[{"TitleName":"Timebomb","Publisher":"CDS Microsystems","Author":"","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0005285","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":128,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: CDS Microsystems\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\n\r\nThe first computer heroes were simply 'you', now players are offered a plethora of names and characters. The lates from C.D.S. is Cedric - that's 'you' - who looks like a bear (bears seem to be a favourite). The screen contains 176 squares or pale blue tiles on a black ground in an eleven up by sixteen across grid. Ten squares are occupied by skulls and crossbones and six by little flags on posts. in another sits Cedric and somewhere on the screen, one square is taken up by the yellow timebomb.\r\n\r\nThe time bombs are no joke - they start off with a figure of 30 which instantly starts running down to zero, but not in seconds. The time actually allowed is more like five seconds. The object is to move Cedric around the screen and reach the time bomb before it goes off. When Cedric touches a square he erases it, and as he cannot move onto an already blanked square, this tends to make life difficult, especially with six bombs to defuse per screen. Fortunately it is possible to scroll a horizontal row along, which means you can get Cedric to a spot nearer the bomb and avoid the blank squares. The screen wraps around vertically and horizontally.\r\n\r\nScoring is ten times the points remaining on any bomb when defused, steps taken, and bonus points for flags collected. Skulls, naturally, kill. After screen one has been cleared, screen two offers another hazard in the form of yellow boots which also kill on contact. The boots increase per screen to a maximum of four.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: Q/Z = up/down, I/P = left/right, B to SPACE = scroll, or the cursor keys and 0\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Protek, AGF or cursor clip on.\r\nKeyboard play: responsive\r\nColour: good\r\nGraphics: simple but good\r\nSound: very good\r\nSkill levels: 5 (speeds, plus time bombs get faster) and more skulls)\r\nLives: 3","ReviewerComments":["At first glance this game looks colourful and fun but fairly simple. Playing it for a few minutes convinced me otherwise. It's still fun but not that easy. It's a bit like those word puzzles where there is one gap left for you to shuffle the squares up and down to make words. The scroll facility actually makes the game more skilful in a way - and possible, because of the time limit. When you've defused a bomb, another appears randomly, which gives you a second to spot it, the hazards in between and the best route, then four seconds left to get there. It's all very frenetic, and by the time there are four dancing boots leaping about as well, the screen gets busy enough to make it hard to spot the wretched bomb. More addictive than I first thought.\r\r\nUnknown","This is an original game with plenty of appeal - the graphics, although simple and unanimated, look neat, bright and clean. The keys are well laid out, with two playing options and it has one of the best Hall of Fame entry methods I've used. It's fun to play, but has the drawback of being a high points only scoring game once you get the hang of it, therefore, a bit low on addictivity, but very good for the 16K.\r\r\nUnknown","Graphics are simple but effective and the sound is great, nice continual step by step tune and wonderful 'boing' noises when you defuse a bomb. The scrolling is done by holding down a scroll key and using the direction keys for left or right. If you scroll next to a skull and don't get the timing right, you can easily stop scrolling, go into move and run into the skull. I wouldn't say it's a maior game, to be honest, but I did find trying to beat the hi-score became something of an obsession for an hour. Buy it if you like the idea, but it should be a big hit with kids'.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General rating: A simple but original idea which will appeal to many players although its addictive qualities may not be very high.","Page":"123","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Skulls, boots and bombs as the time ticks away."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"83%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"79%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"82%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"71%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 7, Jun 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-05-17","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":132,"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\nCONTROL: Keys, Kemp\r\nFROM: CDS, £5.95\r\n\r\nThis game is another version of the arcade game known as Delusion or Gridtrap.\r\n\r\nThere is already a version of this game for the Spectrum by K-Tel, and one on the Commodore 64 by Livewire. This model stands up well in comparison.\r\n\r\nYour man hops from one square to another on a large grid. Other squares are occupied by flags, skulls, and a time bomb on which the amount of time left till the explosion is shown rapidly decreasing.\r\n\r\nUsing sensible control keys you must guide the figure to the bomb in order to defuse it, whereupon another bomb will appear somewhere else and he must repeat the process to save his three lives.\r\n\r\nHaving defused six bombs you progress to the next level, which is made more risky by the presence of up to four boots. These stamp angrily about the screen and will flatten you given half chance.\r\n\r\nA life is also lost each time you bump into a skull. Further complications are introduced by the fact that you cannot cross a square twice. Pick up the flags for bonus points.\r\n\r\nEach time you step on a square it turns black. Should you find yourself cut off by black squares, you can scroll the row you are standing on left or right until a coloured square appear either above or below you. You can then get on with your task.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are excellent for a 16K game and as an extra bonus your Spectrum plays Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' as you move round the grid. Perhaps we can now expect a Spectrum game with full orchestral and stereophonic sound-effects.\r\n\r\nThis is a good implementation of an old favourite, and the fact that it's been squeezed into 16K is an extra bonus.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54,55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Cooke","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair Programs Issue 21, Jul 1984","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1984-06-21","Editor":"Rebecca Ferguson","TotalPages":60,"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\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":"Timebomb - Spectrum £5.95 - is a game which calls for fast reactions and even faster thinking. The player moves round a grid, trying to reach the time bomb as quickly as possible. If a bomb is left for too long it will explode. Each square of the grid can be touched only once on each screen and six bombs must be defused on each screen. Further complications are the static skulls and walking boots which are deadly to the touch.\r\n\r\nThe game is simple in concept and infuriatingly difficult to complete. It does not, however, have the sophistication and lasting appeal of many games on the market. To represent value for money it would have been better presented on a cassette with other games of a similar standard. From CDS Microsystems, [redacted].","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"33","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"June Mortimer","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]