[{"TitleName":"Stop the Express","Publisher":"Sinclair Research Ltd","Author":"Hudson Soft, Roger Garland","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0004916","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 6, Jul 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-06-21","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\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\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\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\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\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: Sinclair\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Hudson Soft\r\n\r\nTrains seem to be in the news this issue, what with Blaby's Casey Jones and now this original game marketed by Sinclair. Hudson Soft is the Japanese company who have been releasing games in Britain recently. Anyone who has ever wanted to do one of those scenes in movies where the hero runs along the tops of the carriages on a moving train, can now have a go!\r\n\r\nThe ITA Express has fallen into the hands of the evil Redmen. As Special Security Agent, your task is to stop the train and apprehend the vile criminals before they reach the border. You must reach the front carriage and unlock the motorman's cabin, avoiding the thrown knives of the red rotters and their fists. Your only weapons are your wits, skill in timing and the likeable Snakebird.\r\n\r\nThe screen shows the carriages of the moving train, almost filling the playing area. You are lowered from above on to the roof of the last carriage. The train's motion is indicated by the backward scrolling ground beneath the train and the flashing telegraph poles behind it. As you run forward, the carriages slowly scroll backwards. Thrown knives are ducked by falling flat and the gaps between carriages are negotiated by jumping. If the pursuing redmen catch up with you, or one of their knives hits you, you are flung off the train, which sails on without you.\r\n\r\nOccasionally a snakebird flies past. Leaping up will enable you to catch one, and pressing the fire button will release it to attack your pursuers. Just below the score line is a caution signal which flashes whenever an overhead electric stanchion is approaching. Running your head into one of these is painfully fatal!\r\n\r\nIf you get through the first screen, the scene cuts to the interior of the carriages - a sort of cutaway view. Here the hero must use the passenger hanging straps to swing up and avoid the redmen, or it's possible to leap over them, even kicking them in the teeth. But watch out for the ghostly red things that inhabit the straps as well.\r\n\r\nThe first stage is ten carriages long, stage two is the same before the motorman's cabin is reached. Each redman thrown from the train scores 100 points whether it is the released snakebird or a kick which sends them flying.\r\n\r\nControl keys: a bit of a handful - A or J/D or L run left/right, Q or I/E or P to jump left/right and X or M =down, CAPS or BREAK to fire \r\nJoystick: ZX 2\r\nKeyboard play: difficult with so many keys, joystick recommended, but very responsive\r\nColour: very good\r\nGraphics: very good, large and detailed\r\nSound: above average\r\nSkill levels: 1\r\nLives: 3\r\nOriginality: very high, nothing else like it","ReviewerComments":["This is like a scene from a James Bond film. A very original idea nearly always sells cassettes - this is original and great fun to play. The train carriages are well drawn and colourful. 'You', your enemies and the snakebirds all move very fast. The sound isn't bad, with a clicky effect resembling the wheels going over the rails. One disadvantage with keyboard play is the number of keys needed to move and operate your man. One of the better games that Sinclair has just released.\r\r\nUnknown","The graphics in Stop The Express are quite impressive, probably because the train carriages are so large and colourful, but there are lots of other neat details, like the telegraph poles and sagging wires which can be seen above the roof and below the wheels. Also the overhead electric stanchions move in perspective as they flash by above you. Should you fall off the train goes on by - the exact number of carriages you have already got across. This is a game which requires nifty timing and responses, but which lets you improve, since the same events happen each life so you get the hang of it eventually. Very addictive.\r\r\nUnknown","No help is given from the snakebird once you are inside the express, so you must time your jumps and kicks very well. There's also this awful thing hanging up on the hanging straps which is after your blood. On top of the train it's worth being careful with your snakebirds, as they are only effective for the length of one carriage, falling off at the end. Also, you can only carry one at a time. This is a highly original idea with imaginative graphics which also has just the right sort of ingredients to make it fun and addictive.