[{"TitleName":"Blasteroids","Publisher":"Image Works","Author":"Dave Colledge","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0000563","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 63, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-30","Editor":"Stuart Wynne","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Stuart Wynne\r\nAssistant Editor: Phil King\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Ian Cull, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Richard 'smasherooni' Eddie, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Oliver Frey\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Lee Watkins\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Haven't I seen this somewhere before?\r\n\r\nProducer: Image Works\r\nPrecious Rocks: £9.99 cass, £14.99 disk\r\nAuthor: Teque\r\n\r\nHelp! I'm trapped in a time warp, doctor! Every time I load up my computer, games like Break Out, Pac-Man and now Asteroids appear.\r\n\r\nDon't worry about it, there is a cure. Buy a review magazine like CRASH and carry it everywhere - this will warn you when you're about to purchase something which could give you severe déjà vu. Now, here's an example, just read this...\r\n\r\nBlasteroids may be the very latest coin-op conversion, but is basically Asteroids with knobs on. In this case the knobs are a two player mode and a host of glitzy gimmicks, actual gameplay isn't too bad though.\r\n\r\nWhen the game begins there's a choice of four different warps of varying difficulty. Warps contain several galaxies, each comprising nine or sixteen sectors. Each sector is predictably chock-a-block with asteroids, which must be cleared to go on to the next sector. Most asteroids split into smaller fragments as they're shot, others are indestructible but freeze when shot, and some asteroids even chase you. The most welcome asteroids are purple, as they contain energy pods to boost your power.\r\n\r\nAlso to be looked out for are the pods released by the destruction of alien ships. There are eight temporary add-ons including double shot Blasters, turbocharger Ripstars, energy pod attracting Crystal Magnets, extra fuel capacity and so on.\r\n\r\nPermanent blasting power is provided by a very clever ship which can transform into the Speeder (fast), Fighter (heavily armed) and Warrior (best armour). And in two player both ships can be docked to form a supership, one person manning the gun turret while the other panics at the flight controls.\r\n\r\nOnce a sector is completed, an exit portal appears to transport you to the Galactic Map. You can enter any adjacent sector and when all the sectors have been cleared it's time to take on Mukor, a giant green alien. Defeat him - by blasting away large wart-like (ugh!) growths on his sides-and its on to the next galaxy. On easy level there's just two galaxies, which are (surprise!) easily completed.\r\n\r\nOnce that easy level is completed are you going to be all fired up to blasteroid your way through the other three? Well, maybe-the old left/right rotate, forward for thrust, control system is still as awkward as ever, adding to playability, and graphics are generally good. The problem is that the Galaxy Map only gives a relatively shallow chance to plan strategy, and lacking any great depth you might not return to it that often. Nevertheless if you want a simple blast-'em-up, with awkward controls and lots and lots of asteroids, look no further.\r\n\r\nMARK 72%\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: well-defined ships, but plenty of colour clash\r\nSound: good 128K title tune, fair ingame blasting effects\r\nOptions: definable keys. Two player mode. Four warps of varying difficulty","ReviewerComments":["Turbocharged asteroids! Yes, the old favourite makes a souped-up comeback. You'll be glad to know that its original rock-blasting playability has been retained. But the range of extra features adds even more fun. One player can start off playing solo, and then if a friend arrives he can join in - good idea. Then there are the many add-ons to collect for your ship as well as a variety of asteroids and enemy ships. But the most interesting feature is the ability to change ship-size. As each size has both advantages and disadvantages, simple strategy is added to the arcade action. Unfortunately, clearing sector after sector eventually gets repetitive. The inclusion of four skill levels marginally improves lastability, but ten quid is a lot to pay for a few hours of fun.\r\nPhil King\r\n73%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Great fun for a while, especially with two players.","Page":"17","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"72","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"73","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"65%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"69%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"76%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"73%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 40, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-16","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Cleaner: Colin\r\nEditor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor Goodall\r\nEditorial Assistant: David Wilson\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Ben Bracken, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine Peters, Rachael Smith, Phil South\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Stephen Bloy\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Katherine Balchin\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Terry Grimwood\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\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 Sinclair ©1989 