[{"TitleName":"Cagara","Publisher":"Players Software","Author":"ROB, Sam Garforth, Ste L. Cork","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0000789","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 31, Aug 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-07-31","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishers: Roger Kean, Oliver Frey, Franco Frey\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nStaff Writers: Tony Flanagan, Lloyd Mangram, Hannah Smith\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nContributing Writers: Jon Bates, Brendon Kavanagh, Rosetta McLeod, John Minson\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nIllustrators: Ian Craig, Oliver Frey\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton, Cameron Pound, Jonathan Rignall, Matthew Uffindell\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nBookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Players\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: Sam Garforth and Steven Cork\r\n\r\nA naughty Gypsy has cast a wicked spell which means that you can't get back into your castle. To make matters worse, you've been incarcerated in a Crystal Sphere. Only by finding the magic chalice of Cagara can you break the spell and get back home.\r\n\r\nTo accompany you in your quest is your favourite hamster, Eric. Some help, eh? But little Eric packs a powerful punch. Somehow he's managed to grow helicopter blades! This means that when you release him he can put a timely end to the various nestles that are out to stop you finding the chalice.\r\n\r\nMoving out from the castle grounds you enter a world of mazes, caverns, and exotic gardens. Sometimes you have to travel in the dark, with only one section of a maze in view. There are also hidden moms, some of them cul-de-sacs, where you must avoid getting cornered by the grizzly ghouls in pursuit.\r\n\r\nThe monsters come in a variety of forms: animate g les, whirling disks and crystalline spheres. There are also flying arrows and the odd laser beam or two. And don't get too close to the colourful hedgerows as nestles can leap out at any moment.\r\n\r\nFinding out where the chalice is hidden is really a matter of trial-and-error. There are no screen directions, but there are various objects along the way which come in handy. The sword is particularly useful as it can be used to slay monsters: they have to be stabbed in the left ear - apparently their most vulnerable spot!\r\n\r\nWithout the chalice there's no chance of returning home. And don't expect any compliments at the end of the game. It's not nice being called a 'useless worm'!\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: Q up, A down, O left, P right, bottom row to fire\r\nJoystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2\r\nKeyboard play: responsive\r\nUse of colour: nothing special\r\nGraphics: uninspiring\r\nSound: above average\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: PLAYERS didn't know!","ReviewerComments":["Hmmm...! This game, to say the least, is pretty tricky, in fact, I'd say that It's almost impossible. The graphics are uninteresting, the characters are very primitive and the backgrounds are unveiled. The sound is pretty much run-of-the-mill stuff, although there are a couple of fair to average tunes on the title screen and a few spot effects during the game. Generally, there is nothing here that I haven't seen before. Another less than wonderful game from purees I'm afraid.\r\r\nUnknown","I had great difficulty trying to get Cagara to load and once I did, I must admit. I wish I hadn't. The presentation is not all that bad for a budget game, and the sound is nearly decent too. I just found the game much too boring. The keyboard response is very good but the graphics a re very poor compared with most budget stuff - they're small and colourful. Even the most excitable person wouldn't be impressed with this one.\r\r\nUnknown","Cagara is really weird - not in the sense of it being an entertainingly original game, either. The game, even for £2.99, is far too simple, and though it moves at a reasonable pace, gets boring after only a few minutes. I've seen the scenario more than once before as well: recover the chalice and get out? The sound on the title screen is the best bit of it. The graphics are very boring, with only a border around most of the screens, and some very flickery characters. Even for the price, Cagara is one game that I wouldn't think about buying.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A poor game, lacking in originality.","Page":"23","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"The castle gates are closed. There is nothing you can do but leave the castle grounds and find the chalice."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"37%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"44%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"35%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"39%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 53, Aug 1986","Price":"£0.98","ReleaseDate":"1986-07-18","Editor":"David Kelly","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: John Gilbert\r\nSenior Staff Writer: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writers: Clare Edgeley\r\nDesigner: Gareth Jones\r\nEditorial Secretary: Norisah Fenn\r\nAdventure Writers: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nHardware Correspondent: John Lambert\r\nContributors: Jerry Muir, Gary Rook, Tony Kendle, Richard Price, Mike Wright, Brian Cooper\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Louise Fanthorpe\r\nSenior Sales Executive: Rory Doyle\r\nProduction Assistant: Alison Morton\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Linda Everest\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Lee Sullivan\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to Sinclair User please send programs or articles to:\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nOriginal programs should be on cassette and articles should be typed. Please write Program Printout on the envelopes of all cassettes submitted. We cannot undertake to return cassettes unless an SAE is enclosed. We pay £20 for each program printed and £50 for star programs.