This month in... C&VG '89

[Oh dear, I got confused and thought this was the April issue.. turns out my April issue appears to be missing - no doubt the fault of one of my High School friends back in the day]

News

Rignall and Glancey took on Domark’s Mark Strachan and Andy Blazdell in three rounds of Tengen’s "Vindicators" arcade machine. The C&VG lads won two out of three and claimed the Tengen Trophy. A rematch was planned, this time with "APB”, though would be delayed after the delivery men dropped Domark’s cabinet and smashed it to pieces.

Palace Software struck a deal with Delphine to distribute their games outside of France, the first of which would be "Bio Challenge”.

Silverbird’s new “123 Pack” was a budget compilation costing a mere £2.99. Mind you, as C&VG noted, none of the games included were all that great.

"Deluxe Paint III" landed and featured a bevvy of new features and enhancements, particularly in the animation department.

Kid’s TV host Gilbert the “mucus king” was to star in his own videogame called ”Escape From Drill“ courtesy of newcomers Enigma Variations.

Sensible Software’s next title would be a budget title on the Rack-It label. Titled”Insects in Space" it was their “loopy” take on Stargate.

Fresh on the heels of their well received "Star Wars" conversions, Vektor Graphics teased their new flight sim "Bomber" (working title).

"AAARGH!" from Melbourne House would see the player take on the role of a giant monster indulging in some good old city stomping.

Super Mario Brothers on the go?! Nintendo had just launched the Game Boy in Japan.

Arcana went all out with the press pack for "Mars Cops”. The game had suffered many delays and re-writes over the course of two years, but was finally ready for release. Actually, no it wasn’t.

After making the move to California and leaving the UK game scene behind, it was revealed that Rob Hubbard had written the soundtrack to "Populous”.

The Akai U5 Professional was a walkman sized recording studio, allowing the user to lay down four tracks on to a standard cassette.

Ocean snapped up three more licenses: "Red Heat”, "Chase HQ" and "Nightbreed”.

Canon’s A1 Note was a digital notepad with a high-res LCD screen and a stylus.

Features

There was a super bizarre and kinda gross ad from Microprose for "Microprose Soccer”. It was at the start of the game reviews, looked exactly like a C&VG review and awarded itself C&VG Game of the Month. It did state “This is not a C&VG Review” but still… gross.

The movies reviewed this month were: “Alien Nation”, “My Stepmother is an Alien”, “The Tall Guy”, “Crossing Delancey”, “Punchline”, “Without a Clue”, “The Dead Pool”, “Patty Hearst”, “The Year My Voice Broke”, “Matewan”, “Da” and “Stealing Heaven”.

Julian Rignall was very impressed with Sega’s new console, the Mega-Drive.

John Minson ranted about an article that appeared in The Sunday Times about how computers were corrupting kids with hardcore porn, and the fact that C&VG had fallen foul of Germany’s censors for covering war games.

Notable Reviews

• "Dominator" System 3 - Amiga 81% Spectrum 85% C&VG Hit “On the Spectrum at least, Dominator is one of the best shoot ‘em ups aroundm probably the best I’ve seen since R-Type. The Amiga version is up against stiffer competition, but it holds its own with the likes of Menace and Denaris.“
• "3D Pool" Firebird - C64 80% “3D Pool is innovative, unusual and very, very playable. If you don’t mind the waits between goes (you could always play it with another human player), it’s a definite ‘must buy’.“
• "Run the Gauntlet" Ocean - Spectrum 83% Amiga 82% “Ocean have certainly done a great job bringing Run the Gauntlet to our screens, and any sports sim fan after an action-packed game should definitely look this up.“ (“Run the Gaunlet” was TV sports competition show)
• "Typhoon Thompson" Broderbund/Domark - ST/Amiga 89% C&VG Hit “Typhoon Thomspon isn’t a complex game to play, and there are only four missions, but it’s adequate entertainment because those graphics make it such fun that you keep coming back for more.”
• "King’s Quest IV" Sierra Online - ST/Amiga/PC 91% "When King’s Quest I first appeared, the novelty of its animation system was one of its main attractions. Sierra has not stood still since then, and, whilst continuing the same background theme in subsequent King’s Quests, it has steadily improved its techniques and tricks, to produce this, King’s Quest IV, which I rank as its finest game to date.“

Charts

All Formats*

1. "Operation Wolf" Ocean
2. "Robocop" Ocean
3. "Afterburner" Activision

_{* I assume since once again C&VG left off the chart headers}

Amiga

1. "Super Hang On" Electric Dreams
2. "Falcon" Mirrorsoft
3. "Lombard RAC Rally" Mandarin

This month in... Zzap!64 '87

News

A couple of new arrivals at Zzap! this month, with Steve Jarratt swapping industrial chemistry for games journalism and Philipa Irving who, er, swapped Crash for its Newsfield sibling.

Ariolasoft’s Starlight label had three games on the way. "Dogfight 2187" promised 3D wireframe shoot ‘em up action with a vertically split screen giving two views of the action. The other two games were "Deathscape" and "Greyfell”. Meanwhile Tony Crowther had teamed up with Keith Blake and Ross Goodley to develop ”Challenge of the Gobots” based on the popular kids cartoon, which would be published by Ariolasoft.

There was to be more martial arts action from Gremlin in the form of "The Samurai Trilogy”.

Mastertronic had set their sights on the arcade industry and launched a subsidiary company called Arcadia Systems Inc. From the sound of it they intended to create new titles rather than try to “up port” Mastertronic games, which was probably a wise decision.

There were no less than seven titles being developed by Pirahna: "Trapdoor II”, "Rogue Trooper”, "Judge Death” (unreleased),”Roy of the Rovers” (looks like Gremlin ended up getting the license), "Yogi Bear”, "PI”(working title of a detective adventure from Delta4) and "Battle" (which, yes, was a game about a battle - I have no idea if it was ever released).

The “bizarre” publication "OINK!" was getting its own game from CRL. The software house also insisted the much delayed "Cyborg" was imminent… for reals this time.

Steve Turner’s Gauntlet-esque (but starring a frog) "Ranarama" was making its way to the C64.

Fans of Monty Mole could look forward to a new instalment in the series: "Auf Wiedersehen Monty”.

Jon Ritman’s highly acclaimed isometric adventure "Head Over Heels" was getting a C64 port. Ocean had also snapped up the license for "Top Gun”.

Features

Part two of Andrew Braybrook’s game dev diary saw him and Steve Turner setting up their new Opus (MSDOS) machines for cross development. He also detailed the software hack he had found which would make the C64 CPU run at 2Mhz (double speed). Oh, and he stumbled across the title for his new game in a dictionary: ("Morpehus”).

Notable Reviews

• "Gunship" Microprose - 94% (Disc) Sizzler/72% Cassette “Gunship represents the state of the art in flight and combat simulators. It is highly impressive in both documentation and programming.“ The conclusion for the Cassette version was: “A superlative flight/combat simulation ruined by a painful multi-load system.”
• "Zone Ranger" Firebird - 80% “For something that’s nothing more than an old variation on the Asteroids theme, Zone Ranger has stood the test of time.“
• "Firetrack" Electric Dreams - 88% “Fast, frenetic and extremely playable - easily the best vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up to date.”
• "Void Runner" Jeff Minter/Mastertronic - 85% “The most notable thing about Void Runner, is that its intrinsic simplicity is reminiscent of Jeff Minter of old - good solid, fast and furious blasting.”
• "Arkanoid" Imagine - 80% “A well above average conversion of an addictive and challenging arcade game.“
• "Murder Off Miami" Fergus McNeil/CRL - 81% “As a Quillustrated program it also has some really attractive pictures as well and just goes to show (as Fergus McNeil has shown several times already) how much good you can do with that worthy utility.“
• "Aliens" Electric Dreams - 81% “The best film tie-in to date, and a good game to boot.“

Charts

Games

• "World Games" Epyx/US Gold
• "Leader Board" Access/US Gold
• "Green Beret" Ocean

Music

• "Sanxion" Thalamus - Rob Hubbard - Loading Music
• "Miami Vice" Ocea - Martin Galway - Title Screen Music
• "Lightforce" FTL - Rob Hubbard - Main Theme

This month in... ZZap!64 '87

News

Gary Penn wrote a long editorial on a matter that had been on a lot of people’s minds: had quality and innovation taken a dive as software houses relied more and more on coin-op, TV and film licenses? The market seemed to be full of these unimaginative and often shoddy tie ins which, aside from the attached IP, only had good presentation going for them. Developers were feeling the pinch as well: publishers would “guarantee 100,000” copies sold, giving them an excuse to lower royalties. Lump sums also went out the window as all the money had been blown on the license. The piece ended with: “Unfortunately, software houses will continue to release repackaged versions of the same old thing if that is what the customers want. Is this really what YOU want - or is it all you can get?”

