This month in... C&VG '86

News

Activision announced "Murder on the Missippi[sic]", which was being written by Adam Bellin. Rather oddly C&VG described Bellin as "part of the team who produced the controversial 'Ghostbusters'". I have no idea what the controversy was.

"Dr Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum" would be the followup to the popular "Dynamite Dan".

Alligata released "Who Dares Wins II".

Colin McLinton won Firebird's "Elite" competition. There were 11 finalists, all of which had achieved Elite status. Colin won by scoring 539 kills in four hours, 15 highest than his nearest rival.

Nu-Wave were to release "Tubular Bells", a "Psychedelia" Minter-esque style music light synth based on the Mike Oldfield album.

Probe had finished up "Mantronix".

Raffaele Cecco's next game from Mikro-Gen would be "Equinox". Also coming from the publisher was "Stainless Steel".

Mike Singleton's "Doomdarks Revenge", the sequel to "Lords of Midnight" was revealed.

15 year old Paul Hargreaves had been busy and was readying "Tantalus". His previous game, "Glass", was well received.

The winner of the British Micro Awards Game of the Year (sponsored by the Sunday Times) was... "Jet Set Willy II". A very bizarre decision which apparently left software houses & programmers quite peeved.

Following on from the success of its MUD, Compunet was developing a new multi-user game. Federation II would revolve around galactic trading and exploring.

"Redhawk" would be a comic strip style adventure from Melbourne House.

There was a screenshot of CRL's oft-delayed "Cyborg" - the first game featuring a black player character.

Ariolasoft was to release "The Terrors of Trantoss" by Ram Jam Corportation.

Leisure Genius's home computer version of the exceptionally popular "Trivial Pursuit" had hit the shelves.

Activision had teamed up with Electric Dreams on a slew of new movie license tie ins. "Alien II", "Ghostbusters II", "Big Trouble in Little Shining[sic]" and "Howard the Duck" were all on their way. And yes, C&VG made the Shining/China mistake multiple times in the snippet.

US Gold's "Psi-5 Trading Company" made the jump to comics.

"Uridium" sold more than any other game released this year in just one week.

Features

Interview with Rob Hubbard.

An "East meets West" piece featuring Hungary based Andromeda, who had just finished up "Golf Construction Set", and Lucasfilm.

With the World Cup taking place in Mexico, C&VG did a round up of footie games.

A big section on coin-ops.

Marhsal M Rosenthal took a look at the impressive Amiga and what Daphne, Agnes and Portia could mean for gaming. He also covered various peripherals for the ST.

Maps and tips for "Batman", along with a short interview with Jon Ritman.

Notable Previews

• "Acrojet" Microprose

Notable Reviews

• "Quazatron" Steve Turner/Hewson - Spectrum 10/10 C&VG Hit "Quazatron is one of those games you start playing at lunchtime and still be at it at midnight! Addictive isn't the word. The combination of strategy and arcade action will have you hooked instantly."
• "Alien Highway" Vortex - Spectrum/Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "Although it's pretty similar to Highway Encounter, this game is still fun and challenging to play."
• "Cauldron II" Palace Software - C64 10/10 Game of the Month "With great graphics, sensational sound and gameplay which at times borders on being frustrating - but nevertheless addictive - Pumpkin is a winner."
• "Heavy on the Magick" Gargoyle Games - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad 10/10 C&VG Hit "Heavy on the Magick is a brilliant game - but it will appeal to arcade adventurers and D&D freaks alike. And, just maybe, it will introduce arcade adventure addicts to a whole new area of games playing."
• "Golf Construction Set" Ariolasoft - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "The odd thing about Golf Construction Set is that, although it was designed in Britain by Tigress Marketing, it was programmed in Hungary - by people who had never seen or played golf! Like Ariolasoft's other home-grown game Think?, Golf Construction Set is better than most of their American imports."
• "Green Beret" Imagine - C64/Spectrum 9/10 "Green Beret continues the warlike theme of Commando/Rambo - and if you like this style of game you'll enjoy GB. It's fast furious and terribly addictive."
• "Way of the Tiger" Gremlin - Spectrum 8/10 C&VG Hit "At £9.95 the game is hardly cheap, but bearing in mind the quality of some other products costing the same it's good value."
• "Sai Combat" Mirrorsoft - Spectrum 9/10 C&VG Hit "Sai Combat is good fun, graphically excellent and, if you've so far steered clear of all martial arts games, this could be the one to get you hooked."
• "RMS Titanic" Electric Dreams - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Titanic is a very playable, entertaining and stimulating game."
• "Alter Ego" Activision - C64 10/10 "The game is [an] intriguing, enthralling, funny, witty and thoroughly enjoyable game. Peter J Favaro, the man who conceived and created it deserves the highest praise."
• "Equinox" Raffaele Cecco/Mikro-Gen - Spectrum/Amstrad 10/10 C&VG Hit "The unusual combination of arcade adventure and shoot 'em up had this reviewer hooked right from the start."
• "Psi 5 Trading Company" Accolade - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "Psi 5 Trading Company sounds a little bit like Elite. Both are space shoot 'em ups, involving trading and have elements of an adventure game. But graphically they are quite different. However, both are fiendishly difficult to play and vastly entertaining."
• "Phantom of the Asteroids" Mastertronic - C64 8/10 "Good fun, fair graphics and great music."
• "Perry Mason" Telarium - C64/Apple/PC 9/10 "Perry Mason comes on two double sided disks, and is a thoroughly entertaining program, coming as it does, with incidental music to heighten the atmosphere and drama."

