[{"TitleName":"Chase H.Q.","Publisher":"Ocean Software Ltd","Author":"Bill Harbison, John O'Brien, Jonathan Dunn, Bob Wakelin","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0000903","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 71, Dec 1989","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1989-11-16","Editor":"Oliver Frey","TotalPages":76,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Oliver Frey\r\nSoftware Co-ordinator: Mark Caswell\r\nStaff Writers: Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nEditorial Assistants: Viv Vickress\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nDesign: Mark Kendrick, Melvin Fisher\r\nSystems Operator: Ian Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Lee Watkins\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/John O'Brien and Bill Harbison\r\n£9.99 cass, £14.99\r\n\r\nCue sound of several packets of crisps being scrunched at the same time. 'This is Nancy at Chase HQ, we've got a problem here, guys.' Yep, it's Ocean's Christmas racing game, the conversion of the brilliant Taito coin-op. Ray Broady, Tony Gibson, the face (and 128K version the voice) of the lovely Nancy and the bodywork of the beautiful black Porsche 928 Turbo are all here. Five levels filled with tortuous bends, maniac drIvers and five dangerous vIllains (one per level) stand between our heroes and swell earned rest in Florida (or whereover tough American cops go for a holiday).\r\n\r\nYour controller, Nancy, starts the game by informing you which villain has an APB out on him and what car he's driving, and then with a 'lets go, Mr Driver', your Porsche rockets off in hot pursuit. The status panel at the top of the screen informs you of your score, the time left, your speed (the faster the better), which gear you're in and the distance you are from the villain you're chasing. Put the pedal to the metal by all means (kick in the turbo booster when the felon is in sight, but it can only be used three times). Watch out for innocent bystanders, hitting them loses you valuable time. Drive too fast, and you might not negotiate junctions or miss correct turns as indicated by Nancy's scrolling messages.\r\n\r\nWhen you finally get close to the villain, whose car is identified by a large arrow it's time to make the arrest. Smash into the villain's car to stop it - a damage meter appears at the side of the screen, when this is full the car stops and he's nicked. The arcade version was one of my faves and the Speccy version does not disappoint. Graphically, Chase HQ is great with the mean looking black Porsche ripping along the monochrome freeways in five quite distinctly different levels.\r\n\r\nColour is added in the status area. Neat little touches abound, including cameos of the heroes and villains in the status area's mini screen and the letters CHASE HQ bouncing around the screen on the title page. Chase HQ should give the rest of the racing games around this Chrimble a good run for their money.\r\n\r\nMARK 95%","ReviewerComments":["This takes me right back to the days when Starsky and Hutch was on telly - Starsk used to put the flashing red light on top of the car and off they'd go, chasing the crook at high speed and skidding round corners. You can understand why all those cops put so much effort into their job - the satisfaction you feel when a villain is captured is tremendous. The actual roadside features of this conversion could've been more detailed and do jerk somewhat as they're approached, but the road itself is plotted in perfect perspective and moves smoothly and quickly. This is an accurate conversion that is as playable as the real thing - and that sure is a big recommendation!\r\nNick Roberts\r\n94%"],"OverallSummary":"From start to final arrest Chase HQ is rip-roaring turbo-charged action all the way.","Page":"56,57","Denied":false,"Award":"Crash Smash","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"95","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"87%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"91%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"95%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 50, Feb 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-01-18","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Peters\r\nDeputy Editor: David Wilson\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesigner: Martin Sharrocks\r\nTechnical Consultant: Jonathan Davies\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Richard Blaine, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, Tim Harding, David McCandless, Richard Morris, Rich Pelley, Phil South, Wag\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Lynda Elliott\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Caroline Day\r\nClassified Advertisement Executive: Chris Skinner\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Claire Baker\r\nNewstrade Circulation Manager: Stephen Ward\r\nSubscription Manager: June Smith\r\nPublisher: Teresa Maughan\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: Point Five [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinted By: Riverside Press [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":"Ocean\r\n£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Matt Bielby\r\n\r\nChase HQ - it's crap! Absolutely the worst so-called driving game I've ever seen!! Ho ho ho. Like my little joke, eh, readers? Not said with much conviction, was it? That's probably because it wasn't really very true.\r\n\r\nNope, Chase HO isn't crap. In fact, it's one of the best driving games I've ever seen and it'd be a perfectly sound thing to spend your money on. Ho hum. It's getting really boring writing good reviews of every Ocean game that comes out, but, well, the truth's the truth I suppose. And, it has to be said, Chase HQ is an absolute corker of a game.\r\n\r\nHow shall we play this? I know, you can be Algernon (the passenger) and I'll be, um, 'Mr Driver' (as in the famous Chase HQ phrase, \"Let's go, Mr Driver!\"). Okay? in other words, I get to do all the good bits (like driving at three squillion miles an hour through the middle of a city at rush hour, taking 'short cuts' up unfinished roads and ramming into the back of other cars) and you can do all the crap bits (like sitting in the passenger seat, sticking the light on top of the car an, um, that's it). Seems fair? Great! Then buckle up and let's vrooooom!\r\n\r\nActually, hang on, I'd better give you a quick outline of the plot first! in fact, it's more than likely you already know it, but, for the few latecomers, it involves rushing around a big American city Miami Vice-style in a turbo-charged Porsche 928, bagging as may perps as you can along the way. You do this by ramming your car into the back of theirs until they're forced to stop, catching up and hitting them by nifty driving, and the judicious use of a limited number of turbo boosts to out-accelerate them whenever it counts. Unfortunately, this town seems to breed an affluent sort of criminal (they all drive mega-speedy exoticars and every second commuter has a Countach if the car sprites are to believed!) so they take a fair amount of catching!