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General rating: Amusing, fun, hard and reasonably addictive.","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Snakebirds and Redmen on the 9.15 - can you Stop the Express?"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 15, Apr 1985","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1985-03-28","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Reviewer: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Reviewer: Angus Ryall\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £10.50 (UK Mainland post free), Europe: 12 issues £17.50 post free. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\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. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Use of Computer: 58%\r\nGraphics: 83%\r\nPlayability: 85%\r\nGetting Started: 78%\r\nAddictive Qualities: 85%\r\nOriginality: 88%\r\nValue for Money: 83%\r\nOverall: 80%\r\n\r\nStop The Express is another game that has a very simple idea behind it which has been improved upon by adding good graphics and sound. What you have to do is to get to the front of the train and Stop The Express which has been hijacked by the infamous Redmen. As the review stated the game is played as if it were a scene out of a movie. First of all you must run across the roof of the train dodging obstacles such as knife-throwing Redmen and gaps between carriages. Then after you've got passed a certain number of carriages the scene switches to the inside of the train where you have to get to the front of the train and stop it.\r\n\r\nI think Stop The Express is one of the most original games I have ever seen. It surprised me to see that it wasn't a Crash Smash and seeing how popular it has proved in the Hotline I'm even more surprised. Perhaps this was because of the low Use of Computer mark it received as a result of all the keys there were to use. But after a few goes I found less keys than stated could be used and the game played just as well. It's still a good game and has stood the test of time well.\r\nBS\r\n\r\nStop The Express was one of the few games that was underrated. By rights I think it should have been a Crash Smash. It's still fun to play and its popularity in the Hotline proves this. The graphics are good and the scrolling of the train and telegraph poles is excellent. Stop The Express just goes to show how a simple idea implemented well can make a game as playable now as it was 8 months ago.\r\nRC\r\n\r\n(Ben) I think 'Use of Computer' should go up to about 75 because you can play using only 5 keys but as for the rest of the ratings they should stay as they are.\r\n\r\n(Rob) Most of the ratings still stand except for the ludicrous 'Use of Computer' which should be about the 70 mark. Otherwise the game hasn't lost any of it's original appeal.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ben Stone","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Robin Candy","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 29, Aug 1984","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1984-07-19","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":148,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Craig Kennedy\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nAssistant Managing Director: Barry Hazel\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User 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 will pay £10 for the copyright of each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1984\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":"RIGHT TRACK FOR SINCLAIR\r\n\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\nJoystick: ZX Interface\r\n\r\nThe evil Redmen have captured the ITA Express as it hurtles towards an unknown doom. As a special security agent you have to Stop the Express on your 48K Spectrum and round-up the Redmen before the train reaches the border, when they will be out of your jurisdiction and free.\r\n\r\nThere are two stages. In the first you have to run across the top of the train, jumping each carriage as you reach it. You must be careful, however, to avoid the attempts by the villains to eliminate you with their knives or fists. You should also beware of the low-flying electric pylons above your head.\r\n\r\nDespite the near impossibility of your mission you have one friend, the Snakebird, which you can catch as you travel over the carriages and release into the arms of the Redmen, who will suffer the same fate they had planned for you.\r\n\r\nOnce you have completed stage one you will be able to get inside the train, where Redmen and other assorted nasties will lunge at you, trying to shorten your life.\r\n\r\nIf you reach the end of the train, the express will start to slow and you will be congratulated on your efficiency as an agent. Then you are promptly dumped on top of the train again to run the gauntlet with more Redmen in the next round.