[{"titleName":"Jetpac","publisher":"Ultimate Play The Game","author":"Chris Stamper, Tim Stamper","yearOfRelease":"1983","zxdbId":"0009362","reviews":[{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 1 , Feb 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-01-19","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":112,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Ultimate, 16K\r\n£5.50\r\n\r\nThere's not much can be said about Ultimate that hasn't already been said. Graphics and presentation are of the highest standard. In Jetpac you must get your spaceman to assemble a rocket and fuel it, steal as many gems as you can and avoid the irate aliens or kill them with the laser. When assembled the rocket takes off for another planet to plunder. Re-assemble the ship after five planets. Five levels of different aliens. Joystick: Kempston. One or Two player games, continuous fire and movement in eight directions. Highly recommended.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"47","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 2 , Mar 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-02-23","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":112,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nDesigner: Oliver Frey\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nStaff Writers: Lloyd Mangram, Rod Bellamy\r\nAdvertisement Manager: John Edwards\r\nProduction Designer: Michael Arienti\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\n\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nMono printing, typesetting & finishing by Feb Edge Litho Ltd. [redacted]\r\nColour printing by Allan-Denver Web Offset Ltd. [redacted].\r\nColour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post included)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post included).\r\nSingle copy: 75p\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to CRASH please send articles or ideas for projects to the above address. Articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope\r\n\r\nCover Illustration:Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Ultimate, 16K\r\n£5.50\r\n\r\nThere's not much can be said about Ultimate that hasn't already been said. Graphics and presentation are of the highest standard. In Jetpac you must get your spaceman to assemble a rocket and fuel it, steal as many gems as you can and avoid the irate aliens or kill them with the laser. When assembled the rocket takes off for another planet to plunder. Re-assemble the ship after five planets. Five levels of different aliens. Joystick: Kempston. One or Two player games, continuous fire and movement in eight directions. Highly recommended.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"47","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 3 , Apr 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-03-16","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":128,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Producer: Ultimate, 16K\r\n£5.50\r\n\r\nThere's not much can be said about Ultimate that hasn't already been said. Graphics and presentation are of the highest standard. In Jetpac you must get your spaceman to assemble a rocket and fuel it, steal as many gems as you can and avoid the irate aliens or kill them with the laser. When assembled the rocket takes off for another planet to plunder. Re-assemble the ship after five planets. Five levels of different aliens. Joystick: Kempston. One or Two player games, continuous fire and movement in eight directions. Highly recommended.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"64","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 24 , Mar 1984","price":"£0.85","releaseDate":"1984-02-16","editor":"Bill Scolding","totalPages":148,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Bill Scolding\r\nDeputy Editor: Nicole Segre\r\nConsultant Editor: Mike Johnston\r\nManaging Production Editor: Harold Mayes MBE\r\nSoftware Editor: John Gilbert\r\nProgram Reviewer: June Mortimer\r\nIllustrator/Designer: Brian King\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: John Ross\r\nSales Executive: Annette Burrows\r\nProduction Assistant: Dezi Epaminondou\r\nEditorial Assistant: Colette McDermott\r\nManaging Editor: Nigel Clark\r\nManaging Director: Terry Cartwright\r\nChairman: Richard Hease\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by ECC Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\nTelephone\r\nAll departments\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nIf you would like to contribute to any of the Sinclair User group of publications please send programs, articles or ideas for hardware projects to:\r\nSinclair User and Programs\r\nECC Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nPrograms should be on cassette and articles should be typed. We cannot undertake to return them unless a stamped-addressed envelope is included.\r\n\r\nWe will pay £10 for the copyright of each program published and £50 per 1,000 words for each article used.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1984\r\nSinclair User\r\nISSN NO. 0262-5458\r\n\r\nPrinted and typeset by Cradley Print PLC, [redacted]\r\n\r\nDistributed by Spotlight Magazine Distribution Ltd, [redacted]","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"INTERFACE GAMES ARE FAST BUT NOT FURIOUS\r\n\r\nJohn Gilbert reviews the ROM cartridge software currently available.\r\n\r\nThe Sinclair Research Interface Two has had few kind words said about it and that it is not surprising. The add-on is supposed to give the Spectrum the ROM potential of the Atari games consoles and computers into which you can plug ROM cartridges which will load games into the machine directly on power-up. It should have been the ideal add-on for users who want a quick-load device and no messing with tape recorders or even Microdrives.\r\n\r\nThe main difficulties with the idea are that the software available consists of reproductions of arcade games which are already on the market and that many software companies have been deterred from producing software for the interface because of the conditions attached to ordering.\r\n\r\nAt the moment companies have to order batches of 1,000 cartridges in a sector of the market which is not fully-established. It is a risky business even for a company as established as Melbourne House or Psion. The situation could develop so that Sinclair is the only company producing the ROM cartridges. It certainly has the monopoly now.\r\n\r\nThe first ROM packages, together with their colourfully-styled display boxes, to arrive on the market were titles which already existed on the cassette format in the Sinclair software library. They included Planetoids, Backgammon and Space Raiders which are all from Psion.\r\n\r\nThe packages, one of which appeared originally on the ZX-81, are not particularly innovative or awe-inspiring and they are certainly not the kind of titles which would be expected to be produced when bunching a new peripheral for a prime-selling microcomputer. It is as if Sinclair could not wait to get Interface Two out of the way and so complete its obligations for peripherals for the Spectrum. One reason may well have been that the new QL machine was occupying its thoughts.\r\n\r\nBackgammon featured as the only mind game in the first release, the others being held back because the Psion games were the quickest to produce. It is a pity that Backgammon was first instead of the chess package, which was left until later - chess has a far greater appeal to the majority of home computer users. Fortunately there was a gap of only two months before Chess was released and it has proved to be one of the better software packages in the launch.\r\n\r\nSpace Raiders is a painfully slow version of Space Invaders and could just as well be bought on cassette more cheaply. There are three spaceships with which you can fire at the aliens which amble across the screen.\r\n\r\nOnce you have finished one screen of the game, and that is not difficult, you will progress to the next level which is just as difficult or easy as the first. That makes the game a push-over and there is little challenge to tax even the newcomer to the arcade game scene.\r\n\r\nLike most of the games in the range the price of the program on cassette is only £5 but the ROM version costs almost £10. Considering that the software does not show off either the graphics, colour or sound of the Spectrum to best effect it does not seem advantageous to buy the ROM version.\r\n\r\nPlanetoids is another arcade game with a familiar theme. Your spaceship first appears stationed at the centre of the screen and asteroids start to close in on it. You must try to destroy them and avoid the ones you miss. Alien spaceships make your task even more impossible.\r\n\r\nThe standard of the game is reasonable for the market, even though it was first produced in late 1982. The graphics are better than the original Atari version of Asteroids. The ship and the planetoids have been given a solid, almost three dimensional quality.\r\n\r\nThe program has a wrapround screen which allows your spaceship to go off one side and return on the other. That causes a strange effect when your ship fires across the screen, as the missiles will disappear off one edge and reappear somewhere else. The rogue missiles could even cause you to have some nasty accidents shooting at yourself.\r\n\r\nThose packages comprised the ROMs available at the launch of Interface Two and there was a considerable wait until the other ROMs were launched in December.