\r\n\r\nYes indeed, a pretty simple but perfectly serviceable plot, very playable in the first place but made close to perfect by faultless execution. I suppose the first question you always ask or a racing game is \"Does it give a good impression of speed?\", and the answer here is an emphatic 'Yes. It does\". The rolling road is very fast and smooth, the cars are all nicely drawn and animated, and there are clever programming tricks all over the place. Take the smooth way the road splits in two, allowing you to take either path, then compare it with the bodge job in OutRun in which they split the road by placing a row of potted plants down the centre lane(!), and you'll see what I mean.\r\n\r\nThis isn't the only neat touch though, oh dear me no. There's a very nice tunnel sequence, which doesn't slow the action down one jot, some lovely neat dips and rises which bounce your car up off the road, and little additional touches, like the flashing light appearing on the roof of the car as you approach your perp, which really add finesse to the game.\r\n\r\nIn fact, as far as presentation goes this has to be not only one of the best driving sims but one of the best coin-op conversions I've seen. Just about everything of any importance from the arcade machine has been kept in, from the animated logo to the neat little pictures of Nancy from Chase HQ and your good selves appearing along the top panel. Couple this with the constant stream of messages displayed at the top of the screen (saying where the next car will be or simply telling you to buck your ideas up) and you'll find there's a lot going on that can only really be appreciated if you're watching someone else play the game. Of course, as driver you'll be far too busy trying to stay on the road (so amazingly enough Algernon doesn't really get such a crap job after all).\r\n\r\nProgramming skills and care of presentation aside, one other thing gives it the edge over most other arcade driving games - there's simply much more to do. Instead of just racing against the clock you've got an actual purpose in mind (catching the criminals) which adds tremendously to the proceedings.\r\n\r\nAnd finally, there's the sound. I hardly ever remember to mention sound (on most Speccy games it's hardly worth it) but in Chase HQ you can hardly miss it. It's great! There's some very good digitised speech (like \"Geddee up!\" and \"Let's go, Mr Driver!\"), nice police siren noises, and lovely touches like the note changing when you go into the tunnel sequences on 128K. And even on 48K there's a good tune!\r\n\r\nI could carp I suppose. You don't seem to get the nice spin you do in the arcade game, the controls are a bit hard to use with pinpoint accuracy (in fact, it's harder than the coin-op, but then so is driving a real car) and it takes an age to load, but none of those are really faults.\r\n\r\nAll in all, the game's an out-'n-out winner. As playable as Operation Thunderbolt is, as fun as Power Drift can be and as impressive as Hard Drivin' turned out to be, we're looking at Number One here. No question. It's a bloomin' miracle!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A brilliant conversion of a very playable coin-op, and in 128k it's absolutely magnificent. A must buy!","Page":"14,15","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Matt Bielby","Score":"94","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"We think you picked the wrong job. Better try the classified ads!!\" Blimey! That's a bit harsh, Nancy. It was only my, um, 31st go!"},{"Text":"Blimey! It's the rozzers! I've been rumbled! (But which of these dodgy geezers is the perp? They all look pretty shifty to us!)"},{"Text":"Here's the second level. Blimey! That's a big chopper (fnar)! Actually, I just had to say that, 'cos the game's so full of sexual innuendo (Algernon begging you \"More, push it more\"!!) that it was only fitting to add a bit more."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"Here's Nancy at Chase HQ. She gives you your missions, but can be a real pain if you let her. Oi! Let's see you do it, Nance!\r\n\r\nThis is where Nancy writes messages for you. Ain't she sweet?\r\n\r\nHere are some innocent civilians in another car. Try not to run them off the road!\r\n\r\n\"Vroom! Vroom! Watch me zoom!\" as we say at Your Sinclair.\r\n\r\nYikes! I've used up one of my three turbo boosts already and he's not even on fire at the back!"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"86%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"94%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"91%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"94%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 73, Jan 1992","Price":"£2.2","ReleaseDate":"1991-12-05","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"WHAT'S IN A NAME?\r\n\r\nLife, love and loofahs; the YS experience. So, just what's in a name we wonder?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Manly) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (Manly) Ounsted\r\nGames Editor: James (He seized the heel) Leach\r\nStaff Writer: Linda (Serpent) Barker\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne (Rebellion) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Cheryl (Charity) Beesley\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (My god is satisfaction) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (God has favoured) Richardson\r\nPublishing Assistant: Michele (Who is like the lord?) Harris\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg (To be watchful) Ingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Lily) Hartley\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Groovy), Future (That which is to come) Publishing [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Pearl (A pearl) Stokes\r\nDistribution: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Colin (A young dog) Jones\r\nISSN 0269 6983\r\nABC Jan-June 1991 65,444\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is whittled out of Chinese Walnut by the same eternal twelve year olds who assemble (from Airfix kit form) Commodore Format, Amstrad Action, Amiga Format, 8000 Plus, PC Answers, PC Plus, Sega Power, Amiga Power, Amiga Shopper, Classic CD, Needlecraft, Mountain Biking UK, PC Format, Public Domain and ST Format.\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know is... have you ever been sitting in class, felt the need to ask your teacher a question, and called him/her mum or dad?"},"MainText":"CHASE HQ\r\nThe Hit Squad\r\n£3.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nYS Megagame. Crash Smash, Sinclair User Classic. C+ VG Hit, Games Machine Star Player. What Toaster? Best Buy. Goat Breeders' Gazette Recommended Purchase... need I go on? Chase HQ was a confirmed classic when it first packed its bags and made its lonesome journey from coin-up to computer conversion back in 1989. Luckily, it was at least one and three quarters times as good on the Spectrum than on anything else. The super-fast and smooth graphics (minus colour), the sound (yes, sound, including digitised speech), the playability, the addictiveness. All this, and practically everything else in the coin-up seemed to have been miraculously squeezed into rubber keyed chum, just going to show the Spectrum is by no means on its last legs. (Which is quite ironic because the legs fell off my Speccy years ago.) I'm beating rather annoyingly around the bush again, but I hardly know where to start - even though I've almost finished the review.