[{"TitleName":"Rainbow Islands","Publisher":"Ocean Software Ltd","Author":"David O'Connor, John Cumming, Bob Wakelin","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0000724","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 75, Apr 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-03-22","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 Roberts\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nProduction Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nReprographics: Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Rob (the Rev) Hamilton, Jenny Reddard\r\nDesign: David Western, Melvin Fisher\r\nSystems Operator: Ian Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Caroline Blake, Christian Testa\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nSubscriptions\r\n[redacted].\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 Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - 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 [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. 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":"Ocean/Graftgold\r\n£9.99 cass, £14.99 disk\r\n\r\nThe prequel to Rainbow Islands is an all time favourite: Bubble Bobble. Now, after a loooong wait, the sequel is here. After defeating the despicable Baron Von Blubba and returning themselves to human form, dynamic Bub and Bob decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and go to the Rainbow Islands. But life is not happy and carefree (is it ever), because he's back (cue spooky organ music!) Baron von Blubba is out for revenge.\r\n\r\nHe starts by kidnapping the inhabitants of the islands. Of course Bub and Bob aren't going to stand for hat: they once again go to war with the fat, slimy one. In Bubble Bobble you used bubbles to knock the baddies for six, now you travel across the seven islands spitting rainbows at attackers. You start on Insect Island and your task is simple, travel from the bottom of the screen to the top. But on the way up you're attacked by all manner of Bubba's minions, flies, ladybirds, crows and beetles. Apart from knocking them out with your rainbows, bonus points can be yours for picking up the variety of fruit, flowers, gems etc. along the way. Extra goodies such as double and triple rainbows, extra lives and extra speed can also be found, but ours is not to tell you how. And a word of warning, take too long in climbing from A to B, and a little incentive will be added to hurry you along. After four levels you face the island fattie: vanquish him and move on to the next island to carry on the good work.\r\n\r\nAaagh, I really can't drag myself away from the game to write the review: Rainbow Islands is one of (if not the most) playable platform games I've played recently, all credit to Graftgold. OK, the character sprite is monochromatic, but he doesn't half shift. The backgrounds are the best part of the game though: nicely detailed coloured backdrops abound (with surprisingly little colour clash). Sound is also very, very impressive with a bouncy tune playing throughout. A brilliant sequel to a classic game.\r\n\r\nMARK 95%","ReviewerComments":["All fans of cute little characters, colourful (well almost) rainbows and catchy ditties sit up and pay attention because your ultimate game has arrived. Rainbow Islands is out of this world. Every single sprite in the game is excellently detailed, drawn in cartoon style, and still looks good when it's put on the equally detailed backgrounds. Colour oozes out of every corner of the game, and you never notice any clash at all. Each island is made up of four levels, each one boasting its own challenges and enemies. Some of the later islands will blow your mind - you begin to wonder whether this is actually the Spectrum version! All this plus the adorable tune 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' in the background makes the ultimate arcade conversion. There's only one thing that lets it down a bit: the tune slows down when the screen fills up with nasties, but you have to expect that. Rainbow Islands is terrific, you just have to see this for yourself!\r\nNick Roberts\r\n93%"],"OverallSummary":"A classic game has inspired a rainbow-brilliant sequel to savour and thrill to!","Page":"44,45","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"95","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 98, Apr 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-03-19","Editor":"Lucy Hickman","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Coming to you live from CRASH Towers are:\r\n\r\nEditor: Lucy 'G & T' Hickman\r\nDeputy Editor: Nick 'Totally Teed' Roberts\r\nProduction Editor: Warren 'I'm free?'' Lapworth\r\nStaff Writer: Mark 'Deja Vu' Caswell, Ian 'Obituary' Osborne\r\nArt & Design: Charlie 'Chipper' Chubb, Mark 'Five Times' Kendrick\r\nSystems Manager: Ian 'Insomniac' Chubb\r\nScreenshots: Michael 'Parky' Parkinson\r\nPublisher: Roger 'Moore' Kean\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Sheila 'Sip-Riot' Jarvis\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: George 'See Ya' Keenan\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jo 'Gi's A Break' Lewis\r\nProduction: Jackie 'Johannesburg' Morris\r\nReprographics: Rob 'Exiled' Millichamp\r\nManaging Director: Jonathan 'Radical' Rignall\r\nCirculation Manager: David 'Sinister' Wren\r\nAccounts: Santosh 'Tart' Thomas, Sheila 'Boolde' Adams\r\nSubscriptions: David 'Single' Bingle\r\n\r\nProduced using Apple Macintosh II computers, running Quark Xpress and Adobe Illustrator 3.0. Printing BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd. Distribution 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 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 write to us at the address below). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either EUROPRESS IMPACT 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, hardware or software - 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. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated by the printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nEuropress Impact Ltd, CRASH [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover design: Oliver 'A' Frey. Powertape inlay: Mark Kendrick."},"MainText":"Hit Squad\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\n\r\nIt's back!! The game voted the absolute BEST ever in the CRASH Top 100 classics - and we all know how many there've been over the years.\r\n\r\nRainbow Islands pipped other rip-roaring games to the Number One spot on the grounds Lucy likes rainbows. But don't let this dampen your ardour (madam) - it's an absolute corker, and now it's a mega-bargain too!\r\n\r\nYou help Bub and Bob, the heroes of Bubble Bobble, who get more than they bargained for during their holiday to the Rainbow Islands. Some wicked old &%(@$ known as Baron Von Stubbs has nabbed all the natives from these beautiful isles. So Bob and Sub get stuck in, battling through seven isles, each with its own theme.\r\n\r\nStarting on Insect Island, where you're attacked by all sorts of creepy-crawlies, there's Monster Island, Toy Island, Robot Island and many more. All contain oodles of platform action levels and with loadsa surprise bits and end of level biddies.\r\n\r\nYou leap around firing little rainbows everywhere, creating a very pretty scene (like cosmic maaaa-n!). Never have you seen such colour moving around so smoothly on your humble Speccy.\r\n\r\nThere's so much going on all the time, positively overwhelming you with psychedelia and cuteness. And it's super fast too, everything zipping around at high blood pressure-inducing speeds yet animated as smoothly s you're likely to see.\r\n\r\nThe sounds are similarly startling. Judy Garland would be proud of the Speccy's rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and they must have got the Wizard of Oz himself into program some of those wicked sound FX on the 128K version.\r\n\r\nIf that isn't enough to make you drool, Rainbow Islands is one of the most original and addictive games ever to grace us with its presence. You've never played anything like it; it's such a cracker you could be hooked to it for indefinite lengths of time.\r\n\r\nThose yet to get themselves completely square-eyed on it are heartily recommended to get stuck in ASAP. And now the Hit Squad are releasing it out for a bargain budget price, only a fool would ignore it (ignore what? - Nicko).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"79","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Alan Green","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 52, Apr 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-03-18","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Kevin Hibbert\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nTechnical Consultant: Jonathan Davies\r\nContributors: Ollie Alderton, Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Amanda Cook, Jo Davies, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Simon Goggin, Sean Kelly, Duncan MacDonald, David McCandless, Paul Morgan, Rich Pelley, Catherine Peters, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions/Mail Order: The Old Barn [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":"Ocean\r\n£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nI'll come clean - cute platformy arcade games are the bee's knees as far as I'm concerned, so don't expect an unbiased review here. They're brilliant, aren't they? Lots of lovely huggable little characters, hundreds of snappy sub levels, billions of jumpy platform-and-laddery bits - you can't go wrong. And the best bit is, they've nearly all got playability coming out of their ears! Even the crap ones. (And Rainbow Islands isn't a crap one, I can assure you of that!)\r\n\r\nBut hang on a minute! Before we go any further, let's step back a few months for a quick look at the Speccy version of another cutie game, Super Wonderboy - not an especially brilliant conversion, saddled as it was with monochrome graphics and a vague floaty feel to the characters (plus a dismal multiload), but still a winner in my book. It couldn't really fail, you see - the original Wonderboy coin-ops were so strong that you could totally muck up the conversion and it'd still come out brilliant.\r\n\r\nOr what about The New Zealand Story, an excellent conversion of a cutie coin-op, just as playable as the original (no floaty characters or anything - at least, none that weren't meant to be!) and blessed with a reasonable multiload to boot. It just had to get a Megagame, didn't it? Let's flick back through the issues - ah, here we are. Yep, it got a well-deserved 93 degrees - but how much more would it have been worth if it'd been in colour (NZ Story was in fetching yellow monochrome, if you remember)? Well, it'd have to be at least a 94, wouldn't it? And (spook!) guess what I'm going to give Rainbow Islands? Yes, that's right, 94! In other words, it's just as good as The New Zealand Story, but it's in colour! Hurrah!