[{"TitleName":"Bonkers","Publisher":"Procom Software","Author":"David Jones, Ray Owen","YearOfRelease":"1983","ZxDbId":"0000632","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 1, Feb 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-01-19","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: Procom\r\nMemory Required: 16K\r\nRecommended Retail Price: £5.50\r\nLanguage: machine code\r\nAuthor: David Jones\r\n\r\nBonkers has a cheerful inlay card and an even more cheerful title page, cheerfully disguising the fact that this game is a wolf in sheep's clothing. There is an element of the jumping platform game to it - in this case it's all downhill.\r\n\r\nYou're told that a group of earthlings have been trapped in the upper regions of an alien space station. They must reach five airlocks at the bottom to escape, but the horrible aliens are holding a creepy creatures convention (CCC for short) and they all join into make life difficult. The CCC cast list includes Double gangers, a Pacdroid, Squidge-droid, Stomper, Baby-droid, deadly space ship (in a space station?) and two other mystery guests.\r\n\r\nYour trapped earthlings all appear at the top of the screen in the scoring area, each one coming down via the side of the screen when the previous one has been done in. There are five platform levels, the lowest containing the five airlocks. The corridor is defined by dark blue, the thick floor by pale blue. In each floor vertical shafts move left to right and vice versa. Your man doesn't fall through the shafts, but must attempt to leap down through them. When he reaches the bottom he can jump down into a free airlock. One serious problem is that the CCC moves not only along the corridors but also through the thickness of the floors - you can get caught in the lift!\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nKeyboard positions: cursor keys or E, S, D, X\r\nJoystick options: Kempston, Fuller and via the cursors, AGF and Protek\r\nKeyboard play: highly responsive and very fast movement\r\nUse of colour: average\r\nGraphics: very good\r\nSound: good\r\nSkill levels: increasing difficulty by the screen\r\nLives: \r\nScreens: over 10","ReviewerComments":["Bonkers is an immediately engaging game to play because all the characters are animated. Your trapped men stand at the top, waiting their turn and literally shaking in their boots, if you make an earthling run along a corridor and stop, he automatically turns round after a second and faces you, waiting for the next command. It's also good to have as many control options as are provided, two keyboard positions and two joysticks, although I didn't think the combination of E, S, D & X was all that sensible.\r\nUnknown","Excellent game presentation and instructions get you well started. The game sounds easy when you read them - well, I'll tell you it isn't! At screen one there is one alien trying to get you, but for every screen you clear one more alien joins in, so by screen 10 there are ten creepies after you. All I can say is that Procom have got a winner - very active, very enjoyable, playable and excellent value. Bonkers shows that a simple idea may be better than a complicated one.\r\nUnknown","I always liked Imagine's Jumping Jack, a wonderfully maddening game, and Bonkers is very similar in feeling. The animation is much more evident in Bonkers though. The idea is simple and relies on the piling up of odds against you the better - or luckier you are. They've also avoided the dreadful Death March music and contented themselves with an angel flapping up away from your dead earthling until it vanishes off the top of the screen. This is a really good arcade game.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Very good.","Page":"102","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Stuck in the corridors of BONKERS."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"74%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"77%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"84%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"77.5%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"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: Procom, 16K,\r\n£5.50 (1)\r\nAuthor: David James\r\n\r\nA bunch of five earthlings are trapped on a space station by loads of aliens. You must get them safely down through the floors to five airlocks at the bottom. At first you have only one monster to contend with, but as you go along, more and more appear. Each floor has a moving 'lift' through which you descend. The animation and detail are very good and the game gets extremely difficult. Our reviewers thought this was a winner. Cursor keys or E,S,D,X (which is a silly arrangement). Joystick Kempston, Fuller, AGF & Protek. 5 lives, well over 10 screens, good sound. CRASH rating: 78% M/C","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"78%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 3, Apr 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-03-16","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: Procom, 16K,\r\n£5.50 (1)\r\nAuthor: David James\r\n\r\nA bunch of five earthlings are trapped on a space station by loads of aliens. You must get them safely down through the floors to five airlocks at the bottom. At first you have only one monster to contend with, but as you go along, more and more appear. Each floor has a moving 'lift' through which you descend. The animation and detail are very good and the game gets extremely difficult. Our reviewers thought this was a winner. Cursor keys or E,S,D,X (which is a silly arrangement). Joystick Kempston, Fuller, AGF & Protek. 5 lives, well over 10 screens, good sound. CRASH rating: 78% M/C","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"70","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"78%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Personal Computer Games Issue 6, May 1984","Price":"£0.75","ReleaseDate":"1984-04-19","Editor":"Chris Anderson","TotalPages":168,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Editor: Roderick George\r\nArt Editor: Ian Findlay\r\nTechnical Editor: Stuart Cooke\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Cooke, Peter Connor\r\nEditorial Assistant: Samantha Hemens\r\nSoftware Consultant: Tony Takoushi\r\nCartoons: Kipper Williams\r\nProgram Control Guardians: Jeff Riddle\r\nScreenshots: Chris Bell\r\nCover Illustration: Pat Weedon\r\nGroup Editor: Cyndy Miles\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nGroup Publisher: John Cade\r\nPublisher: Mark Eisen\r\nAssistant Publishing Manager: Sue Clements\r\nPublishing Secretary: Jenny Dunne\r\nAdvertising Manager: Herbert Wright\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Jan Martin\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Mike Caroll\r\nAdvertisement Production: Simon Carter\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Coraline Turner\r\nSales Executives: Joey Davies, Marion O'Neill\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications, [redacted]. Typesetting by Spectrum Typesetting, [redacted] Origination by Fourmost Colour [redacted]. Printed and bound by Chase Web Offset [redacted]. © VNU Business Publications 1984."},"MainText":"MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K\r\nJOYSTICK: Optional\r\nSUPPLIER: Procom\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\n\r\nFive humans have been trapped in an alien space station and you must guide them one at a time to reach the air-locks so that they can escape.\r\n\r\nThat's the scenario. What actually happens is that you move a little stick-man from the top to the bottom of the screen by dropping him through a series of sideways-moving boxes. Then you do the same again four more times.\r\n\r\nYou are of course being chased by a number of randomly-moving monsters: one to start with, and an extra one for each stage you get through.\r\n\r\nIf you can get all five of your humans down you get a 1000-point bonus which is fun, and every few stages you are kindly awarded a bonus man.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are fast, but unconvincing. The game is enjoyable for a bit, but there's not enough strategy to make it a sufficiently interesting long-term proposition.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"69","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Anderson","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Originality","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Lasting Interest","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]