\r\n\r\nThe new packages include some old favourites from Melbourne House, already in the Sinclair software library, and some releases introduced by Ultimate Play the Game.\r\n\r\nThe Melbourne house offerings feature the clown of the software scene. The newest Horace adventure is not on ROM but it is pleasant to see Hungry Horace having a re-birth and Horace and the Spiders on ROM.\r\n\r\nFor those who know nothing of the Horace myth he is a little round, Pacman-type creature who has the habit of annoying everyone he meets.\r\n\r\nEach of the games has a cute plot and Hungry Horace sees the round man taking the part of a Pac-man. He is, however, no ordinary powerpill eater. He has to eat the flowers in the park and avoid the keepers who will throw him out if he is discovered. If you go through one maze into another there will be more surprises and if you are adept enough you may start to think that there is no limit to the number of mazes in the game.\r\n\r\nHorace and the Spiders is slightly different Horace has to dodge the spiders to gain points before he can reach the main part of the game which takes place in a cobwebbed house. You must destroy the spiders and their webs if you are to win the game.\r\n\r\nThe Horace adventures are a pleasure to play and it is good to see them in a format where they can be loaded immediately you feel like a quick game.\r\n\r\nThe range of Ultimate games is also worth having on cartridge, although they could be bought more cheaply on cassette from that company.\r\n\r\nIn chronological order, Jet Pac was the first game Ultimate produced for the Spectrum. In it you play a spaceman whose task is to deliver and assemble spaceship kits and to collect valuable treasures on the way. You will be faced with all kinds of odd creatures which you must avoid and destroy to complete your task.\r\n\r\nThe other games from Ultimate are Pssst, which involves a robot keeping away the bugs from a sunflower, and Cookie, which involves a chef bouncing ingredients for a cake, avoiding the nasties in the larder and keeping clear of the bins. Both games are arcade standard in quality and benefit from the ROM treatment.\r\n\r\nThe only mind game in the second release of ROM software is Chess. It is the original cassette version which has existed since the title was launched, with no changes. That is surprising since Mikro Gen, the original manufacturer of the game, has produced an upgraded version.\r\n\r\nThe game is standard so far as computer chess goes with options for playing or setting-up the board to play in particular situations. There are 10 levels and the highest, nine, takes several minutes to make a move. Each move for both you and your opponent is monitored in seconds, minutes and hours on a chess clock above the board on the screen.\r\n\r\nThe future of the ROM interface is still uncertain and many software houses are unsure what they will do in the way of supporting it. It seems unlikely that any large-scale production of programs on Sinclair standard ROMs is planned in the software industry and Sinclair could be in the unenviable position of having a monopoly of ROM software.\r\n\r\nSinclair Research hopes to produce some language and utility packages for Interface Two but the company still has no idea which language or utilities will be available, or when. It is likely that a ROM version of Micro-Prolog will be available soon but no firm date is being given even for that step forward.\r\n\r\nThe indications are that it will be the last interface for the Spectrum. The buffer at the back of the board will support only a ZX printer and Sinclair has given no intention of producing more peripherals for its home market machine. It would therefore seem logical to support the interfaces it already has as far as it can and to promote the use of those devices as much as possible. As far as Interface Two is concerned it has crept on to the market with more of a whisper than the bang which was expected.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"54,55","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"John Gilbert","score":"8","scoreSuffix":"/10"}],"screenShotText":[{"text":"'The packages are not innovative or awe-inspiring.'"},{"text":"'The company has no idea which utilities will be available.'"}],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Gilbert Factor","score":"8/10","text":"","overallScore":80}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 69 , Dec 1987","price":"£1","releaseDate":"1987-11-18","editor":"David Kelly","totalPages":148,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: David Kelly\r\nDeputy Editor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure Help: Gordo Greatbelly\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nHelpline: Andrew Hewson\r\nContributors: Richard Price, Chris Jenkins, Tony Dillon, Gary Rook\r\nHardware Correspondent: Rupert Goodwins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mike Corr\r\nSales Executive: Steve Prescott\r\nClassified Sales/Production: Alison Morton\r\nPublisher's Secretary: Debbie Pearson\r\nSubscriptions Manager: Carl Dunne\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\nTelephone [redacted]\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries [redacted]\r\n\r\nSinclair User is published monthly by EMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n\r\nCover Illustration: Angus Fieldhouse\r\n\r\nSinclair User\r\nEMAP Business & Computer Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n\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 84,699 July-Dec 1986","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Label: Ricochet\r\nAuthor: Ultimate\r\nPrice: £1.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Jason Roseaman\r\n\r\nOh boy. We really are going beck to the dawn of time with this one. Jetpac was first released by Ultimate in the days when Ultimate was the undisputed king of Spectrum software.\r\n\r\nThe basic idea is to collect the various bits of spaceship scattered around the first screen and from then on collect enough fuel pods to achieve lift off and get to the next level. Trouble is, you must get the stuff whilst dodging hoards of aliens that bounce about wildly.\r\n\r\nYou will soon realise that there isn't actually much gameplay in this ancient shoot 'em up but even as old as Jetpac is, it still retains some of its original addictiveness.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"A classic blast from the past that perhaps has no place alongside today's shoot 'em ups.","page":"48","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Jason Roseaman","score":"6","scoreSuffix":"/10"}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Overall","score":"6/10","text":"","overallScore":60}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 21 , Jul 1983","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1983-06-16","editor":"Terry Pratt","totalPages":156,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Terry Pratt\r\nStaff Writer: Eugene Lacey\r\nEditorial Assistant: Clare Edgeley\r\nReader Services: Robert Schifreen\r\nArt Editor: Linda Freeman\r\nDesigner: Lynda Skerry\r\nProduction Editor: Tim Metcalfe\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Rita Lewis\r\nAdvertising Executives: Louise Matthews, Mick Cassall\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Louise Flockhart\r\nPublisher: Tom Moloney\r\n\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE. By using the special Postal Subscription Service, copies of COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES can be mailed direct from our offices each month to any address throughout the world. All subscription applications should be sent for processing to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES (Subscription Department), [redacted]. All orders should include the appropriate remittance made payable to COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES. Annual subscription rates (12 issues): UK and Eire: £10.00, Overseas surface mail: £12.00, Airmail Europe: £20.00. Additional service information including individual overseas airmail rates available upon request. Circulation Department: EMAP National Publications. Published and distributed by EMAP National Publications Ltd. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Computer & Video Games Limited ISSN 0261 3697.\r\n\r\nCover: David Scutt\r\nNext Issue: July 16th","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"TRACK DOWN THE NASTY SIZZLING ALIEN ENEMIES\r\n\r\nBuilding your rocket and fuelling it is the idea of the latest game from Ultimate.\r\n\r\nThe tape loaded successfully first time and while the game was loading an impressive title screen was displayed.\r\n\r\nThe game starts with a rocket ship in three parts. This has to be assembled by picking up each of the pieces in order and dropping them onto the base segment which is already in position at the bottom of the screen.\r\n\r\nOnce the rocket assembly is complete, you will need to get six fuel pods on board by picking them up as they appear randomly on the screen and dropping them into the craft.\r\n\r\nWhen fuelled, you can board the ship yourself and blast off to the next planet where a similar task faces you.\r\n\r\nIf all this sounds too easy, then you probably haven't heard about the thousands of aliens who inhabit each planet and are, \"in desperate need of blowing up\". You are equipped with a laser weapon with which to do this and also a jet-powered transport system strapped to your back, hence the title. If you are hit by an alien then you lose one of your four lives. On the first screen the aliens are not too difficult to avoid but on subsequent planets they become more intelligent and are able to track you with ever increasing accuracy.