\r\n\r\nSo how does it all work then? (What d'you mean, at last?) Well, basically it's another variation on your Mario Brothers/Wonderboy-type game, with a very cute little character bouncing along, jumping over gaps, shooting and dodging equally cute-but-slightly-more-vicious baddie characters, and collecting oodles of fruit and stuff. But (but! but!) there is a bit of a difference here in that you're working your way up the screen, not along it, and against a very tight time limit too! Y'see, the islands (one island equals one level of the game) are sinking, and that means that if you don't hurry up (which the game constantly reminds you to do) the ever-rising water level will swish up and drown you. It's a nautical nightmare and no mistake! Each island has a theme, and a selection of about six basic creatures populating it - for instance, on insect island they're all insects, on Toy Wand they're all toys (not that hard, is it?). Though the baddies look different on every level, they all behave in more or less the same way. For instance, each level has its own type of flying creature (bees, helicopters, bats etc), walking-back-and-forth sort of creature (caterpillars, trucks etc) and so on. They all have giant end-of-level baddies too (normally a bigger version of one of the baddies from the level), and are divided into handy bite-sized sub-levels, which take a comfortable two minutes or so to play.\r\n\r\nYou yourself area bouncy, jumpy sort of Wonderboy character (unfortunately they've junked the dinosaurs from the original Bubble Bobble, which I find a bit of a shame - though to be honest this is a very different game and hardly a sequel as we normally mean it at all), and you're equipped with a single weapon - rainbows. These come in single, double or triple loop shots (upgraded by collecing potion bottles - one of many pick up-able doobries littered through the game) and perform a multitude of tasks. You can trap a Daddy by dropping a rainbow on top of him, zap one by hitting him with it, and form bridges to run up over to help you reach higher platforms.\r\n\r\nBrilliant they are, and learning how best to use them is a lot of the fun of the game - a lot, but not all of it, because once you've sussed out how to complete each level there's still the challenge of gathering more points while you do it. There are far too many ways to score (oo-er) than it's possible to list here, but the order in which you collect things (like diamonds, which most monsters release if killed in a certain way), the use of magical items and the finding of the secret rooms all count for something (actually there isn't a secret room in the Speccy version - it wouldn't fit - but if you do all the things you'd normally do in the coin-op to find it you'll still get the extra points. Try it and see). Anyway, enough of this detail stuff the game is packed with it, and learning all the different things you can do is part of the fun anyway. Let's take a look at the levels.\r\n\r\nLEVEL ONE INSECT ISLAND\r\n\r\nThis is the first island you come to - it has a nice blue sky background and is populated by hundreds of cartoony bugs (it's the one they illustrate on the advert if you've seen that). Touching any of the bad guys is fatal, but avoiding them can be too because they tend to get more aggressive if ignored - for instance, the ladybirds will just walk around normally, but if you jump past without killing them they get angry and fly up after you.\r\n\r\nOther baddies include caterpillars, crows, spiders and the occasional hive (which spawns more bees - shoot it quickly before any of them escape). At the end of each sub-level you jump onto the top platform and lots of fish-like objects bounce up around you, turning into yummy fruit (\"Hurrah!\" or \"Goal in!\" (?) as the game keeps telling you in best Japlish). The end-of-level monster is a giant spider - not the best giant baddy in the game, it's true, but still very hard to obliterate until you get the hang of things.\r\n\r\nLEVEL TWO COMBAT ISLAND\r\n\r\nThis one is packed with military-type stuff, from helicopters (which behave exactly the same as the bees)and trucks (read: caterpillars) to tanks, cannons and bomb-dropping planes. There's a giant, smiling, bomb-dropping helicopter at the end too.\r\n\r\nLEVEL THREE MONSTER ISLAND\r\n\r\nAll dark and spooky, this is where the bats, skeletons, ghosts and ugly Frankenstein monsters lurk. Again, they behave more or less the same as the previous baddies, but with nice touches of their own - for instance, the bats hang from the bottoms of the platforms, and some turn into lightning tossing vampires as they get closer to you. Yikes! The giant baddy at the end is a bigger vampire, who shoots out bats all over the place.\r\n\r\nLEVEL FOUR TOY ISLAND\r\n\r\nLike a sort of manic toy shop, it's got bouncy balls, teddy bear puppets, water pistols and sproingy boxing glove things which bounce around the screen. The end-of-level giant is a Mr Punch-type doll.