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This month in... Crash '86

Mike Keith

News

Celebrations at Crash towers as the latest circulation figures showed they had sold 101,483 copies a month on average between January and June. That number placed Crash ahead of all other computer mags.

This issue was the first to feature a cover drawn by someone other than Oliver Frey - Ian Craig was the illustrator responsible. It seemed that with the increasing array of magazines published by Newsfield, Frey had too much on his plate.

The Personal Computer World Show had taken place and there was a bevy of news. Perhaps most notably it was the first time the world got to see the new Spectrum 128 +2 - the first Spectrum to be produced by the new owners, Amstrad. Reaction seemed to generally be positive, but people weren't impressed with the quality of the tape deck and felt this was a missed opportunity.

Konami announced that it would be handling all future conversions in house. "Salamander" was the first in line, which would be followed by "Jail Break", "Nemesis", "Super Basketball" and "Iron Horse".

Features

A big interview with Jon Ritman about how he got started in games, the beginnings of his long running partnership with Bernie Drummond, his development methodology and what the future held. A sequel the "Matchday" was in the works, and a new isometric game referred to as "Foot and Mouth" was teased. The latter would become the fantastic "Head over Heels".

The first instalment of the diary for the Genesis competition winning design provided the revelation that the winner (Jonathan Eggelton) not only didn't own a Spectrum but also wasn't a regular Crash reader. It turned out he was a C64 owner and read Zzap64. The game was being programmed by Graham Stafford and considerable progress had already been made. The article was rather impressively rich on the technical details and not just a fluff piece. The game had to be finished by mid-October in order to be on shelves by Christmas, so the pressure was on.

An interview with Costa Panayi and Luke Andrews of Vortex Software.

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Revolution" Costa Panayi/Vortex Software - Crash Smash 91% "An unusual and good looking game that provides a real challenge."
  • "Paperboy" Steve Lamb & Tony Mac/Elite - 88% "Another slick, playable conversion from Elite."
  • "Trivial Pursuit" Oxford Digital Enterprises/Domark - Crash Smash 91% "A very competent conversion of a classic game."
  • "Scooby Doo" Gargoyle Games/Elite - Crash Smash 91% "This is obviously not the game promised by Elite sometime last year, but it was definitely worth the wait as it is tremendously playable and ever so compelling."
  • "Mindstone" The Edge - 89% "Slow start but really engaging once you get into it."
  • "Hunchback - The Adventure" Ocean - 86% "Hunchback the Adventure is an attractive, stylised adventure with much humour and a great amount to play, what with it coming in three parts."
  • "Trapdoor" Don Priestly/Piranha - 88% "With the immense, bright, colourful characters, Trapdoor is one of those games that grabs you immediately."

Charts

Hotline

  1. "Commando" