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| Another
video
games
packed
issue of Computer & Video Games with
over 15 ‘C+VG HITS!’. Klax on the Atari ST from
Tengen/Domark led the way with 97%. Domark’s conversion of the
fantastically titled Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
was rated 94% on the Atari ST and Amiga. Julian Rignall described
the game as “slick, humorous, graphically brilliant and ultra
playable,” before stating that if you miss it “you deserve to be fed to
the Reptilions!” Following the previous issue’s PC review of
Origin’s Space Rogue, it was the Amiga’s turn to have a
conversion of the game, getting 94%. Turrican arrived on the
C64, courtesy of Rainbow Arts, and received an overall 93%. Manchester
United by Krisalis got 92% on the Atari ST. The Atari ST
version of Castle Master by Incentive/Domark gained a final
rating of 90%. Ski or Die by Electronic Arts got
90% on the
PC. |
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| Xenomorph from Pandora was given 90% on
both the Atari ST and Amiga versions. Hammerfist from Vivid
Images/Activision was reviewed on the Amiga and C64, getting 88% and
87% respectively. X-Out from Rainbow Arts got 88% for the
C64 version. And rounding off the hits was Dynasty Wars on
the Atari ST by US Gold which got 85%. The growing Mean Machines
section was also jam packed with console gaming hits. The Mega Drive
version of The New Zealand Story by Taito received 94%, while
the PC Engine version got 90%. Super Real Basketball by Sega on
the Mega Drive was given 89% and Curse on the Mega Drive by
Micronet got 85%. Arcade Action was a two page spread on the F19
Strike Eagle cabinet. |
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Sinclair User issue 99 took
time out to take a good look at the SAM Coupe. On the MegaTape
were full games with the likes of Captain Python and Foxx
Fights Back, as well as a graphics suite for the SAM Coupe.
Leading the way in the reviews were Fiendish Freddy’s Big Top O’ Fun
from Mindscape and Oriental Games from Activision with both
games getting 91% and a ‘Sinclair User Classic’ award. Gareth
Sumpter rounded off his review of Fiendish Freddy by saying
that “the circus is about entertainment and Fiendish Freddy’s Big
Top o’ Fun spells it out to a letter,” while Chris Jenkin’s praised
Oriental Games as a “fab four-event oriental
beat-em-up. Lots of variety, lots of fun.” Other games that just missed
out on an SU Classic Award were Pipe Mania from Empire with
88%, Ninja Spirit from Activision with 87% and Castle Master
from Incentive with 81%. |
| The Coin-op
section covered arcade games Marvel Land from Namco,
which got
7 out of 10, Badlands from Atari Games got a 7, Air Blaster
from Namco got 6 and Sega’s Super Masters Golf got an 8. |
| Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun
dominated the
reviews section with a massive 94% rating, taking a ‘Crash Smash’ award
for its efforts. Mark Caswell commented that “Fiendish Freddy is
graphically and sonically one of the best seen for a while,” before
closing off with saying that the “hilarious antics of Freddy
lend lasting appeal.” Other games that got a slightly less warm
reception from the Crash reviewers were Castle Master
with 85%, Oriental Games with 82% and Lords of Chaos
from Target Games with 80%. |
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YC, or “Your Commodore
- the fun magazine” as it affectionately called itself, kicked issue 68
off with a cover review of Domark’s Cyberball. The game
was given 93% and a ‘YC Fun *1’ accolade, as ACC (Ashley Cotter-Cairns,
the YC deputy editor) summarised the review by saying that “the game
works very well indeed,” and that “fans of the sport will fall in love
with it straight away.” Other ‘YC Fun*1’ games this issue
included Knights of Legend from Origin with a massive 96% and
System 3’s Vendetta, which got 94%.
