[{"TitleName":"Bedlam","Publisher":"Go!","Author":"Bill McIntosh, Raymond Bradley, Rob Howard, Steven Taylor","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0000495","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 51, Apr 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-03-31","Editor":"Steve Jarratt","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Steven Jarratt\r\nSubeditor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Katharina Hamza, Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nTechnical Writers: Simon N Goodwin, Jon Bates\r\nStrategy Writer: Philippa Irving\r\nContributors: Matthew Stibbe, Paul Evans, Roger Kean, Paul Sumner, Paul Glancey, Julian Rignall\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublishing Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nDesign & Layout: Wayne Allen, Yvonne Priest, Melvyn Fisher\r\nPre-Print Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics/Film Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard, Ian Chubb, Robert Millichamp\r\n\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting 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\nNo 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\nTotal: 96,590\r\nUK/EIRE: 90,822\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Go!\r\nRetail Price: 128K ONLY £8.99 cassette, £12.99 disk\r\nAuthor: Beam Software\r\n\r\nIt takes many years to train a cadet in the Steller Imperium's pilot academy, and at the end of that time they very often feel that they're ready to face anything. To keep them in their place, the instructors devised one last test: the X12 fighter simulator, aptly nicknamed 'Bedlam'.\r\n\r\nFrom the title screen. Bedlam offers both a one player game, plus a dual player mode in which two pilots are given the chance to co-operate in killing the aliens or, if they feel particularly mean, trying to kill each other.\r\n\r\nThere are 15 space stations, ten moonscapes and four pinball tables to breach before the budding cadets can earn their wings. Space station surfaces are immediately difficult to negotiate since they are bristling with radar installations, guns, and missiles. Further opposition is then provided by aliens vessels which swarm at the player's craft in large formations. These are shot to award the player a hefty bonus, but collision with enemy fire and static targets proves fatal to the ship, three of which are provided for the mission.\r\n\r\nTo aid in the task, there are useful items scattered around the screen: flashing diamonds are destroyed to uncover hidden objects, including extra firepower, additional lives and shields, while collision with a teleport symbol warps the player to one of the game's four pinball tables. The aim here is to gain as many points as possible, and hitting either a X2 or a X10 scoring amplification factor is the ultimate goal since the player's score in the main game is briefly multiplied by the relevant amount.\r\n\r\nAlso making their presence felt are large alien motherships. These heavily armed and armoured craft can be destroyed for bonus points and a very welcome shot of invincibility, although each time they are destroyed they become more powerful on their next visit.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor. Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: all the colour without the clash, made frantic with some fast animation and scrolling\r\nSound: average spot effects and poor tune\r\nOptions: definable keys and one or two players or two players simultaneously","ReviewerComments":["Bedlam is an impressive game to look at: the graphics, particularly in the pinball bonus game, are colourful and have some interesting features. The gameplay, with unsuspected dangers lurking everywhere, is also unusually varied for a shoot-'em-up; by introducing motherships, magnetic force fields and pinball games, the programmers have obviously tried to create something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately the action isn't quite fast enough to make the most of all these features. Control of the spacecraft is sluggish (you always seem to be forcing the joystick) and as a result the game lacks a compulsive edge. Hardened blasters probably won't find this a drawback; others should think twice before releasing their cash.\r\nKati Hamza","Bedlam is a very apt name for this game, as complete pandemonium breaks loose about the poor old player's ears. Graphically the game is very good, with some nicely drawn alien battle formations zipping around equally well drawn and solid looking backdrops. One feature I particularly like is the bonus pinball tables that crop up every now and then. These not only look nice, but play just like the real thing, the ball spinning around the screen in a very realistic manner. Playability is high from the start, as huge formations of mean and bloodthirsty aliens charge down the screen after your blood. Add to that the great pinball tables, and you have a very enjoyable game. In my opinion, Bedlam is well worth the asking price.