\r\n\r\nStop the Express is well on its way to being a classic game. The idea is original and the graphics are of cartoon quality. It is also difficult enough to be addictive and, even when you have discovered the second level, you will want to keep playing.\r\n\r\nSinclair Research only occasionally releases a piece of software which establishes itself as an industry standard. This is one of those occasions.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"37","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 9, Aug 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-07-19","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor, Bob Wade\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Illustration: David Hine\r\nGame-of-the-month poster: Jeff Riddle\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\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\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Pete 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, Sinc\r\nFROM: Sinclair, £7.95\r\n\r\nA swashbuckling adventure this, with graphics rarely equalled on a Spectrum.\r\n\r\nYou take on the part of a very cute-looking secret agent with green suit and a bright yellow mop of hair. Right from the start, when you see yourself lowered down a rope on to the roof of a moving train, you know this is going to be a special mission.\r\n\r\nYour aim is to stop the train by reaching the front of it, 20 carriages away. But what a train! Beautifully drawn in blue, red and green trim, it scrolls handsomely across the screen as you move along it, leaping from carriage to carriage.\r\n\r\nNo time to enjoy it though, because evil red agents (the KGB, no doubt) are climbing on to the roof behind you and hurling knives at your back. Fortunately, although you have no gun, you're a very athletic person. You can run in both directions, jump up, left and right, and lie down to dodge knives.\r\n\r\nYou can knock the reds off the train by kicking them, but a much safer (and more entertaining) method is to use the 'snake birds' which fly overhead. Just leap up and catch one, and then release it so that it wriggles along the train devouring anything red in its path.\r\n\r\nWith some practice it's possible to get half-way along the train, whereupon stage two begins. This time you're inside the carriages and the red agents are attacking you from the front. You must leap over them, while dodging ghost-like creatures overhead.\r\n\r\nShould you manage to reach the front, you simply try again with more reds to avoid.\r\n\r\nOne nice touch is that after you've perished you can see a complete replay of your mission. Indeed, as I write this, am happily watching myself reach within two carriages of the front. Makes you truly proud to belong to the CIA.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54,55","Denied":false,"Award":"PCG Hit","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Anderson","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"10/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 17, Feb 1985","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-01-31","Editor":"Ray Elder","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Ray Elder\r\nEditorial Assistant: Jamie Clary\r\nGroup Editor: Wendy J Palmer\r\nSales Executive: Jonathan McGary\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Barry Bingham\r\nDivisional Advertising Manager: Chris Northam\r\nCopy Controller: Sue Couchman\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":"STOP THE EXPRESS\r\nSinclair\r\nS. Garner\r\n\r\nThis is my review of \"Stop the Express\" I hope I finish it before the press.\r\n\r\nYou are an agent on the ITA train,\r\nTo get to the front is your aim.\r\n\r\nAcross the train you duck and jump,\r\nTo stop it get to the very front.\r\n\r\nYour enemy is the evil redman,\r\nIf their daggers hit you, you are a dead man.\r\n\r\nOnly ten more carriages to go,\r\nWatch out, help, whoa!\r\n\r\nOver the gaps you must do jumps,\r\nIf you want to come up trumps.\r\n\r\nAgainst the redman, take my word,\r\nIt helps to use the great Snakebird.\r\n\r\nYou throw this bird across the train,\r\nTo kill the reds in your domain.\r\n\r\nWith one swift throw it chops off their feet,\r\nThey fall on the track just like mincement.\r\n\r\nRunning from an evil Redman,\r\nA passing stanchion hits my headman.\r\n\r\nAfter ten carriages have rolled by,\r\nInto the train you must comply.\r\n\r\nNo help from the snakebird is given here,\r\nSo the evil Redmen you must beware.\r\n\r\nThe time it takes a second to tick'\r\nis how to time your jumps and kicks.\r\n\r\nHow do you kill the evil reds,\r\nYou must kick them on their heads.\r\n\r\nAfter you have stopped the \"ITA\" train,\r\nBack toe beginning you go again.\r\n\r\nRedmen thrown from the train score points,\r\nBut to do this you need double joints.\r\n\r\nThis game is rather quickative,\r\nThats why I think its addictive.\r\n\r\nThe graphics and colour are really the flicks,\r\nAnd the sound of the train goes clickety click.