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Image Works\r\n£9.99/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nThere really isn't much that's new under the sun. Some of the most playable games tend to be those that've been around the longest: the Breakout/Arkanoid/Batty imitators for instance, or, as here, the Asteroids clones. Blasteroids was a recent arcade reworking of that classic coin op, and while arcade standards have come far enough to make a revamp arguably worthwhile, the same cannot really be said for the Speccy. In other words there is precious little real difference between this new Spectrum version of Blasteroids and the antique conversion of the original Asteroids by a company that has long since slipped down the software dumper - except that Blasteroids will be available in the shops when you walk down there tomorrow and Asteroids hasn't been seen in years. Ah well, such is progress.\r\n\r\nI'll assume you haven't been caught in a space warp yourself the last few years and know roughly how the game works. Oh, you don't? Well, okay. Basically you control a little space ship stuck in the middle of an asteroid field and you have to blast your way out. Every rock you shatter breaks into smaller lumps, each of which you have to pick off or else they'll wallop your ship and sap your energy. The great thing about both games is the way the space ship behaves. Like a real one, each action has an equal and opposite reaction so that any ill judged use of the thrusters can quite easily send you spinning out of control, bouncing off asteroids and the like and losing energy like crazy. To recover you have to spin your craft around so that the tail faces the way you're going and use the engines to slow down again - tricky, since the screen is so crowded you'll soon hit a trillion aliens and rocks and things and be bouncing around like a pinball.\r\n\r\nWhat Blasteroids basically does is add a number of gimmicks to this format. These include a choice of spacecraft which you can switch between at any time (a fast one, an armoured one and a heavily armed one), purple asteroids that reveal power ups when you shoot them and alien ships that donate various temporary weapons and powers, including shields, a cloaking device and double blasters.\r\n\r\nAdd to these power leeches that home in on you to sap your energy, seeker asteroids that fly towards you at high speed when shot, four levels of difficulty which each consist of numerous sectors to blast through, space warps, a galactic map and a giant alien named Mukor and you'll realise they've added all sorts of stuff to spice up a game that was already immensely addictive and playable, if lacking in variety.\r\n\r\nOne thing you can say for it, and that's that it's very good for the ego! The easy level allows you to warp through numerous sectors without much danger (assuming a degree of competance), up to and past a first confrontation with Mukor. Other galaxys are much trickier.\r\n\r\nIn some ways I feel a bit unfair having a go at this really. Blasteroids is obviously a perfectly fine and competent version of a game that I've been familiar with for donkey's years. I've played it in arcades in Filey (it all comes out now, eh?) on an ancient PET, in 16 bit variations and it's always fun, even if it doesn't hold the interest in quite the way that Arkanoid clones do.\r\n\r\nWith this version my only real criticisms would be that the screen is too small, your ship is rather large, and you find yourself whizzing off one side and back on the other at a disconcerting rate. If ever space could be said to be claustrophobic, it's here.\r\n\r\nWhat I'd tend to have to end up saying is that if you've not played one of these games before you'll have a ball. If you have, you may find yourself rather 'so what?' about it all, as I did.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Fine update of an addictive but rather one key arcade classic.","Page":"59","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"7","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Going for the little yellow energy bubbles is a two edged sword: you need to collect them as soon as possible 'cos their power fade, but too much mad rushing over the screen could involve you in some nasty collisions."},{"Text":"Heeere's Mukor! Big green meanie just needs his knobbly arms blowing off and he's a gonner."},{"Text":"Time to clear another sector."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"7/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 55, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-07","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Kevin Hibbert\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Joe Davies, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Jo Fulton, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Kate Hodges, Duncan MacDonald, Jon North, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: SM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"Blasteroids\r\nImage Works\r\n\r\nThis is the most recent Asteroids clone (that I can think of at least) and retains exactly the same gameplay as the original (more or less), just spiffed up a little with a couple of clever bits and pieces. To be honest there's precious little difference between this and the original, but since you can probably get hold of this one a lot easier it's this we'll talk about.\r\n\r\nSo how's it all work? Well, simple. You control a little spaceship caught in the middle of an asteroid field and you have blast your way out. Every rock you hit shatters into smaller ones which have to be picked off until they've all gone, while at the same time you've got to wiggle your ship around to avoid the flying fragments.