\r\nMark Caswell","Now this is more like it. Just lately, products coming out of the GO! offices have been disappointing to say the least, but by all accounts Bedlam could be the game to turn GO! around. Although coming from the same family as Slap Fight, Flying Shark and every other vertically scrolling variant, Bedlam has one great difference - It's NOT monochrome! Gone are the frustrating shouts of, 'What hit me?' and 'I couldn't even see that!'. The technique may be old, dating all the way back to Lightforce, but I don't think I've seen it implemented in such an impressive way before. Bedlam sure is what the title suggests: constant action all the way through with hardly any hold-ups. Its only flaw is that the game tends to speed up and slow down in unison with the amount of enemies on screen. If all you want is basic blasting fun then Bedlam could be the one for you.\r\nPaul Sumner"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Probably Go!'s best release yet. The sequential and dual play options add longer lasting appeal. Sadly, ONLY on the 128k Spectrum.","Page":"108","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Kati Hamza","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'Colourful and interesting features.'"},{"Text":"'Go!'s best release yet'"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"75%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 27, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-11","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editors: Fran Husband, Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Soo Abram, Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Nat Pryce, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nArt Director: Hazel Bennington\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\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 ©1988 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":"\"'Snot fair! Dub gorbless tottie always geds to trash de ubiverse!\" We let Gwyn Hughes, the man with the inflamed mucus membrane, come in from the cold to blast away at Bedlam!\r\n\r\nFAX BOX\r\nGame: Bedlam\r\nPublisher: Go!\r\nWritten By: Beam Software\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nReviewer: Gwyn Hughes\r\n\r\nBedlam - wasn't that the infamous eighteenth century lunatic asylum whose last remaining inmates now rattle their chains around Castle Rathbone?\r\n\r\nFitting title then, because this is enough to drive anyone dotty - particularly all you prannies who tried to load it into your 48K machines. 'Cos this is one mega-sized mega-game which requires the whole 128 kilobytes.\r\n\r\nOne for the big boys, what? just the thing I need to clear my catarrh. I've always said that a good shoot 'em up was the software equivalent of Sinex. (Course you have, Malcolm. Ed) Now if I can only get strapped into the cockpit of this Spectrum before Rachael gets back...\r\n\r\nThe instructions waffle on about this being the ultimate test for cadets at the Stellar Imperium's Pilots Academy. We'll see about that. Remember, I was massacring Space Invaders before most of you were born.\r\n\r\nKappow! Peeow! Zing! Whoops... Oh well, must have been the cold. Let's have another go. (More zippy sound FX!) Okay, so this really is hot stuff, but I'll soon have it puzzled. Or maybe not, because there are 15 space stations plus ten moonscapes and four special sections before you can take your 125cc spaceship out on the road. Now I see why they needed all those K.\r\n\r\nIn the style of Uridium, this is the classic scrolling formula with enough nice touches and oh-so-much speed to keep you going back for hours. The vertical landscape rolls away under you while waves of aliens swoop in.\r\n\r\nThere are deck fixtures to dodge on the stations, because at best you'll bounce all over the screen when you collide, and at worst you'll lose your life. And there are special bonus features to collect too. There's enough here to blow your mind - or blow your nose if you're like me. PARRRRP! That's wetter!\r\n\r\nAs I was saying before I creamed that Kleenex, there are four teleports which shoot you to the next level. But better than that, they also give you time off on the space station for a quick game of pinball. Keep your fingers on the flippers, because it's a handy way of boosting your score.\r\n\r\nThe aliens all use different attack patterns, and a lot of the fun is learning the best position to be in when they arrive. Get it right and you can sit there and shoot them like black-puddings in a bath. Wipe out a whole wave and you get a brief spell of invulnerability.\r\n\r\nUse this wisely to wipe out the next invasion, and you top up your shields, so that there are stages when you should never need to dodge the nasties. There are also mega-sprites at the end of each level - talking of which, I hear Rachael returning. Cripes!