Charts

All Formats

1. "Superbowl" Ocean - Spectrum/C64
2. "Green Beret" Imagine - Spectrum
3. "Way of the Tiger" Gremlin - Spectrum/Amstrad

Amstrad

1. "Spindizzy" Electric Dreams
2. "Last V8" Mastertronic
3. "Way of the Tiger" Gremlin

Spectrum

1. "Green Beret" Imagine
2. "Superbowl" Ocean
3. "Way of the Tiger" Gremlin

C64

1. "Superbowl" Ocean
2. "Uridium" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson
3. "Hardball" US Gold

Atari

1. "Last V8" Mastertronic
2. "One Man and His Droid" Mastertronic
3. "Action Biker" Mastertronic

BBC

1. "Commando" Elite
2. "Karate Combat" Superior
3. "Winter Olympics" Tynesoft

This month in... C&VG '86

News

Tony Crowther moved back Alligata, the company he started out with. He had briefly run his own software house called Wizard Developments.

After finding success with Delta4's "Bored of the Rings" CRL had signed up the new St Brides spoof "The Very Big Cave Adventure".

Little of the much hyped "Nexus" had been heard over the previous few months, but now it had resurfaced with news that Beyond would no longer be the publisher. Instead the rather appropriately named Nexus had picked up the game.

Mel Croucher's new game "iD" was announced. The game would see the player effectively take on the role of a psychiatrist trying to help a "being from another world or dimension" pick up the pieces of its shattered identity via conversations.

Halley's Comet had recently visited and Hot released "The Comet Game" to coincide with the launch of the Giotto probe.

Coin-op favourites "Paperboy" and "Ghosts 'n' Goblins" were due to hit home computers courtesy of Elite. Elite also announced that their Spectrum and Amstrad ports of "International Basketball" had been scrapped due to "prolonged programming delays."

Electric Pencil lost two of its programmers - Rupert Bowater and Paul Norris - who had left to form Binary Vision. The "amicable" parting occurred during the development of "Zoids".

Marshal M. Rosenthal attended the glitzy launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System at New York's Visage nightclub. His conclusion? "This is a game system that does a good job. But doesn't present anything new or innovative."

Features

"Elite" had been released some 18 months earlier and was still regularly in the charts. C&VG covered the various ports out there and provided a guide for newcomers.

There was a short interview with Anita Sinclair of Magnetic Scrolls.