On the covertape were complete games Deviants, Velocipede,
and
Popper. The ‘Wobbly Award Results’ (or
the Readers’
votes) were in. Stunt Car Racer from Microprose was voted
‘Game of the Year’, with US Gold’s Turbo OutRun coming in second place. |
| ‘Simulation of the Year’ repeated the
‘Game of the Year’ placing with Stunt Car Racer winning out
again over Turbo OutRun. ‘Arcade Game of the Year’ (converted
to the C64) went to Ocean’s Chase H.Q. with Operation
Thunderbolt, also from Ocean, in second place. |
Issue
61
of
Zzap!64 Amiga was particularly excellent for
game
content, mainly thanks to the ‘Gold Medal’ awarded game Turrican.
The
critically
claimed
platform shooter from Rainbow Arts garnered
praise from the Scorelord, Robin Hogg and Phil King and came away with
a final rating of 97%. “Turrican is simply stunning,” commented
Phil, “with some of the most gorgeous graphics ever to grace the 64.”
Not to be outdone, the Amiga also scored highly with Psygnosis’ game Infestation
which got a ‘Sizzler’ award with 94%. Castle Master also
scored a ‘Sizzler’ with 93% and 90% for their C64 and Amiga versions
respectively. Anco’s Player Manager for the Amiga
received 92% and a ‘Sizzler’ award. Cinemaware’s TV Sports:
Football on the C64 also received 92% and Sizzler award, although
the Amiga version came off slightly worse with an 86% rating.
Dragon Breath from
Palace
Software also got a ‘Sizzler’ |
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award with 91% for the
Amiga version. Hammerfist garnered a ‘Sizzler’ with 90%
for
both the C64 and Amiga versions. Activision’s Ninja Spirit
rounded off the ‘Sizzler’ awards with 90% for the C64 game.
An interesting interview with Sensible Software also appeared in this
issue as Robin Hogg travelled to East Anglia to talk to the development
team. The creators of classic C64 games such as Wizball, Parallax
and MicroProse Soccer (very much the forerunner to Sensible
Soccer) discussed their past, present and future. The
legendary ‘Zzap! Challenge’ was back as a plucky reader by the name of
Brendan Phoenix dared Phil King to a face to face with Kick Off
(the inspirational overhead soccer game from Anco). After a
fiercely fought series of games, Brendan came away victorious. And two
complete games were included on Zzap!64 Amiga’s megatape,
Ocean’s Mutants and Thalamus’ Sanxion. |
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Amstrad Computer User’s
featured
game this issue was Cyberball, with ratings into the 80s and a
rabbit being pulled out of a hat for the overall verdict (it’s good).
Chris Knight stated that “the CPC graphics look directly down onto the
teams which may lose some of the 3D effect, but look wonderful and
greatly improves playability.” Myth – History in the Making
from System 3 gained scores into the 70s and 80s with a pot of gold at
the end of a rainbow as a final verdict. Ocean’s Rainbow Islands
only got scores of 40 and 50 in the individual categories, but came
away with a thumbs up verdict.
In amongst the “serious” features of programming and typing lists was
the Combat Zone with John Cook reported back from Blackpool on the
Amusement Trades Show and a bonanza of new
arcade
games. |
Line of Fire (from Sega) and Beast Busters (from
SNK) “were both going down a treat with the punters,” remarked John.
Other games at the show were Klax, Badlands, Rough
Racer, Marvel Land, and Aliens.
Chris Knight travelled to Aldermaston to profile Players, the computer
budget games company. Making its first entry into the Amstrad CPC
charts was Robocop, the chart conquering movie tie in from
Ocean. Knocked into second place was Ocean’s own arcade conversion of Operation
Wolf, while Activision’s After Burner entered in at number
three. |
Viva Le CPC. CPC rules alors!
And other French headlines
involving the word CPC filled the pages of Amstrad Action issue
56 as they celebrated the Amstrad CPC scene across the channel.
Remarkably, the CPC had an estimated 48% share of the computing market
in France, with the Amiga, ST, PC, ZX Spectrum and C64 all trailing
behind. Special features throughout the issue looked at French
developers, the games, the magazines and the French computing industry
as a whole. Elsewhere, Adam Waring showed the reader how to
become a top games programmer in the games writing feature.