Andy Wilson, the programmer behind "Dan Dare”, was working on a ”Laurel and Hardy”game for Advance.

Ocean had a "Short Circuit" game just in time for the UK release of the movie.

A couple more screenshots of Stavros Fasoulas’s next shooter, "Delta" surfaced. There was also mention of a tape loader that would allow a the player to muck about with a Rob Hubbard track while they waited.

Upcoming "Stifflip and Co" from Palace was described as an icon driven “spoof English game in the tradition of Ripping Yarns, set in the closing days of the British Empire.”

Gremlin Graphics were launching a new £4.99 range of games, the first of which was "West Bank”.

Load-It were offering a DIY kit to enable precision adjustment of the C64’s datacorder (i.e. casette player).

Ocean had three new arcade ports on the way: "Taipan”,”Arkanoid" and "Renegade”. The latter two would appear on their Imagine label.

Apologies from ZZap! to Peaksoft, mail order sellers of heavy duty power supplies. Seems the mag got the price and phone number wrong.

And another apology: the review of "Sigma Seven" stated a RRP of £14.95, when it was actually £9.95.

Features

A “lengthy and somewhat harrowing interview” with John Hare and Chris Yates, i.e. Sensible Software.

A look at the current state of dialup MUGs (Multi-User Games).

The 1986 Readers’ Awards results were in:

• Best Game Overall: "World Games" Epyx/US Gold
• Best Platform Game: "Ghosts’n'Goblins" Elite
• Best Shoot ‘Em Up: ”Uridium" Hewson
• Best Arcade Adventure: ”Dan Dare" Virgin
• Best Adventure: ”The Pawn" Magnetic Scrolls/Rainbird
• Best Strategy Game: "Vietnam" SSI/US Gold
• Best Simulation: "Leader Board" Access/US Gold
• Best Graphics: "World Games" Epyx/US Gold
• Best Music: "Sanxion" Rob Hubbard/Thalamus
• Best Sound FX: "World Games" Epyx/US Gold
• Best Programmer: Andrew Braybrook
• Best Software House: US Gold
• Best Advertisement: "World Games" US Gold
• Least Pleasing Game: "Knight Rider" Ocean
• State of the Art Aware: "The Sentinel" Geoff Crammond/Firebird

The first instalment of a new developer diary from Andrew Braybrook, this time for what would become "Morpheus”.

Notable Reviews

• "Chameleon" Electric Dreams - 84% “An unusual, imaginative and surprisingly compulsive shoot’em up.“
• "Nosferatu The Vampyre" Piranha - 88% “A superlative forced perspective adventure - try it if you dare.“
• "Mutants" Ocean - 90% Sizzler “A new and exciting concept which should interest shoot’em up fans.“
• "Brian Clough’s Football Fortunes" CDS Software - 93% “This is a very socially interactive game - such delights as screaming, shouting, persecution complexes, losing friends, and falling to the floor and frothing at the mouth because your two star players have been killed in a car crash are all part and parcel of this excellent board game.“
• "Escape From Singe’s Castle: Dragon’s Lair Part II" Software Projects - 90% Sizzler “An excellent arcade conversion consisting of eight varied and addictive mini-games.”

Charts

Games

1. "World Games" Epyx/US Gold
2. "Leader Board" Access/US Gold
3. "Super Cycle" Epyx/US Gold

Music

1. "Sanxion" Rob Hubbard/Thalamus - Loading Music
2. "Knucklebusters" Rob Hubbard/Melbourne House - Main Theme
3. "Parallax" Martin Galway/Ocean - Title Screen Music

This month in... C&VG '89

News

Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker” movie had only just come out and US Gold had already snaffled the game license.

Titus announced their futuristic deadly sport game "Titan”.

The Vocalizer 1000 was a music gadget where the user would hum/whistle/sing a tune at it and it would detect the varying pitches and allow playback of the tune using a selection of 28 instruments.

Gary Liddon was teaming up with renowned game artist Paul Docherty to develop "Tyger Tyger" for Mastertronic’s Ricochet label. It was never released.

