This month in... Zzap!64 '87

News

Ciaran Brennan had only just taken over the helm at ZZap! but he was already moving onto pastures new. This ushered in Julian Rignall as editor.

US Gold acquired the rights to the "Rolling Thunder" and "Roadblasters" coin ops. Meanwhile, the publisher dropped the price of all of their C64 disk games from £14.99 to £11.99 (thanks to economies of scale).

Telecomsoft scored a bit of a coup, signing Graftgold away from Hewson. Not only that, but Graftgold had taken Dominic Robinson and John Cumming with them.

Firebird's "Druid" had proved so popular that it was making its way to the NES.

The tenth Personal Computer World Show had taken place and there were tons of games on show, far too many to mention here.

Features

Zzap! previewed the movie "Predator" and the computer game based on it, and even chatted to Arnie himself.

There was a Judge Dredd comic included as a pull out.

A big 16bit special took a look at the Amiga and ST. Zzap! talked to a bunch of programmers (including Andy Onions and Ian Oliver from Realtime, and Andrew Braybrook) about how the machines stacked up. Unsurprisingly, there was overwhelming agreement about the superiority of the Amiga, but the price difference would be a big factor.

Notable Previews

• "Sidearms" US Gold
• "720º" US Gold
• "Wizard Warz" Go!
• "Judge Dredd" Pirahna
• "Rimrunner" Palace
• "Skate or Die" Electronic Arts
• "Octapolis" English Software

Notable Reviews

• "Maniac Mansion" Lucasfilm/Activision - 93% Sizzler "An innovative and polished arcade adventure which shouldn't be missed."
• "Street Hassle" Melbourne House - 80% "I'm sure that if the Monty Python team were asked to write a computer game, they'd come up with something like this."
• "Buggy Boy" Elite - 97% Gold Medal "Buggy Boy proves that the racing format is very much alive and kicking. It's rare that a computer game manages to give a real feeling of thrill and exhileration, but Buggy Boy manages it!"
• "Shoot'em Up Construction Kit" Sensible Software/Outlaw - Gold Medal (no rating was given) "This has to be one of the greatest packages ever released on the 64. The games that come with it would be worth the money alone, but this gives you the ability to make your own."
• "Gnome Ranger" Level 9 - 87% "Gnome Ranger is a very professional, highly interactive adventure. The pretty pictures ad to the already adequate ambience created by the text, and the parser is intelligent enough to deal with most inputs."
• "Russia" SSG - 91% Sizzler "One of the best traditional wargames I've seen - thoroughly recommended."
• "Lords of Conquest" Electronic Arts - 86% "Don't expect a sophisticated wargame, but as a strategy game for relaxation it's addictive."
• "Zig Zag" Mirrorsoft - 92% Sizzler "An unusual, but highly polished shooting and exploring game."
• "Bangkok Knights" System 3 - 90% Sizzler "A competent and playable beat 'em up, which has enough variety and innovation to make it a worthwhile purchase."
• "Computer Scrabble De Luxe" Leisure Genius - Sizzler (no rating) "Aesthetic niggles apart, Scrabble De Luxe is about as good as one can expect from home computer [sic]."
• "Nebulus" Hewson - 97% Gold Medal "One of the most innovative games ever, and one which adds a whole new dimension to the platform game game format."

Charts

Games

1. "The Last Ninja" System 3
2. "Wizball" Ocean
3. "Barbarian" Palace

Music

1. "Delta" Thalamus - Rob Hubbard Main Theme
2. "Sanxion" Thalamus - Rob Hubbard Loading Music
3. "The Last Ninja" System 3 - Ben Daglish Title Tune

This month in... Zzap!64 '87

News

This issue came complete with a pair of red/blue 3D glasses and to use when reading the "3D Tips Supplement".

Incentive Software's "Graphic Adventure Creator Plus" was due in the coming month. This new version would allow games to use a disc-access system - similar to Infocom's games - which would allow much bigger adventures. I'm unsure if this was actually released.

Level 9 unveiled their latest adventure, "Gnome Ranger".

US Gold and SSI embarked on a partnership with TSR to bring games based on Dungeons and Dragons to home computers.

Ocean acquired the rights to "Madballs", a range of toy... balls.

Dynamics Marketing announced a new entry to its line of joysticks. The Competition Pro Extra would come with auto fire and an interesting slow motion mode.

Features

Part two of "The History of the Shoot'em Up".