\r\n\r\nThe game is a straight race-'em-up where you have to catch up with a baddy and then ram him off the road, all within a time limit. This makes a great change from boringly racing against the clock; and there are loads of great touches, such as jumps in the road, tunnels to drive through, splits in the road and a great intro .... sequence. Oooh. Wibble. Sorry - but I just couldn't the control my excitement any longer. I'm just going to have to make Chase HQ a Mega-game again.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"84","Denied":false,"Award":"Your Sinclair Megagame","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"Strange. I accidentally redefined that keys as SHOCKED and now I seem to be in the cheat mode.\""}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"93%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 59, Nov 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-10-11","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Kati Hamza, 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 Director: 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":"CHASE HQ\r\nOcean\r\n\r\nCrikey, this ones good. On the face of it it's just another looking-at it-from-behind game, and a blatant attempt to knock OutRun off its rather wobbly perch. In actual fact though, it's a conversion of a fab coin-op and rates as one of the best driving games on the Speccy. Actually, it probably is the best. What you've got to do, you see, is pursue various criminals around in your car. Having caught up with them you get a neat animated sequence where your co-driver leans out of the window and sticks on the flashing light, and then it's time to run the other guy off the road by bashing into him.\r\n\r\nSo why's it so good? Well, the main thing is that it's been properly programmed - speed and playability haven't been sacrificed for the sake of the graphics (which are really rather good). And, um, that's about it. It's just very, very good. Do get yourself a copy.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"80","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"93","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"A game so good they decided to do it again - keep a look-out for the 'Xmas' sequel SCI."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDY 'STREETHAWK' OUNSTED\r\n\r\nFew people would have guessed that YS had its own resident driving expert. We certainly didn't until our Design Asst told us so.\r\n\r\n\"So, you've got a motorbike, have you, Andy?\"\r\n\"Yeah, I've got a bike. And call me 'Streethawk'. All my friends do.\"\r\n\"Right. So, Andy...\"\r\n\"Streethawk.\"\r\n\"Er, Streethawk, what sort is it exactly?\"\r\n\"It's a Yamaha or something, I think. It's well hard. It shifts.\"\r\n\"Does it really?\"\r\n\"Yeah. It'll burn off anything.\"\r\n\"Terrific. Could we have a look at it, do you think?\"\r\n\"Er, no. I didn't bring it in today.\"\r\n\"Oh? Why not?\"\r\n\"It, um, wouldn't start. I had to get the bus instead.\""},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-BEHIND ONES\r\n\r\nThese are the most common by 'miles' (yuk yuk), being those games where you see your car on the screen in front of you from a position behind and slightly above it, and with the road coming towards you in 3D. They all started in the arcades with stuff like Pole Position and moved onto the Speccy via Chequered Flag and later things like OutRun. And, of course, there was the classic Road Racer on the front of the May '87 YS. They're generally good fun, but can be a bit samey and tend to be just a case of pressing Left and Right at suitable moments. And an element of violence tends to creep in - you often get a gun or something mounted on your car to bag other vehicles with.\r\n\r\n(Roadblasters - um, looking at it from behind. And slightly above. (Simple really))"},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-ON-TOP ONES\r\n\r\nKicking off, these are the ones where you get a bird's-eye view of the course and see your car as a little blob hammering round the track (which may scroll if it doesn't all fit onto the screen at once). The basic idea takes its cue from a vintage coin-op called Super Sprint, and you can sometimes get anything up to 29 players on the screen at one time (giving them the edge where competitiveness is concerned). They do tend to lose out graphically though, as there isn't much scope for scrolling 3D roads etc.\r\n\r\n(Championship Sprint - yes, but is it ass much fun as a Scalextric set?)"},{"Text":"LOOKING-AT-IT-FROM-THE-SIDE ONES\r\n\r\nWe're heading into dicey territory here, as we could start wobbling on about scrolling shoot-'em-ups if we're not careful. They do generally scroll however, but they're a bit weird as you don't actually have to worry about steering. All you really have to do is get the speed right when going over ramps and maybe launch the odd missile now and again. Motorbikes, rather than cars, tend to feature prominently in this sort of game, which seems reasonable enough as they look a bit thin when viewed from the rear. One thing we've got to be careful of here is bicycles - they seem to crop up in these rather a lot and, as we already know, they don't count."},{"Text":"OH NO, IT'S EVERY SINGLE DRIVING GAME EVER\r\n\r\n3D Stock Car Championship - Silverbird\r\n4x4 Off-Road Racing - Epyx\r\nAmerican Turbo King - Mastertronic\r\nAPB - Tengen (Domark)\r\nBattlecars - Summit\r\nBeach Buggy Simulator - Silverbird\r\nBuggy Blast - Firebird\r\nBuggy Boy - Elite\r\nChampionship Sprint - Activision\r\nChase HQ - Ocean\r\nContinental Circus - Virgin\r\nCrazy Cars - Titus\r\nCrazy Cars II - Titus\r\nCycles, The - Accolade\r\nDeathchase - Micromega\r\nDuel - Test Drive II, The - Accolade\r\nDukes Of Hazard - Elite\r\nEddie Kidd Jump Challenge - Martech\r\nEnduro - Activision\r\nEnduro Racer - Activision\r\nFire And Forget - Titus\r\nFormula One Simulator - Mastertronic\r\nFull Throttle - Micromega\r\nFuture Bike Simulator - Hi-Tec\r\nJuggernaut - CRL\r\nGrand Prix Circuit - Accolade\r\nGrand Prix Master - Dinamic\r\nGrand Prix Simulator - CodeMasters\r\nHard Drivin' - Tengen (Domark)\r\nHot Rod - Activision\r\nInternational Speedway - Silverbird\r\nItalian Super Car-  CodeMasters\r\nIvan 'Ironman' Stewart - Virgin\r\nKnight Driver - Hewson\r\nKnight Rider - Ocean\r\nLast Duel - US Gold\r\nLED Storm - US Gold\r\nMaze Death - PSS\r\nMotorbike Madness - Mastertronic\r\nMotor Massacre - Gremlin\r\nNigel Mansell's Grand Prix - Martech\r\nOutRun - US Gold\r\nOverlander - Elite\r\nPass Your Driving Test - Audiogenic\r\nPole Position - Atarisoft\r\nPower Drift - Activision\r\nRally Cross Simulator - CodeMasters\r\nRally Driver - Alternative\r\nRally Simulator - Zeppelin\r\nRoad Blasters - US Gold\r\nRoad Racer - Ocean/YS\r\nScalextric - Virgin\r\nSpeed King II - Mastertronic\r\nSpy Hunter - US Gold\r\nStreet Hawk - Ocean\r\nStunt Bike Simulator - Silverbird\r\nStunt Car Racer - Microstyle\r\nSuper Cycle - US Gold\r\nSuper Hang-On - Electric Dreams\r\nSuper Scramble Simulator - Gremlin\r\nSuper Stock Car - Mastertronic\r\nTaxi! - Digital Integration\r\nTechno Cop - Gremlin\r\nTranz Am - Ultimate\r\nTT Racer - Digital Integration\r\nTurbo Bike - Alternative\r\nTurbo OutRun - US Gold\r\nTwin Turbo V8 - CodeMasters\r\nWEC Le Mans - Ocean\r\nWheelie - Microsphere"},{"Text":"OTHERS\r\n\r\nWith a theme as wide ranging as 'driving' we're bound to come across one or two miscreants that don't really fit into any of the previous categories (the scamps). Well, I have anyway. First of all there are ones like Hard Drivin' and Stunt Car Racer where you get a 3D view out of the window. Then there are the vertically-scrolling ones such as LED Storm which are really a cross between looking-at-it-from-behind ones and looking-at-it-from-the-top ones. And there are boring 'management' ones like Grand Prix. Best forgotten, those.\r\n\r\n(Erm... an 'other'.)"},{"Text":"TEN SIGNS THAT HE'S A CRAP DRIVER\r\n\r\n1. He drives round with his foglamps on all the time.\r\n\r\n2. He wheelspins every time he pulls away.\r\n\r\n3. He drives 3mm from the car in front, and as far to the right as possible ready to overtake.\r\n\r\n4. He's always first off at the lights.\r\n\r\n5. He's got an Escort 1600 Sport with all the usual accessories.\r\n\r\n6. He always parks on double-yellow lines.\r\n\r\n7. His car's heavily battle-damaged.\r\n\r\n8. He makes frequent use of his three-tone horn.\r\n\r\n9. He keeps revving up the engine at traffic lights for no apparent reason.\r\n\r\n10. One of his brake lights doesn't work."},{"Text":"TEN SIGNS THAT SHE'S A CRAP DRIVER\r\n\r\n1. She's driving a Mini.\r\n\r\n2. She's got a Garfield stuck to her back window.\r\n\r\n3. Simon Bates is blaring out and the Our Tune 'theme music' has just started up.\r\n\r\n4. There's another girl with exactly the same style haircut sitting next to her in the passenger seat.\r\n\r\n5. She's driving a Porsche."},{"Text":"THE FIRST EVER DRIVING GAME\r\n\r\nDespite a sore knee and a terrible fear of the dark, I crouched down in the murkiest corner of the YS shed to browse through our collection of cardboard-boxed archives. And did I come up with anything? Well, not really. I did find out that the Van Houten Chocolate in the YS drinks machine is actually the remains of a consignment of rations from during the war (no-one wanted to drink it then either) and I also came across some rather compromising photos of Andy when he was four years old, but nothing really very interesting in the driving games department. I was hoping to turn up some really ropey-looking Basic game from about 1982, but the best I could come up with was Chequered Flag, a Sinclair game that came out a year later. It's quite good actually - a bit like Polo Position without any other cars to race against.\r\n\r\nWe'll give it a thorough going-over later, but in the meantime perhaps you'd like to think back and see if you can come up with anything better if you find anything older than Chequered Flag, do write in and tell us as we'd be jolly interested to know."},{"Text":"TOP FIVE GEARS\r\n\r\n1. Third\r\n2. First\r\n3. Fourth\r\n4. Second\r\n5. Fifth (where available)"}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Drive","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Visibility","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Road Holding","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"FOATLF","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"93%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 78, Jun 1992","Price":"£2.5","ReleaseDate":"1992-05-17","Editor":"Andy Hutchinson","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"HERE COMES THE SUMMER!\r\n\r\nFor him in vain the envious season rolls, who bears eternal summer in his soul. What are you most looking forward to the summer?\r\n\r\nEditor: Andy (Dreamy days dangling a leg in the water while drifting down the Avon in a punt & snogging French exchange students. Or both at the same time) Hutchinson\r\nArt Editor: Andy (Going to America, hopefully) Ounsted\r\nDeputy Editor: Linda (Glastonbury festival) Barker\r\nStaff Writer: Jon (Leaving his duck shaped brolly at home) Pillar\r\nArt Assistant: Maryanne (Picnics in Vicky Park) Booth\r\nAdvertising Manager: Alison (Looking sexy & brown) Booth\r\nSenior Sales Exec: Jackie (Drinking ice cool beers at the Crystal Palace) Garford\r\nProduction Coordinator: Lisa (Ice cream sundaes with Martini) Read\r\nPublisher: Jane (Barbies & Pimms) Richardson\r\nPromotions Manager: Michelle (Cycling to Mrs Miggins' bun & tea shop) Harris\r\nPromotions Assistant: Tamara (Riding a horse through a field of long green grass) Ward\r\nGroup Publisher: Greg (Peace, love & understanding) Bingham\r\nCirculation Director: Sue (Windsurfing) Hartley\r\nAssistant Publisher: Julie (Cream teas) Stuckes\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair (Champion the Wonder Horse repeats), Future (The Company Weekend) Publishing, [redacted]\r\n\r\nManaging Director: Chris (Strawberries and cream on the front lawn) Anderson\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1992. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from Charlie Footstool from Dingley Dell.\r\n\r\nISSN: 0269 69683\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair leaps onto passing cars with it bottom a-waving with notables periodicals like: Commodore Format (The scuba-diving season), Amstrad Acton (Sitting in the beer garden of The Brewers Arms in the evening), Amiga Format (Beetle Bash and the beach), PCW Plus (Wimbledon), PC Answers (Winter), PC Plus (Reptile dayy), Sega Power (Softball in Vicky Park on a Thursday), Amiga Power (Sailing, snogging and softbaallll!), Amiga Shopper (Cold beers by blue seas), Classic CD (Watching us stuff Pakistan in the test matches), Needlecraft (Myxomatosis), Cycling Plus (Going saddle-less), Photo Plus (Hampstead Heath of an evening), Mountain Biking UK (Outdoor rumpy-pumpy), PC Format (See Mountain Biking UK), Public Domain (Sun), ST Format (Fire Walk With Me: The Film), Total! (Driving an MR2 with the top up) and Today's Vegetarian (Two weeks of sun,sea, sand and sex in Greece) and coming soon... Calculator Operator's Chronicle.\r\n\r\nBut what we really want to know why is... who the hell elected Mary Whitehouse as defender of public morals anyway?"},"MainText":"DRIVING GAMES\r\n\r\n5. Chase HQ\r\nHit Squad/Issue 73\r\nReviewer: Jon Pillar\r\n\r\nA staggeringly flashy racer, with graphics and a thumping 128K soundtrack. It was amazingly popular, mostly due to your being able to ram the bad guys off the road. To be honest, it's more a well-programmed idea than a game, but one that's worth a look all the same.