\r\n\r\nNever mind - in keeping with current trends, as well as the two players against each other option, there's an opportunity for friends to tackle the game together. But though you can't shoot your pals, you can bounce each other into danger. Which is just what I intend to do if that gormless tottie has forgotten my Lemsip. AH-CHOO!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"58,59","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Gwyn Hughes","Score":"9","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"A chance for invincibility on the first planet. Shoot the salamander, but don't stop while it goes skeletal. Instead, collect the rapid Fire icon then head for the bottom left corner to conquer a complete wave."},{"Text":"Even the space stations shoot back. The billiard balls are actually bombs, but position yourself half-way up the screen and they'll all miss you by miles. Not so on later levels, when they'll follow you around."},{"Text":"I'm a pinball wizard. After rebounding around the deck, it's time to bounce a ball into that hole at the top for a big bonus. Knock down the flags for a double or ten-time score increase in the main game too!"},{"Text":"Later on the first level and it's time for T. Avoid the aliens and aim for the icon, which will take you to the Teleport. But blast as much of the deck furniture as possible, as some of it may hide other pickups."},{"Text":"Oh sprite! This bot's big. He moves his claws, erupts in steam and you'd better be prepared to dodge until it's time for him to go home. Unless you've managed to gather enough invincibility that is!"},{"Text":"The first wave filters down the sides before performing a sideways figure of eight. Position yourself above one of the score boxes to pick off one column, before gliding to the centre to take out the remainder."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"PICK-UP TECHNIQUES\r\n\r\nThere are three other types of pick-up for you to collect.\r\n\r\nI is for Invincibility - an alternative to the troublesome technique of shooting an entire formation.\r\n\r\nL is for Life - and you'll be glad to find another of these, even though you do start with a generous five lives.\r\n\r\nM is Mine though. Okay, you can have it - but use this smart bomb wisely, because it goes off immediately you press fire."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"9/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"9/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 55, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-07","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Kevin Hibbert\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Joe Davies, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Jo Fulton, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Kate Hodges, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Rich Pelley, 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 Manager: 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":"Bedlam\r\nGo\r\n\r\nAn ex-YS Megagame from 1988, this is a Uridium-style vertical scroller available in 128K only (from the merry old days when that seemed like a fairly smart thing to do). It's fast, clean and simple in look (which is the only way to handle a vertical scroller), and the 128K allows colour to be used in fair smatterings - no danger of the incredible 'disappearing ship syndrome' here, folks. Set over a series of 15 space stations and 12 moonscapes (with four special bonus sections thrown in there too) it's pretty blooming massive to say the least. One nice touch is that you don't just have to dodge alien waves, but watch out for sticky-up deck structures on the surface which constitute extra hazards too. Teleports (multiloads to you and me) shoot you to the next level, but while they're doing their stuff an excellent mini-pinball game kicks into amuse you (neatly, points earned here add to your score). Not as spectacular as some of the other stuff in this guide, it's nevertheless fast and playable - the way a good shoot-'em-up should always be.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"33,34,35,36,37","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"83","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Bedlam's graphics not only side-step the old problems of fancy and confusing backdrops, they lend the game an eerie spookiness too."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"EVERY SHOOT-'EM-UP EVER\r\n\r\nHa! You've got to be joking - I started working on it and got up to 150 names - and I was only half way through the poxy thing! Forget it!"},{"Text":"GIANT ALIEN MUTHAS FROM HELL\r\n\r\nA few good end-of-level baddies can make a shoot-'em-up, a lack of them break one. Let's look at a few typical monsters, shall we?\r\n\r\nDominator: Impressive pink mouth affair firmly in the R-Type mould, and nicely animated too - the eyes blink and teeth move. Unfortunately the rest of the game didn't live up to it.\r\n\r\nMr Heli: A giant eye thing with lobster claws - not bad, the grey and yellow graphics don't help it to stand out as much as they might, do they?