[{"TitleName":"Video Pool","Publisher":"Oxford Computer Publishing","Author":"James Hutchby","YearOfRelease":"1985","ZxDbId":"0005566","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 15, Apr 1985","Price":"£0.85","ReleaseDate":"1985-03-28","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nAssistant Editor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nSoftware Editor: Jeremy Spencer\r\nAdventure Reviewer: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Reviewer: Angus Ryall\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey, Robin Candy, Ben Stone\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1985 Newsfield Limited.\r\nCrash Magazine is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nEditorial/studio [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]; Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset Ltd (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted].\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCirculation Manager: Tom Hamilton\r\nAll circulation enquiries should ring [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £10.50 (UK Mainland post free), Europe: 12 issues £17.50 post free. Outside Europe by arrangement in writing.\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. The opinions and views of correspondents are their own and not necessarily in accord with those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: OCP\r\nMemory Required: 48K\r\nRetail Price: £5.95\r\nLanguage: Machine code\r\nAuthor: James Hutchby\r\n\r\nHere is yet another pool simulation program complete with the features that we have come to expect. In essence all that's required to win is to pot the five numbered balls on the table without losing any lives.\r\n\r\nTo make a shot one simply steers a cursor around the cushion and when it is in line with the cue ball and in the direction necessary for the shot the player then holds down the space key until the required level of power (shown on a bar indicator) is reached. Releasing the space key makes the shot. Scoring for pool can be pretty complicated. Here the points are calculated as a multiple of the frame number, the ball number, the pocket value all multiplied by ten. The shot must be potted before the end of the shot count, if you fail to pot a ball after 5 shots then you will lose three of your lives. You will also lose a life if you pot the cue ball or miss a ball altogether. Higher skill levels are achieved by reducing the time allowed to make a shot, using smaller pockets and reducing the number of attempts available to make a shot.\r\n\r\nThe menu allows selection of a two-player game. In this mode each player has a unique set of balls. A special mode allows the selection of two versions of the standard game, the first of which requires that the balls are potted in numeric order. The second and hardest of the variations is the game in which the player has to pot the balls into the pockets bearing the same numbers.\r\n\r\nThe package has a mode referred to as 'Table editor' which allows you to set up a table with the balls in any position so you can practice those hard-to-get shots.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: user definable, preset M/SS left/right Space to shoot\r\nJoystick: Sinclair 2, Kempston, Cursor type\r\nKeyboard play: good response, movement of cursor initially confusing\r\nUse of colour: sensible rather than exciting\r\nGraphics: excellent action, very smooth indeed\r\nSound: very little sound\r\nSkill levels: 3\r\nLives: 5 per frame\r\nScreens: single screen action","ReviewerComments":["Video Pool gets off to an excellent start with an extremely classy title sequence - we are talking smooth with a capital S. The game itself is a typical enough pool game. It has several variations and an editor for setting up trick shots. Hands up all of you who can pot the lot in one shot! The graphics are smooth but not very colourful - attribute problems would have occurred if they were, so perhaps they're best left. Video Pool is as good as most other pool programs on the market.\r\r\nUnknown","The graphics are certainly very impressive, although pool should look a bit brighter, but the balls are large and move very smoothly indeed. I liked the difficulty level selections like choosing between the size of pockets on the table. Shot selection and taking is simply done and reasonably fast to accomplish. There are quite a few billiard snooker pool programs available now, and this is certainly among the best.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: An enjoyable game but apart from the smooth graphics this is a fairly standard version.","Page":"14","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"69%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Spectrum Issue 17, Aug 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-07-18","Editor":"Kevin Cox","TotalPages":66,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Kevin Cock-up\r\nArt Editor: Phoebe Evans\r\nDeputy Editor: Rocky Horror Shaw\r\nProduction Editor: Louise Cook\r\nArt Assistant: Martin Dixon\r\nEditorial Consultant: Andrew Pennell\r\nSoftware Consultant: Gavin Monk\r\nContributors: Stephen Adams, Dave Nicholls, Roger Willis, Ross Holman, Mike Leaman, Toni Baker, Dougie Bern, Chris Cockayne, Paul Woof, Iolo