\r\n\r\nNow what makes it really interesting is the controls - the screen wraps round on all four sides, so whatever disappears off the top reappears at the bottom, and whatever slips off the left will soon be slipping on again at the right. Your little ship works as a real one would too, ie each action has an equal and opposite reaction, so you have to make your way around by pointing your craft in the right direction and firing your engines, then changing direction or stopping by twiddling your ship round its central axis and firing in the other direction, counteracting the forward motion. Complicated stuff!\r\n\r\nSpecial additions to this basic formula include 1989 graphics, a choice of three ships (with different speed and shields), aliens, giant end-of-level nasties and collectable goodies such as power-ups and a cloaking device. There are loadsa levels to get through too. All in all then a bit of a corker, even if it had all been seen a good ten years ago.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"33,34,35,36,37","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'Ere, what you lookin' at, moosh?"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"EVERY SHOOT-'EM-UP EVER\r\n\r\nHa! You've got to be joking - I started working on it and got up to 150 names - and I was only half way through the poxy thing! Forget it!"},{"Text":"GIANT ALIEN MUTHAS FROM HELL\r\n\r\nA few good end-of-level baddies can make a shoot-'em-up, a lack of them break one. Let's look at a few typical monsters, shall we?\r\n\r\nDominator: Impressive pink mouth affair firmly in the R-Type mould, and nicely animated too - the eyes blink and teeth move. Unfortunately the rest of the game didn't live up to it.\r\n\r\nMr Heli: A giant eye thing with lobster claws - not bad, the grey and yellow graphics don't help it to stand out as much as they might, do they?\r\n\r\nSilkworm: This is the other way to do it - not a giant fixed mass (like the other two) but a moving baddy in the vein of stuff you've already met on that level, but bigger. This super chopper is delightfully guppy-like."},{"Text":"HOW TO DESIGN A SPACESHIP\r\n\r\nWe cant really express how important a good central sprite can be - after all, other sprites may come and go, but you're looking at this one the entire time!\r\n\r\nHalaga: Hmm. Your basic Space Invaders/Galaxians thing - not too impressive, is it?\r\n\r\nSidearms: Anyone able to tell me what's meant to be going on here? It just looks like a bit of a mess to me! Answers on a postcard please.\r\n\r\nDark Fusion: A-ha! Now this is more like it - simple, clean design, easy to see but not too distracting. It's the biz."},{"Text":"SHORTS\r\n\r\nBlimey! Space doesn't go very far when you've got a subject as big as this, eh? So, dotted across the next four pages, we've squeezed some mini (mini) reviews into snazzy white blobs (just like this) - not wham-bam classics, but all good representatives of a type…"},{"Text":"SO, YOU WANNA WRITE A SHOOT-'EM-UP?\r\n\r\nWould you believe it's not as hard as it looks? (Actually, the way loads of people seem to write shoot-'em-ups it doesn't actually look all that hard anyway!) Here are a few of your central ingredients...\r\n\r\nThe Main Spaceship\r\nA little square box thing with another square box on the front will do fine here - nice and simple and to the point. Alternatively you could go the whole hog and stick as many spikey bits as possible all over it so the sprite looks 'interesting' from all angles.\r\n\r\nEnemy Spaceships\r\nNothing wrong with a whole squadron of polo mints zooming through space towards you - after all, it's the cunningness of the attack formations that counts!\r\n\r\nThe Name\r\nSomething gun-like sounds good and hard (say Side Arms or Armalyte) though anything vaguely aggressive-sounding will do (Eliminator, Dominator, Xecutor, H.A.T.E). If you're desperate you can always go the pseudo-scientific route (R-type, P47, Ultima Ratio), opt for an animal name (Salamander, Silkworm) or go for that old standard, the meaningless, vaguely futuristic-sounding word (Triaxos, Xeno, Zynaps, Xarax, Sanxion, Uridium, Xevious). Lots of 'Z's and 'X's are good.\r\n\r\nBackground\r\nNice and complicated is fine - let your imagination go wild. Don't worry about bullets (or even smaller enemy squadrons) getting lost amongst the mass of background detail - you can always pass it off as 'challenging gameplay'.\r\n\r\nCollision Detection\r\nDon't make it too easy for them! It's perfectly all right if any alien coming within inches of the player kills him dead, while he needs to blast baddies six times for any effect to be felt Again, it's all in the cause of challenging gameplay!"},{"Text":"THE FLIP-SCREEN\r\n\r\nNot all that common, but these can work very well indeed - check out Raf Cecco's Cybernoid duo, for instance. The thing seems to be that if you dispense with trying to write decent scrolling routines (since the background doesn't move at all - you simply progress across the screen until you get to the far end, when a new one flashes up with your little ship in its new starting position) you can spend a lot more time making everything else very pretty and colourful and inventive. Thus flip-screen games have some of the best, clearest, most colourful graphics ever seen on the Speccy.\r\n\r\nOn the minus side however there's the disconcerting, disorientating bit where your ship flickers off the right hand side of the screen, only to reappear on the far left of the next one.\r\n\r\nBut they can be incredibly addictive (it's always a temptation to try for 'just one more' screen to see what it looks like) and, in the case of the Cecco games at least, can strike a fine balance between mindless blasting and working out the best route past each new obstacle. They're still pure shoot-'em-ups, but slightly more cerebral ones.