\r\n\r\nSilkworm: This is the other way to do it - not a giant fixed mass (like the other two) but a moving baddy in the vein of stuff you've already met on that level, but bigger. This super chopper is delightfully guppy-like."},{"Text":"HOW TO DESIGN A SPACESHIP\r\n\r\nWe cant really express how important a good central sprite can be - after all, other sprites may come and go, but you're looking at this one the entire time!\r\n\r\nHalaga: Hmm. Your basic Space Invaders/Galaxians thing - not too impressive, is it?\r\n\r\nSidearms: Anyone able to tell me what's meant to be going on here? It just looks like a bit of a mess to me! Answers on a postcard please.\r\n\r\nDark Fusion: A-ha! Now this is more like it - simple, clean design, easy to see but not too distracting. It's the biz."},{"Text":"SHORTS\r\n\r\nBlimey! Space doesn't go very far when you've got a subject as big as this, eh? So, dotted across the next four pages, we've squeezed some mini (mini) reviews into snazzy white blobs (just like this) - not wham-bam classics, but all good representatives of a type…"},{"Text":"SO, YOU WANNA WRITE A SHOOT-'EM-UP?\r\n\r\nWould you believe it's not as hard as it looks? (Actually, the way loads of people seem to write shoot-'em-ups it doesn't actually look all that hard anyway!) Here are a few of your central ingredients...\r\n\r\nThe Main Spaceship\r\nA little square box thing with another square box on the front will do fine here - nice and simple and to the point. Alternatively you could go the whole hog and stick as many spikey bits as possible all over it so the sprite looks 'interesting' from all angles.\r\n\r\nEnemy Spaceships\r\nNothing wrong with a whole squadron of polo mints zooming through space towards you - after all, it's the cunningness of the attack formations that counts!\r\n\r\nThe Name\r\nSomething gun-like sounds good and hard (say Side Arms or Armalyte) though anything vaguely aggressive-sounding will do (Eliminator, Dominator, Xecutor, H.A.T.E). If you're desperate you can always go the pseudo-scientific route (R-type, P47, Ultima Ratio), opt for an animal name (Salamander, Silkworm) or go for that old standard, the meaningless, vaguely futuristic-sounding word (Triaxos, Xeno, Zynaps, Xarax, Sanxion, Uridium, Xevious). Lots of 'Z's and 'X's are good.\r\n\r\nBackground\r\nNice and complicated is fine - let your imagination go wild. Don't worry about bullets (or even smaller enemy squadrons) getting lost amongst the mass of background detail - you can always pass it off as 'challenging gameplay'.\r\n\r\nCollision Detection\r\nDon't make it too easy for them! It's perfectly all right if any alien coming within inches of the player kills him dead, while he needs to blast baddies six times for any effect to be felt Again, it's all in the cause of challenging gameplay!"},{"Text":"THE FLIP-SCREEN\r\n\r\nNot all that common, but these can work very well indeed - check out Raf Cecco's Cybernoid duo, for instance. The thing seems to be that if you dispense with trying to write decent scrolling routines (since the background doesn't move at all - you simply progress across the screen until you get to the far end, when a new one flashes up with your little ship in its new starting position) you can spend a lot more time making everything else very pretty and colourful and inventive. Thus flip-screen games have some of the best, clearest, most colourful graphics ever seen on the Speccy.\r\n\r\nOn the minus side however there's the disconcerting, disorientating bit where your ship flickers off the right hand side of the screen, only to reappear on the far left of the next one.\r\n\r\nBut they can be incredibly addictive (it's always a temptation to try for 'just one more' screen to see what it looks like) and, in the case of the Cecco games at least, can strike a fine balance between mindless blasting and working out the best route past each new obstacle. They're still pure shoot-'em-ups, but slightly more cerebral ones.\r\n\r\nFlip screen a la NOMAD - no place to run to, no place to hide. (It's a bit like playing Murder In The Dark really.)"},{"Text":"THE HORIZONTAL SCROLLER\r\n\r\nThis is the other main option, and usually a much more sensible way to go about things. Not only is the screen the right shape, but you can have a very complicated and pretty bottom and/or top bit to it (the ground, or the edges of a tunnel, say), while leaving the bulk of the play area relatively free from obstructions. Most the great shoot-'em-ups (but by no means all) are built like this, including the Your Sinclair all-time fave raves like Uridium and R-Type.\r\n\r\nGame over, man! (Well, Game Over II to be precise.)"