A rather disturbing underground scene had emerged in West Germany with neo-Nazis developing anti-Semitic games like “Hitler Dictator” and distributing them anonymously on bulletin boards. The software was managing to make its way to school playgrounds.

Elsewhere in Germany… C&VG had been relegated to the magazine top shelves in select retailers out of the reach of kids as the government had decided it promoted games that had been banned (i.e. war sims).

Electronic Arts were bringing their Amiga racing sim "Ferrari Formula One"to the ST and 8bits. They were also working on "Abrams Battle Tank”, though I can’t find further mentions of it.

Bullfrog’s groundbreaking”Populous" was revealed.

Canon launched their Zap Shot camera which could store up to 50 photos on a special video floppy disk. The pics could then be viewed on a TV, or captured using appropriate video hardware.

"Vindicators"was next in Domark’s series of Tengen coin-op licenses.

Cinemaware’s "Defend of the Crown" was getting a new PC CD-ROM release which would feature a new soundtrack, “film quality sound effects” and dialogue. The gameplay would remain the same, though.

In what was surely one of the most obnoxious 80s things ever, “Safe and Sound Stereo Jackets” from Sports Electronics Inc would let the wearer (or their.. friends.. I guess) connect a walkman to their jacket for all to listen… ugh.

For owners of the BBC Domesday System (BBC Micro + video disc player), Virgin’s “North Polar Expedition” would give them a taste of the Artic. It retailed at £199.

Huh. Sony were launching a series of designer blank VHS tapes in the US.

Features

The movies reviewed this month were: “Die Hard”, “Maniac Cop”, The Dead Can’t Lie”, “Short Circuit 2”, “Ghost Chase” and “Elvira - Mistress of Darkness”.

Clare Edgely and Julian Rignall swung by the Amusement and Trade Exhibition in Olympia to check out the latest and greatest arcade machines.

John Minson got to have a sneak peak at the Konix Multi System console. Conclusion: “The result is, quite simply, the answer to every games player’s dreams.”

It was Winter CES time and Minson spent a whole two weeks in Vegas for it. How on earth he survived that, I dunno - two to three days is enough for me. There was a large contingent of UK devs present, but it was Nintendo who stole the show. The first HDTVs (in the West) were on display too.

Notable Reviews

• "Blasteroids" Image Works - Spectrum 87% ST 90% C&VG Hit ”Still, the gameplay is adrenalin pumping, and Blasteroids is easily the best ST shoot ‘em up to date.”
• "WEC Le Mans" Ocean - Spectrum 83% Amstrad 82% “The Spectrum version is of similar high quality and the game doesn’t seem to lack anything in spite of the machine’s graphical and audio shortcomings. Strange, isn’t it, how well driving games translate to the old Speccy?“
• “Battlehawks” Lucasfilm/US Gold - PC 85% “I didn’t find it quite as compelling as Strike Fleet, but it kept me engrossed for many an hour.”
• "Pro Soccer" CRL - Spectrum 84% “The best way I can describe Pro Soccer is that it’s Football Manager 2 with more player interaction, more fun, better graphics, playability, design and generally better game play.“
• “Purple Saturn Day” Infogrames - ST 84% “Purple Saturn Day is an excellent package, accomplished with all the graphical style and audio effectiveness of Exxos’ other game, Captain Blood.”
• “Andes Attack” Llamasoft - ST 88% “Andes Attack is a raw and uncompromising shoot ‘em up that’ll have you on the edge of your seat - and essential purchase for the maniacal blasting fan.”
• “Zany Golf” Electronic Arts - ST 81% “Play is such an enjoyable combination of luck and skill (with a fair bit of frustration thrown in for good measure) that you’ll be coming back to it for ages.”
• "Manhunter" Sierra Online/Activision - ST/Amiga 88% “Having persevered with it, I am currently impressed and intrigued by its puzzles, and even becoming a bit nonchalant as I breeze through the occasional arcade section.“
• "War in Middle Earth" Melbourne House - Spectrum 88% “The game has all the hallmarks of a game which has been crafted slowly and painstakingly. I can thoroughly recommend this game to Tolkien fans and anyone who enjoys a strategic challenge. Great stuff.“

Charts

All Formats

1. "Operation Wolf" Ocean
2. "Robocop" Ocean
3. "Afterburner" Activision