[{"TitleName":"Circus Games","Publisher":"Tynesoft","Author":"Daren White, David Whittaker, Milamber, Shakin, Subway Software","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0000967","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 61, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-26","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Stuart Wynne\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Raffaele Cecco, Ian Cull, Ian Doggett, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page, Ian Phillipson\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution 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 Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"The greatest show on earth?\r\n\r\nProducer: Tynesoft\r\nSafety Net: £8.95 cass, £14.95 disk\r\nAuthor: Subway Software\r\n\r\nRoll up, roll up ladies and gentlemen for Circus Games, with four action-packed events available for your entertainment. Once the customary menu screen has been set to your satisfaction, the evening's proceedings start with you being cast as a brave tiger trainer. You are allowed three attempts at three tricks and with a cage full of very hungry looking tigers, the evening may well end right here.\r\n\r\nThe next event takes you way up in the air to the trapeze where, after donning your leotard, you have to complete another three tricks without a safety net. We stay up in the air for the next event which is the tightrope walk, but as usual things aren't as easy as they sound. You don't just have to walk across the tightrope (that would be enough for most people), somersaults, backflips and a unicycle ride have also to be performed for maximum points.\r\n\r\nAnd last but not least the trick horse-riding rounds off what I hope has been an entertaining evening. Here the three tricks have become four, and range from avoiding being knocked off the horse by a custard pie-lobbing clown, to gracefully leaping through a series of hoops. That's showbiz folks!\r\n\r\nIf thought those endless Christmas circus specials were boring, then be assured this is even worse. Blobby sprites, poorly drawn backdrops and repetitive gameplay make for a show that never seems to end. I hope Superman is better.\r\n\r\nMARK 39%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: blobby sprites on dull backgrounds\r\nSound: fair 48K title tunes but few in-game effects\r\nOptions: definable keys. Play one or all events","ReviewerComments":["If this is what life under the big top is like, then it's not for me. But at least life in a real circus would be more exciting than watching the sloppy sprites in Circus Games do silly tricks with a whip, a rope and a chair! Worse still, you have to wait an age for each event to load. But all the events are extremely simplistic anyway, and about as entertaining as Jimmy Tarbuck's golfing anecdotes. When you've finished a game, you even have to reload the starting menu! The 'greatest show on earth' is a joke which looks like it was programmed by the clowns.\r\nPhil King\r\n27%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Keep hoping that this shoddy circus doesn't come to your town.","Page":"64,65","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"39","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"27","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Under the big top with the big cats."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"36%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"32%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"38%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"33%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"26%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"33%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 40, Apr 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-03-16","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Cleaner: Colin\r\nEditor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor Goodall\r\nEditorial Assistant: David Wilson\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Ben Bracken, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine Peters, Rachael Smith, Phil South\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Stephen Bloy\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Katherine Balchin\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Terry Grimwood\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1989 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Tynesoft\r\n£8.95 cass/£14.95 disk\r\nReviewer: Sean Kelly\r\n\r\nWell, why not? We've had Winter Games and Summer Games, Olympiads and Decathlons, so why not try and inject a little originality into an old format, and have Circus Games. That's what Tynesoft has attempted, a novel slant on the old stop-start-rewind-reload type of games.\r\n\r\nIn Circus Games, you'll find yourself trying to work your way through four events, attempting various tricks at each, in a bid to get onto the high score screen. Why should you want to?