[{"TitleName":"Cliff Hanger","Publisher":"New Generation Software","Author":"James P.H. Day","YearOfRelease":"1986","ZxDbId":"0000989","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 30, Jul 1986","Price":"£1","ReleaseDate":"1986-06-26","Editor":"Graeme Kidd","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Publishing Executive: Roger Kean\r\nEditor: Graeme Kidd\r\nTechnical Editor: Franco Frey\r\nTech Tipster: Simon Goodwin\r\nAdventure Editor: Derek Brewster\r\nStrategy Editor: Sean Masterson\r\nStaff Writers: Hannah Smith, Lloyd Mangram\r\nContributing Writers: John Minson, Jon Bates, Rosetta McLeod\r\nArt Editor: Oliver Frey\r\nArt Director: Dick Shiner\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nProduction: Gordon Druce, Tony Lorton\r\nProcess Camera: Matthew Uffindell\r\nPhotographer: Cameron Pound\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Assistant: Nick Wild\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\n\r\nEditorial and Production: [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order and Subscriptions: [redacted]\r\n\r\nADVERTISING\r\nInformation and Bookings [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted in England by Carlisle Web Offset (Member of the BPCC Group), [redacted]. Colour origination by Scan Studios, [redacted];\r\n\r\nDistributed by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return any written material sent to CRASH Magazine unless accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material which may be used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©1986 Newsfield Limited\r\n\r\nCover by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: New Generation\r\nRetail Price: £7.95\r\nAuthor: James Day\r\n\r\nThis game introduces a new concept in disposing of your enemies. No more shoot em ups; forget a quick round of fisticuffs or dose of martial artistry. Cliff Hanger,the hero in this game, is a tough talking, gum chewing cowboy who's vocation in life is to rid the Wild West of gun-toting bandits.\r\n\r\nCliff takes a slightly unconventional approach to his job and tends to resort to rather unusual methods of killing his victims. Boomerangs, cannon, elaborate time bombs and the faithful boulder all make up Mr Hanger's arsenal. These are shot, dropped and thrown at the foe, usually resulting in a nasty splat as the baddie is Imprinted into the ground. Cliff is a cold hearted assassin and dances a little celebratory jig as each opponent is sent to Boot Hill.\r\n\r\nThe object of the game is to stop the bandit from getting to the end of the canyon in each screen. The baddie-splatting techniques get more complicated as the game progresses. Points are scored for each time the enemy is destroyed depending on the difficulty of the manoeuvre.\r\n\r\nThere are fifteen levels in the game, each consisting of three to five screens. The computer chooses a different screen at random until you have successfully completed all the screens on the current level. After a while, the baddies have a chance to get their own back. Boulders roll back on you unless you don't watch out, and boomerangs render you senseless unless they hit the bandit.\r\n\r\nCliff has five lives and loses one every time you misjudge a move and fall off a cliff top or are crushed by a runaway boulder.\r\n\r\nThe screen graphics are all in yellow and black and depict a variety of scenes from the wild west portrayed in a cartoon style. At the start of each new screen a gunshooting bandit either appears, trotting over the horizon, or lurks on the screen, hidden away somewhere. A series of objects are presented in each screen and you must decide how to use them in order to kill the bandit. Sometimes the method of killing the Man in Black may be obvious - such as rolling a rock off a cliff top at precisely the right time so that it crushes the baddie below. Other more complicated screens involve mini puzzles which include such items as levers and railway trucks, and require a series of actions to be carried out before the bad guy is killed.\r\n\r\nEach baddie must be killed in each screen for the game to progress. Once you've worked out how to use the equipment on a screen, timing is essential if Cliff is to rid the wild and woolly west of the gun toting banditos.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nControl keys: redefiinable\r\nJoystick: Kempston, cursor, Interface 2\r\nKeyboard play: responsive\r\nUse of colour: monochromatic\r\nGraphics: cartoon style, simple animations\r\nSound: minimal spot effects, no tune\r\nSkill levels: one\r\nScreens: 50","ReviewerComments":["New Generation have been quite quiet for the last few months and it's nice to see them finally bring out Cliff Hangs, which I can remember seeing advertised ages and ages ago. Cliff Hanger's presentation reminds me of the underrated Trashman, and the game has a few of the Trashman touches as well. The game is good fun to play and kept me involved for quite a long time; what lets it down is the appalling sound and the mediocre graphics - a few small beeps and some very simply drawn colourless backgrounds respectively. Although the general look of the game is a bit poor, the idea, despite being simple, is effective. The price is a bit too high for the kind of presentation the game has got, and it would have been better released in a budget range.