'Back
in Time' is a monthly feature where we look back at the classic video
gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. This month it's July 1991
when Sonic the Hedgehog burst onto the scene, Exile made its astounding
entrance onto the Commodore 64, the arcade hit, Pang, impressed on the
Amstrad cartridge and Hunter found accolades galore on the Amiga...
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Sonic
the Hedgehog, “the
best platform game on the
Megadrive,” arrived for its first UK review in issue 10 of Mean
Machines. With a resounding
thumbs up from all and an overall
rating of 92%, Sega finally had a worthy mascot to match
Nintendo’s Mario. “I can’t think of a
Megadrive game
with more spectacular graphics... and everything is just so fast and
smooth it’s just astonishing!” enthused Paul
Glancey. The
design of the levels and the obstacles is ingenious, and I love the
fact that you can really explore the levels for different routes and
secret rooms, rather than simply having to get from left to
right.”
“I cannot stress too much the graphical excellence of this
game,” added Richard Leadbetter, “ it is definitely
the
best looking Megadrive game yet seen, even more attractive than the
Super Famicom’s Mario 4…
Playability-wise, Sonic’s great, although I found that the
gameplay does get a little frustrating after a while, especially as
there’s a few almost impossible situations the hapless
hedgehog
can find himself in.”
Rare’s fighter jet action blaster, Captain Skyhawk,
zoomed onto the
NES with an equally impressive rating of 91%. “One of the
smoothest and fastest blasting games I’ve seen on the
Nintendo,” commented Julian Rignall. “A
brilliant-looking,
reaction-testing blaster with loads of high-speed action.”
Richard Leadbetter also commented, stating that “Rare
aren’t usually ones to disappoint when it comes to Nintendo
games
and Captain
Skyhawk is yet
another example of a brilliant game. The inertia on the F-14 is
excellent, and the game is very challenging with loads of levels to
conquer.”
Sega’s classic ninja character from the arcades, Shinobi,
made his way onto the Game
Gear with The GG Shinobi, gaining an overall rating of 90%.
“To
be honest, there’s been nothing yet on the Game Gear that has
really grabbed my interest,” admitted Julian.
“Until now. GG Shinobi
has at last given me an
excuse to blow the dust off my machine and buy some batteries for
it.” Richard agreed, commenting that
“it’s brill,
skill, and not a thinly-veiled Master System rip-off!
Hurrah!”
Next up is one of those weird censoring issues that plagued Europe
during the 1980s and 1990s. The original Ninja Gaiden
was released in Europe
as Shadow
Warrior, and not to
be confused with Tecmo’s arcade brawler Shadow Warriors.
“The sprites
are detailed and well-animated,” wrote Paul Glancey,
“and
the Tecmo Theater interludes help supply a lot of
atmosphere…
probably the best arcade-style Ninja games on the NES.” Matt
Regan chipped in to say that he “was instantly impressed by
this
game, and was pleased to find the rest of the game, in terms of
graphics, sound and gameplay, is up to the same high
standard.”
Mega Drive shoot-‘em-up, Zero
Wing, was up next for the
‘Mega Game’ treatment,
coming away with 91%. “Toaplan have produced some really
classy
stuff on the Megadrive, and though I don’t think Zero Wing
plays as well as Hellfire,
it’s definitely
their most polished game to date.” “Considering the
(very)
tired genre, Toaplan have come up trumps with a game that has a very
original graphic style, along with some pretty original weaponry
too.”
The classic Sim City
made it
to the Super Famicom with a great overall rating of 94%. “An
incredibly rewarding game to play,” stated Julian,
“and you
can watch you teeming metropolis flourish and grow… Sim City
has more lasting appeal
that [sic] any other Super Famicom [game] yet seen!” Richard
commented that ‘Imagineer have released the best version yet
without a shadow of a doubt.” |
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While the Speccy cover tape
wars raged on, the covermount numbers may have increased, but the page
numbers were dwindling. The 52 paged Crash
issue 90 featured two cover tapes on the front this time around, with
eight full games and two playable demos. Deep breath... There were
playable demos of Turrican 2
and Night
Shift, along with
complete games of Dragontorc,
Moon
Magic 2, 2112AD,
Cricket
Coah, Hunter,
Space
Worm, Confused
and A
Shadow On Glass.
Front cover story, Turrican 2,
was the main review with a two page spread and ‘A Crash
Smash’ rating of 95%. “One of the best games
I’ve
played on the Spectrum,” wrote Nick Roberts.
“Excellently
drawn and coloured graphics are a real treat and the vastness of the
game will keep you busy for ages.” Mark Caswell also praised
the
game as being “every bit as good as its predecessor, with its
brilliant intro tune, fast-paced action and rainbow-hued
graphics.” Games that fell just short of ‘A Crash
Smash’ this issue included European
Super League with 80%. |
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Commodore
Format issue 10 and with it
came Power Pack number 10, the
regular covertape. Included in the tape giveaway this issue were full
games of Park
Patrol and Anarchy
with playable demos of Exile
and F1-GP
Circuits. In ‘Aces
High’, Gordon Houghton tested the best flight simulations on
the
C64. Flying in with full marks were Gunship
(Mircoprose) and Project Stealth
Fighter (also Microprose).
