[{"TitleName":"Blinkys Scary School","Publisher":"Zeppelin Games Ltd","Author":"Colin Bestford, Jimmy Parr, K.A., Tink","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0000568","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 79, Aug 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-07-19","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nFeatures Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nStaff Writer: Mark Caswell\r\nEditorial Assistant: Viv Vickress\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nContributors: Nick (Pie Scan!) Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nProduction Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nArt Director: Mark (Sparkie!) Kendrick\r\nReprographics: Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Rob (the Rev) Hamilton, Jenny Reddard\r\nDesign: David Western, Melvin Fisher\r\nSystems Manager: Ian (\"E\") Chubb\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Production Assistants: Jackie Morris, Joanne Lewis\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nUK Subscriptions and Back Issues enquiries Robert Edwards [redacted]. Yearly Subscription Rates UK £15.40 Europe £22 Air Mail Overseas £35.\r\nUS/Canada subscriptions and Back Issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly Subscriptions Rates US$47 Canada CAN$57 Back Issues US$5.20 Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nDesigned and typeset on Apple Macintosh II computers using Quark Express and Adobe Illustrator '88, output at MBI [redacted] with systems support from Digital Reprographics [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution 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 Viv Vickress a line at the main 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. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photo 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 CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"BLINKY'S SCARY SCHOOL\r\nZeppelin Games\r\n£2.99\r\n\r\nWoooo! I bet that scared you? Yeh, another cute cartoon adventure. I'm a real sucker for these, you know. Blinky's Scary School is fab. You play the part of Blinky, a little ghost with big boots on and star pupil of the Scary School! Your job is to rid the castle of all the ghost proof defences set up by that rascal of a ghostbuster, Red Laird McTavish. To do this, various objects must be collected and dropped into the cauldron to cast the magic spells.\r\n\r\nThe screens are packed full of colourful, well drawn and animated graphics that you just can't help but love.. Every new one you discover is a bonus, with spiders, clockwork mice and snails that look like they wouldn't hurt a fly... but they do! As well as the amazing amount of colour there's also some pretty good sound effects and a jolly ditty on the title screen.\r\n\r\nThe only thing wrong with Blinky is the way he moves about. Whenever he reaches the end of aplatform he does a little jump off the edge. If you're not careful you can lose control of him altogether and fall into a spiky pit or something equally as nasty. Zeppelin have taken great care in making sure Blinky's Scary School is a real joy to play. I just can't pull myself away from the game, it's that addictive.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"48,49","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","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":"BLINKY'S SCARY SCHOOL\r\nZeppelin Games\r\n£2.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nIf there's ever been a stupid reason for buying a game then I'm looking at him right now. It's Blinky, y'see. He's just the cutsiest ghost in the whole world! You just have to see the way he waddles about all over the place. Ooooh! He's so brill! And if that wasn't reason enough to buy Scary School then I may as well mention that it's pretty super-spiffy too. Well, perhaps not that super-spiffy. Just spiffy.\r\n\r\nYou play the part of Blinky (of course), Blinky's got to float (or whatever ghosts do) around a castle, find Hamish McTavish, wake him up and haunt him all night, and all because Red Laird McTavish, the scamp, cleared the castle of ghosts a hundred years ago (or something). What's more Blinky has to complete his task in the one evening or he'll be sent back to school for a hundred years, Aaaargh! What a nightmare!\r\n\r\nNot that this has got much to do with the game of course. All we've got here is just another platform-and-ladders jobby, splashed with colour and cutsie baddies, it does look very budgety, but then we are down in the basement after all, so why bother looking too closely? Nope, a tidy little number methinks. (And, boy, is he cute!!)","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"76,77","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"78","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Blinky - he's rad, he's bad and he's as cute as, erm, a very cute thing!