\r\r\nUnknown","At first sight this seems to be the kind of game that you play once and then give up with, but there is something about it that makes it very playable. The graphics are below average, the characters are poorly drawn and the playing area is monochrome but the backgrounds are nicely detailed. The use of sound is disappointing: only a few spot effects here and there. The game itself plays like a Road Runner cartoon, so if you enjoy squashing people you will probably enjoy this. It isn't too bad a game, but I think it is overpriced.\r\r\nUnknown","This is a nice game at heart. The graphics are pretty, though the monochrome display makes the game less attractive than it could have been. The game itself has some really cruel bits in it, but that makes it all the more fun! I had expected it to be a cheapie, but at eight quid, it does seem to be a good deal too expensive. Though it is addictive, and I confess to having spent a long while playing it, the fun gleaned from it doesn't seem to justify the expense. Sure, there are lots of different screens, and they get more nasty as you progress but I still think it's too expensive. New Generation had a lot of potential in this game and it would have been great as a budget title - as it is, it's definitely too expensive.\r\nUnknown"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Basically a good game, but overpriced.","Page":"13","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Unknown","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"\"Three Chances\". When Cameron rolls that boulder off the cliff is whizzes round and round, down one cliff face, along the ground, up the other side of the canyon, through the air and down the cliff..."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Use of Computer","Score":"66%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"67%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"72%","Text":""},{"Header":"Getting Started","Score":"68%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"75%","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"56%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"63%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"ZX Computing Issue 28, Aug 1986","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1986-07-24","Editor":"Bryan Ralph","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Bryan Ralph\r\nAssistant Editor: Cliff Joseph\r\nConsultant Editor: Ray Elder\r\nAdvertising Managers: Peter Chandler and John McGarry\r\nDesign: Argus Design\r\nA.S.P. Advertising and Editorial [redacted]\r\n\r\nPrinted by Alabaster Passmore and Sons Ltd. [redacted]\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Copy Controller: Lynn Collis\r\n\r\nDistributed by: Argus Press Sales and Distribution Ltd, [redacted]\r\n\r\nZX Computing Monthly is published on the fourth Friday of each month. Subscription rates can be obtained from ZX Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\n\r\nThe contents of this publication, including all articles, designs plans, drawings and other intellectual property rights herein belong to Argus Specialist Publications Limited. All rights conferred by the law of Copyright and other intellectual property rights and by virtue of international copyright conventions are specifically reserved to Argus Specialist Publications Limited and any reproduction requires the prior written consent of the company.\r\n\r\nArgus Specialist Publications Limited. ©1986"},"MainText":"New Generation\r\n£7.95\r\n\r\nEveryone who has ever found themselves in hysterics as Coyote fails, yet again, to catch the Road Runner will undoubtedly feel as disappointed as I did when playing this game.\r\n\r\nSet in the wild west you play Cliff, the hero of this tale, and you must stop the bandit (or bandido to his chums) from rushing up the canyon, guns blasting. This might sound incredibly easy, but you can't just shoot him, oh no, you have to use various techniques that only someone as dumb as Coyote would try.\r\n\r\nOn the levels I got through, this included dropping boulders on him, throwing boomerangs at him, chasing round a railway track and then dropping boulders, etc. Apparently there are 15 levels of difficulty, each with between three and live different screens that appear randomly. To graduate from one level to another you must kill the bandido a certain amount of times; though anyone willing to play the game through all 15 levels would need his head examined!\r\n\r\nWhat makes the game slightly enjoyable to play is that the author, James Day, has managed to capture some of the feel of the original cartoons. At certain points, such as when you roll a boulder at the bandido and it rolls back and flattens you, you realise how much potential this game had.\r\n\r\nThat said, the graphics are really not up to a standard that you would expect from a well known software house such as New Generation (and being bought by Virgin is no excuse), with the men looking more like matchsticks, and the animation being reminiscent of a ZX81.\r\n\r\nOverall, Cliff Hanger is a great idea, badly executed. If New Generation had spent more time trying to develop a plot, and then programmed the graphics and sound well, this game would have received a really high rating. As it stands however it has just too many bad points (including a bug or two). I'll just have to wait for 'Loony Tunes'!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"14","Denied":false,"Award":"Glob Minor","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"Grim","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]