\r\n\r\nFlip screen a la NOMAD - no place to run to, no place to hide. (It's a bit like playing Murder In The Dark really.)"},{"Text":"THE HORIZONTAL SCROLLER\r\n\r\nThis is the other main option, and usually a much more sensible way to go about things. Not only is the screen the right shape, but you can have a very complicated and pretty bottom and/or top bit to it (the ground, or the edges of a tunnel, say), while leaving the bulk of the play area relatively free from obstructions. Most the great shoot-'em-ups (but by no means all) are built like this, including the Your Sinclair all-time fave raves like Uridium and R-Type.\r\n\r\nGame over, man! (Well, Game Over II to be precise.)"},{"Text":"THE 'INTO-THE-SCREEN' JOBBIE\r\n\r\nAlthough occasionally attempted with reasonable success by budgeteers like CodeMasters, these often constitute a less than satisfying experience. All too often someone responsible for coin-op licence acquisition will pick out an arcade favourite with a giant hydraulic cabinet - say an Afterburner or Thunder blade - with little thought as to how it's going to translate to the home computer. (Not very well, usually.) Thus most 'into-the-screen' shoot-'em-ups are technically impressive and rather brave attempts to reproduce the thrills and spills of the original, but almost inevitably doomed to failure. Robbed of 3D, moving cabinets, and whizzo graphics, the limitations built into the game become abundantly clear - there's little real feeling of speed (difficult enough to create even with a rolling road as reference point, let alone without one), oodles of almost identical levels and very little to actually do. Boring.\r\n\r\nVideodrome, here we come - it's 'into the screen' time with F-16 Fighting Falcon."},{"Text":"VERTICAL SCROLLERS\r\n\r\nOne obvious option for a shoot-'em-up, and one that's used all over the place, is the vertical scroller. This is where the action is viewed from a God-like perspective above it all, looking down on everything from a distance. The action scrolls up (or on the very odd occasion down) the screen. This has some advantages - it's easy to lay out complicated attack formations and the little spaceships can he the simplest blobby shapes and still function quite well but it can suffer from some rather major flaws too.\r\n\r\nThe first is that the shape of your average TV or monitor is all wrong. Think about it - you're trying to present portrait-shaped action (taller than it is long) on a landscape-shaped screen (wider than it is tall). In a coin-op, which is where 85% of vertical scrollers originate, there's no real problem with this because you can easily build a cabinet with a tall thin screen to contain the action, but in Speccyvision the programmers have to waste large portions of the side of the potential play area to reproduce it Subsequently, all the sprites have to be fairly small to fit in, and on most TVs become next to invisible. You've effectively castrated the game before you've even started.\r\n\r\nThere's one other major problem too - the background. Since most scrolling Speccy games have to be largely monochrome, any sort of backdrop (say a forest which you're flying over) can cause real problems. You'll be safe (but probably rather bored) if the programmer opts for a simple black starfield over which all the sprites will show up well, but anything beyond that courts disaster. All too often overzealous background artists, small sprites, even smaller bullets and the sort of slightly crappy TVs most of us use with our Speccies conspire to render your brand new vertical scroller virtually unplayable. Don't think I've got a total downer on them though - despite all the limitations some of the real classics use this design. Xenon, anybody?\r\n\r\nClear backdrops, that's what vertical scrollers need. (So Gemini Wing's a sorry loser.)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Alien-Death-Scum-From-Hell Factor","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Shopability","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Copycat Factor","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Visibility Factor","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 85, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Meet the groovy aprils guys (and girlie)\r\n\r\nGRAHAM TAYLOR (Editor)\r\nHistory: Graduated from the Vienna Conservation at the age of six, studied under Serlioz and then joined the Southend Philharmonic.\r\nPlays: Stairway grand piano and kazoo.\r\nInfluences: Karlheinz Stockhausen, James Joyce, Timothy Leary and George Formby.\r\nHobbies: Erecting satellite dishes, wrestling with cats and cleaning weeds from the goldfish pond.\r\nMessage: \"In an indeterminate universe, only the subjectivity of the ovserver maintains the dualism of the animus. Orright?\"\r\n\r\nJIM DOUGLAS (Deputy Editor)\r\nHistory: \"Elvis Costello came up and spoke to me once in the queue in the Wimpy. He said, 'Push off ya git, I was in front of you'.\"\r\nPlays: Saxophone (actually he jogs about in the background holding a sax and looks moody).\r\nInfluences: Mickey Rourke in 9.5 Weeks (\"Now there's a bloke I can identify with\".)\r\nHobbies: Ignoring Sam Fox in Stringfellows (\"I hate fat bimbos\")\r\nMessage: \"Never trust women\".\r\n\r\nALISON SKEAT (Production Editor)\r\nHistory: Auditioned for Bucks Fizz' new girlie - was laughed off the stage.\r\nPlays: Triangle and with certain other members of the band.\r\nInfluences: Bananarama (they're so talented) and her mate Kelly who was in the Stu Stu Studio Line advert.\r\nHobbies: Picking up Greek/Spanish/Italian male tourists outside the Hippodrome (\"I'm very cosmopolitan me\").