\r\n\r\nThis game is produced by Sinclair,\r\nAt a place far away, I know not where.\r\n\r\nThe K is OK at 48K,\r\nAnd it came out just after May.\r\n\r\nThe price is a mere £5.95,\r\nAnd to get it all you need do is drive.\r\n\r\nTo your local computer store,\r\nUsually on the second floor.\r\n\r\nI'm sure they will have it in no time at all.\r\nSo it can drive you all up the wall.\r\n\r\nThank you for reading my silly verse,\r\nFrom Garner, Stephen of course.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"95","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Stephen Garner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue Annual 1985,  1985","Price":"£2.25","ReleaseDate":"1984-12-01","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Craig Kennedy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Martin Derx\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Claudia Viertel\r\nProduction Assistant: James McClure\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nAssistant Publisher: Neil Wood\r\nPublisher: Gerry Murray\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\n96,271 Jan-June 1984\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nEditorial and advertising departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles:\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. 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\nAll subscription enquiries to\r\nMagazine Services,\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1984\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd."},"MainText":"STOP THE EXPRESS\r\n£5.95\r\nSinclair\r\n\r\nIn Stop the Express the evil Redmen have captured the ITA Express as it hurtles towards an unknown doom. As a special security agent you have to round up the Redmen before the train reaches the border, when they will be out of your jurisdiction and free.\r\n\r\nThere are two stages. In the first you have to run across the top of the train, jumping each carriage as you reach it. You must be careful, however, to avoid the attempts by the villains to eliminate you with their knives or fists. You should also beware of the low-flying electric pylons above your head.\r\n\r\nDespite the near impossibility of your mission you have one friend, the Snakebird, which you can catch as you travel over the carriages and release into the arms of the Redmen, who will suffer the same fate they had planned for you.\r\n\r\nOnce you have completed stage one you will be able to get inside the train, where Redmen and other assorted nasties will lunge at you, trying to shorten your life.\r\n\r\nIf you reach the end of the train, the express will start to slow and you will be congratulated on your efficiency as an agent. Then you are promptly dumped on top of the train again to run the gauntlet with more Redmen in the next round.\r\n\r\nStop the Express is well on its way to being a classic game. The idea is original and the graphics are of cartoon quality. It is also difficult enough to be addictive and, even when you have discovered the second level, you will want to keep playing.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"46,47","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 68, Jul 1984","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1984-07-07","Editor":"Cyndy Miles","TotalPages":58,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editorial\r\nEditor: Cyndy Miles\r\nManaging Editor: Peter Worlock\r\nSub-Editors: Harriet Arnold, Leah Batham\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writer: Ralph Bancroft\r\nFeatures Editor: John Lettice\r\nSoftware Editor: Bryan Skinner\r\nPeripherals Editor: Ken Garroch\r\nHardware Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nPrograms Editor: Nickie Robinson\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: David Robinson\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Floyd Sayers\r\nPublisher: Mark Eisen\r\nPublishing Assistant: Jenny Dunne\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublishing Admin: Jackie Searle\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nGroup Advertising Manager: Duncan Brown\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Bettina Williams\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Sarah Barron\r\nSales Executives: Christian McCarthy, Laura Cade, Paul Evans, Debbie Quinn, Yvonne Charatynowicz\r\nProduction: Noel O'Sullivan\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Karen Isaac\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper"},"MainText":"SPECTRUM SPILLS\r\n\r\nThe thrill or the chase gripped Bob Chappell in these action games for the 48K Spectrum.\r\n\r\nINFERNAL COMBUSTION\r\n£5.95\r\nStrange Loop, [redacted]\r\n\r\nFighting raging fires hasn't figured in many games I can recall so this may be the first.\r\n\r\nThe scene is the inside of a multi-storey building, each floor joined by ladders. Scuttling around the uppermost floors are the occupants who appear to be in a bit of a flap. No wonder - fire has broken out on several of the floors.