},{"Text":"THE 'INTO-THE-SCREEN' JOBBIE\r\n\r\nAlthough occasionally attempted with reasonable success by budgeteers like CodeMasters, these often constitute a less than satisfying experience. All too often someone responsible for coin-op licence acquisition will pick out an arcade favourite with a giant hydraulic cabinet - say an Afterburner or Thunder blade - with little thought as to how it's going to translate to the home computer. (Not very well, usually.) Thus most 'into-the-screen' shoot-'em-ups are technically impressive and rather brave attempts to reproduce the thrills and spills of the original, but almost inevitably doomed to failure. Robbed of 3D, moving cabinets, and whizzo graphics, the limitations built into the game become abundantly clear - there's little real feeling of speed (difficult enough to create even with a rolling road as reference point, let alone without one), oodles of almost identical levels and very little to actually do. Boring.\r\n\r\nVideodrome, here we come - it's 'into the screen' time with F-16 Fighting Falcon."},{"Text":"VERTICAL SCROLLERS\r\n\r\nOne obvious option for a shoot-'em-up, and one that's used all over the place, is the vertical scroller. This is where the action is viewed from a God-like perspective above it all, looking down on everything from a distance. The action scrolls up (or on the very odd occasion down) the screen. This has some advantages - it's easy to lay out complicated attack formations and the little spaceships can he the simplest blobby shapes and still function quite well but it can suffer from some rather major flaws too.\r\n\r\nThe first is that the shape of your average TV or monitor is all wrong. Think about it - you're trying to present portrait-shaped action (taller than it is long) on a landscape-shaped screen (wider than it is tall). In a coin-op, which is where 85% of vertical scrollers originate, there's no real problem with this because you can easily build a cabinet with a tall thin screen to contain the action, but in Speccyvision the programmers have to waste large portions of the side of the potential play area to reproduce it Subsequently, all the sprites have to be fairly small to fit in, and on most TVs become next to invisible. You've effectively castrated the game before you've even started.\r\n\r\nThere's one other major problem too - the background. Since most scrolling Speccy games have to be largely monochrome, any sort of backdrop (say a forest which you're flying over) can cause real problems. You'll be safe (but probably rather bored) if the programmer opts for a simple black starfield over which all the sprites will show up well, but anything beyond that courts disaster. All too often overzealous background artists, small sprites, even smaller bullets and the sort of slightly crappy TVs most of us use with our Speccies conspire to render your brand new vertical scroller virtually unplayable. Don't think I've got a total downer on them though - despite all the limitations some of the real classics use this design. Xenon, anybody?\r\n\r\nClear backdrops, that's what vertical scrollers need. (So Gemini Wing's a sorry loser.)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Alien-Death-Scum-From-Hell Factor","Score":"73%","Text":""},{"Header":"Shopability","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Copycat Factor","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Visibility Factor","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"83%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 72, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon 'Call me Bon Jovi' Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'a fiver if my name goes first in the list' Dillon, Chris 'a fiver? You must be joking!' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Alison Morton\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'I'll leave that with you then' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Brian Talbot\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458"},"MainText":"Label: Go!\r\nAuthor: Beam Software\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 128K only\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nUS Gold, it has to be said, is a constant source of confusion to me. Bedlam isn't a licence deal, it isn't a film, in fact it's not a tie-in of any description. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that there isn't a single innovation anywhere in the program, you could call it original.\r\n\r\nIn the Umpteenth Century, fighter pilots are sent through the X12 simulator as a final stage in their training. The machine - known as Bedlam - simulates the toughest, roughest down-right nastiest combat experience they are ever likely to face.\r\n\r\nBedlam, surprisingly, is a space shoot-out.\r\n\r\nIt looks like a predecessor to Lightforce, void of the advances in graphics and gameplay. When you consider that Bedlam is 128K only, and over a year longer in the making, this isn't really on.\r\n\r\nYou pilot a small craft toward the top of an apparently endless scrolling landscape, attacked - as ever - by apparently endless screaming hordes of aliens.\r\n\r\nYour ship moves around at an uncomfortably rapid rate, making precision flying virtually impossible.\r\n\r\nThere are nice touches; the aliens dive and swoop in quite exciting patterns, and the action is fast. There is also a very peculiar - though admittedly surprising - feature. If you fly over the letter \"T\", the screen will change and you'll find yourself in a bonus section which is, in fact, a game of pinball. Quite what this has to do with being trained for cosmic dogfighting I can't see.