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"54","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jon Pillar","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 94, Jan 1990","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-12-18","Editor":"Jim Douglas","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"JIM \"Keyring\" DOUGLAS (Editor)\r\nLike all Editors, Jim's absolutely loaded with cash and his car is a luxury status symbol that goes with his high-flying ulcer-inducing job editing Sinclair User. You know you've hit it big when Jim asks if the keys to his Nissan Micra will fit in your handbag!\r\n\r\nALISON \"Toot Toot\" SKEAT (Production Editor)\r\nAl Drives the SU Bus! Every morning she honks the horn and collects the rest of the team and drives them off for another day at the office. Hera she is, bright and early on a Monday morning, ready to get 'on the case' (alright, so she's in the office on a Friday afternoon holding a plastic bin lid).\r\n\r\nOSMOND \"Brake, Brake!\" BROWNE (Designer)\r\nOz, our new design wizard is preparing for his test at the moment, and seems to be having trouble with reversing around corners, but he firmly believes that in no time he'll be behind the wheel of his vary own DeLorean Snowstorm.\r\n\r\nGARTH \"Firestone\" Sumpter (Staff Writer)\r\nAlways on hand to steady a sometimes rocky and panic-ridden ship, Garth soothes the worries of the team away with his stories of articulated lorry racing round Silverstone. \"Which reminds me of the time I hit the chicane at 90 with no steering...\"\r\n\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nI've Got This Problem: Rupert Goodwins\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\nOur Address: [redacted]\r\nOur Phone Number: [redacted]\r\nOur Fax No: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Clive Goodyear\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nTypeset By Mr Douglas and Mr Sumpter at Jimmy's Setting Emporium\r\nDistributed by EMAP Frontline.\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Copyright Sinclair User 1989/90 ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nNo part of this magazine may be reproduced/transcribed, stored in a data retrieval system etc etc, or you'll go to gaol forever. We will, however, be giving a special prize to anyone who can reproduce this issue in the smallest possible form. Send entries to the address above. Must be smaller than a cassette tape."},"MainText":"Label: Ocean\r\nAuthor: in house\r\nPrice: £8.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jack Daniel\r\n\r\n\"Let's go, Mr Driver!\" It has to be said, that it ever there was a moaning, spazzy character in any game, your Chase H.Q. co-driver wins the prize. He's full of useless exclamations like \"Bear down!\" and \"Harder harder!\" What with him spoiling his trousers every time you hit the turbo button and Nancy a headquarters moaning and suggesting that you've picked the wrong job, no wonder they say a policeman's lot is not a happy one.\r\n\r\nIt's good news, then, to discover that you've got one of the best driving games full of action, drama and astounding speed to keep your mind off the downside of the job.\r\n\r\nChase H.Q. was an arcade favourite last year, and its transition to the Spectrum was predicted by some as utterly impossible. However, bearing in mind the capabilities of the machines concerned, I reckon that the Speccy version if by far the best, beating Atari ST and Amiga hands down on both graphics and gameplay.\r\n\r\nThe aim of the game is to track down deadly criminals who are racing from one side of America to the other in an attempt to flee the scenes of their odious crimes. Behind the Wheel of a Porsche 928, you hurtle down the highway in hot pursuit of the bad guys up ahead. Once you manage to find them (often with a little help from a following helicopter) you have to barge into them repeatedly and run them off the road. Its always good to have a big chopper helping you from behind. Ooer.\r\n\r\nOnce off the road, you can then proceed to nick the driver. Nancy at headquarters will then tell you who's next for the rubber hose treatment in the back room, and what sort of car they're driving for easy identification.\r\n\r\nAs you belt around the countryside, infuriatingly dithery innocents drift around the track, sorry, road, getting in the way. Bloody civilians. Thankfully, there's absolutely no penalty for crashing into these drivers, except it slows you down a bit. Just like the real thing.\r\n\r\nWhile the chase is in progress, it's easy to pay scant attention to the fantastic surroundings. It's really only when someone else is playing, or you're watching the demo that you notice the astounding undulating hills, the ultra-smooth scrolling and the excellent speech (128K only).\r\n\r\nWhen you look at Chase moving as quickly as it does, choc-a-black full of gameplay tuned to the finest degree, all the graphics with their excellent animations, other action driving games seem to look pretty silly.\r\n\r\nAll the allowances you've been making for the other car games, things like \"Well, there are a lot of objects, so it's bound to be a bit slow\", or \"It doesn't really matter what it looks like so long at the gameplay is there\" seem a little bit daft.\r\n\r\nWhen you see and play Chase, you realise that there simply aren't any excuses. It is possible to do everything without compromise.\r\n\r\nFinally, a driving game without any flaws. Nail-biting, tyre squealing action right to the very end. If you're not bowled over by Chase, you're off your rocker.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Absolutely incredible. The best driving game ever. Superb.","Page":"104,105","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Classic","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jack Daniel","Score":"96","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Bam! Shunt the bad guy hard and order him to pull over. Helpful arrows keep you from barging into bystanders."},{"Text":"Only 2 units away from the bad guy and the clock runs out! What a day."},{"Text":"The boys in the helicopter will tell you which way your felon heads at the bend ahead."},{"Text":"The gorgeous Nancy at headquarters gives you the lowdown. This is the guy to look out for."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"98%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"97%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"96%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 117, Nov 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-10-15","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":68,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign: Andrea Walker\r\nDesign: Yvette Nicholls\r\nSoftware Editor: Steve Keen\r\nSU Crew: John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Phillip Fisch, Ian Watson, Alan Dykes\r\nAd Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAd Production: Jo Gleissner\r\nMarketing Man.: Mark Swan\r\nMarketing Women: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hilliard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1991 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nColour by Proprint.