Zzap! editor Ciaran Brennan ventured to Thailand with a group of journos on System 3's dime to promote the upcoming "Bangkok Knights". At one point he was bemused when a group of waiters and waitresses started asking him for his autograph - turned out they thought he was Steve Davis.

The "Ten Things You Never Knew About..." feature this month was about Ciaran Brennan.

The Zzap! team spent a day out at Combat Zone (a paintball arena).

John Minson visited Microprose HQ and took a look at some of their upcoming games.

Notable Previews

• "Hunter's Moon" Thalamus
• "Platoon" Ocean

Notable Reviews

• "Renegade" Imagine - 90% Sizzler "I'm amazed at how similar this is to the arcade version. The title screen and music are virtually identical to the original, and the gameplay is very similar indeed."
• "International Karate+" Archer MacLean/System 3 - 93% Sizzler "Take the best bits of International Karate, add an extra opponent, a couple of new moves, new music and tweak the playability and you've got the incredible International Karate+."
• "Solomon's Key" US Gold - 86% "An original, satisfying and addictive variation on the platform theme."
• "Morpheus" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson - 90% Sizzler "A superlative program which could inspire a whole new style of game."
• "Starfox" Reaktor - 82% "Splendid space action with a good dose of strategy."
• "πr²" Mind Games - 84% "A novel puzzle game which provides plenty of entertainment."
• "Stationfall" Infocom - 87% "His [Steve Meretzky's] latest adventure creation is certainly on par with his previous work, incorporating atmosphere, humour and a plethora of puzzles which combine well to pull you in and let you live the life of a Lieutenant First Class for a while."
• "Accolade Comics" Accolade - No score given "Accolade Comics is the sort of game that is a brilliant experience for the first few plays, but once seen offers no real lasting appeal. This is a shame, as it is brilliantly implemented, extremely polished and genuinely humorous in parts."
• "The Dungeon: Alternate Reality" Datasoft - 85% "An excellent RPG which offers plenty of depth, variety and interaction."
• "Enlightenment - Druid II" Firebird - 85% "An entertaining and worthy sequel to Druid."
• "Quedex" Stavros Fasoulas/Thalamus - 92% Sizzler "The thought that has gone into the game's design is admirable - Quedex is beautifully designed, highly original and wholeheartedly recommended to anyone who thinks they can stand the pace!"
• "Joe Blade" Players - 92% Silver Medal "Joe Blade is a faily simplistic shoot 'n' search game, but it's made really enjoyable by the pleasant graphics and almost humorous gameplay."

Charts

Games

1. "World Games" US Gold/Epyx
2. "Leaderboard" US Gold/Access
3. "The Last Ninja" System 3

Music

1. "Sanxion" Thalamus (Loading music) - Rob Hubbard
2. "Green Beret" Imagine (Loading Music) - Martin Galway
3. "Delta" Thalamus (Main theme) - Rob Hubbard

This month in... Zzap!64 '87

News

The Audit Bureau of Circulations report showed that Zzap!'s readership had reached an impressive 77,483 in the first 6 months of the year.

Delta4 re-surfaced as Abstract Concepts and Fergus McNeil was busy working on a new fancy adventure system.

The next game from Stavros Fasoulas under the Thalamus label would be "Quedex".

Features

Part one of a series on the history of the shoot'em up.

Andrew Braybrook's development diary of "Morpheus" drew to an end. During this final month, Andrew was refining the difficulty, adding polish (including attract & high score screens), and doing last minute optimisations and bug squishing. The game had begun last December which made it quite a long project, although Graftgold switched to a PC dev system early on. While this did speed up the development process, it resulted in Andrew writing a much bigger program. "Uridium" had about 18K of code, "Alleykat" 20K and now "Morpheus" was up to 30K.

A lengthy preview of the upcoming PCW show, with many of the software houses discussing what they were planning to have on display.

Newsfield were about to launch their new magazine, The Games Machine, and there was a taster of what would be in store for readers.