\r\n\r\nJetpac is very playable, addictive and original arcade type game. The graphics are superb but the sound effects bore a striking similarity to a pan of frying eggs and bacon. By the time I reached the fourth planet I was starving!\r\n\r\nThe choice of movement keys is well thought out, although the program also accepts a joystick from Kempston.\r\n\r\nJetpac runs on any ZX Spectrum and is for one or two players. It costs £5 from Leicestershire-based Ultimate and comes complete with a five year unconditional guarantee which can't be bad.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"136","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Getting Started","score":"9/10","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Value","score":"9/10","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Playability","score":"9/10","text":"","overallScore":0}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"ZX Computing Issue 8 , Aug 1983","price":"£1.85","releaseDate":"1983-07-22","editor":"Roger Munford","totalPages":148,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"ZX Computing\r\nVol. One\r\nNumber Eight\r\nAug/Sept 1983\r\n\r\nEditor: Roger Munford\r\nAdvertising Manager: Miriam Roberts\r\nManaging Editor: Ron Harris\r\nManaging Director: T J Connell\r\n\r\nOrigination and design by MM Design & Print, [redacted]\r\nPublished by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing is published bi-monthly on the fourth Friday of the month. Distributed by: Argus Press Sales & Distribution Ltd. [redacted]. Printed by: Henry Garnett Ltd., Rotherham.\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication including all articles, designs, plans, drawings and programs and all copyright and other intellectual property rights therein 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 Argus Specialist Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Argus Specialist Publications Limited 1983","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"PRICE: £5.50\r\nMemory: 16K\r\n\r\nThe idea of this game is that you are an astronaut and your object is to collect as many of the valuable minerals, etc, of the planet which you are on, whilst also collecting fuel for your safe departure. Though the scenario is not the most original around, what puts it to number one in this review is the fantastic quality of the graphics. The characters are beautifully designed and colour is used very well indeed. But the thing that really caught my eye was the incredible smoothness of it all. Never in the game will you see one jerky move. As you get to more planets the inhabitants get more and more determined to stop you. Another nice feature is the way in which, as you proceed through the game, your rocket turns into the space shuttle - a nice touch.\r\n\r\nThere are five controls to be mastered: left, right, fire, thrust and hover. All of which maybe controlled via the keyboard or through a joystick.\r\n\r\nOverall this is a very well put together piece of software. If you want a game with impact then this is one of the best around. An excellent program and game.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"106,107","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"James Walsh","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Documentation","score":"4.5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Addictive Quality","score":"4.5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Graphics","score":"5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Programming Achievement","score":"4.5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Lasting Appeal","score":"4.5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Value","score":"4.5/5","text":"","overallScore":0}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Sinclair User Issue 32 Top 50 Spectrum Software Classics, Nov 1984","price":"","releaseDate":"1970-01-01","editor":"","totalPages":0,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"The first of a long life of sprite arcade games from a company which has built its name around quality.\r\n\r\nThe game involves a space man with jetpack who must build a space ship from the various bits of rocket scattered around the screen and then catch the fuel drums before taking off for the next screen.\r\n\r\nStill a bestselling game it has set the standard for sprite games as the entire screen is covered with colourful movement without being affected by the usual slowness of response from input or movement of characters.\r\n\r\nPosition 15/50","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"17","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Your Computer Issue 7 , Jul 1983","price":"£0.7","releaseDate":"1983-06-16","editor":"Toby Wolpe","totalPages":220,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Toby Wolpe\r\nAssistant Editor: Meirion Jones\r\nStaff Writer: Simon Beesley\r\nSub-Editor: Paul Bond\r\nEditorial Secretary: Lynn Cowling\r\nEditorial: [redacted]\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Philip Kirby\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Peter Rice\r\nAdvertisement Executives: Bill Ardley, Nigel Borrell\r\nMidlands Office: Vic Sheret\r\nNorthern Office: Ron Southall\r\nAdvertisement Secretary: Jeanette Mackrell\r\nClassified: Claire Notley\r\nPublishing Director: Chris Hipwell\r\n\r\n©Business Press International Ltd 1983\r\n\r\nYour Computer, [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: U.K. £9 for 12 issues.\r\n\r\nPrinted in Great Britain for the proprietors of Business Press International Ltd, [redacted].\r\nISSN 0263-0885\r\nPrinted by Riverside Press Ltd, [redacted], and typeset by Instep Ltd, [redacted]","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"FROM DEEP-SPACE ADVENTURES TO WORLDLY BOARD-GAMES IN MEIRION JONES' SURVEY\r\n\r\nLess than a year ago the appearance of Scrabble on disc for the Apple caused consternation among micro owners. The program defeated three-quarters of the humans who challenged it to a dual of words. At least Scrabblers could comfort themselves with the knowledge that they had been beaten by a £750 disc-based system. Now Psion has taken even that consolation away by launching an improved version of the game with a bigger dictionary and better graphics which will run on a £150 system - the 48K Spectrum and a cassette recorder.\r\n\r\nThis illustrates the rate at which Spectrum software is improving. The latest releases include clever implementations of board- games like monopoly and arcade favourites such as Scramble, long and complicated Adventures with names like Knight's Quest and combinations of arcade and Adventure like Pixel's Trader. While serious and educational material software is still thin on the ground, programs like Hewson's Countries of the World show how much useful information can be packed into the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nMORE ORIGINALITY\r\n\r\nUnfortunately the standard is not uniformly high. Sometimes imagination is lacking. Bridge software still insists on marketing what it calls \"an exciting game for two to six players\". Yes, you guessed, it is boring old Hangman.\r\n\r\nAt other times graphics are weak. Micromega sells a version of Roulette which features a roulette wheel which looks more like a flying saucer on an off day. There is still too high a percentage of unloadable tapes and of tapes which you wished had been unloadable. Davic Games Tape 1, for instance, features a game which has Tooth Monsters instead of ghosts, which is probably the dullest-ever version of Pac-Man. The Tooth Monsters themselves are about as threatening as a pair of jelly babies.\r\n\r\nIf you want real tooth monsters try Imagine's excellent Molar Maul. This is a real nerve-tingler from the moment that an enormous set of gleaming teeth appears on the screen like something out of jaws. Armed only with a toothbrush and toothpaste you have to defend these dentures from swarms of evil bacteria.\r\n\r\nThese germs go by the name of Dentorium Kamikazium which allows Imagine to talk about \"the DK Menace\" - a triple pun partly at the expense of Imagine's Ipswich-based rivals DK'tronics.\r\n\r\nImagine's punsters are at work again on the cover of Arcadia where we are told we are fighting against the \"deadly menace of the Atarian empire\". Perhaps this explains why Sinclair owners have shown such enthusiasm for Arcadia because the game itself is just a lacklustre version of Galaxians. Much better is Imagine's Schizoids.\r\n\r\nIf, like me, you have always wanted to be a bulldozer, Schizoids is the game for you. You are a bulldozer in outer space and your job is to push tumbling cubes and pyramids into a nearby black hole without falling in yourself. Perhaps this nearby anomaly in the space-time continuum affects the wavelength of light. At any rate the game itself is only in black and white.\r\n\r\nPixel is another company which cannot resist veiled messages. Trader is part space Adventure and part arcade game. The Adventure, trading commodities between different worlds, is more convincing than the crude skill tests such as finding the right orbit when approaching a planet.\r\n\r\nTrader may well be bought as much for its attractive packaging - which includes a survival guide for the would-be Trader - as for the game itself. After buying supplies for your first trip you set out for the planet Psi where the inhabitants - yes, Psions - who look like a cross between Clive Sinclair's beard and a muppet ask you tiresome questions such as \"What is the formula for carbon monoxide?