\r\nMessage: \"Always keep your dancing knickers ironed\".\r\n\r\nTIM NOONAN (Art Editor)\r\nHistory: Lead chair chucker at Milwall v Luton.\r\nPlays: Drums and the silly fellow.\r\nInfluences: Lager and vindaloo.\r\nHobbies: Getting thrown out of pubs/clubs/salvation army hostels.\r\nMessage: \"I'll 'ave you John, you're well aat of order\"\r\n\r\nCHRIS JENKINS (Contributor)\r\nHistory: Born on the planet Zob, came to earth in 1960 and has been trying to absorb our strange culture ever since.\r\nPlays: Synths that make widdly widdly noises, Japanese woodflute and zither.\r\nInfluences: Klaus Schultz, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwek and various other German hippies.\r\nHobbies: Trying to get Sabrina to notice him in Stringfellows.\r\nMessage: \"Phasers on stun, sequencers armed and pump up the volume\".\r\n\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'saucy' Dillon, Chris 'whingey' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine 'top girlie' Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Martha Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma 'choccy face' Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'location unknown' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'starless and bible black' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Brian Talbot\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]"},"MainText":"Label: Image Works\r\nAuthor: Teque\r\nPrice: £9.99 cassette, £14.99 disk\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony Dillon\r\n\r\nAsteroids has to be one of the best, yet simplest games ever devised. If you don't know it, which I find pretty hard to believe, Asteroids had you as the pilot of a small triangular craft whose mission it was to destroy groups of large asteroids by shooting them repeatedly. As they were hit, they would split into two or three smaller pieces of rock. These smaller pieces would have to be hit and made even smaller until they ceased to exist.\r\n\r\nAs I loaded Blasteroids (© T. Dillon Reviews inc. Registered trade mark, all rights reserved) I realised exactly what Image Works' coin-op conversion is. Asteroids revamped. With just a small alteration or two.\r\n\r\nFirstly, and the most obvious, is that the fast, smooth vector graphics have been replaced with slow, jerky sprites. All the asteroids now look like asteroids, rolling about the cosmos randomly. The backdrop has changed too. Instead of a bland black background, you now get nicely digitised views of space.\r\n\r\nProbably the thing that has changed the most is the ship itself. Rather than one small triangle, you now have a transformable craft. It can change its size to suit its predicament. You have a choice of small, nippy craft that is very manoeuvrable, but has the lowest shield rating. Then there's the large lumbering monster that's almost invincible. The third is somewhere between the two.\r\n\r\nSo, what do you actually have to do? A large area of space has been taken over by Mukor, between 9 and 16 sectors depending on the difficulty level. You have to win back all the sectors by destroying all the asteroids in each. Between each sector is a map on which you can see which sectors you've cleared, as well as choosing which one to go to next. When you've cleared all the sectors, you get to fight Mukor himself, a large lumbering beast with more firepower than Tim coughing whilst eating a dry Cream Cracker.\r\n\r\nIn each sector, there are about five large monsters. One of these is coloured blue. As you break down the asteroids, one piece remains blue. When this piece is destroyed, it throws out an energy capsule. Collect this and it replenishes your energy back to maximum. Collision with an asteroid or practically anything else lowers your shield energy, at different rates depending on which ship mode you're in.\r\n\r\nAlien spaceships also fly around the areas. Destroying these results in a goodie being dropped, either a two-way firing gun, or an extra shield. The one extra change? You can play one or two-player simultaneously. As usual, two player is much more fun.\r\n\r\nBlasteroids is a very accurate conversion of an easily convertible coin-op with one major fault. It just doesn't have the fast paced action of the coin-op, and slow, sticky gameplay kills dead the quickness of reaction and speed of eye-to-hand co-ordination needed in a good arcade blast.\r\n\r\nRather than being a frantic, joystick wrenching blast, Blasteroids falls more into the category of a leisurely stroll, where the player makes occasionally almost subliminal move towards the computer.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Looks like a faultless conv but plays poorly.","Page":"65","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"71","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"62%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"70%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"71%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 20, May 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-04-06","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Future Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152\r\n\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nReviews Editor: Bob Wade\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Jarratt, Andy Smith\r\nProduction Editor: Damien Noonan\r\nConsultant Editors: Jon Bates (Music), Brian Larkman (Graphics)\r\nAdventure Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: Tony Takoushi, Zog\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Angela Neale\r\nProduction: Diane Tavener, Claire Woodland, Vivien Dean, Naomi Steer, Louise Cockroft\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertising Sales Executive: David Lilley\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\n\r\nCover by Steve Dillon\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nAvon Direct Mail [redacted]\r\n\r\nSPECIAL OFFERS\r\n(Christine Stacey) [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nSwift Graphics Ltd, Southampton\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\n© FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1989\r\n\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Breaking rocks in the Imageworks.