\r\n\r\nThe first event is the Bengal tiger training (wooh), where you, the trainer, armed with nothing but a chair and a whip, must put three tigers through their routine, and avoid being eaten for lunch. There are four tricks to complete: persuade the striped terrors to lie down, walk through a tube and sit down in a line. But how does it play? Not very well actually. I eventually got bored and went onto the next section: the trapeze.\r\n\r\nHere I found myself got up in a girlie leotard thingy, having to perform yet more death defying feats. The actual animation of this event was again the most attractive aspect, but the speed with which each trick was accomplished is very slow, and hardly got the adrenalin going. If you have insomnia, however...\r\n\r\nThe penultimate event was the tightrope, and guess what you had to do here? Got it in one. Cross the high wire, performing a somersault in the middle, then cross it on a unicycle. and lastly cross it performing a flip in the middle. About the only one of the events which had you continually prodding at your joystick in order to keep balanced whilst moving slowly forward and backward, and as such, the most exciting event. This isn't saying very much, however.\r\n\r\nAnd what about the grand finale of the nights gripping performance, ladeez han gennelmen? Yes it was the stunning 'girl doing things on horseback' routine. This is the most unplayable event, which is indeed an achievement considering the strong competition from the others.\r\n\r\nPresenting a list of the aspects which make this game so bad would be boring, but no sound on the playing sections and totally unfriendly multi-load systems should give you an idea of what to expect. Tynesoft is, if my knowledge serves me, a software house more used to putting products out for the BBC and suchlike computers, only occasionally making a foray into the Speccy market. On the showing of Circus Games, I think this is something we should all be grateful for.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Comment. Just like the real circuses on television. Boring.","Page":"51","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Sean Kelly","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"6/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 83, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham 'phew' Taylor\r\nDeputy Editor: Jim 'shiny shoes' Douglas\r\nProduction Editor: Alison 'get lunky' Skeat\r\nArt Editor: Tim 'diced carrots' Noonan\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'ratty' Dillon, Chris 'snivel' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Martha 'eejit' Moloughney\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'serene' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'it's alright I'm here now' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Jerry 'fluffy bunny' Parks\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1989 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]"},"MainText":"Label: Tynesoft\r\nAuthor: Subway Software\r\nPrice: £8.95/£14.95\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nWhether it's complete and utter coincidence, whether great minds think alike, or whether one pinched the idea from the other, it's remarkable that TWO arcade games based on the circus should appear in the same month; especially since there are hardly any circuses left in operation in real life. I mean, you wouldn't expect anyone to do an Olde-Tyme Variety Music Hall would you?\r\n\r\nWhat's remarkable about Circus Games - if anything can be said to be remarkable about it - is that it's a licence. Yes, the famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey \"Greatest Show on Earth\" has singled out Tynesoft for the honour of having their name on the cover of Circus Games; they obviously don't know as much about Speccy games as they do about mucking out tigers.\r\n\r\nWhat we have here is a collection of four events. You can quit any one and move on to the next load if you wish, but obviously to finish the game you must succeed in all four events; Tiger Taming, High Wire, Trapeze and Trick Horse Riding (that's doing tricks while riding a horse, not a funny collapsing animal).\r\n\r\nThe graphics are unremarkable throughout, and the music is hideous, which is a bit of a shock since it's by David Whittaker. The first event, Tiger Taming, is particularly poor. The aim is to make the tigers perform three tricks; you have a whip and a chair, and must keep all three under control if you hope to escape uneaten. The tricks vary from making the tigers walk through tubes, to walking them from one side of the cage to the other; very exciting, you'll agree.\r\n\r\nThe next event, Trapeze, is a bit better; left and right makes you swing higher on the trapeze, fire makes you jump to the other trapeze and perform a somersault. It's unfortunate that the animation is too slow to make things very thrilling.\r\n\r\nEvent three, Tightrope, COULD have been interesting. It features a split-screen display, and demands that you move across the tightrope while balancing your big pole (oo-er). In the middle you have to perform a somersault, which is tricky as you tend to lose your balance on landing. Tightrope is quite good fun; pity there isn't a bit more to it.