\r\n\r\nLEVEL FIVE ARKANOID ISLAND\r\n\r\nUm, didn't actually get this far, but from what we can gather it's sort of based on the famous bat-and-bricks game, with all the baddies (looking more like a set of wobbly shapes than anything else) from Revenge of Doh (the second Arkanoid game) making some sort of appearance. Weird!\r\n\r\nThere are two more levels (Robot Island and Dragon's Island) but apart from the names I don't really know that much about them, I'm afraid - would it be too much to guess that one's full of robots and the other's packed with dragons? Probably not (but write and let me know if I'm wrong!)\r\n\r\nAnd that's it really. Just before we go though, I'd better explain the rather spooky circumstances through which Ocean got to publish this game. Y'see, what happened (roughly) was that when Firebird and Rainbird got bought from British Telecom by MicroProse last year there was a bit of a misunderstanding over whether the rights to Rainbow Islands (bought by BT from coin-op people Taito) went with the sale or not. So even though MicroProse now owned the code to all five versions of the game (put together for Firebird by programmers Graftgold) they didn't have the rights to actually publish and sell it! In the end a sensible arrangement was reached whereby Ocean (who somehow got approval from Taito to publish the game) bought all the actual code from MicroProse, and Bob's your uncle - everybody's happy. Or something. (Just don't ask me to explain again.)\r\n\r\nPhew! just to reiterate then. Rainbow Islands - it's bloomin' brill! Go and buy it, you won't regret it! (Unless, of course, you hate all cutesy Japanese arcade games on sight, in which case you'll loathe it with a vengeance). It's probably the surest thing to being a monster hit since Chase HQ (but then it's a major Ocean release, so you knew that already of course) and, what's more, it deserves to be too! You can't say fairer than that, can you?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"If you hate cute platform games you'll loathe it, but if you like them you'll think it's the best game ever played (or as near as dammit).","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Diamonds are tres important - collect them in the right order and you can get huge rewards for very little effort (in theory, at least). Monsters turn into diamonds if a) they're killed by a magic weapon like stars, or b) you cast a rainbow above a monster's head, and then break it. There's no guarantee it'll be the colour you need to collect next though!"},{"Text":"Eeek! It's the giant end-of-level spider from Insect Island! (Not the most impressive end-of-level baddie in the game, perhaps, but he should give you some idea of the sort of thing to expect.) Killing him involves running to the right, shooting him when he hits the ground, then running to the left (making sure he doesn't touch you) and shooting him again (or something). It's pretty hard."},{"Text":"Glug! Glug! Bluuug! The island is sinking, and I'm still not at the top yet! It's got me - I'm keeling over and dying!"},{"Text":"Here we are, right at the start of the first bit of Level One (Insect Island). As you can see, I'm standing on a rainbow (using it's handy 'ladder' properties) and I've 'captured' a piece of fruit in another one over to the right there. A bit pointless actually, since fruit doesn't actually do anything (except wait there to be collected) but if it'd been an animal it would have been a different story."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"91%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 75, Mar 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1992-02-06","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"LOVE? PAH!\r\n\r\nLove sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better. Ha! Give us a lot of good Knicks/Pisons basketball match any day! So, what's the greatest love of your life?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Honda Custom Motorbike) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (Shergold Meteor Guitar) Ounsted\r\nDeputy Editor: Linda (Green duffle bag) Barker\r\nActing Staff Writer: Jon (SAM) Pillar\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne (My mum) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl (Highland Toffees) Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (George Michael) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (David Cassidy and Roy Ayers) Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michele (Chips 'n' Gravy) Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg (Trot-along) Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Her Greenhouse) Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Peace & Fudge), Future (World Domination) Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Paul (His Kate Bush CDs) Kidby\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC Jan-June 1991 65,444\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair leaps into its scooter and vrooms around the carpark with these mighty organs: Commodore Format (Scuba Diving), Amstrad Action (Draught Bass), Amiga Format (Wadworth 6X), PCW Plus (Insomnia), PC Answers (Well balanced yacht moored in the Aegean), PC Plus (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica album), Sega Power (Eliza Smith-Meddings), Amiga Power (Sherbert Lemons), Amiga Shopper (Sophia Loren aged 23), Classic CD (Worms), Needlecraft (Mary Whitehouse), Mountain Biking UK (Manic MTB down hill rides), PC Format (London Monarchs), Public Domain (Debauchery), ST Format (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Total! (Ladies, and errmm, associated activities with said gender).