[{"TitleName":"Thrusta","Publisher":"Software Projects Ltd","Author":"Patrick J. Richmond, Roger Tissyman","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0005248","Reviews":[{"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: Software Projects\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRetail Price: £5.50\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: Patrick Richmond\r\n\r\nYou would think that it is getting difficult to come up with an original idea for an alien shoot em up game, but with Thrusta, Software Projects seems to have done it. This is not only a shoot em up, it's also a crush em down!\r\n\r\nYour mission takes place on the planet Spectra (where else?) where you and your space ship Thrusta 1 must destroy alien nests, whose eggs are rapidly and continuously hatching. Not only are there the hatching aliens to contend with, but there are also guards which keep watch over the eggs.\r\n\r\nThe screen has nine red brick bins at the base. In the four on either side sit the yellow alien eggs and from the centre one the alien guards issue forth to do battle. These resemble cross wing fighters, although they don't fire at you. Above the bins, or nests, are a series of four platforms with holes In them at staggered intervals - actually, more holes with platforms in them. On the top one your ship appears - and a boulder. The ship can move in four directions and fire at the guards with its laser (though not at the hatched out aliens). The object is to push the boulder along until it drops through a hole to the next level, drop down and push it again, until, finally it drops right down on the aliens and crushes them. All three sorts may be crushed.\r\n\r\nIf you get through this screen, in the next the aliens hatched out much more vicious and eager to get you.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: Z/X left/right, SPACE = up, ENTER = fire. The ship sinks by itself\r\nJoystick: Kempston\r\nKeyboard play: very responsive, takes time to get used to the 'gravity' effect on the ship!\r\nColour very good\r\nGraphics: very good, nice and big\r\nSound: continuous, above average\r\nSkill levels: harder by screen\r\nLives: 3","ReviewerComments":["I must say, that Thrusta is a unique type of game, and a very good one. It takes quite a while to complete a screen, nudging you boulders this way and that while dodging the damned aliens. As you progress to higher levels of play, the screen begins to get very crowded. There's plenty of colour, all well used on the large and smooth graphics. Definitely above average and very playable, good for 16K users as well.\r\nUnknown","I thought the graphics were very neat with all those loathsome eggs wobbling, cracking, to reveal an ugly alien in each, and Thrusta 1 looks good too - a real space ship at last! This turns out to be a difficult game and playable with it, each level harder than the one before.\r\nUnknown","Thrusta has an excellent keyboard layout, which makes playing very easy, while the game makes wining very hard! It looks simple when you first start, but getting those boulders down is complicated by the available routes and the aliens buzzing all over you. I found it hard to judge its addictivity, but it's very playable.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: playable, fun and generally good","Page":"39,40","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Thrusta 1 drops a boulder on a hatching alien - but the others are cracking open...."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"73%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 6, May 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-04-19","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":168,"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\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Illustration: Pat Weedon\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublisher: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nPublishing Secretary: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Mike Caroll\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Coraline Turner\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, 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 16/48K\r\nJOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional\r\nSUPPLIER: Software Projects\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\n\r\nGreat fun this one. You push boulders off ledges to squash nasty aliens which keep hatching out down below. You also fire at alien 'guards' and dodge around like the clappers. Nice animation and several different screens of action make Thrusta a game that offers just a bit more than the competition.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"71","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Anderson","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer News Issue 65, Jun 1984","Price":"","ReleaseDate":"1984-06-16","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\nListings Editor: Wendie Pearson\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, John Bryan, Laura Cade, Paul Evans, Debbie Quinn, Yvonne Charatynowicz\r\nProduction: Nikki Payne\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":"Thrusta £5.95, Software Projects, [redacted], mail order/retail.\r\n\r\nTHRUSTA\r\n\r\nSoftware Projects have unveiled a new weapon for use in Earth's continuing struggle against invading wrigglies from outer space - blooming great boulders.\r\n\r\nYou control a chunky little rocket ship equipped with a standard issue laser weapon. The ship flies around the platform-filled screen, blasting guardian aliens to its heart's content. What these particular creatures are guardians of are down at the bottom of the screen, neatly tucked up in individual slots - yellow, speckled, quivering eggs. They eventually crack open to hatch out octopus-impersonating aliens. Since these hatchlings turn out to be invulnerable to your laser, you have to destroy the eggs before they hatch.\r\n\r\nLuckily, good old Mother Earth has bounteous natural resources - rocks, to be precise.\r\n\r\nOne of these will pop up somewhere on the topmost ledge; you must push it from shelf to shelf, so that when it finally falls off, it scrambles a surprised egg.\r\n\r\nAn original idea and nicely executed with crisp, smooth graphics and action. The pulsating blobs are enough to put you off henfruit for life.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"42","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Chappell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]