\" or \"What is your first name?\". Entering \"Clive\" as an answer elicits the response \"What a strange name\". So, for that matter, does any other reply.\r\n\r\nIf disaster should strike, a caption will appear saying \"Is this the end...?\" The answer is \"No\" because Trader is a trilogy so there are another two complete parts to load from the tape. There are many more traditional text Adventures of the \"Go south, open door, take gold\" variety but the narrowness of the replies they will accept is often irritating.\r\n\r\nDOWN THE MINES\r\n\r\nMikrogen's Mines of Saturn starts with a cheery \"Have fun\" and then proceeds to ask questions like \"Tunnels lead N, S, E and W - what will you do?\" Attempts to answer \"N\" or \"go N\" or even \"go n\" will not wash. It must be \"go North\" or nothing. At least Phipps' Knight's Quest has a 120-word vocabulary to help you on your damsel-ridden way to a castle in the air.\r\n\r\nEverest by Richard Shepherd Software is more of a strategy game than a straight Adventure. You have to take enough food and rope to climb the mountain and cope with every hazard. I enjoyed the climb but I never reached the summit - partly because the Sherpas are not what they used to be.\r\n\r\nWhen Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Everest for the first time he managed to find a Sherpa called Tensing. The time when you visit a Nepalese hill village to recruit porters you are asked to choose between Sherpas with names like Keith, Brian, Ron, Tim and Paul. Presumably they are ex-hippies, lost on the road to Katmandu.\r\n\r\nThings obviously still are what they used to be down at Mikrogen. If Andy Capp sends you into fits of laughter Mad Martha might just raise a smile. It is the same old story, boy meets girl, well, hen-pecked husband meets axe-happy wife - all very predictable. Mikrogen also sells arcade games like Cosmic Raiders - a competent impersonation of Defender with a long-range screen and grabbers.\r\n\r\nMelbourne House's variation on the same theme is called Penetrator. The display looks more like the arcade version of Scramble. A training facility to help you build up specific game skills is a good idea. C-Tech's Rocket Raider is yet another competent variant on similar lines.\r\n\r\nArtic offers a suicidally fast asteroids game called Cosmic Debris. Still in the arcades, both Elfin Software and Quicksilva produce robot battles which are of the Pac-Man-meets-Tanks variety.\r\n\r\nElfin's Tobor has the more exciting opening titles but loses on points to Quicksilva's QS Frenzy whose exotic science-fiction plot seems to offer a better justification for the game.\r\n\r\nSpeaking of Tanks, DK'tronics 3D Tanx was one of my favourite programs in the whole batch. You can track you gun barrel from side to side and adjust the elevation as you lob your shells at four lines of moving tanks which can fire back at you. Although the opposing tanks at first appear to be crawling across a structure that looks more like Brighton's West Pier than a battleground, this is one of my four games you might catch me paying to play in an arcade.\r\n\r\nJOIN THE PROFESSIONALS\r\n\r\nArtic's Combat Zone is another ambitious attempt at a Tank game. Your target and the landscape - a few pyramids on an invisible plane - look like refugees from Psion's Vu-3D program. They are very simple three-dimensional shapes but they change position smoothly and realistically as if you were walking past them in some world inside your Spectrum.\r\n\r\nYou and your opponents fire fragments of cubist paintings at each other but the abstraction is not so important as the fact that you are playing the first real Spectrum game in three dimensions - Vu-3D itself is a Psion program which allows you to build up three dimensional objects on the screen and then rotate them, or float them towards you and back again. In effect it is a crude version of the mainframe programs which create the effects for films like Tron.\r\n\r\nET makes an appearance too in an Abbex Adventure with voices called ETX. Unfortunately after loading pages of instructions about how I should phone home ending with the advice that I should treat any MI5 man who appeared as an enemy, the tape self-destructed.\r\n\r\nThis left me with an unnerving impression of \"the strength of Britain's security services.\r\n\r\nThe secret police are certainly important in DK'tronics strategy game called Dictator. The setting is a banana republic. The instructions ominously point out that \"your rule is measured in months\". You have to balance political factions, army, secret police, peasants, landowners, guerillas and superpowers if you are to survive.\r\n\r\nBreaking into embassies would doubtless be all in a day's work for a dictator. So for all prospective saviours of the nation, Sinclair's Embassy Assault will come in useful. It is very much like those maze games which present your view. standing in the maze. Instead of trying to avoid a minotaur, this time you are looking for secret codes and the like.\r\n\r\nAll this is enough to send you back into the arcades but Jet Pac's creators have moved from the arcades into home computing.\r\n\r\nUltimate Play the Game's Jet Pac puts you into the position of an astronaut who has to build a rocket from the pieces he can find sitting on clouds around the screen. The scenario is not entirely convincing but it makes for a good game. The same cannot be said of the simulations by CCS.\r\n\r\nCCS's representations of the oil business, Dallas, running a printers, Print Room, and of international aviation, Airline, may be realistic but they are not very exciting. Although these were originally designed as training for middle management, livelier presentation would not necessarily have made them less useful. Hewson's simulations of air-traffic control, Heathrow, and the Nightflite flight simulator are more convincing.\r\n\r\nBoard-games seem to transfer particularly well to the Spectrum. Psion's Scrabble has already been recommended. With its four levels of play and 11,000-word dictionary it can offer almost as tough opposition as you could want. There are also two different approaches to that old favourite Monopoly.\r\n\r\nAutomonopoli offers a continuous display of the part of the board around your current position. This display moves smoothly when the dice are thrown. Do Not Pass Go from Workforce has a less interesting display but at least shows the whole board all the time. Automonopoli allows you to personalise the program with the names of players and both programs give the option of being either a board for humans to play on or of letting the computer join in as a player. In each case the computer becomes a soft opponent once you have reached the stage of building houses and hotels.\r\n\r\nIf you have ever wandered into a rundown dockland hotel or pub and been confronted by the sort of balding drunk who says he used to sail the seven seas and boasts that he can name the capital of any country you care to choose, I can reveal his secret. At home he has a Spectrum with Hewson's Countries of the World up and running on it.\r\n\r\nAt the touch of a button it will remind you that N'djamena is the capital of Chad or that Yaounde is the capital of Cameroon. In the corner of the pub someone with probably be playing a video game not unlike Firebirds.\r\n\r\nSoftek's Firebirds is a Galaxians-type game distinguished by good croaking noises from the birds. Still on the subject of sound effects Workforce's Jaws Revenge is very noisy and fun. The graphics are great. You are a shark and you are after the divers and- boats which are after you.\r\n\r\nMined Out from Quicksilva is a very strange version of Mines. It is subtitled \"Rescue Bill the worm from certain old age\" and if you find a way through the first minefield you then have to rescue damsels in distress. Someone at Quicksilva has been playing too many Adventure games and it is beginning to show.\r\n\r\nThe last words on the cassette packet read \"the image fades to soft focus which is replaced by waves falling on a rocky shore, except in Bill's dream there are no waves or soft focus...\" It is certainly time that software cassettes carried a government health warning.\r\n\r\nCompany: Abbex\r\nGame: ETX\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Artic\r\nGame: 3D Combat Zone\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Artic\r\nGame: Cosmic Debris\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Automata\r\nGame: Automonopoli\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £6\r\n\r\nCompany: Bridge\r\nGame: Lynchmob\r\nMemory: 16K\r\nPrice: £6.50\r\n\r\nCompany: CCS Software\r\nGame: Dallas\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £6\r\n\r\nCompany: C-Tech\r\nGame: Rocket Raider\r\nMemory: 16K\r\nPrice: £6.50\r\n\r\nCompany: DK'Tronics\r\nGame: 3D Tanx\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: DK'Tronics\r\nGame: Dictator\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Elfin\r\nGame: Tobor\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Hewson\r\nGame: Heathrow\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £7.