\r\n\r\nNostalgic memories of things past can often be shattered by someone trying to re-release or reinterpret them. Many a record, and many a film, has been ruined this way. Is the same true of computer games? The arcade reworking of Asteroids certainly kept players happy, so will the computer versions live up to the reputation of their grandparent?\r\n\r\nThe aim is to battle through a series of sectors to a final confrontation with a large alien named Mukor. The sectors are arranged in a grid of nine or sixteen squares to represent a galaxy, and each sector takes the form of a single wraparound screen. The asteroids in each sector must be destroyed before access can be gained to another one. Clear the whole grid and battle with Mukor ensues.\r\n\r\nThe craft you control can be transformed into any of three ships: Speeder, fast but vulnerable: Fighter, heaviest firepower: Warrior, heaviest armour but with slow firing and movement. Movement is achieved by spinning left or right and applying thrust. The basic weapon is a forward firing gun. The ship can be transformed at any time, and the Warrior and Speeder can be docked in two-player mode to provide a ship with greater protection and power. One player controls the movement, the other blasts away as the gun turret.\r\n\r\nAs well as quarry-loads of rocks to blast, including red ones that release energy crystals and blue \"popcorn\" ones that take several hits to make them stop, there are other surprises like eggs that release leeches, seekers that home in and ships that shoot at you.\r\n\r\nWhen an alien ship is destroyed it sometimes leaves a bonus capsule giving special powers: shields, double shots, stronger shots, extra fuel capacity, increased thrust, invisibility, a magnet to attract energy crystals, and a Ripstar capability that spins the ship around, loosing off volleys of bullets in all directions.\r\n\r\nMukor is a big blob with tentacles, each one of which needs multiple shots to destroy it. If he is destroyed another galaxy can be entered. Blasteroids is a very entertaining game with lots of interesting features but in the long run the sectors and galaxies are all very similar and the gameplay becomes unexciting: even when there are two players blasting away.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Bob Wade\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nAtari ST, £19.99dk, Imminent\r\nAmiga, £24.99dk, Out Now\r\nSpec 128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent\r\nAmstrad, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Imminent\r\nC64/128, £9.99cs, £12.99dk, Imminent\r\nIBM PC, No version planned\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 80/100\r\n1 hour: 85/100\r\n1 day: 75/100\r\n1 week: 60/100\r\n1 month: 25/100\r\n1 year: 10/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Peaks after a day, when you have mastered Mukor, and drops off fast at the month mark because of repetitive action. Slowness means a lower interest level for the Spectrum.","Page":"56","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Bob Wade","Score":"693","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Amiga - The blue \"popcorn\" asteroids get bigger every time they are shot, until enough hits are made to stop them."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMIGA VERSION\r\n\r\nLooks and sounds OK but isn't that impressive for the Amiga. The levels are also a bit too easy.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nAudio: 5/10\r\nIQ Factor: 2/10\r\nFun Factor: 8/10\r\nAce Rating: 746/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 90/100\r\n1 hour: 100/100\r\n1 day: 85/100\r\n1 week: 70/100\r\n1 month: 25/100\r\n1 year: 10/100"},{"Text":"ARCADE ACCURACY\r\n\r\nOnly minor changes have been made, and they are far from being significant ones.\r\n\r\nCoin-op Score: 8"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nGraphics are good considering the machine's limitations. Unfortunately the action is slow, but this does not affect the gameplay much."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"693/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 89, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.2","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-16","Editor":"Eugene Lacey","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Eugene Lacey\r\nDeputy Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nStaff Writer: Paul Glancey\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Garry Williams\r\nSales Executive: Johanna Cook\r\nCopy Control: Lora Clark\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries to: EMAP Frontline, [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\n102,401"},"MainText":"SUPPLIER: Image Works\r\nPRICE: Spec/Ams/C64/MSX £9.99 cass, C64 £12.99 disk, Spec/Ams/MSX £14.99 disk, ST/Amiga £19.99\r\n\r\nBlasteroid's roots go all the way back to 1979 to a video game called, surprisingly enough, Asteroids. It was actually quite innovative for the time, taking the left/right/thrust/fire/hyperspace controls of the earlier vector graphic game Space Wars and putting the player in the middle of an asteroid storm. The objective was simple: blast the rocks and occasional space ship (known affectionately as \"eggies\" because of their shape) and survive.