[{"TitleName":"Dynasty Wars","Publisher":"U.S. Gold Ltd","Author":"Tiertex Ltd, Peter Andrew Jones","YearOfRelease":"1990","ZxDbId":"0009342","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 77, Jun 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-05-24","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, Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Caroline Blake\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 BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group.\r\n\r\nDistribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop the Viv Vickress a line at the main address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Colour photographic material should be 35mm transparencies wherever possible. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1989 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"US Gold/Tiertex\r\n£9.99/£14.99\r\n\r\nChina, 184 AD: an unhappy time. A blood feud between the Han Clan and the Kai Clan has escalated into all-out war. The Hans are the good guys, but there are only four of their warriors left - and you're one of them! Choose which of the four you play, each with equally silly names: Shang Fei, Lui Bei, Kuan Yu and Shao Yun. Now mount your trusty steed and lay into the Kai hordes with your R-Type inspired weapon (ie the longer the button is held the stronger the blow). Six horizontally scrolling levels of enemy troops armed with lances, swords and bows await you, all punctuated by end-of-level Kai Generals to defeat.\r\n\r\nDynasty Wars kicks off with a promising start: a good intro tune and static portraits of the heroes. But from there on boredom is just around the corner. The thing that strikes you first is the lack of colour - all graphics are monochromatic. The result is that the animated sprites are disastrously lost in the backdrops. Maybe Tiertex should be recommended to the army, they'd do a great lob camouflaging vehicles! The scrolling judders along and just adds to the 'why bother' feeling that emerges after thirty seconds play.\r\n\r\nMARK 39%","ReviewerComments":["Dynasty Wars is one of those games that suffers from excellent presentation but has little playability. There are some really well drawn screens of the heroes you control, and greet graphics in between the levels. The actual game sprites and backgrounds are another matter though: they're small, undetailed and all in cyan monochrome - yukk! You have to strain your eyes to see what is going on, but you might as well not bother because it looks more like a circus act than a war! The horse you ride moves the same speed backwards as it does forwards, and when you try to shoot at someone the arrows or bullets go straight through them! A dire implementation of a coin-op shoot-'em-up variant.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n50%"],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"44","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"39","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"50","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"58%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"43%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictivity","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"44%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 54, Jun 1990","Price":"£1.7","ReleaseDate":"1990-05-10","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Kevin Hibbert\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Robin Alway, Marcus Berkmann, Joe Davies, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Duncan MacDonald, Paul Morgan, Jon North, Rich Pelley, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertising Executive: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: SM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1990. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"US Gold\r\n£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk\r\nReviewer: Jonathan Davies\r\n\r\nDa-daaa! Here's the one we've all been waiting for - the world's first scrolling horse-'em-up! And is it a load of manure? Neigh! in this case, four legs are certainly better than two. In fact, it'll probably shoot straight to the top of the Gallop chart! Dynasty Wars? It's my mane game! Last month's Megapreview should have set you in good steed, but I don't want to saddle you with something you're not going to enjoy so let's give it a thorough brushing down. I won't take too long as I've got to hurry back to Canter-bury tomorrow!\r\n\r\nAhem. The idea is that you're one of these eastern warrior types, mounted on a horse, and you've got to ride through eight scrolling levels killing other eastern chappies and collecting things. You've got four blokes to choose from - Shang Fei, Liu Bei, Kaun Yu and Shao Yun. Quite a line-up really. Your choice is made harder as not only do you have to find one with a name you can pronounce, but you've also got to weigh up their pros and cons. They've all got different characteristics, you see, so it's up to you whether you go for a brainy one or a muscley one. Then, of course, Player Two will also need someone to control (assuming, that is, there is a Player Two). It's one of those simultaneous two-player jobs, so it might be worth trying to work out some sort of 'matching pair'.\r\n\r\nPut your horse into 'First' and off he'll trot. The landscape scrolls along to keep up, and everything's lovely. But suddenly, as if by magic, a whole load of baddies appear! Oh no! It's time to being your big rod thingie into play. With a defiant cry you bring your thumb down onto the Fire button, your bloke raises his stick and a little energy bar at the bottom of the screen starts climbing up. Release the button again and a jet of flame shoots across the screen, its ferocity dependent on how long you held the button down for (just like R-Type really). It's either that are you can just tap it, giving them a quick prod in the eye. Occasionally I found it tricky to actually hit anything at all, which may well be a slight glitch in the collision detection. Or maybe I'm just completely crap.