The Action Test section was full of gaming action with a ‘Master Game’
and three ‘Rave’ awards. Castle Master grabbed the ‘AA
Master Game’ award with 91%.
Trenton Webb summed up the game as being “hours of
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| intense gaming”, and an
“irritating compulsion until”
the game is complete. Dr Doom’s
Revenge from Empire came away with an ‘AA Rave’ after receiving a
rating of 80%. X-Out from Rainbow Arts got 86% and Ubi
Soft’s Puffy’s Saga rounded off the ‘AA Rave’s with 85%. |
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With issue 53 of Your Sinclair,
the
staff
settled
in
to
their
new
home
well
enough after their move
from Dennis Publishing to Future Publishing and announced their Games
of 1989. Each member of staff voted for their top five games of
the previous year. David Wilson voted for Chase H.Q. as
his number one choice, stating that it was “an excellent car racing
game, and a very slick conversion, with excellent sound and 128k
digitised speech!” Editor Matt Bielby went for Stunt Car Racer
as it was “the most original, best executed idea of them all – a real
gem.” Sean Kelly chose Batman The Movie stating that it “just
about pips The Untouchables as the greatest movie conversion
ever made.” Duncan MacDonald and Jackie Ryan also went for Stunt
Car Racer as their top choice. Rich Pelley went for Silkworm
from Virgin for its “Effective graphics, simple gameplay and
loadsa
addictiveness.” |
Robin Alway listed Carrier Command from
Firebird as his top game because of its “perfect mix of simulation,
strategy and shoot-‘em-up with a playing area so vast it was almost
rude.” Jonathan Davies picked Ocean’s arcade conversion Cabal
as it is “one of the few conversions I’ve actually seen that’s actually
better than the arcade original.” Overall then, Stunt Car Racer
came away with the Game of 1989 award, followed by Chase H.Q., Carrier
Command, The Untouchables and Xenon.
On the cover tape this month was the full game of Samurai from
CRL and a demo of Scramble Spirits from Grandslam. The
“Complete YS Guide to...” series began this issue with the first
edition covering beat-‘em-ups. Featured games were Melbourne House’s The
Way
of
the
Exploding
Fist which got 83, System 3’s International
Karate with 74, US Gold’s Bruce Lee with 44,
Skintflintsoft’s Advanced Ninja Simulator received just 5,
Imagine’s Target Renegade received 90, US Gold’s Kung Fu
Master received 30 and Palace Software’s Barbarian received
91.
In the reviews section, Castle Master picked up a ‘Your
Sinclair Megagame’ award with a final rating of 93. Matt stated that
the game “stretches the capabilities of your Speccy to breaking point,
is guaranteed to provide weeks of gameplay and has an incredibly
professional, thought-out (and spooky) feel to it.” Not trailing
too far behind were Klax from Domark with 81 and E-Motion
from US Gold with 80. Topping the Spectrum charts was Rainbow
Islands, followed by Chase H.Q. and Empire’s Gazza's
Super Soccer. |
| The Games Machine issue 30
started
off with a massive list of games for review with no fewer than 15 games
coming away with a ‘Star Player’ award. With Turrican
dominating the front cover the game itself came away with an equally
impressive 94% for the C64 and 92% for the Amiga. Warren Lapworth
summed up the game as a “shoot-‘em-up action in a platform game mold
(one which requires some very deft manoeuvres), mixed with excellent
graphics and wide weaponry selection.” The Atari ST version
of Midwinter was reviewed and also got 94%. The PC game Genghis
Khan from Koei received a ‘Golden Scroll’ award for adventure game
over 90% with a rating of 93%. Castle Master was reviewed on
the Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and ZX Spectrum with both 16-bit versions
getting 92% while the 8-bit versions got 90%. Klax was reviewed
on the Atari ST coming away with a 92%
rating. |
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Track & Field 2
by Konami was given 91% on the
NES. The Magic Candle from Microprose was given 90% on
both the PC and C64. Player Manager, the spin-off management
player game from Kick Off makers Anco, was given 90% on both the Amiga
and Atari ST. Other games with the ‘Star Player’ accolade
included Typhoon Thompson (Broderbund/Domark) on the Amiga with
90%, Cloud Kingdoms (Logotron) on the C64 and Amiga with 89%
and 86% respectively, Crackdown (US Gold) on the ZX Spectrum
and C64 with 88% and 87% respectively, E-Motion (US Gold) on
the ZX Spectrum with 88%, Infestation (Psygnosis) on the Amiga
with 88%, Life Force (Konami) on the NES with 88% and Mega
Man on the NES with 83%.