\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know is... have you ever gone to the loo and discovered too late that there's no paper and no lock on the door?"},"MainText":"RAINBOW ISLANDS\r\nThe Hit Squad\r\n£3.99 cassette\r\nReviewer: Jon Pillar\r\n\r\nCuter than a bag of puppies, this big, tricky platform number scales new heights in hollow-eyed addictiveness. Five islands of jolly villains stand between you and your best beloved, and you've naught but a handful of magic rainbows to see you to the end. Dashing up through the clean and colourful vertical scrolling, ever a step ahead of the rising water, you'll find the major problem is actually bringing yourself to expunge the twee baddies.\r\n\r\nSweetness aside, this is a game that will keep you playing until you beat it. Stop dithering over the damage it will do to your public image and buy it immediately, along with a flashy new phone that you can make a point of leaving off the hook.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"58","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jon Pillar","Score":"91","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Aaaww. Who's a wibble fwuffy cute game then, eh? (Honestly, it's pathetic isn't it?)"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"91%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 98, Apr 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-03-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Jim Douglas\r\nDeputy Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nProduction Editor: Alison Skeat\r\nDesigner: Osmond Browne\r\nAdvertisement Manager: James Owens\r\nSenior Sales: Martha Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistant: Sarah Ewing\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n©1990 Sinclair User, [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher Web Ltd, Peterborough."},"MainText":"Label: Ocean\r\nAuthor: Graftgold\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jim Douglas\r\n\r\nUntil you've actually bought Rainbow Islands and played it, the following review may well seem a bit overenthusiastic.\r\n\r\nBut it really really is the most addictive, playable and thoroughly excellent game I've seen in an absolute age. New Zealand Story was a brave, and largely successful attempt at the genre, but Rainbow Islands blows it away. For a start, the game is absolutely packed with fast moving colour graphics, bonus icons and strange bad guys.\r\n\r\nThe days of the Rainbow Islands are numbered. Their colourfulness simply makes them too heavy and they're sinking into the sea. You've got to work your way to the very top of each island before you, well, drown really. Each island is populated with hundreds of peculiar denizens, all deadly to the touch. Using your (initially limited) rainbow-casting ability combined with a spritely jump, you're upward bound...\r\n\r\nYou can make a fair amount of progress up the island simply by jumping from one platform to another. A far more efficient and exciting mode of transport, though is available through the rainbows. No normal illusion produced by sunlight filtering through raindrops these. Oh no. You can walk on these rainbows and even kill the pesky island inhabitants with them.\r\n\r\nShould you pick up some of the special potions scattered around, your rainbow will double in length, offering a much broader kill area and a longer bridge, giving access to more remote areas.\r\n\r\nOnce you've bumped off an alien, it'll turn into a power-up/bonus. Among these are Speedy boots (make you go faster), Smart bombs (kills everything on screen) and Potions (explained earlier). Others are simply score-incrementing pick-ups.\r\n\r\nThe colour graphics are remarkably well handled, and even when the screen is scrolling upwards, the action remains as smooth as silk, attribute problems virtually eradicated.\r\n\r\nIf you're a fan of the runny/jumpy genre, then this is THE game for you. Even if you're not, and would rather have red hot needles thrust into your eyes than play this sort of game, now is your chance to wise up; Rainbow Islands is the most entertaining game released for months.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Truly excellent conversion of an \"unconventional\" coin-op","Page":"70,71","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Classic","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jim Douglas","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Capture the beetles inside your rainbow and then jump on it for super bonuses."},{"Text":"End of Level 1: The big spider is more deadly than he looks. A plethora of rainbows is your only hope."},{"Text":"Even double rainbow power won't help you in a situation like this. Another second and the flying midge attacks!