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Hewson\r\nGame: Countries of the World\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Imagine\r\nGame: Molar Maul\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.50\r\n\r\nCompany: Imagine\r\nGame: Arcadia\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.50\r\n\r\nCompany: Imagine\r\nGame: Schizoids\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.50\r\n\r\nCompany: Melbourne House\r\nGame: Penetrator\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Micromega\r\nGame: Roulette\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Mikrogen\r\nGame: Cosmic Raiders\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Mikrogen\r\nGame: Mines of Saturn\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Mikrogen\r\nGame: Mad Martha\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Phipps\r\nGame: Knight's Quest\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Psion\r\nGame: Scrabble\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £15.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Psion\r\nGame: Vu-3D\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £9.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Quicksilva\r\nGame: Frenzy\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Quicksilva\r\nGame: Trader\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £9.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Quicksilva\r\nGame: Mined Out\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Richard Shepherd\r\nGame: Everest Ascent\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £6.50\r\n\r\nCompany: Sinclair Research\r\nGame: Embassy Assault\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £4.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Softek\r\nGame: Firebirds\r\nMemory: 16K\r\nPrice: £5.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Ultimate Play The Game\r\nGame: Jet Pac\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.50\r\n\r\nCompany: Workforce\r\nGame: Do Not Pass Go\r\nMemory: 48K\r\nPrice: £6.95\r\n\r\nCompany: Workforce\r\nGame: Jaws Revenge\r\nMemory: 16/48K\r\nPrice: £5.95","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"62,63,66","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Meirion Jones","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[{"text":"Build rockets in Jet Pac, left, and arm yourself to the teeth in Molar Maul, above."}],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Crash Issue 4 , May 1984","price":"£0.75","releaseDate":"1984-04-19","editor":"Roger Kean","totalPages":128,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"Editor: Roger Kean\r\nConsultant Editor: Franco Frey\r\nProduction Designer: David Western\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nClient Liaison: John Edwards\r\nStaff Writer: Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: Matthew Uffindel, Chris Passey\r\nSubscription Manager: Denise Roberts\r\n\r\n©1984 Newsfield Ltd.\r\nCrash Micro is published monthly by Newsfield Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nTelephone numbers\r\nEditorial [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions [redacted]\r\nAdvertising [redacted]\r\nHot Line [redacted]\r\nNo material may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\n\r\nColour origination by Scan Studio, [redacted]\r\nPrinted in England by Plymouth Web Offset Ltd, [redacted].\r\nDistribution by Comag, [redacted]\r\nAdditional setting and process work by The Tortoise Shell Press, [redacted].\r\n\r\nSubscriptions: 12 issues £9.00 UK Mainland (post free)\r\nEurope: 12 issues £15 (post free).\r\n\r\nWe cannot undertake to return any written or photographic material sent to CRASH MICRO unless accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope.\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"Situations Vacant\r\nWanted: Space Test Pilot\r\nQualifications: Rocket Pilot Licence, elementary technical knowledge and Award of Merit from League of Blasted Aliens\r\nSpecial Details: Volunteer required to assemble and launch test vehicles.\r\n\r\nDangerous conditions (hordes of homicidal entities alien to all known galaxies), but good rewards for initiative can be acquired through a 10% commission on all minerals secured. (High profits assured on every trip.) Lengthy experience in laser weaponry required, strong nerves essential, and a preference for working alone. Xenophobiacs preferred, a pathological tendency to blast everything in sight helpful. Certificate of insanity not mandatory but also helpful.\r\n\r\nCan you fulfil the above criteria and become the Ultimate test-pilot? This job is not for the faint hearted or for those with lethargic reflexes. The task itself is simple enough; as sole test pilot for the Acme Interstellar Transport Company 'you' have to assemble a space ship which is conveniently distributed in bits on the planet surface while fighting off hordes of maniacal aliens. Once assembled the test-pilot must wait for fuel supplies to descent from the heavens or he can supplement his income by collecting the various gems that also accompany the fuel supplies. The screen display shows the planet surface, the rocket parts awaiting assembly and three ledges at various heights. The screen has a wrap around effect which enables the jetman's laser to leave and re-enter the screen at opposite points. The aliens are of different colours, and their numbers are supplemented by new arrivals to prevent you from feeling lonely.\r\n\r\nYour jetman can negotiate 16 screens and assemble four space ships before the game begins to repeat itself, but getting there is a difficult task as the aliens vary from subnormal laser-fodder to vicious 'intelligent' hunters who follow you around the screen. None of the aliens is armed but collision is usually fatal.\r\n\r\nIt is easy to see why Jetpac turned Ultimate into a household name virtually overnight; even now it stands out amongst the plethora of mediocre arcade clones. The presentation of the game is excellent, it loads reliably under a beautifully designed title-page which shows almost exactly the cassette inlay illustration. The keyboard controls and the game itself are comprehensively covered within the inlay; however, the program, once loaded, gives you a choice between keyboard and joystick controls, or between one and two players.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are colourful and the test-pilot jetman with a rocket pack on his back is accurately drawn with remarkable attention to detail. The animation of the jetman is superb and his movement in flight, and that of the aliens, is very smooth indeed. My favourite piece of animation is when the fully fuelled rocket blasts off for another planet with the frustrated aliens hopping about angrily in the flames from the rocket's afterburners. The smoothly animated multi-coloured laser blasts and the variform aliens are very eye-catching as well.\r\n\r\nThe only criticism with this cassette (if one is hypercritical) is with the sound, which is adequate without being exceptional, and with no catchy tunes being played.\r\n\r\nIn appraising this game it is difficult to find any real faults. The game is easily played with either the keyboard or joystick. The high-resolution colour graphics and excellent animation routines make full use of the Spectrum's capabilities. Ultimate have gone a long way towards creating the perfect arcade-quality game, and at only £5.50 my verdict is rush out and buy it before Ultimate realise that it's grossly under priced.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"56,57","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Jaswant Singh","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[{"text":"CRASH REVIEWERS COMPETITION\r\n\r\nIn the first issue of CRASH (February) we ran a competition designed to discover the best reviewers of games from among readers. The results of this competition should have been announced in the third issue (April). We had, however, overlooked the fact that, as they say, everyone's a critic at heart. By the time the third hundred review dropped into the IN tray, we realised that there was no way it would be possible to process all the entries in time. Hence the one-month delay."},{"text":"In addition to the winner and five runners-up, the following get a special mention, and extracts or whole reviews will be appearing in following issues.\r\n\r\nVic Groves, Regent's Park Estate, London NW1\r\nA. J. Green, Toddington, Beds\r\nRob Holmes, Wirksworthy, Derbyshire\r\nDavid Branston, Hall Green, Birmingham\r\nS. Guillerme, London W8\r\nR. Norfolk, Scholar Green, Stoke-on-Trent\r\nH. J. Lock, Wallington, Surrey\r\nDavid Dursley, Clifton, Bristol\r\nJ. E. Price, St Albans, Herts"},{"text":"JUDGING CRITERIA\r\n\r\nWhat we were really looking for were reviews that managed to provide a good, concise description of the game in question and combine it with a sense of humour, personal observation and, of course, an ability to write in a fluent, interesting way. We did say that entries would not be judged on spelling ability, although it would be important to be literate. In the event, there seemed to be very few bad spellers. A number of entries tried to ape the style of presentation as seen in CRASH, which was not necessary at all, although this did not affect the outcome of the final decision; and other writers steadfastly stuck to the format that other well-known computer magazines offer.\r\n\r\nThe winner and five runners-up have provided a varied selection of titles, and although it was felt that the winner stood out, he did so from the runners-up by a faint margin. All in all it was a hard Choice.\r\n\r\nAnd so to the most important part - the results."},{"text":"Readers were asked to write three reviews of titles picked from a selection of 79 games, divided into five categories: Arcade, Adventure, Strategy /board games, Simulations, Utilities and Educational.