Steve Jarratt took a look at Rainbird's "The OCP Advanced Art Studio" and seemed unconvinced: "I do recommend this, but with an element of caution - shop around, think long and choose wisely." (the software cost £24.95)

Notable Previews

• "Morpheus" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson
• "Shoot'em up Construction Kit" Sensible Software/Palace
• "Super Sprint" Electric Dreams
• "X15 Alpha Mission" Activision
• "Mean Streak" Mirrorsoft
• "Andy Capp" Mirrorsoft
• "Accolade's Comics" Accolade
• "I, Alien" CRL
• "Jet Boys" CRL
• "Discovery" CRL
• "Bangkok Knights" System 3

Notable Reviews

• "Bubble Bobble" Firebird - 97% Gold Medal "It's a rare and beautiful occasion when a great arcade machine is perfectly converted - but thankfully this is one such event."
• "Red L.E.D." Starlight - 93% Sizzler "A truly impressive product, brilliantly designed, implemented and executed."
• "Mega Apocalypse" Martech - 90% Sizzler "One of the better shoot'em ups this year - and one of the most polished programs ever."
• "B-24 Flight Simulator" SSI - 90% Sizzler "A convincing and absorbing game, which may well appeal to those who don't usually like conventional flight simulators."
• "Hysteria" Software Projects - 83% "An exciting, absorbing and highly visual adventure."
• "Ace 2" Cascade - 81% "A disappointment after Ace, but still enjoyable for budding combat pilots."

Charts

Games

1. "World Games" US Gold/Epyx
2. "Leaderboard" US Gold/Access
3. "Gauntlet" US Gold

Music

1. "Sanxion" Loading Music - Rob Hubbard
2. "Delta" Main Theme - Rob Hubbard
3. "Green Beret" Loading Music - Martin Galway

This month in... Zzap!64 '87

News

Sensible Software signed to Outlaw, Palace Software's new label. The first game the sensi chaps would deliver was "Shoot'em Up Construction Kit" (or SEUCK as it came to be known as).

A game based on Jeffrey Archer's first novel, "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less" was in the works. Meanwhile, Archer had been busy in a highly publicised court case and had just been acquitted.

There was a "Ten Things You Never Knew About Mark Cale" section (head of System 3). They included Mark's apparent obsession with TV show "Magnum" (he named his dog Apollo after the doberman in the show and bought a red Ferarri Mondial), his reputation as a bit of a man about town, and that his favourite midday snack was an entire greasy chicken.

US Gold announced a new label, GO, which would release "spectacular full-priced new games".

Features

Zzap took a look at the MUD "Shades" which was available to Micronet and Prestel customers.

The Sega Master System was originally meant to hit the UK shelves a year earlier, courtesy of Ariolasoft, but that had apparently gone nowhere. Mastertronic had stepped in and signed distribution rights with Sega and the console would be available in the UK for £99 (which included a copy of "Hang-On"). The Zzap lads didn't sound entirely convinced by the line-up.

Julian Rignall interviewed Paul Norris who had jumped ship from the Electric Pencil Company to form Binary Vision.

Andrew Braybrook's developer diary for "Morpheus" had almost come to an end. Squashing bugs and optimising bullet and enemy handling/drawing seemed to be the order of the day.

Zzap Back featured games from the March and April 1986 issues: "Arc of Yesod", "Zoids", "Hardball", "Uridium" and "Mercenary".

Notable Previews

• "Knight Orc" Level 9
• "Ace II" Cascade
• "Implosion" Cascade
• "Ringworld" Cascade
• "Bubble Bobble" Firebird
• "Mrs Mop" Ariolasoft
• "Yogi Bear" Pirahna
• "Renegade" Ocean
• "Athena" Ocean
• "Centurions" Reaktor/Ariolasoft

Notable Reviews

• "Zynaps" Hewson - 90% Sizzler "An immensely addictive, slick and infuriatingly difficult shoot 'em up."
• "Re-Bounder" Gremlin Graphics - 90% Sizzler "A brilliant sequel, and a superb game in itself."
• "California Games" Epyx - 97% Gold Medal "Epyx surpass themselves yet again with another incredible sports simulation. Don't miss it."
• "Guild of Thieves" Magnetic Scrolls/Rainbird - 90% Sizzler "Guild of Thieves is an excellent program, combining Magnetic Scrolls' progamming expertise with a more accessible scenario and some excellent puzzles."
• "Shard of Spring" SSI - 88% "Just short of brilliant"
• "Street Sports Baseball" Epyx - 82% "A fresh approach to an otherwise jaded format."
• "Kikstart II" Mastertronic - 86% "Just what Kickstart fans are waiting for - virtually unlimited dirt bike riding."
• "Star Paws" Software Projects - 90% Sizzler " A humorous and unusual release from Software Projects."

Charts

Games

1. "World Games" Epyx
2. "Leaderboard" Access
3. "Gauntlet" US Gold

Music

1. "Sanxion" Rob Hubbard/Thalamus
2. "Delta" Rob Hubbard/Thalamus
3. "Green Beret" Martin Galway/Imagine