\r\n\r\nThe 1988 version (the machine appear last year) follows a similar concept, but adds nearly a decade's worth of new technology to breathe new life into the aging format.\r\n\r\nOne of the major changes is the addition of a one or two-player option, allowing a team of prospective rock wreckers to battle together. The rocks in question are colourful bits of debris that break down under fire twice, each part getting smaller until it's tiny enough to vaporise.\r\n\r\nDestroying rocks is the key issue, because if one strikes the ship its shield, represented at the top of the screen by a diminishing bar, shrinks towards a fatal zero. The player(s) start with three credits, effectively giving three lives.\r\n\r\nThe ships are the apex in space boulder demolition hardware and are capable of transforming into three different sizes. Small ships are very maneovrable, but suffer from low shield and firepower. Medium ships have heavy firepower, but medium speed and shields, while large ships are slow and have medium firepower, but are well-shielded.\r\n\r\nIn two-player mode the two ships can join together - one player controls the large and maneovrable main ship while the other takes control of a gun turret at the top. It's an unusual feature, and one which I found very enjoyable (as well as argument-inducing if you've got an idiot in control of the main ship!)\r\n\r\nAt the start of a game one of four difficulty levels is chosen: normal, medium, hard or expert. Bonus points are given if the player elects to start on a higher level. The action then begins with the ships being placed in the first asteroid storm, and the blasting starts.\r\n\r\nThere are several different kinds of rocks. Grey ones simply vaporise when shot, while red ones drop glowing energy crystals which are picked up to replenish shield levels. Later on blue popcorn asteroids appear and drift around the screen until they're shot four times, whereupon the stop and form an unmovable obstacle. The final asteroid type is a geodesic, which homes in on the ship when shot, forcing the player to take evasive action and blast it again and destroy it before it hits home.\r\n\r\nWhen a screen is cleared of rocks, an exit portal appears, which the ships fly into to take them to the main menu where another screen is selected.\r\n\r\nAs the players progress further into the game, alien space ships enter the fray and attempt to shoot down the ships, or simply crash into them and damage their shields. Fortunately they can be shot, and sometimes a power-up item is dropped, which can be collected to add an extra feature to the ship. Such goodies include extra shield energy capacity extra shield energy capacity, double shot power, magnets (which attract energy crystals), shields (which give the ship extra protection), extra hit power, speed-up, ripstar (a sort of smart bomb) and cloak.\r\n\r\nOccasionally space leeches are discovered. These horrors reside in eggs and are released when the shell is shot, whereupon they head directly for the ship and attempt to attach themselves to the outer hull and suck its shield energy dry. Naturally, the onus is on blasting them before they get close.\r\n\r\nWhen 16 screens are cleared, Mucor appears. He's a giant green alien who marauds around the screen, shooting out tiny aliens from his nodules and trying his utmost to bash the ships, which diminishes shields considerably. The only way to destroy him is by blasting his nodules, which requires repeated and accurate fire. When he's destroyed it's off to a tougher set of asteroid fields populated by an even more aggressive group of aliens.\r\n\r\nBeing a great fan of the coin-op. I've been eagerly awaiting this for some time, and I'm glad to say the wait has been worth it. The ST version is brilliant, and fully captures the spirit and frantic action of the original machine. All the features of the coin-op have been incorporated, and I mean ALL of them, and the game plays in exactly the same way, so arcade players can use all of their favourite tactics.\r\n\r\nThe only disappointments are the gaudy backdrops (the sprites are excellent, though) and the mediocre sound. But I suppose you can't have everything. Still, the gameplay is adrenalin pumping, and Blasteroids is easily the best ST shoot 'em up to date.\r\n\r\nSpectrum owners are also in for treat. That too has all the features of the original, and even if the gameplay is a little on the slow side, it's still very playable, especially in two-player mode.\r\n\r\nBlasteroids is superb on both the ST and Spectrum - hopefully future Image Works arcade conversions will be of similar high quality.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"16,17,19,20","Denied":false,"Award":"C+VG Hit","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Julian Rignall","Score":"87","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Action-packed."},{"Text":"Fat ship."},{"Text":"Geodesic asteroids are in evidence."},{"Text":"Hello again! I'm a Spectrumj Mucor."},{"Text":"Hello! I'm Mucor the bogeyman."},{"Text":"Spectrum select screen."},{"Text":"The action hots up."},{"Text":"Two players joined together."},{"Text":"Whizz into the exit portal."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"ST SCORES\r\n\r\nGraphics: 81%\r\nSound: 53%\r\nValue: 82%\r\nPlayability: 93%\r\nOverall: 90%"},{"Text":"UPDATE...\r\n\r\nThe Amiga version has been written from scratch and looks and sounds identical to the coin-op, as well as being as playable as the ST incarnation. It's definitely one to look out for.\r\n\r\nC64 and Amstrad owners should be able to buy Blasteroids shortly, and judging by the quality of the two reviewed here, they should be excellent - try them out."