\r\n\r\nEach review was supposed to be of between 500 and 900 words. However, due to a rather ambiguous use of language (sorry) entrants were a bit confused as to whether they should write three reviews of this length or three reviews which together added up to this length. As it was our error, no one has been penalised for picking either figure.\r\n\r\nAs it turns out, it was just as well that there was a large selection of choice, but, in the main, the majority of reviewers opted for the more obvious games and there were numerous versions of Jetpac, Hobbit, Penetrator and Zoom. From among the utilities The Quill and Melbourne Draw proved favourites. We were pleasantly surprised by how many educational reviews we received, showing that this is a vital area of interest for quite a number of readers.\r\n\r\nChoosing a winner and five runners-up has been a difficult task, not only because there were so many entries, but also because the standard was extremely high throughout. A factor common to many entries was the tendency to pick games obviously well enjoyed by the reviewer, thus allowing said reviewer to rhapsodise over the game's finest points rather than actually criticise it. It's always much easier to say nice things about something than to say unpleasant things in a constructive manner. On the other hand, there were a few entries which positively reveled in tearing a program to shreds as a sort of revenge against the computer game in general!"},{"text":"THE WINNERS ENTRIES\r\n\r\nIt would only be fair to say that in the opinion of the Editor there were several entrants who were able to provide more detailed descriptions of the games than those that will be found in the winner's reviews. But the winner managed to combine most successfully the ability to enthuse over a game while at the same time keeping a sense of overall perspective. He was able to describe the games adequately and in a very personal way. Most importantly, all three reviews start off in a highly original and entertaining manner, creating instantly an atmosphere which makes the reader want to carry on reading.\r\n\r\nAs printing all the winning entries in one go would take up too much room, we have had to split them up into two sections. This month the winner, J. Singh, and runners-up John Minson and Phil Morse; next month runners-up Gary Bradley, E. Munslow and Steven Wetherill. The following month we will be printing some further entries which deserve a special mention. May we thank everyone who wrote in to take part in the competition."},{"text":"WINNER - CRASH REVIEWERS COMPETITION\r\n\r\nJaswant Singh is 19 and lives in Hadley, Telford, with his family: mother, father, two sisters and brother. He went to Manor School, just down the road from where he lives, and he left with 10 O-levels and four A-levels. He now works for Lloyds Bank. The CRASH Reviewers' Competition isn't the first competition that Jaswant has won. In May 1982 he won second prize of £300 as an A-level student in a competition organised by Barclays, writing on teaching and the microchip. He was also a runner-up in a nationwide competition organised by The Observer and Whitbread of the subject, How the Chip Will Change Society.\r\n\r\nJaswant bought his first Spectrum in October, and says he prefers playing arcade games. He does not use a joystick, although he is thinking of getting one soon. We hope that Jaswant will be joining the team of CRASH reviewers very soon."},{"text":"WINNER CRASH REVIEWERS' COMPETITION\r\n\r\nJ. Singh, Hadley, Telford, Salop\r\n\r\nRUNNERS-UP\r\n\r\n(Not in order of merit)\r\nSteven Wetherill, Kexboro, Barnsley, S. Yorks\r\nE.Munslow, West Bromwich, W. Midlands\r\nGary Bradley, Glasgow\r\nJohn Minson, Muswell Hill, London N10\r\nPhil Morse, Welwyn Garden City, Herts"}],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Personal Computer News Issue 17 , Jul 1983","price":"","releaseDate":"1983-07-07","editor":"Cyndy Miles","totalPages":90,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"CHARACTER SET\r\n\r\nEditorial\r\nEditor: Cyndy Miles\r\nAssistant Editor: Geof Wheelwright\r\nProduction Editor: Keith Parish\r\nSub-Editor: John Lettice\r\nNews Editor: David Guest\r\nNews Writers: Ralph Bancroft, Wendie Pearson\r\nSoftware Editor: Shirley Fawcett\r\nSystems Editor: Max Phillips\r\nHardware Editor: Richard King\r\nPeripherals Editor: Ian Scales\r\nListings Editor: Sandra Grandison\r\nEditor's Assistant: Harriet Arnold\r\nArt Director: Jim Dansie\r\nArt Editor: David Robinson\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Floyd Sayers\r\nArt Assistant: Dolores Fairman\r\nPublisher: Fiona Collier\r\nPublishing Manager: Mark Eisen\r\nPublishing Assistant: Jane Green\r\n\r\nAdvertising\r\nAdvertisement Director: John Cade\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Nic Jones\r\nAssistant Advertisement Manager: Sue Hunter\r\nSales Executives: Robert Stallibrass, Matthew Parrot, Bettina Williams, Ian Whorley, Sarah Barron, Roxanna Johnston, Christian McCarthy\r\nProduction Manager: Eva Wroblewska\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Jenny Dunne\r\nSubscription Enquiries: Gill Stevens\r\nSubscription Address: [redacted]\r\nEditorial Address: [redacted]\r\nAdvertising Address: [redacted]\r\n\r\nPublished by VNU Business Publications\r\n[redacted]\r\n© VNU 1983. No material maybe reproduced in whole or in part without written consent from the copyright holders.\r\nPhotoset by Quickset, [redacted]\r\nPrinted by Chase Web Offset, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by Seymour Press, [redacted]\r\nRegistered at the PO as a newspaper\r\n\r\nCover photography by Chris Stevens","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"NAME: Jet Pac\r\nSYSTEM: Spectrum 16K\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Ultimate Play the Game [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: WH Smith, John Menzies, Sinclair dealers, mail order.\r\n\r\nPLANETS OF PLENTY\r\n\r\nJet Pac is the first product from a newly formed company which claims it has 'the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain.'\r\n\r\nOBJECTIVE\r\n\r\nIn a word - greed. You're the chief test pilot for Acme Interstellar Transport and have been asked to go to various planets and assemble rockets. But that seems a mildly boring activity - once you've built one rocket the others are the same.\r\n\r\nSo when you arrive on the planet and start jetting around, you decide to take a few 'souvenirs' in the form of jewels, elements and gold - which oddly keep falling from the sky.\r\n\r\nThe aliens are a mite peeved that you've tried to walk off with their treasure, without so much as paying the V in VAT. So you have to shoot them with your Quad Photon Laser Phasers.\r\n\r\nYou also have to fuel the rocket you've assembled in order to get off each planet - and that means collecting six fuel pods - which also drop from the skies.\r\n\r\nFIRST IMPRESSIONS\r\n\r\nThis is one of the only cassette-based games - no, the only - I've ever played whose onscreen graphics match the artists' impressions that look so enticing on cassette sleeves. The documentation is also quite sufficient to explain the principle, so Jet Pac wins on both counts.\r\n\r\nIN PLAY\r\n\r\nThe first planet features fireball-type creatures that don't get in your way too much as you build your rocket and then re-fuel to move on to the next planet. The trick is to stay hovering above the planet on the three 'safe areas' above the ground - if you don't the fireballs will get you.\r\n\r\nHowever, the air seems thinner at the top of the screen and the aliens tend to keep away from it. The second planet harbours mean furry creatures, the third vicious bouncing spheres and the fourth some strange-looking little insects.\r\n\r\nThe insects are a new breed of tough creature that jealously guard both jewels and fuel pods and seems to have a heat-seeking capability that allows them to follow you around. The fifth planet (I didn't get any further than that) features flying saucers which seem even meaner than the insects.\r\n\r\nVERDICT\r\n\r\nLittle to say here, except that I have never had more fun playing a game on the Spectrum.\r\n\r\nA classic which should rank with Space Invaders and Pacman in the computer game annals of fame.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":"","page":"51","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[{"name":"Geof Wheelwight","score":"","scoreSuffix":""}],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":[{"header":"Lasting Appeal","score":"4/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Playability","score":"5/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Use Of Machine","score":"4/5","text":"","overallScore":0},{"header":"Overall Value","score":"5/5","text":"","overallScore":100}],"compilationReviewScores":[]},{"issue":{"id":0,"name":"Personal Computer News Issue 41 PCN Micropaedia v13 part 3: Christmas Software Buyer's Guide, Dec 1983","price":"","releaseDate":"1970-01-01","editor":"","totalPages":0,"hasCoverTape":false,"flannelPanel":"","numberOfReviews":0,"numberOfAwardedReviews":0},"mainText":"PC MICROPEDIA VOL 13 PART 3\r\n\r\nSOFTWARE\r\n\r\nChristmas Software Buyers Guide\r\n\r\nSOFTWARE BUYERS GUIDE\r\n\r\nSOFTWARE SELECTION\r\n\r\nWhether you've just bought a personal computer, had one for some time or are expecting one on Christmas Day, one thing you'll be looking for is some good software to ease the digestion of the Christmas fare or to stave off boredom during the re-runs of old films on the TV.