Notable Previews

• "Quazatron" Steve Turner/Hewson
• "Gremlins" Atari
• "Biggles" Mirrorsoft

Notable Reviews

• "Get Dexter!" PSS/ERE Informatique - Amstrad 10/10 Game of the Month "The graphics are excellent, so is animation and sound. Get Dexter! is already a French number one under its original name, Crafton and Xunc - and it's destined to be an instant hit in the UK, too."
• "Batman" Jon Ritman & Bernie Drummond/Ocean - Spectrum/Amstrad 10/10 C&VG Hit "Jon Ritman, of Bear Bovver and Match Day fame, assisted by Bernie Drummond, has come up with a game that's going to leap to the top of the charts with one might bound."
• "Turbo Espirit" Durell - Spectrum 8/10 C&VG Hit "Be warned - this isn't an easy game to get into. But it's definitely worth the time and effort."
• "Superbowl" Ocean - Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Superbowl stands next to Hardball as a great sports simulation. But when is someone going to do the same thing for a British sport - like cricket?"
• "Knight Tyme" David Jones/Mastertronic - Spectrum 128K 10/10 "Buy it. It's brilliant and at £2.99 you would be a fool to miss out."
• "Thrust" Firebird - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "Thrust is a simple but totally addictive game - and at just £1.99 you'd be stupid not to add it to your collection. It's tricky but lot's of fun. Some neat music from Rob Hubbard, too..."
• "Doomsday Blues" PSS/ERE Informatique - Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "The graphics create a real doom laden atmosphere and ARE really unlike anything seen before on the Amstrad - just like controlling a TV cartoon."
• "Bomb Jack" Elite - Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Bomb Jack is an extremely playable fun game - an excellent conversion of the arcade original, well presented and with some nice sound effects. A must for every arcade action fan."
• "Rebel Planet" Adventuresoft UK/US Gold - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad/BBC 10/10 "If Stefan [Ufnowski] enjoyed writing the game, then I had twice as much fun playing it. It has a fresh approach and that devious sort of wit that has one laughing with rage on discovering the answer to many a problem."
• "Borrowed Time" Interplay/Activision - C64/Apple II/PC/Mac/Amiga/ST 9/10 "Borrowed Time is an apt title. It combines a fast-moving narrative structure with the essential mystery elements of an adventure in a most realistic way. You ARE the private eye, and time is not on your side."

Golden Joystick Awards

• Game of the Year: "Way of the Exploding Fist" Melbourne House
• Software House of the Year: Melbourne House
• Best Original Game of 85: "Little Computer People" Activision
• Best Adventure Game of 85: "Red Moon" Level 9
• Best Strategy Game of 85: "Theatre Europe" PSS
• Best Arcade-Style Game of 85: "Commando" Elite
• Programmer of the Year: Steven Crow

Charts

All Formats

1. "Hardball" US Gold - C64
2. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine - All
3. "Formula One Simulator" Mastertronic - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad

Amstrad

1. "Rambo" Ocean
2. "Sky Fox" Ariolasoft
3. "Caves of Doom" Mastertronic

Spectrum

1. "Movie" Imagine
2. "Sky Fox" Ariolasoft
3. "Winter Games" Epyx

C64

1. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine
2. "Southern Belle" Hewson
3. "Exploding Fist" Melbourne House

BBC

1. "Hardball" US Gold
2. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" US Gold
3. "Kung Fu Master" US Gold

This month in... C&VG '86

News

The UK release of "Questprobe 3" (aka "The Fantastic Four") had suffered more delays. There had been hopes it'd be out for Christmas, but it looks like licensing issues had pushed it back.

Rhino announced "Ark Pandora" for the C64.

PSS had released two new wargames: "Falklands 82" for the Spectrum and "Theatre of Europe" for the Amstrad.

Global Software announced a game based on "the Worst Vegetable Movie of All Time", "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes". They boasted that the game was "the result of at least two day's hard sleeping."

"The Sacred Armour of Antiriad" would be Palace Software's next original game, created by new hire Dan Malone. "Cauldron II" was also heading to the C64 any day now, with Spectrum and Amstrad versions to follow.

Samantha Fox would "star" in her own game by Martech, "Samantha Fox's Strip Poker".

Gargoyle teased a few details about its new very interesting looking take on adventure games, "Heavy on the Magick". While Gargoyle had traditionally focussed on the Spectrum, they were busy assembling a C64 team so Commodore fans wouldn't be left out.

Ariolasoft was readying "Golf Construction Set" for the C64. The game was being designed by David Bishop in the UK, but Andromeda Software in Hungary were handling the programming.

"The Force" from Argus Software would see the player take on the role of a Chief Constable.

Nolan Bushnell was now free to develop new games and electronic toys as the 7 year blackout agreed when he sold Atari to Warner had ended. His first new product would be a line of toys called Petsters, which were battery powered furry toys that could talk and respond to 10 commands triggered by clapping or voice.

Sinclair finally launched a significant update to their enormously popular Spectrum 48K, the Spectrum 128K.