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"82%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"87%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 17, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-23","Editor":"Jon Rose","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL AND HEAD OFFICE\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jon Rose\r\nFeatures Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Robin Hogg, Warren Lapworth, Robin Candy\r\nEditorial Assistants: Vivien Vickress, Caroline Blake\r\nResearcher: David Peters\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Mel Croucher, Don Hughes, Marshal M Rosenthal, Jason Sheldon, John Woods\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Yvonne Priest, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Robert Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENTS\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nGroup Advertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Lee Watkins\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow and on our Apple Macintosh II running Quark Xpress 2.0. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of TGM. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Viv Vickress a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into TGM - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Colour photographic material should be 35mm transparencies wherever possible. The views expressed in TGM are not necessarily those of the Editor. Other Newsfield publications are CRASH (Spectrum), ZZAP! (Commodore 64/Amiga), FEAR (fantasy and horror) and MOVIE - THE VIDEO MAGAZINE. Now that's quite interesting, but why are you reading all this when there 111 pages to go?\r\n\r\n©TGM Magazines Ltd, 1989\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\nAmiga: £24.99\r\nAtari ST: £19.99\r\n\r\nIS THE ASTEROIDS IDEA JUST TOO OLD?\r\n\r\nAtari have been looking to their past successes for new coin-ops, and Blasteroids continues the pattern. As in Galaga '88 the gameplay might be crusty but you can't beat a bit of nostalgia.\r\n\r\nBlasteroids has as mundane a plot as Asteroids. The green multi-tentacled alien Mukor won't come out to play until you've cleared each sector in a galaxy full of asteroids. Yes, this is where the Asteroids gameplay comes in as one or two spaceships take part in the mass slaughter of innocent hunks of rock. But these are no ordinary spaceships, they can transform at any time into any of three types of asteroid-killing ship each with its own strengths and weaknesses.\r\n\r\nNo revamp of a good old fashioned shoot-'em-up would be worth its salt without those obligatory little extras. Blasteroids is no different as certain asteroids reveal ship equipment, weapons and energy crystals when blown to kingdom come. The equipment to bolt onto your ship includes speed boosters, extra firepower, a larger fuel capacity and the Ripstar, a gem of a weapon causing your ship to spin wildly launching bullets all over the place.\r\n\r\nFor two players willing to cooperate, the two ships can be combined with one player steering the combination craft, the other unleashing the death and destruction.\r\n\r\nOn the enemy front it's not just dumb spinning asteroids. There are five classes of rock spinning through space including homing rocks, rocks with wriggly, energy-draining space leeches inside and patrolling spaceships.\r\n\r\nEradicate all space junk from a sector and its off to the map screen to warp to the next. Once defeated Mukor retreats but soon reappears in the next of the several galaxies per level.\r\n\r\nGood as this conversion might be it is still based on a very dull original idea. The gameplay is all there (if a little easier than the first time round) and the two player option is great fun to use. Together with four skill levels to provide constant variation and ever-tricky inertia to master it isn't Asteroids but (and it's a big but) it's an unsophisticated and ultimately limited game.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Emulating digitised graphics can be a problem on the Spectrum and Blasteroids tries bravely, succeeding in part with the asteroids themselves but failing with the confused and overly dull backdrops. The professional presentation is degraded slightly by attribute clash but in play there's little to distinguish between Spectrum and 16-bit versions.","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"It's not just dumb asteroids - there are five classes of space rock to blast to smithereens."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"Good as this conversion might be it is still based on a very dull original idea\""},{"Text":"AMIGA\r\n\r\nOverall: 71%\r\n\r\nDigitised pictures are always attractive but even with backdrops faithful to the arcade machine Blasteroids is not a game to push forward the boundaries of software. With a slight loss of high definition comes lack of ship detail although the overall effect is of a very slick game. The music and effects are generally below average - faithful yes, but also annoyingly repetitive."},{"Text":"ATARI ST\r\n\r\nOverall: 70%\r\n\r\nThe limitation of 16 colours on screen lead to some odd looking backdrops but the asteroids, spaceships and collectible items are close to the arcade. Other than this and the weak sound effects Blasteroids on the ST toes the line in being a direct clone of the Amiga version."},{"Text":"OTHER FORMATS\r\n\r\nAmstrad and MSX versions are expected in the near future (both £9.99 on cassette and £14.99 diskette) along with a Commodore 64/128 version (cassette £9.99 and £12.99 diskette)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"61%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]