\r\n\r\nThere are all kinds of baddies to deal with, ranging from little chaps with swords through to archers and even horsemen. And, um, that's it. There are only three kinds actually. But they're very nicely done. The swordsmen can be blown away by the truckload with no further thought, but the archers are a bit more tricky. They appear in groups, dot themselves around the screen and then start chucking hundreds of arrows at you. They're devils to get rid of too. And the mounted guys are another kettle of fish altogether. They get their own energy bars and everything, and a huge battle is guaranteed whenever they appear.\r\n\r\nOh yes, the things to collect. These include energy bubbles and extra weapons. The latter act as smart bombs, unleashing barrages of either firebombs or boulders on the enemy.\r\n\r\nThe graphics in Dynasty Wars are undoubtedly its big selling point. Those horses are corkers - their legs move properly and its amazing that no-one's done anything like this before. Horses are miles more fun than spaceships. And the backgrounds are pretty nifty too. Although they're massively detailed you don't tend to get lost in them like in some other games. Everything's in dullsville monochrome, naturally, but most of you will've resigned yourselves to this sort of thing years ago.\r\n\r\nThe problem however (here it comes) is that there isn't actually that much to do. I'm sure you known what I mean. One level is pretty much like another. And the same with the baddies. But, looking on the bright side, the two-player option is good fun.\r\n\r\nIt's a good conversion of the coin-op, the graphics are ace and the horses are currently the best on the Speccy, but whether or not you'll 'get hitched' to it is another matter. Worth very much more than a passing glance though.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A brilliant scroller horse-wise, but slightly questionable in the old durability department.","Page":"76","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"80","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Here I am with my shoot-o-meter wound up 'to the max', readly to lay on some flames. That looks like an ancient oriental pylon in the background."},{"Text":"Here's a typical battle in progress. There are arrows everywhere, and some chaps with swords creeping up from behind."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Life Expectancy","Score":"61%","Text":""},{"Header":"Instant Appeal","Score":"92%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"93%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"80%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 100, Jun 1990","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-05-18","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: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\n©1990 EMAP Images, [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by J'n'G Type\r\nColour work by Pro Print.\r\nPrinted by Kingfisher Web Ltd, Peterborough.\r\nDistributed by BBC Frontline."},"MainText":"Label: US Gold\r\nPrice: £10.99\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nShang Fei stands in the middle of a bridge brandishing his snake halberd (oo-er), and thousands of enemies are routed. Lui Bei is descended from Emperor Kel of the Han Dynasty. He swears to be brothers with Kuan Yu and Shange Fei to defeat Huang Ching. And they're the biggest jessie-boys of the ancient Orient - some of the characters in Dynasty Wars are REALLY hard!\r\n\r\nDynasty Wars is a fab conversion of a coin-op which I must admit I haven't played (I'm getting a bit old to spend my evenings hanging around arcades). But from what I've seen, it's a pretty skill conversion job, and while the full marvellousness of the inter-screen graphics haven't been retained, the non-stop violence of the game itself is well up to scratch (or up to slash).\r\n\r\nIt's basically a horizontally-scrolling hack'n'slash epic, but the gimmick is that while your opponents are largely on foot, you're on a thundering great horse, and equipped with a variety of lovely weapons including a death-dealing fire-lance. You might think this makes things too easy, but not on your bowl of noodles! The baddies bombard you with arrows, lances and axes, and on later levels (there are eight of them) you have to deal with horsemen, catapults and fireballs. The animation of your trotting horse is completely boss - the background scrolls along a bit jerkily until you reach the next killing-ground, then stops until you've cleared the area of peasant scumbags.\r\n\r\nYou can choose any of the four characters to play, but it doesn't seem to make an enormous difference. What does make a difference is if you're in two-player mode; it's a lot easier to turn the baddies into chop-suey if you have some help from another horseman.\r\n\r\nLike an R-Type clone, your fire-lance is charged up by holding down the fire-button, waiting until a sliding scale indicates that its at the required level of blaziness, then it's discharged by releasing the button. It whips out over your head and blazes boiling death at the baddies - lovely! Trouble is, you have to be lined up properly with them - your horsey moves in and out of the screen, and you must be at the right depth to hit the target. This is the tricky bit. Get it right, though - galloping around to avoid arrows, lining up your shot and letting go, and the peasants tumble into oblivion.