Davidson, Tony Samuels, Chris Wood\r\nAdvertisement Manager: David Baskerville\r\nProduction Manager: Sonia Hunt\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Chris Talbot\r\nManaging Editor: Roger Munford\r\nArt Director: Jimmy Egerton\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Chris Robur\r\nPublisher: Stephen England\r\n\r\nPublished by Sportscene Specialist Press Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England. Telephone (all departments): [redacted]\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 Spectrum ©1985 Felden productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Spectrum is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"VIDEO POOL\r\nOCP\r\n£5.95\r\n\r\nRoger: As much as I deeply hate the infestation of most of my favourite liquid recreation facilities with 8-ball pool tables, used by cretins who waste good drinking time, I found myself appalled by a distinct liking for this game - evidenced by the fact that I sat playing it for hours. Apart from a slight aberration in that the Speccy version only appears to have six balls, content is generally faithful to the real thing.\r\n\r\nThe computer gives you a choice of large or small pockets before starting and then frame up the balls, which are marked with values that multiply with the marked values on the pockets. Sighting is done by moving a target crosshair around the border of the table and the force beyond your stroke is self-governed by a simple system of letting an on-screen scale rise whilst holding the 'fire' key down. Releasing it wallops the ball with the appropriate amount of oof.\r\n\r\nBeyond this basic game, which can be played by two people and continue for frame after frame as long as the three 'lives' aren't lost through foul shots or stuffing the black down an orifice, variations are available to experts, like potting balls in a set order. There is also an 'edit' facility, allowing superstars to 'set up' interesting problems on the table.\r\n\r\nIt could put the breweries out of business...","ReviewerComments":["If you're on the market for a pool game, then this is the one for you.\r\nDave Nicholls\r\n3/5 MISS","\"Oh no, not another pool game\", I hear you say. Well, you're in for a surprise - there are lots of nice graphics and a darn good game of pool, with all the usual options plus a great 'Edit the Table' feature.\r\nRoss Holman"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"42","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Dave Nicholls","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5 MISS"},{"Name":"Ross Holman","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":"MISS"},{"Name":"Roger Willis","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/5 HIT"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 39, Jun 1985","Price":"£0.95","ReleaseDate":"1985-05-18","Editor":"Bill Scolding","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\nEditor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nStaff Writer: Chris Bourne, Clare Edgeley\r\nDesigner: Craig Kennedy\r\nEditorial Secretary: Norisah Fenn\r\nPublisher: Neil Wood\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nAdvertising Manager: Rob Cameron\r\nDeputy Advertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Kathy McLennan\r\nProduction Assistant: Jim McClure\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Maria Keighley\r\n\r\nMAGAZINE SERVICES\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\n\r\nTELEPHONE\r\nAll departments [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nOriginal programs 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 pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Peterboro' Web, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1985 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\n91,901 Jun-Dec 1984"},"MainText":"Publisher: OCP\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nJoystick: Sinclair, Kempston. Cursor\r\n\r\nA game of pool usually entails consuming large quantities of beer whilst playing in some smoky pub.\r\n\r\nOCP has come to the rescue of both lungs and liver and has produced Video Pool..\r\n\r\nThe screen gives an aerial view of the pool table with six pockets which you can change from small to large size. The game offers three variations of pool - none of which are played according to the rules. For starters, there are only six numbered balls with the corresponding numbers on each of the pockets.\r\n\r\nThe three variations range from easy - where you have to pot the balls in any order into any of the pockets; a slightly harder version where the balls have to be potted numerically; and lastly a game where you have to pot the balls numerically into the correspondingly numbered pockets.\r\n\r\nYou gain an extra shot for each correctly potted ball and lose a life for a foul shot or wrong pot.\r\n\r\nVideo Pool is certainly worth playing despite the obvious dissimilarities with the real game. The movement of the balls is fast, smooth and flicker-free and the direction of the cue ball towards the cursor, positioned on the cushion, is accurate.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"30","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Clare Edgeley","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]