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 121, Mar 1992","Price":"£2.1","ReleaseDate":"1992-02-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSoftware Editor: Big Al 'Bagels' Dykes\r\nGirlie Tipster: Hannah Smith\r\nAdditional Design: Jane Davies \r\nSU Crew: John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Phillip Fisch, Graham Mason, Matthew Denton\r\nAd Manager: Tina Zanelli\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nMarketing Man.: Mark Swallow\r\nMarketing Women: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1992 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Proprint\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher\r\n\r\nNo part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or used to wrap your chips without the consent of the Publisher (if you offer him a chip he'll think about it though). And on behalf of the SU Crew we'd just like to say that it's great to be back on Earth Even with wars, famine, disease and misery it's a better place than some of the deepspace cruisers that we've been playing on for the last two months."},"MainText":"Label: Hit Squad\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Paul Berry\r\n\r\nAt the end of the rainbow there's no pot of gold, but there is a whole new world where a piece of animated bubblegum awaits your presence for never-ending fun.\r\n\r\nRainbow Islands takes place in a wacky, colourful world where our hero must conquer seven danger-fraught islands. Each islands has three levels , all of which are tricky to complete but can be overcome by rainbow zapping all the nasty island creatures in your way. Get to the top of each level before the world floods and you you drown.\r\n\r\nAt the end of each island you must defeat a guardian spider, which, believe me, is difficult. And defeating the spider is the only way to get to the next island!\r\n\r\nStarting off with three credits in the bank, the game can last ages with high scores increasing the amount of credits available, thus improving playability and lastability; a very catchy theme tune will have you singing along like a choirboy while the cartoon-like graphics present a nice, detailed picture though the main sprite isn't too impressive.\r\n\r\nRainbow Islands is a very addictive game which will keep you coming back to more. I would highly recommend this game, it's one of my favourites.","ReviewerComments":["Rainbow Islands is one most excellent game and has some of the best music ever on the Speccy. Tie this up with the excellent full colour graphics and you'll see why it did so well on the Rainbow Collection. If you haven't got it - get it!\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"Rainbow Islands. It sounds good, it looks good, and you can certainly play it. This is what a game should be like. You won't be disappointed.","Page":"58","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Best Budget","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Paul Berry","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Going where no man has gone before... wait this isn't Star Trek!"},{"Text":"Over the rainbow there's a star in the sky."},{"Text":"Rainbow Islands, a happy place, except for the bees that is! Ohh!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"85%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"93%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 101, Apr 1990","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1990-03-16","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 and friends on one heack of a big printer\r\nDistributed By: EMAP Frontline\r\nMegadrive Software courtesy of SpectreSoft, [redacted]\r\n\r\n©C+VG 1990\r\nISSN No: 0261-3697"},"MainText":"Ocean\r\nSpectrum, C64 £9.99, Amiga £24.99\r\n\r\nAfter all the legal battles and general confusion as to exactly who was to convert this sequel to Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands has finally fallen into the hands of Ocean, who are now definitely releasing it.\r\n\r\nBaron von Blubba has kidnapped all the inhabitants of the seven islands and has replaced them with his own henchmen. As Bub, hero of Bubble Bobble and now in human form, your task is to reach the top of each of the islands before they sink into the ocean, and finally reach the last island and rescue the hostages. As well as the usual directional and jump controls, Bub also has the use of a magic rainbow which he can use as either a bridge to climb across to firmer footing, or as a weapon with which to trap and crush the nasties.\r\n\r\nRainbow Islands is a fantastic a game (in fact, looking back we think we underrated it on the ST) and these new versions are simply staggering Rainbow Islands is going to be THE game of 1990 - and if it isn't, we'll gladly eat our words!!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Highly colourful, devoid of attribute problems and easily as playable as the others, Spectrum owners will have to go a long way to find a better coin-op conversion than Rainbow Islands.","Page":"68","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMIGA SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 96%\r\n\r\nPractically arcade perfect, Amiga Rainbow Islands is an outstanding platform game which you'd be an absolute twerp to miss out on."},{"Text":"C64 SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 96%\r\n\r\nThis conversion is awesome, containing all the best bits of the coin-op and some startling graphics and sound to boot!"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"95%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]