\r\n\r\nThere is a two-player option, too, allowing pilots to cooperate in fending off the bad guys. Yes. You have seen this feature before in Executor.\r\n\r\nBedlam is definitely competent, undoubtedly addictive but equally it is unoriginal bordering on the plagiaristic, and graphically no great shakes. You can pretty much make up your mind from the screenshots.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Fast but unoriginal. Difficult but not very challenging. Bedlam it may be, new it isn't.","Page":"30,31","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 6, Mar 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-02-04","Editor":"Peter Connor, Steve Cooke","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Advanced Computer Entertainment\r\nFuture Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152, Prestel/Micronet [redacted]\r\n\r\nCo-editors: Peter Connor, Steve Cooke\r\nReviews Editor: Andy Wilton\r\nStaff Writer: Andy Smith\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nArt Team: Angela Neal, Sally Meddings\r\nPublisher: Chris Anderson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Jon Beales\r\n\r\nCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY\r\nStuart Baynes Photography [redacted]\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS & SPECIAL OFFERS\r\nCarrie-Anne Porter [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nWessex Reproduction [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\nCopyright - FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1988 - No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Go! Create some havoc.\r\n\r\nPinball games are not something you expect to find in the middle of vertically scrolling shoot-em-ups. Bedlam, however, is one such vertical scroller, and the four pinball games incorporated are designed to increase the players' score during the main game. This consists of taking charge of a spaceship (viewed from above) and attempting to complete the 26 levels of the game - which is, apparently, really a fighter simulation cooked up by the heads of the Stellar Imperium Pilots Academy, where you are a cadet. The various levels involve attack from both ground-based installations and waves of airborne aliens, and contact with any of these results in the player losing one of his initial five lives.\r\n\r\nExtra fire-power is available to the player who manages to pick up any of the firepower symbols that appear on the ground at set places throughout the game. The programmers have been very considerate, and included an option that allows the player to take up the game again from the point he reached last time. That said, Bedlam adds nothing new to the shoot-em-up theme. You'll have to be very determined to fight your way through to the end - and it doesn't take long once you've learnt the wave formations.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Andy Smith\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nSpec 128k, £8.99cs, Out Now\r\nAmstrad, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now\r\nC64/128, £9.99cs, £11.99dk, Imminent\r\nIBM PC, £19.99dk, Imminent\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 70/100\r\n1 hour: 80/100\r\n1 day: 90/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 30/100\r\n1 year: 10/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Absorbing fun for a while on the Spectrum, but not so on the Amstrad. Even on the Spectrum the fall-off's rapid though.","Page":"52","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Andy Smith","Score":"739","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Spectrum - That's you in the bottom right-hand corner. Near the top is the entrance to the first of the pinball tables."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD VERSION\r\n\r\nGameplay is a lot tougher, as your ship moves around a lot more slowly. It's more colourful than the Spectrum version, but that's only to be expected. No pinball tables available on the Amstrad version, making it a very average - and missable - shoot-em-up.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 8/10\r\nAudio: 6/10\r\nIQ Factor: 2/10\r\nFun Factor: 7/10\r\nAce Rating: 678/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 70/100\r\n1 hour: 72/100\r\n1 day: 68/100\r\n1 week: 60/100\r\n1 month: 30/100\r\n1 year: 10/100"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nGreat use of colour makes this a very good-looking game. The scrolling is adequate and the animation is fine. Gameplay is good if you're playing solo, but it tends to be a little tricky in two-player mode. If you're a real fan of this sort of game then check it out, though even shoot-em-up diehards could find the interest waning early."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"739/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]