\r\n\r\nLastly and leastly, Trick Horse Riding. Here, you balance a stunted Christmas-tree fairy on the slowest-moving horse you've ever seen. Her task is to avoid custard pies thrown by the clown, to jump through hoops and so on.\r\n\r\nAfter completing all the events you load the Menu section to display your high score, but frankly dears I wouldn't bother. There's nothing in Circus Games to really make you want to get involved - though Circus Circus from Martech is superficially similar, it's a whole lot better than this bag of tricks.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Not the greatest show on earth by a long shot.","Page":"64","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"50","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"40%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"39%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"50%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 20, May 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-04-06","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":132,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Future Publishing [redacted]\r\nTelephone [redacted], Fax [redacted], Telecom Gold 84:TXT152\r\n\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nReviews Editor: Bob Wade\r\nStaff Writers: Steve Jarratt, Andy Smith\r\nProduction Editor: Damien Noonan\r\nConsultant Editors: Jon Bates (Music), Brian Larkman (Graphics)\r\nAdventure Editor: Steve Cooke\r\nContributors: Tony Takoushi, Zog\r\nArt Editor: Trevor Gilham\r\nAssistant Art Editor: Angela Neale\r\nProduction: Diane Tavener, Claire Woodland, Vivien Dean, Naomi Steer, Louise Cockroft\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertising Sales Executive: David Lilley\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\n\r\nCover by Steve Dillon\r\n\r\nSUBSCRIPTIONS\r\nAvon Direct Mail [redacted]\r\n\r\nSPECIAL OFFERS\r\n(Christine Stacey) [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOLOUR ORIGINATION\r\nSwift Graphics Ltd, Southampton\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION\r\nSM Distribution [redacted]\r\n\r\nPRINTING\r\nChase Web Offset [redacted]\r\n\r\n© FUTURE PUBLISHING LTD 1989\r\n\r\nNo part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without our permission."},"MainText":"Tynesoft, £8.95, cs, £14.95 dk\r\nST version reviewed Issue 19 - ACE rating 535\r\n\r\nOther than monochrome graphics the only real difference between Spectrum Circus Games and the 16-bit versions is that the tiger training takes place over a single screen, with only three tricks to perform. However, limitations of the gameplay in general are compounded by the obligatory cassette multiload, and its appeal is even more short lived than that of its relatives.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"80","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Ace Rating","Score":"483/1000","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"The Games Machine Issue 16, Mar 1989","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1989-02-16","Editor":"Jon Rose","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Jon Rose\r\nReviews Editor: Nik Wild\r\nFeatures Editor: Barnaby Page\r\nStaff Writers: Robin Hogg, Warren Lapworth, Robin Candy\r\nEditorial Assistants: Vivien Vickress, Caroline Blake\r\nResearcher: David Peters\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Mel Croucher, Warwrick Brompton, Robin Evans, Richard Henderson, Andrew Riston, Marshal M Rosenthal, Pete Warnes, John Woods\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION DEPARTMENT\r\n[redacted]\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Yvonne Priest, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Robert Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\n\r\nADVERTISING AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENTS\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nGroup Advertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executives: Andrew Smales, Sarah Chapman\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\nGroup Promotions Executive: Richard Eddy\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by the Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow and on our Apple Macintosh II running Quark Xpress 2.0. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset [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 relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of TGM. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop Viv Vickress a line at the PO Box 10 address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into TGM - including written and photographic material, hardware or software - unless it's accompanied by a suitably stamped, addressed envelope. We regret that readers' postal enquiries cannot always be answered. Unsolicited written or photographic material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Occasional material from Electronic Game Player reproduced by kind permission of Sorjana Publications, California. Other Newsfield publications are CRASH (Spectrum), ZZAP! (Commodore 64/Amiga), FEAR (fantasy and horror) and MOVIE - THE VIDEO MAGAZINE. Now that's interesting, but why are you reading all this when there 119 pages to go?