[{"TitleName":"Tubaruba","Publisher":"Firebird Software Ltd","Author":"Tooba Zaidi","YearOfRelease":"1987","ZxDbId":"0005440","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 41, Jun 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-05-28","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Ciaran Brennan\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Richard Eddy, Ian Phillipson\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Philippa Irving\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nContributing Writers: Jon Bates, Brendon Kavanagh, John Minson\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Gordon Druce\r\nIllustrator: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction: Tony Lorton, Mark Kendrick, Tim Croton, Seb Clare\r\nProcess and Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Jonathan Rignall, Nick Orchard\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nBookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\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.\r\n\r\n©1987 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Firebird\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: Tooba Zaidi\r\n\r\nNaughty Tubaruba's always in trouble at school, but this time it looks really serious. He's broken a window, been caught by the headmaster and faced with expulsion unless he pays a £50 damages bill. However, if the trainee delinquent collects this amount by the end of the term he'll not only achieve good grades, he'll also wind up owning the headmaster's Ferrari.\r\n\r\nIn his financial search, Tuba passes through a series of rooms on different floors collecting money as he goes. He can move left and right, jump up or leap down in the school buildings he hates so much. To make his task that much harder, bomb-dropping angels, egg-laying ducks, deadly ball-spitting heads, octopuses, and musical instruments fly about. Contact with any of these saps energy, which is replaced by collecting the red discs found lying about the school. Should his energy level fall to zero, Tubaruba is permanently wiped off the school register.\r\n\r\nOveractivity also depletes Tuba's energy, so to rest his legs he drives about in on of the Sinclair C5's which are conveniently distributed around the school.\r\n\r\nTubaruba protects himself by firing on his attackers with a concealed gun. Each kill earns a penny, but his piggy bank fills up much faster if he picks up the coins and notes which are also to be found about the premises.\r\n\r\nLeaping up to and touching windows transports the scheming schoolkid to another part of the building where he can continue his money hunt.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: Q up, A down, O left, P right, Z/M fire\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Interface 2\r\nUse of colour: very bright\r\nGraphics: primitive and generally small\r\nSound: poor\r\nSkill levels: one","ReviewerComments":["At last! Spectrum lovers can now have a loading system just like (dare I say it)… the good old BBC. I'm not sure I like this, but it does solve a lot of problems - and once you've finally got Tubaruba to load it isn't at all bad. The graphics are a bit basic, but they're well constructed and use lots of colour.\r\r\nGareth Adams","If Firebird think that this is the sort of game that Spectrum owners want then they're still living in 1984... it's absolutely appalling. The tune that plays during and after the game is atrocious - the graphics consist of some badly drawn furniture and backgrounds, and contain masses of colour, none of which is aesthetically pleasing. A complete waste of money\r\nPaul Sumner"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: This leap, kill and collect Jet Set Willy type game, hails from the past, but at its price could have appeal for some.","Page":"31","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Gareth Adams","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"It may be an old-fashioned game, but Tubaruba is brightly pretty to look at."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"41%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"48%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"42%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 63, Jun 1987","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1987-05-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Andy Moss, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: John Higgins\r\n\r\nTypeset by PRS Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 90,215 July-Dec 1985"},"MainText":"Label: Firebird\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nJoystick: various\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nReviewer: John Gilbert\r\n\r\nI expected Firebird's latest to be a flashy arcade game. After all, Thrust II was pretty fine. Instead, what I got was a lot of weird metaphysical objects bouncing up and down in front of me.\r\n\r\nThe anti-hero of this piece - called Tubaruba incidentally - is an itinerant schoolboy who has smashed a school window, collect £50 to cover the repairs and form the basis for his end of term report.\r\n\r\nSounds fabulous doesn't it? But when I started to play the game I was treated to a flickery stick-insect of a schoolboy sprite and a group of performing tomatoes which bounce up and down on the screen so that more by luck than judgement you get to make your first £10.\r\n\r\nOur schoolboy finds himself in some very psychedelic otherworlds. Was he on drugs? Was there some message in the graphics which I'd missed? The answer to those questions is no. Tubaruba is just another excuse for Firebird to release any old tat on its Silver label.\r\n\r\nWorse - I found it difficult to get past the first three screens because those alien fruit take up most of the screen. The game's play logic was all to pot, and the player character couldn't seem to move into the main part of the screen without tripping over something!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Hugely disappointing Firebird release. There's infinitely more invention in the title than the game itself.","Page":"75","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"1","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"1/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 38, Jun 1987","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1987-05-21","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":""},"MainText":"FIREBIRD\r\n\r\nPersonally I've not been as impressed with Firebird's stuff as I have with Mastertronic's or Code Masters', but they have been improving a bit lately. Thrust was perhaps their best release for the Spectrum, and Thrust II, whilst basically the same, added a couple of frills to the addictive formula. Their latest game, Tubaruba, is a fairly run of the mill effort. You have to find your way around a school building and collect £50 to pay for a broken window. You have to contend with the usual assortment of deadly sprites, ladders and so on, and while this is the sort of thing that could have been sold at full price a couple of years ago it's still a bit bland by today's standards.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]