[{"TitleName":"Abyss","Publisher":"CCS","Author":"J.P.W. Smith","YearOfRelease":"1984","ZxDbId":"0000053","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: CCS, 48K\r\n£5.00\r\n\r\nIn a hidden gorge through the Mountain of the Golden Lion, lies the forgotten ABYSS. But brave and foolhardy adventurers like you sometimes strive to cross it, their sole aim to destroy the many evil monsters that lurk in the shadows, waiting for the next meal to come strolling across the many bridges in the ABYSS. Scenario over, the game begins. The screen presents you with a yellow grid, each crossing point being a lurking place. Movement is done by the cursors until you encounter a monster. These tend to offer you a range of problems, like the Ogre who can't get his sums right - can you in 15 seconds? Or the arcade sequence where you must hit five falling spiders before they reach the cave floor. Added dangers are creaky bridges that may collabpse under you. By no means a traditional D&D adventure, but certainly one for quick thinking swots with 'O' levels to pass! Good value for the price and not at all easy.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"65","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 4, May 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-04-19","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: CCS, 48K\r\n£5.00\r\n\r\nIn a hidden gorge through the Mountain of the Golden Lion, lies the forgotten ABYSS. But brave and foolhardy adventurers like you sometimes strive to cross it, their sole aim to destroy the many evil monsters that lurk in the shadows, waiting for the next meal to come strolling across the many bridges in the ABYSS. Scenario over, the game begins. The screen presents you with a yellow grid, each crossing point being a lurking place. Movement is done by the cursors until you encounter a monster. These tend to offer you a range of problems, like the Ogre who can't get his sums right - can you in 15 seconds? Or the arcade sequence where you must hit five falling spiders before they reach the cave floor. Added dangers are creaky bridges that may collabpse under you. By no means a traditional D&D adventure, but certainly one for quick thinking swots with 'O' levels to pass! Good value for the price and not at all easy.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"72","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 22, Jan 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1983-12-15","Editor":"Nigel Clark","TotalPages":172,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nDeputy Editor: Nicole Segre\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nSoftware Editor: John Gilbert\r\nProgram Reviewer: Rebecca Ferguson\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Brian King\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nSales Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\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 any of the Sinclair User group of publications 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]\r\n\r\nCover Photograph: Peter Dawney"},"MainText":"PLUMBING DEPTHS OF A TESTING PUZZLE\r\n\r\nAbyss for the 48K Spectrum is a simple graphics adventure which is designed to test your refelexes as well as your mathematics. The idea is that you must cross a series of rickety wooden bridges over an Abyss surrounded by monsters which lurk in the shadows.\r\n\r\nEach time you cross a bridge you are presented with a challenge which you must overcome before proceeding to the next bridge.\r\n\r\nThe test might be negotiating a maze using a complicated set of keys, avoiding giant rats, recognising a word in a split second, or doing some mental arithmetic before your time runs out. The sequence of the tests changes constantly and you need to be able to think quickly. If you play the game a few times, the answers will be increasingly easy to find, so it does not offer endless scope.\r\n\r\nNevertheless, it is a lively puzzle, with amusing responses from the computer, although in one case we suspected that it threw us into the abyss in spite of a correct answer.\r\n\r\nAbyss is available from Cases Computer Simulations, [redacted]. It costs £5.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"39","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Gilbert Factor","Score":"6/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]