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher"},"MainText":"Label: Hit Squad\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £3.99 Tape\r\nReviewer: Steve Keen\r\n\r\nVroom, vroom! Following in the footsteps of Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover and Mel Gibs - the Chase HQ boys, Mr. Driver and Mr. Pain in the Butt are the inheritors of that finest of cop traditions, the \"buddy\" scenario.\r\n\r\nTwo of the computer world's finest boys in blue battle it out against fast ridin' Ferrari drivin' baddies in what was a major coin-op hit a few years ago. Successfully making the transition in 1989 to Spectrum and astounding the machine's critics with unbeatable graphics, sound and scrolling.\r\n\r\nAccurately recreating the fast and furious action seen in the coin-op, you play the part of a very lucky cop who just happens to have a Porche 928 as a chase car. Unfortunately his partner seems to have a bad dose of piles as he constantly whines about your driving. Receive orders from Nancy at Chase HQ then intercept the criminals and ram them off the road. Gameplay is in theory quite simple but a lot of driving skills have to be employed. If you're into driving and you still haven't got a copy of this, go get it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.","ReviewerComments":["Well, it's a bit iffy this one, but what can I say? When I first reviewed it, I wasn't so keen on the perspective but in retrospect, it's one of the best racing games around and an excellent budget purchase and well worth having in your collection of Speccy greats.\r\nGarth Sumpter"],"OverallSummary":"It's a while since I last played Chase HQ but took to it like a Fisch to cider (Ouch, get away you sad, hairy Scotsman). Amazing graphics, gameplay and superb scrolling make Chase HQ a 'Best Budget.'","Page":"49","Denied":false,"Award":"Sinclair User Best Budget","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Steve Keen","Score":"90","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Garth Sumpter","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Uuh Ah! No overtaking on the inside."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"80%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"89%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"90%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"90%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 29, Feb 1990","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1990-01-04","Editor":"Steve Cooke","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EMAP B & CP [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Steve Cooke\r\nDeputy Editor: Rik Haynes\r\nReviews Editor: Laurence Scotford\r\nDesign Editor: Jim Willis\r\nContributors: Eugene Lacey, John Minson, John Cook, Pat Winstanley, Christina Erskine\r\nIllustration: Geoff Fowler\r\nAdvertising Manager: Gary Williams\r\nDeputy Advertising Manager: Jerry Hall\r\nAdvertising Production: Melanie Costin\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nEMAP Frontline, Subscriptions Dept [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nLatent Image [redacted]\r\nBalmoral Graphics [redacted]\r\nProprint Repro [redacted]\r\n\r\nTYPESETTING\r\nCXT [redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nEMAP Frontline [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nSevern Valley Press, Caerphilly\r\n\r\n©EMAP B&CP 1989\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission."},"MainText":"Ocean outrun the field in a hard drivin' Christmas race.\r\n\r\nChase HQ is dead simple. Put your foot down, catch up with the criminals, and keep ramming their car until it bursts into flames and you can apprehend them. That's all there is to it.\r\n\r\nBut if Chase HQ is simple to learn - how to play it is not nearly as simple to master. Most people will catch the first criminal after a few attempts but this is only the beginning. The next four are much better drivers, have faster vehicles, and the clock ticks away constantly - giving you just one short minute to catch them and inflict sufficient damage to stop them.\r\n\r\nThe simplicity of Chase HQ comes as something of a surprise. After all the hype and the buzz that proceeded it as being \"the\" arcade conversion of 1989 you kind of expected it to have more features. All you have to do is catch up with the baddies, bump into them a few times, and apprehend them on behalf of the forces of law and order. No power-ups (apart from a booster), no finicky tactical decisions: just plain playability all the way.\r\n\r\nThe basic simplicity of Chase is compensated for by the briefing screens and the graphical displays at the end of each mission.\r\n\r\nThe briefings are particularly neat. A screen display shows a message print out from Nancy at HQ who tells you about the next criminal to be apprehended and shows you a photo of his car.\r\n\r\nThe end level screens are pretty impressive as well - showing your patrol car stopped in front of the criminals' vehicle with the villain lying on the road in handcuffs.\r\n\r\nGetting to those end-level screens is largely a matter of perfecting your control techniques. Although you only have two gears - high and low - mastering them is the key to success in Chase. By switching down you can right the car's position when it is about to spin out on a particularly difficult bend. This loses you speed, but of course not as much as if you span right off the track.\r\n\r\nChase also features plenty of graphical frills in the game itself - like the flashing light on top of your Porsche that starts blinking when the criminal car comes into view.\r\n\r\nChase is challenging and good fun. It will also have you tearing your hair out in frustration at certain points - for example, running out of time just before you make the final ram on a criminal vehicle to make it pull up. You know how many hits you need to get by the pile of tyres that fill up in a grid that appears to the left of the screen. When the grid is completely full the criminal car will pull up and you can make your arrest.\r\n\r\nChase HQ was enormously popular in the arcades and will undoubtedly prove just as big a hit on home machines. The gameplay may be a bit limited for some tastes - tastes that prefer a Stunt Car or Vette type of a challenge for example - but for those of you who prefer your racing pure and simple, with a touch of motor way stock car jostling thrown in, it is perfect. Fans of the coin-op should have no hesitation.\r\n\r\nReviewer: Eugene Lacey\r\n\r\nRELEASE BOX\r\nAtari ST, £19.99dk, Imminent\r\nAmiga, £24.99dk, Out Now\r\nSpec 128, £9.99cs, Out Now\r\nAmstrad, £9.99cs , Imminent\r\nC64/128, £9.99cs , Imminent\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 95/100\r\n1 hour: 100/100\r\n1 day: 85/100\r\n1 week: 60/100\r\n1 month: 45/100\r\n1 year: 40/100","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Novel chase and crash racer - but lacking the long term challenge and appeal of Stunt Car.","Page":"42,43","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Eugene Lacey","Score":"868","ScoreSuffix":"/1000"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Bumper to bumper in Amiga Chase HQ..."},{"Text":"Burning some serious rubber."},{"Text":"'Jobbie' O'Brien, programmer of Spectrum Chase HQ."},{"Text":"Using the helicopter to show you the way."