English Software announced their medieval take on the Daley Thompson's genre of button mashing games, "Knight Games".

"Swords & Sorcery II" was to feature a new level with more monsters and various improvements. It was never released.

"Fast Tracks" was a slot-car racing game from Activision that would include a track editor.

The French creator of "Macadam Bumper" revealed his next game would be "Crafton and Xunc" for the Amstrad.

Features

Marshal M. Rosenthal checked out an impressive new laser tag style game centre in Ontario, Canada called "Star Blazer".

The Atari ST and the Amiga were compared, with a roundup of current and forthcoming games for the former.

The electronic band Mainframe continued their series of articles, this time focussing on a look at sampling techniques.

Notable Previews

• "The Planets" Martech

Notable Reviews

• "Zoids" Martech - C64 10/10 Game of the Month "With a bit of practice you'll soon be dashing around causing all sorts of havoc and enjoying what must be one of the best games EVER for the 64."
• "Who Dares Wins II" Alligata - Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "And despite qualms over the morality of death and destruction, Who Dares Wins II is satisfying, addictive and fun to play."
• "Spitfire 40" Mirrorsoft - Spectrum/Amstrad 8/10 C&VG Hit "All in all Spitfire 40 is a nice flight simulation, not too complicated to prevent instant enjoyment or too easy to make the game boring after just a few plays."
• "The Eidolon" Lucasfilm/Activision - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Time seems to be coming in for a lot of bending and stretching you think to yourself. With seven caves to explore, a host of nasties to bash and the most terrifying many-headed dragon you are ever likely to see The Eidolon is a winner."
• "2112AD" Design Design - Spectrum 9/10 C&VG Hit "2112AD has real atmosphere and is pretty addictive. The interaction between the main character and Poddy, a K-9 clone, adds an original aspect to the game. It's very playable, too."
• "Enigma Force" Beyond - C64/Spectrum 8/10 C&VG Hit "The problem with Enigma is that the deeper you delve into it the more shallow it reveals itself to be."
• "Hardball" Accolade - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "Hardball has strategy, action and extra added addictiveness. So grab your glove, Charlie Brown and head for the pitcher's mound this instant!"
• "Spindizzy" Electric Dreams - Amstrad 10/10 C&VG Hit "Graphically stunning, the sheer scope of Spindizzy is breathtaking. Add to this absorbing game play, intriguing puzzles, a beat-the-clock element, and you have a brilliant game."
• "Twister" System 3 - Spectrum 9/10 C&VG Hit "Your aim is the destruction of Twister, the corrupt serpent coiled around a core of evil in this rather nice shoot 'em up and strategy game from System 3."
• "Dragonskulle" Ultimate - C64 9/10 "Ultimate's last couple of games, Imhotep and Outlaws, were a little bit disappointing to say the least. But with Dragonskulle the quality is back to the normal form."
• "Robin of Sherlock" Delta4/Silversoft - Spectrum 8/10 "Apart from this [jokes being "thrust down your throat in rapid succession"], Robin is a very entertaining set of programs, with reasonable graphics and good descriptions."
• "Spellbreaker" Infocom - All formats 10/10 "If you like magic adventures with greater than usual depth, or have enjoyed playing Enchanter and Sorceror, then Spellbreaker will not disappoint."
• "Psychedelic Warp" Silversoft - Spectrum 9/10 "A fairly original plot, some inventive touches (SCORE produces "You're still hoping this is a game, aren't you?") and some very exciting graphics make this a completely original game."
• "The Pawn" Magnetic Scrolls/Rainbird - ST/Amiga/Mac/C64/Amstrad/Atari/Apple 2/BBC 10/10 "The Pawn is so good that to compare it in the same category as many of the adventures currently on the market is to do it a gross injustice. Good luck to Magnetic Scrolls and Rainbird in their bid to raise standards. They deserve it."

