unfortunately, this is the home of the egg-snatchers, so the first thing is help Beaky recover her eggs, then assist in brooding and chick rearing.","ReviewerComments":["Originality, in this case, doesn't just apply to the idea, but also to the design and movement of the graphics. They're super smooth, flicker free, and include excellent detail. In fact, it takes 120 frames of animation to move Beaky alone. Although the colours aren't the brightest possible (black background), they're easy on the eyes.\r\nAlan Grier","The screen display is somehow lacking, offering little to maintain the player's concentration, which is one reason why this game is so difficult to play. Another is the speed, which is sometimes so fast that Beaky flies out of control. Still, the graphics are of a very high quality, and are not adversely affected by the high speed. The actual idea is as good as it is novel.\r\nAlan Hunter","The graphics are generally very impressive, especially Beaky (when she's in flight) and the egg-snatchers themselves. However, the use of colour could have been better - it's a bit dull to look at; a little more sound might have helped as well. Nevertheless, the originality of the idea, and the fast action, make this an extremely good game to play. The option of defining your own keys helps.\r\nAlex Entwhistle"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"62","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Grier","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":"HIT"},{"Name":"Alan Hunter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":"MISS"},{"Name":"Alex Entwhistle","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":"HIT"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 33, Jul 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-06-16","Editor":"Tim Metcalfe","TotalPages":164,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CREDITS\r\n\r\nEditor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAssistant Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nStaff Writers/Reader Services: Robert Schifreen, Seamus St. John\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Mary Morton\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Louise Matthews\r\nAdvertising Executives: Bernard Dugdale, Sean Brennan, Phil Godsell\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Melanie Paulo\r\nProduction Assistant: Roy Stephens\r\nPublisher: Rita Lewis\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £14. 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, [redacted]. Typeset by Camden Typesetters Ltd.\r\n\r\nThe cover illustration: Can Daley make it or will the PiMan pip him at the post?\r\nIllustrated by Charles Griffin."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum\r\nSUPPLIER: Fantasy\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\n\r\nDon't put all your eggs in one basket when playing this game as they're likely to be grabbed by a strange winged egg-snatcher.\r\n\r\nBeaky and the Egg Snatchers is the latest release from Fantasy Software, the boys who brought us The Pyramid. You take the part of Beaky, a small white bird, and the game is all about looking after your eggs in a multi screen game.\r\n\r\nScreen one has you plucking eggs from out of the mouths of egg snatchers. The eggs rest on a number of small platforms on the screen and the egg snatchers are swooping down and removing them. Your task is to apprehend the nasties in mid-flight with your gun. The egg will then fall from their claws and you must catch it before it hits the ground and ends up as an omelette.\r\n\r\nOnce you have an egg, you take it to the nest which is at the bottom of the screen where it remains until needed for the other screens.\r\n\r\nYou can collect up to nine eggs and you can quit this first level at any time as long as you have at least one egg.\r\n\r\nScreen two is similar in layout to the first one.\r\n\r\nOnce you become a master at the first three screens then there are three more skill levels. The total of twelve screens has four egg-catching screens, four spinning disk ones and four with chicks.\r\n\r\nSound effects are in the game, including birdie noises and control is via a joystick or the keyboard.\r\n\r\nThis is a novel game. The graphics are good and some of the movement effects are quite clever.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"44","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 10, Sep 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-08-16","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nDeputy Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nStaff Writers: Peter Connor, Bob Wade\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nGame-of-the-month poster: Jeff Riddle\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublisher: James Scoular\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Satchell\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Susie Cooper\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Peter Goldstein\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nSales Executives: Ian Cross, Marion O'Neill\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 48K\r\nCONTROL: Keys, Kemp, Pro, Sinc\r\nFROM: Fantasy Software, £5.50\r\n\r\nBeaky is an Andromedan Armed Condor engaged in a desperate struggle to preserve his species on the planet Crackit. There are 12 different screens to get through, involving collecting the eggs, incubating them and, finally, rearing the chicks.\r\n\r\nThe first stage has you recovering stolen eggs front the nasty Egg Snatchers. You must shoot them in flight and catch the falling egg.\r\n\r\nWhen the egg is in your grasp you must swoop down to your nest and drop it in. To make life that bit harder you have a diminishing supply of magic that must last until you complete the third screen.\r\n\r\nAs with all chicks there must be a time for incubation. Beaky has the task of shooting (yes shooting!) snowflakes before they drop into his nest and lower the temperature.\r\n\r\nThe rare spotted Froogle will try to drop the temperature of the nest by spitting nitrogen bombs into it. This creature hops around in between cat naps, your only hope of destroying him being to shoot the coloured spinning spheres which move around the screen.\r\n\r\nThe third stage has you trying to feed your helpless chicks with the green worms that wriggle around the screen.\r\n\r\nRearing its ugly head is yet another Egg Snatcher who will deplete your food supply by dropping missiles into the nest. If the food supply falls to zero then a chick is lost the other chicks get hungry and eat it!\r\n\r\nIf you manage to sustain a good food supply the chicks mature and you start over, with the second generation (there being four to do overall).\r\n\r\nThe presentation on Beaky is superb There are user-definable keys and all major joystick interfaces are supported.\r\n\r\nBeaky will arouse the maternal instinct and has the right blend of action and strategy to have you constantly coming back for just one more try.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54,55","Denied":false,"Award":"PCG Hit","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Takoushi","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair Programs Issue 22, Aug 1984","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1984-07-19","Editor":"Rebecca Ferguson","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nConsultant Editor: John Campbell\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nStaff Writer: June Mortimer\r\nDesign: Elaine Bishop\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Holly Fleming\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Rick Holloway\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nAssistant Managing Director: Barry Hazel\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nU.S. Press representative Mr J. Eisenberg, JE Publishers' representative, [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair Programs is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like your original programs to be published in Sinclair Programs, please send your contributions, which must not have appeared elsewhere, to\r\nSinclair Programs\r\nEEC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included. We pay £10 for the copyright of each program published.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1984 Sinclair Programs\r\nISSN No. 0263-0265\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by: Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Design: Ivan Hissey"},"MainText":"EGG SNATCHERS\r\n\r\nRecent software releases have indicated that shooting in straight lines is now passe. The new alternative is to spit missiles which hit their target on the ricochet. Not the cleanest of habits and certainly not the easiest.\r\n\r\nThai form of defence is employed in Beaky and the Egg Snatchers. The game includes many levels, all different. The gist is that the player is transformed into a large bird trying to rear chicks. Eggs must be collected and batched and chicks must then be fed.\r\n\r\nAs usual, the difficulties are manifold. You are not just a bird, you are an Andromedan Condor. The instructions suggest that life is made easier if you imagine you really are an Andromedan Condor. That is no mean feat but they are correct; movement is even more difficult than that stretch of the imagination.\r\n\r\nIt might be thought that trying to incubate eggs would be difficult if you are a male bird but the problem goes unnoticed in the face of the Egg-snatchers which do their best at every stage of the game to prevent any new condor reaching maturity. Not only do they carry away the eggs, they also drop snowflakes on the eggs while they are incubating and fire missiles at the small chicks.\r\n\r\nBeaky and the Egg Snatchers is far more inventive and far more challenging than it is possible to imagine without playing it for several hours. Definitely one of the best games of 1984, produced for the 48K Spectrum by Fantasy Software, [redacted]. Price, £6.50.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"36,37","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"June Mortimer","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]