As well as a whole host of games, TGM also had plenty of
features and issue 30 was no exception. Robin Candy looked at the FM
Towns, a new computer from Japan set to revolutionise the world with
its use of a CD-ROM drive. The PC Engine was also investigated as
Shintaro Kanaoya reported back from the Far East on the latest
happenings from the Land of the Rising Sun. Joe King hit the road
to visit Psygnosis and get the latest on their upcoming games,
including The Killing Game Show. Corky’s Coin-ops featured
news, previews, reviews and tips on arcade games. Host, Mark “Corky”
Caswell, looked at Shadow Dancer (Sega), Search and Rescue
(SNK), Pang (Mitchell Corp), Beast Busters (SNK), Aliens
(Konami), Vapour Trail (Data East), Crude Buster (Data
East) and Final Fight (Capcom). |
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ACE Trailblazer Awards were
given
to three games in issue 32, one game on each of the main 16-bit
machines (the Amiga, Atari ST and PC). Midwinter on the
Atari ST from Mircoprose picked up a rating of 948, Harpoon on
the PC from Mirrorsoft/PSS received 948 and Knights of the
Crystallion on the Amiga from US Gold got 935. Not so far behind
was Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters for the Atari
ST with 895, E-Motion on the Amiga and Atari ST with 890 and
880 respectively, Klax on the Atari ST with 880, Never Mind
on the Atari ST with 879, Manic Miner on the Amiga with 870 and
Risk on the Amiga and Atari ST with 869. The
forthcoming CD-i multimedia console is previewed by the ACE reporters
as they penetrated the offices of AIM in Los Angeles. Atari UK's Bob
Gleadow is interviewed and discussions focused on the Panther, Lynx and other
developments. |
| Another update on the Neo-Geo - a monster of a console
and a price range to match. And lastly, on the cover was a booklet "The
Complete ACE guide to CD-ROM games". |
| The One For 16-bit Games
issue 20 featured
LucasArts’ PC game Loom on the cover, while inside, the game
itself received an overall rating of 80%. Faring slightly better
was Treasure Trap on the Amiga by Electronic Zoo, which got
88%. Hammerfist on the Amiga got 86%, while Infestation,
also
on
the
Amiga,
got
85%,
Escape From the Planet of the Robot
Monsters got 84% on the Atari ST, and Code-name: Iceman by
Sierra got 80% on the PC. Brian Nesbitt sneaks out to the local
pleasure palace (the arcades to you and me) to take in the delights of
Tatsumi's Round Up Five and Atari Games' Badlands. |
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ST Format issue 10’s cover
feature,
“Killer! What makes a game this good?” looked at the 30 greatest Atari
ST games. Other features included graphics packages, a beginner’s
guide to the ST, and a look at the latest Public Domain software.
On the coverdisk was Wipe Out (“a hilarious intergalactic
hoverboard challenge awaits you in Gonzo Games incredibly addictive
fully playable demo”), as well as various software such as Finance,
C-Tutorial, assembler, debugger software and more. The news
section focused on the CD-ROM drive which was set for the ST, a “drive
way ahead of its time in terms of quality and price.”