\r\n\r\nIn this Micropaedia we'll give details of how to select the best value programs for your money, as well as a list of the best games we've reviewed in our pages this year.\r\n\r\nThe first thing to do is look carefully at your needs. Software can be divided roughly into a number of areas such as: applications, utilities educational and games. This list is not comprehensive and there are bound to be some overlaps.\r\n\r\nApplications: This covers word processing, database, accounting programs and so on. These are designed to take the slog out of paper work, it you're looking to make typing easier then you must bear in mind that there's no point buying a word processor unless you have a printer. You should also ask:\r\n\r\n- Does the program give an adequate screen size, ie between 40 and 80 characters?\r\n\r\n- Does it respond quickly when a word runs off the end of a line? How easy is it to use and is the documentation clear?\r\n\r\n- Will it verity your text once you've saved it onto cassette?\r\n\r\n- Can you print more than one copy of the text easily?\r\n\r\nDatabases: If you've reached the stage where you've got so many cassettes or records that you can't keep track of them, then you might consider looking at some database packages. If all you need is a simple card index, then you might be better off buying just that. Databases on micros can be misapplied quite easily. The problem with a card index is that you can retrieve the information in one of two ways: by picking a card from its main heading or by searching the entire set from start to finish. A card box is good for people's names and addresses etc, but no good if, for example, you wish to find out which of these people live in a given town.\r\n\r\nThe main advantage of a computer database is that you can select cards ('records') on a number of criteria. For example. If you run a club you could pick out all the members who are late with subscriptions and who live in a certain town.\r\n\r\nThe main limitation of computer databases is that you can't usually keep more than 300 cards at a time. If you have a cassette-based program you will have to SAVE and VERIFY the database every time you alter it - this can be a real pain.\r\n\r\nThe questions to ask here are, will it really save you time and effort? What is the maximum number of records you can keep on it at any one time? How many separate pieces of information can each 'card' hold? (eg product description, code value, number in stock, reorder limit.) How many characters (letters) are you limited to for each record?\r\n\r\nAccounts: It's at this time of year that you are most likely to be feeling the pinch, financially. Investment in a home accounting or bookkeeping package may help with the management of money matters. In this area you will also find programs that help you calculate heat losses which may help you save money by proper insulation.\r\n\r\nAs with the database programs, the most important question relates to your needs - will the program really save you time and effort? Would it be easier, quicker and cheaper to use a calculator, pen and paper?\r\n\r\nUtilities: These are programs for the more serious hobbyists, who enjoy developing their own programs and finding out more about their machines.\r\n\r\nPerhaps the first thing you should consider in this area is another language. Basic is a good language for learning about programming but it shouldn't be the only string to your bow. Forth is now available on most micros which allows you to write arcade games which run very fast indeed. Pascal is becoming increasingly popular on a variety of micros and most versions will give you a good grounding in this structured language. Rarer but just as interesting are, Logo, Lisp and Prolog.\r\n\r\nIf you want your programs to go faster but don't want to learn another language you should shop around for a compiler. This is a program that will convert your Basic into machine code. This has the advantage of speeding up the program and making sure other people can't steal those routines that took you hours to code up. Certainly one thing most programmers will find of enormous use is a 'toolbox' of some kind. There are as yet only a few of these about due to their immense value more are being launched every week. Toolkits generally include REM strippers - to take out all the REM lines needed during program development. This can make for great memory savings if space is tight. If you're lucky a toolkit may also have a packing routine which takes out all unnecessary spaces and in some cases joins lines up to save space. An 'unpacker' should also be provided.\r\n\r\nIf you're interested in working at the heart of the computer, you'll be looking to machine code. In that case you'll need an assembler at least. This saves you the slog of having to convert op-codes to hex, or calculate branches and offsets. A disassembler does the opposite - takes the hex codes from memory and shows you the op-codes. You'll need both of these for getting right down to it and so it is probably worth considering a full monitor system. A good monitor should combine an assembler and disassembler and provide a machine code toolkit with such facilities as, block moves of memory, trace functions, break point settings and so on. The more functions the monitor has the more useful it will be... and the more expensive.\r\n\r\nEducation: In the last few months most of the major educational publishers have launched educational programs. These include, Heinemann, Griffin and George, Macmillan Longman and so on. There is also a lot of software being produced by smaller companies like Chalksoft and Widgit Software.\r\n\r\nThe standard of software in this field is probably more variable than in other areas, some is dreadful, some excellent. Five-Ways is a software company that has produced programs for both Heinemann and Macmillan. Its programs have set the standard by which others should be judged, so try to see them. They are available on Spectrum, BBC and RML380 from retailers, who should be prepared to demonstrate any programs in stock.\r\n\r\nGames: There used to be a clear division between adventure and arcade-type games. This has been blurred over the last few months by programs which use ideas and techniques from the two types.\r\n\r\nArcade-type games can be subdivided into those that mimic the 'real-thing', games like Invaders/Galaxians, Phoenix, Pac-Man, Defender/Scramble, Kong, Asteroids, Berserk and so on.\r\n\r\nThe main differences between these games ties in how you move relative to the background.\r\n\r\nThere has been a move of late toward 3D games. These seek to produce the illusion of three dimensions on the screen, so that things don't just move left-right and up-down, but can appear to move into the distance as well. Some of these have tried to use the brain's capacity for giving this impression from the different information obtained from the two eyes. They do this by using two coloured pictures of the same image on the screen and you have to wear coloured glasses to get the effect. These are worth looking at, but they don't always work well on all TVs.\r\n\r\nOther games use perspective transformations to get a similar effect. These seem to be pointing the way to a new and exciting direction in games. Of particular note here are Lunar Crabs and Ant Attack.\r\n\r\nThe main point about arcade-type games is the use of sound and colour graphics on the machine. Don't be misled by the packaging. Sometimes the cassette cover gives the impression that the game uses stupendous graphics, but you'll find that this may be an artist's impression of the title and bear no relation at all to the pictures on the screen. To avoid this, look in the magazines to find reviews accompanied by a 'screen-shot' - a photograph of the game being played. Sometimes you'll find one of these on the inside cover of the cassette.\r\n\r\nAdventure games are often 'text-only'. This means that there are no pictures at all. In these you have to type in instructions such as 'go west', 'get rifle', 'open door' and so on. The idea is that you have to complete a quest which might involve finding some secret treasure or simply finding your way out of a labyrinth of rooms and corridors without being killed by some unsavoury thug.\r\n\r\nOften you need to have picked up items before you can proceed very far - for example, you may not be able to read a crucial message (or even be told it's there) before picking up and/or using a torch. The best of the strictly text-only adventures should have a very large vocabulary. The program should recognise ten verbs as a rock-bottom minimum and at least twice as many objects. There should also be many locations to move to and from. The best way to find out about these is, again, to read through reviews of the programs or to look at the cover or instruction manual.\r\n\r\nThe problem with this is that some suppliers deliberately include very little detail about the words you can use, or the objects. One of the main points about an adventure game is that you are supposed to work out all this information for yourself.\r\n\r\nThere have been a number of games released recently which might be termed 'extended adventure' games. In these you get a picture on the screen of the room you're in and possibly some extra information at the foot or to one side of the screen.