\r\n\r\n©TGM Magazines Ltd, 1989\r\nA Newsfield Publication ISSN 0954-8092\r\n\r\nCover Design by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.95, Diskette: £14.95\r\nCommodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £14.95\r\nAmiga £24.95\r\nPC £24.95\r\n\r\nLOITERING WITHIN TENT\r\n\r\nLadies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we proudly present... Warren, the famous Birmingham artiste. Watch and wonder as Warren competes in international circus competition...' Now every Tom, 'Dick and TGM reviewer can experience the thrills of performing amazing feats in the Big Top.\r\n\r\nThe options are standard for multi-event games: you practise events or compete in one or all of them. Up to tour players can take part and be human or computer-controlled.\r\n\r\nThe dizzying heights of the Top are tackled first with the dexterous footwork of tightrope walking. Balance is kept by adjusting the pole you carry, but to gain substantial points you must perform tricks while traversing the gently swaying rope: somersaults, handstand, cartwheels, and a 180 turn. Fall, and one of your three lives is lost. Success leads you to the second stage, where the wire is crossed on a unicycle.\r\n\r\nPerforming a quick sex-change (not part of your act), you become a female bare-back horse rider and, once in the saddle, attempt to perform a number of moves. Stand, sit, handstand, jump to left or right, spin left or right, and somersault are required for the set-move sequences.\r\n\r\nNOTHING MORE THAN FELINES\r\n\r\nUp in the air again to be a daring young man on the flying trapeze. Left and right movements build up your swinging speed and a plan view shows you when the trapezes swing closest together. In your three-part performance, you first swing from trapeze to trapeze, then perform a corkscrew and somersault as you go, then a double or triple somersault before being caught by a second artist.\r\n\r\nThe final event is the most dangerous - training extremely ferocious tigers. You attempt to guide three tangy felines across an obstacle course, using a whip as an incentive. A wary eye should be kept on the tigers' Threat Meters - they tend not to like being told what to do. A chair can be used to keep them at bay, but its all too easy to become a tasty tiger-treat.\r\n\r\nA circus Olympics is an original, if silly, idea, but disappointment is expected even before the game is loaded, as there are only four events (acts). And because the acts aren't exceptional, Circus Games is doomed to limited lastability.\r\n\r\nThe difficulty level for each event is constant across the versions: tightrope walking is quite easy, tiger training too difficult, but more importantly, none of the acts hold attention for long.\r\n\r\nCircus Games is simply too expensive for what little entertainment it offers.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Middle-of-the-road sprites often become obscured in the detailed monochrome backgrounds, and the ring master gradually becomes more of a mess as the competition progresses. When colour is used on characters, the update is slow, so that it lags behind the sprite.","Page":"43","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Warren Lapworth","Score":"36","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"'Care-ful-ly, zee amazing Warren 'Ninja' Lapworth (above) makes eez way across zee slender C64 wire...'"},{"Text":"He sails through the air with the greatest of ease, on the flying trapeze - Spectrum screen."},{"Text":"Next (below) has got to make it across on a pogo stick whilst juggling three pears and an avocado and balancing a stick of rhubarb on the end of his nose - Amiga screen."}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"\"Circus Games is doomed to limited lastability\""},{"Text":"AMIGA\r\n\r\nOverall: 43%\r\n\r\nPleasant circus scenes support adequately defined and animated sprites. The graphical highlight is the tiger training - the big cats walk with graceful realism. One or two sampled sound effects and mildly irritating circus tunes are an uninspiring soundtrack."},{"Text":"COMMODORE 64/128\r\n\r\nOverall: 40%\r\n\r\nPassable backdrops are ruined by mutated sprites. Tightrope walking is made extremely difficult by the walker design: it is often impossible to tell which way the balance pole is tilting. Various tunes burble away in the background, made worse by the lack of sound effects."},{"Text":"OTHER FORMATS\r\n\r\nST (£24.95) and Amstrad (cassette £9.95, diskette £14.95) to follow shortly."},{"Text":"PC\r\n\r\nOverall: 42%\r\n\r\nColour-restrictive CGA is he only graphics option available, so all the fun of the circus is a weird mixture of aqua blue and pale purple. This aside, graphical presentation is reasonable, and surprisingly, the PC gives the best rendition of the main circus tune."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"36%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]