\r\n\r\nYour strength and treasure are indicated by readouts on the top of the screen, and you can replenish them by picking up treasure-chests and other tokens. The only problems with DW are that the end-of-level nasties are nothing to split your chopsticks over, and each level is very much the same; the background graphics are nicely-detailed but monochrome, and after a couple of levels things get a bit tedious. A bigger selection of different weapons, more variation in the baddies or even the backgrounds would have made it a whole new bowl of crispy duck.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Fast-moving and spicy Oriental slasher. Suffers from some over-complex graphics.","Page":"30","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"84","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"Watch out where you re pointing that or you'll have somebody eye out!\" Yes. It's a hard life in the Horse Guards."},{"Text":"Oi! Lui Bei is ready for trouble as his power meter shows. And if that guy doesn't stop feeding his horse, he's going to kebab him!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"78%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"59%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"88%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"71%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"84%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 104, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-16","Editor":"Julian Rignall","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nArt Editor: Andrea Walker\r\nDeputy Editor: Paul Glancey\r\nStaff Writer: Paul Rand\r\nAdvertising Manager: Nigel Taylor\r\nDep Ad Manager: Joanna Cooke\r\nSales Executive: Tina Zanelli\r\nProduction Assistant: Glenys \"Teddy\" Powell\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries to: EMAP Frontline, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted By: Kingfisher Web, [redacted]\r\nColour By: Proprint, [redacted]\r\nTypeset By: Jaz 'n' Paz in a shoebox\r\nDistributed By: EMAP BBC Frontline\r\n\r\n©C+VG 1990\r\nISSN No: 0261-3697"},"MainText":"US Gold\r\nSpectrum/C64/Amstrad £10.99\r\n\r\nFight off the clans of ancient Japan in the 8 bit conversions of the Capcom coin-op. There's a choice of four warlords to play, and after selecting whichever has the right combination of physical and magical strength, mount up and charge into oncoming hordes of foot soldiers, archers and cavalry. The Spectrum and Amstrad conversions are nicely done, though the visible playing area is quite small and the detailed sprites are quite difficult to make out against the like-coloured ground. The C64 version looks like it's played in a quagmire, though, with dull grey warriors rampaging about a mud-brown battlefield. For some reason, the unusual gameplay isn't instantly appealing, so unless you loved Dynasty Wars in the arcades this isn't really worth scouring the shelves for.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Pretty good conversion, apart from the camouflaging effect of the monochrome colour scheme. Worth getting if you liked the coin-op.","Page":"70","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"AMSTRAD SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 79%\r\n\r\nSimilar to the Spectrum game, but without the colour problems. The best of the 8 bit conversions."},{"Text":"C64 SCORES\r\n\r\nOverall: 65%\r\n\r\nGhastly colours make is version look very ugly, but it plays just like the others."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"77%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 32, Jul 1990","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1990-06-21","Editor":"Richard Montiero","TotalPages":92,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"ALL DEPARTMENTS\r\nNewsfield, The Games Machine, [redacted]\r\n\r\nEDITORIAL\r\nConsultant Editor: Richard Monteiro\r\nDeputy Editor: Richard Eddy\r\nSub Editor: Dominic Handy\r\nStaff Writers: Robin Candy, Mark Caswell, Warren Lapworth\r\nEditorial Assistant: Vivien Vickress\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\nEditorial Director: Oliver Frey\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nProduction Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nDesign: Ian Chubb\r\nReprographics: Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard, Robert Hamilton\r\nSystems Operators: Paul Chubb\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAd Sales: Sarah Chapman, Jackie Morris (assistant)\r\nAdministration Assistant: Joanne Lewis\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions rates available from main address\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]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted] - a member of the BPCC Group. Distribution effected by COMAG, [redacted].\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters 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. List of winners are available after the closing date from Viv Vickress at the main address. No person who has any relationship to anyone who works for Newsfield Ltd or any sponsoring companies may enter the competitions. No 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 suitable SAE. 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 - we reserve the right to edit any written material. The views expressed in TGM are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\n©1990 TGM Magazines Ltd\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99\r\n\r\nOriginally reviewed: TGM031.\r\n\r\nThe intro screen is the best part of the Speccy game, when the 'action' starts things go rapidly downhill. The main problem is the colour (or rather lack of), everything is monochromatic. This makes even the sharpest-eyed person wonder where the sprites have gone, and that backward walking horse is still there.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"58","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"50","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"50%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]