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"... AND CHASE HQ 2?\r\n\r\nOcean have yet to confirm if they will be converting Chase HQ II - Special Criminal Investigation. If its arcade performance is anything to judge by it seems likely as the game is doing particularly well right now. It is easy to see why.\r\n\r\nSpecial Criminal investigation takes the same basic idea of Chase HQ - catch up with criminal cars and apprehend them. But this time it is not necessary to ram the baddies' cars to make them crash, instead you can pop up out your sun roof and take pot shots at them with your pistol instead.\r\n\r\nThe gameplay has been further embellished with the addition of several power-ups dropped out of the sky by the police chopper. Extra weapons, fuel; and communications equipment greatly enhance the game play. Much more to do and therefore double the fun.\r\n\r\nUpright and sit down versions of Special Criminal investigation are in your local arcade now at about 50p a go. Start the countdown for a conversion..."},{"Text":"AMIGA VERSION\r\n\r\nSuperb use of sound FX - great throaty growls as you pass the other cars on the road, screeches of breaks, and roar of engine as the gears shift and the Porsche accelerates. Graphics are fairly basic - the other cars on the road being particularly disappointing. No complaints about the speed or animation though. It fairly motors along and has a noticeable poke forward when you press space to engage the turbo power.\r\n\r\nGraphics: 7/10\r\nAudio: 8/10\r\nIQ Factor: 6/10\r\nFun Factor: 8/10\r\nAce Rating: 840/1000\r\n\r\nPredicted Interest Curve\r\n\r\n1 min: 95/100\r\n1 hour: 100/100\r\n1 day: 60/100\r\n1 week: 55/100\r\n1 month: 40/100\r\n1 year: 35/100"},{"Text":"SPECTRUM VERSION\r\n\r\nSpectrum Chase HQ is really fast - thanks to the programming talents of John 'Jobbie' O'Brien (see page 84 for further info). All the neat touches of the coin-op are included, such as the helicopter showing you the way and your car engine's sound changing when you enter a tunnel. One of the best Spectrum racers around."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Audio","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"IQ Factor","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Fun Factor","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"868/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 98, Jan 1990","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1989-12-16","Editor":"Julian Rignall","TotalPages":140,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"CONTACTS AND CREDITS\r\n\r\nEditor: Julian Rignall\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nStaff Writers: Paul Glancey, Paul Rand\r\nArt Assistant: Osmond Browne\r\nAdvertising Manager: Nigel Taylor\r\nDep Ad Manager: Joanna Cooke\r\nSales Executive: Tina Zanelli\r\nProduction Assistant: Glenys Powell\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nThis Month's Cover: Chase HQ from Ocean\r\nCover Artist: Jerry Paris\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries to: EMAP Frontline, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]"},"MainText":"Ocean\r\nSpectrum £9.99, ST £19.99, Amiga £24.99\r\n\r\nThe Police radio crackles into life as you speed down the freeway in your black turbo Porsche. \"This is Nancy from Police headquarters. Suspected multiple murderer heading west out of the city in a white British sports car. Intercept and arrest.\" Pausing only to stick a flashing red light on top of the car and switch on the police siren, you stick your foot to the floorboards and belt through heavy traffic to catch the criminal before he escapes...\r\n\r\nAnd so begins Ocean's conversion of the brilliant Taito police chase arcade game, which gives the player chance the chance to join a side of the Police force which makes Miami Vice look rubbish - Chase HQ.\r\n\r\nThe specialised skills you need be a hero in this elite branch of the boys in blue is the ability to zoom through traffic at high speed, track down villains driving very fast cars and smash them off the road before they reach the state line and freedom - if you can't do that, it won't be long before you're slung out of the force.\r\n\r\nAt the start of each level you're given the description of the felon and the car he's driving. After that it's time to leap behind the wheel of your car and weave through the traffic in hot pursuit. The highway twists and turns, and you've got to avoid hitting other cars (which slows you down) if you're going to catch the speeding villain within the time limit. Sometimes there are forks in the road, and an arrow gives you a few seconds' notice as to which is the quickest route - miss the right one and valuable time is lost as you tear down the longer road. It's at times like this when you wonder whether to use one of your three turbos to give you an extra boost of speed, or whether to save them for when you find your quarry...\r\n\r\nWhen the criminal's car is in sight, extra time is added and you've simply got to run it off the road by repeatedly smashing into it. Every time you hit the villain's car, one point is added to the damage meter at the left of the screen. When the meter is full, he slows right down, giving you the chance to pull up alongside and bust him.\r\n\r\nAfter that it's back to headquarters to wait for the next mission - an even tougher villain driving an even faster car!\r\n\r\nI love the arcade version of Chase HQ, and am pleased to see that Ocean have transferred the game to the ST, Amiga and Spectrum perfectly.\r\n\r\nOn 16 bit there's plenty of speech, great sound effects and music, and colourful and effective 3D graphics. More importantly, the gameplay is superb; tough enough to keep you glued to your screen as you race after the elusive next car, yet highly addictive as you always seem to get just a little bit further with every go.\r\n\r\nThe sounds and speech are lost on the Spectrum version, but the graphics, although monochrome, are fast, smooth and very impressive indeed, with great sprites, highly effective 3D and superlative gameplay making this the most astounding Spectrum game for years.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Simply astonishing. All the features of the arcade game come together in the smoothest, fastest, most exciting Spectrum game seen in years. It gets my vote for Spectrum Conversion of the Year. If you miss it, you should be locked up!!","Page":"18,19","Denied":false,"Award":"C+VG Hit","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Julian Rignall","Score":"97","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"This is Nancy at Chase HQ...\""},{"Text":"A few more bumps and he's nicked!"},{"Text":"Don't take the wrong road!"},{"Text":"The best ever Spectrum arcade conversion!"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMIGA SCORES\r\n\r\nGraphics: 89%\r\nSound: 94%\r\nValue: 92%\r\nPlayability: 95%\r\nOverall: 93%\r\n\r\nA stunning conversion of the all-action crashing, smashing, car-trashing police chase game which contains all the thrills and spills of the original machine."