\r\n\r\nDown on the ground floor, standing quite fortunately midway between a tap and a bucket, is our little hero. Grabbing the bucket and pausing only to fill it from the tap (this boy is no fool), he has to sprint around the building hurling water at the outbreaks. The idea is to extinguish all the fires and proceed to the next tougher screen where the arsonist has struck again.\r\n\r\nWhile you are busy firefighting, the occupants try to make good their escape by fleeing, in their own haphazard, panic-stricken way, down to the ground floor exit. However, they can't get past any blazing area nor through any locked doors - you must help by opening doors and all this while nipping back and forth to refill your bucket.\r\n\r\nThe sample tape lacked a cassette inlay (still at the printers), so I don't know why strewn around the floors were several cans marked with an F, and other odd objects. Possibly for bonus points? From time to time, what appears to be a pink elephant cavorts across the top floor, but for what purpose I am unsure.\r\n\r\nShould you come into contact with the flames, you are immediately turned into an angel, a fitting reward for your heroic efforts.\r\n\r\nDespite having no instructions for play, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Movement of the hero was just a trifle stiff in one or two places, but that apart, the animation and effects were of a pretty high standard. Quite addictive, too. This original and entertaining arcadde chase is well worth seeking out.\r\n\r\nBORZAK\r\n£6.95\r\nChannel 8 Software, [redacted]\r\n\r\nA funny-looking purple alien with a proboscis that Cyrano De Bergerac would have gasped at, Borzak is a stranger on a strange planet. The creature has to stroll along the surface, dodging various vagaries of nature as he goes.\r\n\r\nThere are six levels of play, all much the same except for the hazards. Borzak has no defence systems and can only jump or duck to avoid oncoming traffic as he moves.\r\n\r\nAt ground level, he must avoid holes, large speckled frogs, snakes and grasping hands. Above are flying ducks, dragonflies and dangling spiders. The game is quite good fun but difficult to complete without skipping levels since the hazards are generated randomly, often resulting in a combination that Superman couldn't beat, let alone a pacifist with a big nose. It's worth buying - Borzak's a lovely character.\r\n\r\nSTOP THE EXPRESS\r\n£5.95\r\nSinclair Research, [redacted]\r\n\r\nChasing games have a habit of taking place either in a maze or somewhere dank and dismal underground. Bringing fresh air to this species is Stop the Express.\r\n\r\nAn express train has been hijacked by the Redmen (no, this isn't cowboys and Indians). Your job is to make your way along the carriages, unlock the motorman's cabin and stop the train.\r\n\r\nYou control a cute, ginger-headed lad who starts out on the roof of one of the coaches of the moving express. Hang about too long and the first of many Redmen (similar to our hero but beetroot coloured) appears on the scene and hurls a knife.\r\n\r\nFortunately, not only can you duck down but also run, jump and (your trump card this) release a snakebird. With a bit of luck, the latter will knock any pursuing Redmen off the train to earn you a respite. You run along ten coaches, leaping gaps, dodging birds and tunnels, until you can safely climb down inside a carriage.\r\n\r\nStage two has the Redmen as before, aided and abetted by strap-hanging nasties and bouncing objects. You can also do a bit of swinging on the straps. I never survived this stage and so didn't reach the driver's cabin. The only drawback is that there are nine keys controlling your hero (each with an alternative) - playing with a joystick (ZX II interface only) makes it easier.\r\n\r\nGraphically, the program is superb. The train's headlong rush and the animation of the characters are delightful. Sound effects are minimal but with such an original environment and exciting action, this has to be among the top chase games.\r\n\r\nORIEN\r\n£5.95\r\nSoftware Projects, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThat's enough wind through your hair; now down to more familiar territory with Orion.\r\n\r\nBack in maze country, you control a small rocket-car which has to roam around 25 caverns in search of stolen androids. Each cavern is an aerially-viewed maze, populated by creatures and four of your androids.\r\n\r\nGreen meanies must be avoided as they are lethal on contact unless your shields are activated. White meanies are quite nutritious but gobbling one up causes your scanner to malfunction, making the wall of the maze invisible.\r\n\r\nA simple game with decent graphics and sound, it won't set the world ablaze but offers a good chase, nonetheless.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"44","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Chappell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]