Topping the C64 charts was Creatures,
with the Dizzy
Collection and Teenage Mutant
Hero
Turtles close
behind.
Already exposed to the arcade adventure, Exile,
on the front cover and with
the playable demo on the covertape, readers then got the 97%
‘Corker’ review from Gary Penn. “Although
Exile
isn’t perfect,”
summarised Gary, “it’s the most gripping game
I’ve
played in years and it’s intrinsically the most exciting
concept
I have ever seen ever.”
‘The Commodore Format A to Z of Classic Games’
concluded
with the T-Z section, as Gordon took a lookback at golden classics such
as Thrust,
Turrican,
Uridium,
Wizball
and Zak
MacKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.
‘The CF Compendium of Mean…’ series also
continued
with a look at Hi-Tech hardware that have been seen in
shoot-‘em-ups, including Defence Force in Blood Money,
saucers in Encounter
and limpet guns in Thrust.
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With issue 70, Amstrad Action
also had an
impressive covermount with playable demos of Switchblade
and Megaphoenix
and full games of Future Knight
and Balldozer.
Interesting news this
issue was the future releases of Amstrad and Spectrum games, with games
having the two formats on a dual-format cassette tape. Starting with Mercs,
US Gold are distributing the
game with the Amstrad version on one side and the Spectrum version on
the other side. This not only cut down on distribution costs, but also
appealed to dealers, who were already moving towards 16-bit computers
and consoles.
The sequel (of sorts) to the 1987 arcade hit from Sega, Shadow Dancer,
gained a
‘Master Game’ rating of 90% from Frank
O’Connor.
‘The first thing you’ll notice is the
graphics,”
noted Frank. “They are programmed in 16-colour mode and very
impressive they are too. The animation, while smooth, isn’t
particularly realistic. The dog when he attacks looks like…
well, let’s just say he doesn’t look like
he’s
attacking, more as if he’s developed a strong affection for
your
leg… One of the biggest, most playable arcade licenses to
date
and US Gold deserves a big pat on the back for this one.”
Another arcade hit got the conversion treatment, this time with Pang
arriving in cartridge form for
the GX4000 and Plus machines. With an overall rating of 93% from Rod
Lawton the game was awarded the ‘Console Stunner’
accolade.
Rod posed the question, “16-bit quality?” in his
review and
surmised that “on the whole, not quite. But it is nearer
16-bit
than 8-bit. Ocean has now produced some excellent cartridge produce.
Pang is simple, addictive, maddening, and more fun than could possibly
be good for you.” |
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Issue 22 of Amiga
Action had a plethora of
‘Super League Accolade’
gaming action. First up was R-Type II
from Activision, which came away with an overall score of 87%.
“Fans of the original will certainly enjoy the challenge of
new
levels and the improved weapons,” stated the reviewer.
“The
only disappointment is the lack of a simultaneously two-player option.
If you’re after an entertaining and addictive
shoot-‘em-up,
look no further.”
Another shooter, Stellar 7,
made it into the shoot-‘em-up league ratings with 87%.
“The
intro sequence is outstanding and the digitised speech almost blows
your socks off. The gameplay could have been tedious if it
wasn’t
for the addition of the guardians which inject new life into the game.
Good graphics, excellent sound and brilliant gameplay.”
Metal
Mutant from
Palace Software entered the beat-‘em-up league table at 13
and
achieved a rating of 85%. “The graphics are great and really
atmospheric, backed up by superb sound FX. The gameplay is better than
the demo version and is set at just the right difficulty… Metal Mutant
is a game that is both
original and playable.”
Trial
By Fire
garnered an overall rating of 88% to make it into the adventure league
table at number eight. “The first thing that overwhelmed me
about Trial
By Fire was
the number of disks that sprang out of the box when I opened it. But
even though there are eight, the swapping isn’t too bad. Even
if
it had been it just wouldn’t have mattered because the game
is
totally brilliant.”
Core Design’s vertical scrolling shooter, Warzone,
was next to get the
‘Super League Accolade’ treatment, coming away with
88% and
entering the shoot-‘em-up table at number 10. “Commando
fans are certainly in for
a treat this month with the simultaneous release of both Mercs
and Warzone.
If you had to choose
between the two, my money would be on Warzone.
In terms of playability Warzone
has the edge, just. Before you go comparing it to Commando,
I can assure you that the
game has improved over the classic in every
department…”
Arcade Adventure, Hunter,
rounded off the ‘Super League Accolade’ games with
89% and
entering its respective table at five. “If you thought you
had
seen some decent interactive fractal landscapes wait till you get a
loda of Hunter.
Hunter is a
tip top product that will sell a storm when it hits the
streets.” |
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