Charts

All Formats

1. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine - all formats
2. "Kung Fu Master" US Gold - C64
3. "Rock N Wrestle" Melbourne House - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad

Amstrad

1. "Elite" Firebird
2. "Sky Fox" Ariolasoft
3. "The Sold a Million" Hit Squad

Spectrum

1. "Winter Games" Epyx
2. "Commando" Elite
3. "Spellbound" Mastertronic

BBC

1. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine
2. "Exploding Fist" Melbourne House
3. "Citadel" Superior

C64

1. "Kung Fu Master" US Gold
2. "Rock N Wrestle" Melbourne House
3. "The Eidolon" Activision

This month in... C&VG '86

News

The biggest news by far this month was that US Gold had merged with Ultimate Play The Game, and that US Gold would now handle all international manufacturing, promotion, marketing and sales of Ultimate games. Ultimate said that they were going to concentrate on making games and planned to release six new titles during 1986. What wasn't clear was just how involved the Stamper brothers were to be, but it would turn out that they already had their eyes on the new Japanese consoles and the formation of a certain company called Rare.

Melbourne House announced they were busy on "Return of the Fist", the sequel to the excellent "Way of the Exploding Fist". The software company also had another sequel in the works: "Mugsy's Revenge", and the screenshots they teased looked rather good indeed.

Martech were readying "The Planets", a game based on the TV documentary series of the same name.

"Bounder" was to be the next game out from Gremlin.

Steve Turner was finishing up his new game called "Ziggurat" (released as "Quazatron") which would be a bit like "Gyroscope" and feature "3D pyramids inhabited by robots and stuff."

Notable Previews

• Elite's upcoming games were previewed, including "Bomb Jack", "Ghosts'n' Goblins" and the infamous "Scooby Doo in the Castle of Mystery". Regarding the latter, boss Steve Wilcox admitted it would be different from the version that had been heavily advertised, citing lack of RAM on the Speccy as the reason.

Notable Reviews

• "Movie" Imagine - Spectrum/Amstrad 10/10 Game of the Month "Movie is a brilliant game. It has atmosphere with a capital 'A'."
• "Uridium" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson - C64 10/10 "Andrew Braybrook's Uridium is simply the best 64 game we've seen since Fist." This was the first game I ever bought for the C64 - even before I owned the machine itself! Many fond memories of playing it 'round mates places.
• "Back to Skool" Microsphere - Spectrum 8/10 "There's more to Back to Skool than meets the eye. If you were a fan of Skooldaze, you'll enjoy this follow-up."
• "Repton 2" Superior Software - BBC 10/10 "The graphics are smooth and very colourful, and the game as a whole is demanding and absorbing."
• "Space Doubt" CRL - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "There's no doubt that Space Doubt will be a big hit." I bought this game based on this review and the development diary C&VG published... it was by no means worthy of a 10/10.
• "Rock'n Wrestle" Melbourne House - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Rock'n Wrestle is an exciting and original game. Not as instant as Fist - you'll need to be prepared to spend time learning a whole new way of using your joystick - but a game that will keep you in headlock for months."
• "Strangeloop" Virgin Games - Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "If you got an Amstrad for Christmas then Strangeloop is the ideal game to rush out and buy with your Christmas cash. You won't want to play ANY other game for months!"
• "Battle of the Planets" Mikro-Gen - Spectrum 9/10 "Anyone who enjoys fast space shoot outs can't fail to like Mikro-Gen's first venture into arcade action - a mixture of Elite and 3D Tank Battle." This was originally intended to use Mikro-Gen's extra RAM pack that came with "Shadow of the Unicorn".
• "N.O.M.A.D." Ocean - Spectrum/Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "Graphics are attractive, the sound is good and game play totally addictive. Rush out and find N.O.M.A.D. - before it finds you!"
• "Master of Magic" Richard Darling/Mastertronic - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Master of Magic is quite simply tremendous value and extremely addictive. Once you've entered Thelric's realm you won't really want to escape."
• "Lord of the Rings" Melbourne House - Spectrum 8/10 "Lord of the Rings is without doubt a far superior game to Hobbit and Sherlock. I would even go so far as saying that personally I believe this to be the best from Melbourne House so far!"

Charts

All Formats

1. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine - Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, BBC
2. "Commando" Elite - Spectrum, C64
3. "Winter Games" Epyx - Spectrum, C64, Amstrad

Spectrum

1. "Winter Games" Epyx
2. "Commando" Elite
3. "Rambo" Ocean

C64

1. "Bounder" Gremlin Graphics
2. "Koronis Rift" LucasFilm/Activision
3. "Commando" Elite

Amstrad

1. "Formula 1 Simulator" Mastertronic
2. "They Sold a Million" Hit Squad
3. "Finders Keepers" Mastertronic