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"78%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 101, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Jim Douglas\r\nDeputy Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesigner: \"Osmond\" Browne\r\nAdvertisement Manager: James Owens\r\nSales Executive: Alan Dykes\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Executive: Sarah Ewing\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\n©1990 EMAP Images, [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by J'n'G Type\r\nColour work by Pro Print.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher Web Ltd, Peterborough.\r\nDistributed by BBC Frontline."},"MainText":"Label: Zeppelin\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nMind the blood pressure! They should have games like Blinky's in high level executive stress management courses. If you can keep a civil tongue in your head for more than a few seconds of Blinky activity, you're obviously Trappist monk.\r\n\r\nApprentice ghost Blinky must earn his spectre stripes by succeeding in his first mission; to spook Hamish McTavish - arch ghostbuster - out of his castle. Bit of a tough assignment for a novice spook, and should he fail, it's back to scarey school for another century.\r\n\r\nB.S.S. is essentially another runny-jumpy object collecting game. The only features which set it apart from a million others are Blinky's surprising cuteness and the frustration factor. Blinky half glides, half waddles along looking very appealing. Unfortunately the slightly exaggerated inertia effect causes Blinky to skid off countless tiny platforms and plummet into the umpteen chasms of filled with sharp spikes.\r\n\r\nFar from being a lonely old castle, it's positively bustling with activity. Deadly spiders bounce up and down. Deadly flying things swoop around the castle battlements. Deadly snails (?) protect useful objects.\r\n\r\nSo far as I could gather, there's nothing you can do about these lurking fiends. Since virtually all of them cover an area precisely the length of Blinky's optimum jump, you inevitably lose a degree of energy every time you pass them.\r\n\r\nThe preamble to the main mission is the collection of the necessary ingredients with which to make a flying spell. Once you can fly, the remaining parts of the castle are open for investigation and exploration. Frankly, by the time I'd battled through the aforementioned Deadly Things, my energy was so low that I only had the briefest chance to explore.\r\n\r\nDespite some excellent graphics and some slick coding, I'm afraid it's simply too difficult. Nothing to do with intricate puzzles, but the ferocity of the creatures you encounter and Blinky's inability to stand still when you want him to. Pity.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Technically okay but too annoying for me, I'm afraid.","Page":"32","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"59","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Blink in a loo-roll hilarity. Watch those slippery steps on the way down, B."},{"Text":"Shut your eyes and think of England. Energy depletion ahoy!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"67%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"59%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"59%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 104, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-16","Editor":"Julian Rignall","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Glancey\r\nStaff Writer: Paul Rand\r\nAdvertising Manager: Nigel Taylor\r\nDep Ad Manager: Joanna Cooke\r\nSales Executive: Tina Zanelli\r\nProduction Assistant: Glenys \"Teddy\" Powell\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries to: EMAP Frontline, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted By: Kingfisher Web, [redacted]\r\nColour By: Proprint, [redacted]\r\nTypeset By: Jaz 'n' Paz in a shoebox\r\nDistributed By: EMAP BBC Frontline\r\n\r\n©C+VG 1990\r\nISSN No: 0261-3697"},"MainText":"Zeppelin\r\nSpectrum/C64 £2.99\r\n\r\nIt's been a whole century since Red Laird McTavish kicked all the ghosts out of Drumtrochie Castle, but now it's time for the spooks to strike back. Slinky, ace pupil at the school for spectres, has been sent on a mission to scare the pants off the castle's owner, Hamish McTavish. To do that he has to wander through the halls, leap around platforms and pick up magic bits to dump in a cauldron. In most respects Blinky's is like so many other budget arcade adventures, but it has really jolly graphics and the gameplay shows a few sparks of ingenuity, and these give it the edge over most games of this ilk. Recommended.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Controls are a little difficult to get used to, but apart from that the Spectrum version of Blinky's plays well and looks great.","Page":"63","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"C64 SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 83%\r\n\r\nThe C64 version looks very swish indeed, and it doesn't have the control problems of the Spectrum version either. Super."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]