\r\n\r\nTypeset by Saffron Graphics Ltd, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1986 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nABC 90,215 July-Dec 1985"},"MainText":"CAGARA\r\nLabel: Players\r\nAuthor: Sam Garforth, Steven Cork\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: John Gilbert\r\n\r\nCagara may be big, but it ain't brilliant. Sure, it has three or four different types of screen. The hitch is they are Sabre Wulf and Atic Atac type screens coupled with a massive maze.\r\n\r\nYour on-screen persona is a silver sphere in which you've been trapped by an evil gypsy. You're probably a sphere because the programmers couldn't animate a figure properly. The mission is to find the Chalice of Cagara. You also discover other useful objects to help you on your way such as a cross, a key and a castle.\r\n\r\nOne character-sized blob will speed up your progress while another - which does look something like a castle - will take you from the doorstep of one fortress to another.\r\n\r\nYour ball is accompanied by a rabid, red, hampster called Eric who will attack any marauding monster blobs when dropped.\r\n\r\nMazes are the most difficult areas of the game from which to escape monsters. They travel at nearly twice the speed of your own jerking animated movement and they can float over the walls of the maze.\r\n\r\nOne nice touch is that some mazes are masked so you can only see one move ahead at a time. That way you can't see the monsters until they're upon you which is more interesting and, incidentally, it's the only aspect of the game I really enjoyed.\r\n\r\nThe mazes, which try their best to look three-dimensional, are all of a similar construction and you will probably give up, like I did, long before you get out of one.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A bit like playing a 10,000 piece jig-saw when all the pieces look the same. It's all been done before.","Page":"50","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"John Gilbert","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/5"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/5","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 30, Oct 1986","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1986-09-25","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bryan Ralph\r\nAssistant Editor: Cliff Joseph\r\nConsultant Editor: Ray Elder\r\nAdvertising Manager: John McGarry\r\nDesign: Argus Design\r\nA.S.P. Advertising and Editorial [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Alabaster Passmore and Sons Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Copy Controller: Lynn Collis\r\n\r\nDistributed by: Argus Press Sales and Distribution Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing Monthly is published on the fourth Friday of each month. Subscription rates can be obtained from ZX Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication, including all articles, designs plans, drawings and other intellectual property rights herein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the company.\r\n\r\nArgus Specialist Publications Limited. ©1986"},"MainText":"Players\r\n£1.99\r\n\r\nYou have been teleported to the land of Cagara by managing to get yourself caught in an evil gypsy's crystal ball. Presumably, you crossed her palm with cupro-nickel instead of silver. The only way you can regain your freedom is to explore the castles, mazes and jungles in Cagara and find the magic chalice. A reasonable if hardly original storyline. An element of originality is brought into play by the fact that you are accompanied on this adventure by your sulky pet hamster called Eric who for some strange reason has sprouted helicopter blades!\r\n\r\nNot that you would notice, for he is depicted on screen as a small red blob with spikes on who always seems to run off the first screen, never to be seen again. This is a trifle unfortunate as he is supposed to fight your battles for you. Instead, when you (represented on screen by a medium sized blob) are chasing through a maze and a monster appears (a big blob) you tend to get killed automatically as it can fly through hedges and you can't. One contact by a monster and it is curtains for you - game over time. There are other ways of defending yourself. Scattered around the grounds are a number of objects. You can only carry one of these at a time and must work out which thing does what. This is mode more difficult for you as the items are such small blobs that they are instantly unrecognisable. The only one that looked like anything was a pink castle that teleported you to another castle.\r\n\r\nThe rooms have equally non stunning graphics, the highlight of the jungle chambers being whether they have two three or four exits. The game looks as if it was written when the Spectrum first came out. Cagara is so bad, it is almost worth buying for that very reason.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"35","Denied":false,"Award":"Glob Senior","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"Groan","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]