\r\n\r\nOf particular note here are games like Valhalla. In this, you play the role of a wanderer in the Norse Gods' kingdom. The screen is split into two sections - the top shows your location, yourself and who/whatever might be present. The characters move around rather like those in a cartoon. The lower screen is used for entering commands and getting information about who's who or what's what. The point is that the characters have lives of their own and will move around without your doing anything at all!\r\n\r\nAlso in this vein are the Oracle's Cave and the Hobbit. There are more and more games breaking into this new territory every week. One to watch out for will be Alice in Wonderland from Audiogenic for the Commodore 64.\r\n\r\nAdventure games require more wit than dexterity and it's easy to get addicted to the better ones, rather like getting completely taken up with a film or book. Try to see them in action before buying and bear in mind that the first few times you play them are likely to provide as much frustration as excitement while you're getting familiar with the basic framework.\r\n\r\nThe better games allow you to do more than just enter two words in the usual verb-object pair. Some will even allow you to enter such complex phrases as telling one of the characters to do something for you!\r\n\r\nGeneral rules: Avoid buying programs on the strength of advertising or covers. Some suppliers can generally be relied on to produce high-quality games, but everyone makes the occasional mistake! Check the top-ten charts in different magazines and look through back issues of magazines for reviews. Ask to see games before you buy, but make sure you know what sort of game you're after, or you'll waste a lot of your own time and that of shop assistants.\r\n\r\nTRIED AND TESTED FOR THE SPECTRUM\r\n\r\nNAME: Psst\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Ultimate\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 16/48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Jumping Jack\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Imagine\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 16/48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Cookie\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Ultimate\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 16/48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Magic Mountain\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £4.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Phipps\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Zzoom\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Imagine\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Splat\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Incentive\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Football Pools\r\nTYPE: Utility\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Hartland\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Pimania\r\nTYPE: Advent\r\nPRICE: £10\r\nPUBLISHER: Automata\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Horace Goes Skiing\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Psion\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 16K\r\n\r\nNAME: Mad Martha\r\nTYPE: Arcade\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Mikrogen\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\n\r\nNAME: Jetpac\r\nPRICE: £5.50\r\nPUBLISHER: Ultimate Play The Game, [redacted]\r\nSYSTEM: 16K\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: WH Smith, John Menzies, Sinclair Dealers, mail order.\r\n\r\nThis is a classic game that tops Space Invaders and Pacman and offers lots of fun.\r\n\r\nYou're the chief test pilot tor Acme interstellar Transport and your job is to go to various planets to assemble rockets.\r\n\r\nBits of elements, jewels and gold fall from the sky which you snatch, but the aliens get a bit peeved because you've grabbed their worldly goods without so much as paying the V in VAT. And there's only one way to settle the matter - shoot them with your Quad Photon Laser Phasers.\r\n\r\nBefore you can make a quick getaway, you have to fuel a rocket with six fuel pods which drop from the skies. Each planet has its own share of nasties that try and get you. The first planet has fire-ball type creatures, the second furry creatures, the third vicious bouncing spheres and the fourth some strange looking little insects.\r\n\r\nWith its good graphics and interesting content you'll have plenty to do to fill those free hours.\r\n\r\nNAME: Valhalla\r\nPRICE: £14.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Legend\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: Some retail, mail order from Legend, [redacted]\r\n\r\nValhalla is half epic, half cartoon strip and its Norse setting is ideal for those with the fjords in their bloodstream.\r\n\r\nWith 200 crowns and your brains you have to wend your way through Asgard, Midgard and Hell to pick up a key, a ring, a shield, a sword, an axe and a helmet.\r\n\r\nFirst of all you need to get yourself well equipped. Armour is a must. So are the bare essentials like food and drink. And as you progress through the adventure the condition of your soul is rated.\r\n\r\nThe graphics are good and varied, and the responses can be slow, but this is because the machine is processing the moves for a number of characters not just you, and the screen features a superb cartoon effect.\r\n\r\nThe program also allows you to stack instructions. For example, you can type in get food, eat food, go north in quick succession then see your character do all these.\r\n\r\nI won't tell you how to solve the quest. What I will tell you is that Valhalla is well worth the rather substantial cost.\r\n\r\nNAME: Manic Miner\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Bug-Byte, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: High street shops\r\n\r\nFor superb graphics and sound, humour and overall addiction there's little can beat Manic Miner for the 48K Spectrum. It scored top marks in Gameplay (Issue 23) and subsequently soared to become a bestseller.\r\n\r\nUsing keyboard or joystick, you manoeuvre Miner Willy through caverns in a long-forgotten mine-shaft near Surbiton in Surrey, collecting keys to unlock a great fortune on resurfacing.\r\n\r\nPress ENTER and you're in Central Cavern beginning the great trek upward. The game needs a lot of thought, practice and timing. Robots, ducks and dozens of other creatures. Including humming penguins patrol the caves, platforms crumble and conveyor belts whisk Willy off in quite the wrong direction if he's not quick.\r\n\r\nNAME: Rescue\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Computer Rentals, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nSYSTEM: 48K\r\nOUTLETS: Smiths, Menzies, Boots, Mail order\r\n\r\nAn adventure that has all the ingredients - graphics, variety, plenty of surprises, good plot and ease of play to make it a winner.\r\n\r\nYou have to rescue a princess who is in a castle, and you have four levels of skill from which to choose. You decide how to rescue the princess, you decide what tactics to employ, you decide what objects to use and how to use them.\r\n\r\nThe game is played on a 'board' made up of concentric circles, linked together like a spider's web - and a fresh board is created every time you play.\r\n\r\nWhile you play you can keep tabs on the position of your enemies. The two guards keep on the move at the same time as you, and if they catch up with you, you're well and truly dead.\r\n\r\nNAME: Fantastic Voyage\r\nTYPE: Shootout\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Foilkade, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: Mail order\r\nMACHINE: ZX81\r\n\r\nIf you fancy a trip through the veins of a human body, battling against white blood cells - try Fantastic Voyage.\r\n\r\nYou are injected into a right arm and must make your way to the brain by navigating through the body's bloodstream. Your aim is to destroy a bloodclot.\r\n\r\nOn this interesting theme, forget all the medical jargon about veins and arteries you go straight into the scan mode to give a front and side view of the body. You identify your position by a tiny dot which represents a submarine - a strange object to be floating around in a body. Also displayed is your energy level, direction and size, which gets larger the longer you stay in the body.\r\n\r\nThe movement of the submarine is well done, as you see the artery walls moving past you. But destroying white blood cells is none too easy. They jitter about the screen at a rapid rate and you have to use laser power sparingly.\r\n\r\nThis is a very good game with clever programming. There's a good deal to do and you won't get bored.\r\n\r\nNAME: Adventure 200\r\nTYPE: Adventure\r\nPRICE: £5.95\r\nPUBLISHER: Foilkade, [redacted]\r\nFORMAT: Cassette\r\nOUTLETS: Mail order\r\nMACHINE: ZX81\r\n\r\nThe ingredients are here for a really gripping adventure. Disguised as a peasant you venture into the evil land of Grunlock to recover your King's stolen treasure. And you'd better not come back empty handed or the King will have you killed.\r\n\r\nStarting west of the palace you give simple commands for directions you want to move. After every move, the ZX81 displays where you are, what's happened, and the obvious paths you can take.\r\n\r\nDuring your journey you are offered several things, such as a lamp and a fish. And what you pick up affects your progress.\r\n\r\nA very interesting adventure.","reviewerComments":[],"overallSummary":" ","page":"337-346","denied":false,"award":"Not Awarded","reviewers":[],"screenShotText":[],"blurbText":[],"transcriptBy":"Chris Bourne","reviewScores":null,"compilationReviewScores":[]}],"reviewsCount":12}]