Games receiving ‘ST Format Gold’ awards were Dragon’s Breath
from Palace Software with 92%, Armada from Atari with 91%, Castle
Master with 90% and Wayne Gretzky Hockey from Mirrosoft
with
90%. |
| Following closely behind were US Gold’s Crackdown with 81%
and Domark’s Escape From The Planet of the Robot Monsters with
80%. |
Amiga Format issue 10 cover
feature was the review of Rainbow Islands on the Amiga with
Andy Smith giving the game an impressive 95% and an ‘Amiga Format Gold’
award. Player Manager also came away with the same accolade
with a rating of 93% for the game. Just missing out on the ‘Format
Gold’ was Infestation with 89% and Warhead from
Activision with 88%. Other games that were well received included 688
Attack
Sub from Electronic Arts with 86%, Herewith the Clues
from CRL with 80% and Typhoon Thompson with 80%.
On the coverdisk was Wipe Out, a playable demo from Gonzo Games
and various software and utilities. Other features in the issue
included tutorials on games programming, hand scanners, using graphics,
a digitiser masterclass and VIDI-Chrome. |
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Issue 6 of S – The Sega magazine
was actually just the second issue to hit the newsstands (see April’s
Back in Time to get the lowdown on that). World Games by
Epyx/Sega was the only latest release to get reviewed and came away
with 48%. Pick of the ‘Past Master’ reviews was Rastan, “a
superb conversion from the arcades, and a bostin' game in its own
right,” which got 91%. The Reader’s Top ten this month was topped by
R-Type,
again,
followed by After Burner and Wonder Boy III. The
‘Give it Some Stick’ feature looked at Master System controllers, while
the Arcades Special looked at Shadow Dancer. |
| CU Amiga’s coverdisk
contained
full games of Gravattack, a Thrust style game, and S.T.
Bash, was a Space Invaders style game where you, ahem,
blasted ST ports out of the sky. The May 1990 issue had two ‘CU
Super Star’ and seven ‘CU Screen Star’ rated games. Midwinter
was rated the highest this month with a final rating of 96%. Not too
far behind was Antheads: It Came from the Desert 2 from
Cinemaware with 95%, Mark Patterson describing the game as a “brilliant
follow up which excels in graphics, sound, and in its intricate
plotting. If you own a copy of It Came From the Desert I
heartily recommend purchasing this follow up.” Games given a ‘CU Screen
Star’ were Their Finest Hour by US Gold received a rating of
91%, Nuclear War by US Gold got 88%, Budokan by
Electronic Arts got 87%, Escape From the Planet of the Robot
Monsters got 86%, Theme Park
Mystery by Image Works got 86%, Castle Master got 85% and Zombi by Ubi Soft got 85%. |
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Zero issue 7’s coverdisk
contained
a full game, Deflektor, for both the Amiga and Atari ST, and a
demo, Venus The Flytrap, also for the Amiga and Atari ST.
Receiving ‘Zero Hero’ awards for gaining 90% or over this month were
five games in total. Rainbow Islands got 93% on the Atari
ST and 87% on the Amiga, Rich Pelly commenting that he “wouldn’t say
that Rainbow Islands is very good on the ST. Nope, ‘Bleedin’
ber-illiant’ is a slightly better way of putting it. Playability wise,
it’s got it all...” Damocles from Novagen got 93% on the Atari
ST. The PC game Tank from Mirrorsoft got 91%. The Atari ST
version of Klax and the PC version of LHX Attack Chopper
from Electronic Arts both got 90%. Just missing out on the ‘Zero Hero’
status were BSS Jane Seymour on the Amiga with 89% and Fred
on the Atari ST with 89%.
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Tim Ponting took to the skies as he flew over to Paris to infiltrate
Delphine headquarters and get details of Operation Stealth, the
next Cinematique game after Future Wars. The Console
Action section included news and reviews of the latest console
gaming. Konami’s Life Force on the NES came away with 91%
and a ‘Console Classic’ award, while Sega’s Tatsujin on the
Mega Drive just missed out with 87%. |
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