},{"Text":"ATARI ST SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 93%\r\n\r\nLooks virtually identical to the Amiga version, contains slightly more speech and is just as playable. If you're a speed freak, don't let this past you."},{"Text":"UPDATE\r\n\r\nC64 and Amstrad versions are expected soon - we've seen nothing of them yet, but hopefully they'll be just as good as the other versions."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"97%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 25, Dec 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-11-09","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL OFFICE\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Roger Kean\r\nFeatures Editor: Dominic Handy\r\nTechnical Editor: Robin Candy\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Warren Lapworth\r\nEditorial Assistants: Vivien Vickress\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard, Robert Hamilton\r\nDesign: Mark Kendrick, Melvyn Fisher\r\nSystems Operator: Ian Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Christian Testa, Caroline Blake\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nDesigned and typeset on Apple Macintosh II computers running Quark Xpress, Adobe Illustrator 88, with systems support from Digital Print Reprographics, [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted] and Newsfield. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution 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 publishers.\r\n\r\n©1989 TGM Magazines Ltd 1989\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design Roger Kean"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\n\r\n'LET'S GO MR DRIVER!'\r\n\r\nThe chase is on! There are a select handful of games that could make it to the very top this Christmas and Chase HQ is the one hotly tipped to win the race. It takes its game plan from the most cliched sections of Starsky and Hutch, Kojak, Miami Vice and countless other American cop TV shows (or movies) - the ubiquitous car chase.\r\n\r\nYes, there's always some mean dude ready to leap into his flashy sports car and speed off, tires screeching and engine roaring, our hapless heroes never far behind. And isn't there always a big pile of empty cardboard boxes halfway down one of the alleyways? And a big lorry that backs out onto the road just in time to separate the two cars? But I digress...\r\n\r\nThe HQ of the title is manned (womanned or personned) by Nancy who uses the high-tech control panel of your vehicle to tell you, the suave cop, who the next criminal is, what he's guilty of and what car he's driving. Then it's out onto the highway to begin tracking him down.\r\n\r\nThe status panel above the play area shows your score, time, speed, stage, gear and distance. This last figure tells you how far away your target is and obviously the greater your speed the quicker you'll catch him. To this end, you can kick in the turbo unit when the two gears are just not enough, sending you accelerating in a cloud of dust.\r\n\r\n'More haste, less speed', the old adage goes, and this is true for Chase HQ. There are junctions to be navigated, the correct turning given by a scrolling message sent by Nancy, and it can be easy to go the wrong way at high speed. And at high speed it's obviously more difficult to avoid time-wasting collisions and crashes.\r\n\r\nWith the target in sight the siren begins wailing and the red beacon flashing, and the target's car is marked with a big friendly arrow. Your car has to repeatedly ram his in order to damage it/worry him enough to force him to pull over; indicated by a vertical bar. Succeed within the strict time limit and it's on to the next case. Fail and Nancy has some harsh words for you... and maybe even a letter of dismissal.\r\n\r\nIt's a pleasant surprise that a simple twist to the used and abused racing genre can make a game very, very playable. In the average racer you're pursuing the leader so as to overtake and head the field. Chasing a distinct car with a view to forcing it to stop and condemning its driver to incarceration gives a real purpose to skidding around miles of twisting, tortuous roads, dodging traffic.\r\n\r\nLevels don't just differ in colour and simple roadside alterations. Cliffs, bridges, junctions and buildings all help to make each of the five levels distinct and each of the five chases compelling. Five levels may not seem like much, but sending the first villain to the stammer takes enough effort for you to realise this game is no pushover, and arrest times (and so score bonuses) are always rewarding to beat.\r\n\r\nChase HQ really shows what job satisfaction is. Being a cop and bringing a villain to justice brings real pleasure into an already playable game and helps make it an addictive pastime. Will brighten up your Christmas stocking. ","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"There are a good spread of colours in the status area which compensates a little for the mono road and cars, and the cameos of the hero and villains that appear on its miniscreen are very nicely drawn. Vehicles are clear and neatly designed if not detailed, and the main sprite bobs and weaves nicety. Though roadside features don't update as smoothly as they could, they approach swiftly and are helped by the brilliant, smooth and realistic perspective of the landscape stripes and the road itself. The title screens have their own attractions, with a number of sequences involving the letters which form 'Chase HQ' - zooming in from infinity, bouncing full-stops, letters hitting stops into position and so on. Though spot effects are merely average, 128K owners are in for a real treat. Various pieces of music simulate six channels, realistic bass and snare drums combined with complex sounds reminiscent of the better Commodore 64 instruments. On its aural qualities alone Chase HQ is worth a look, but considering the game they accompany it's an essential purchase.","Page":"76,77","Denied":false,"Award":"The Games Machine Star Player","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Warren Lapworth","Score":"91","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"OTHER FORMATS\r\n\r\nAtari ST (£19.99), Amiga (£24.99), Commodore 64 and Amstrad (Spectrum prices) released around December 4."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"91%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue Annual 2018,  2018","Price":"£15","ReleaseDate":"2018-01-01","Editor":"Roger Kean","TotalPages":122,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":""},"MainText":"As the Crash annuals are still for sale ZXSR has taken the decision to remove all review text, apart from reviewer names and scores from the database. A backup has been taken of the review text which is stored offsite.  The review text will not be included without the express permission of the Annuals editorial team/owners.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"60","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Ryan Coleman","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Chris Wilkins","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":null,"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]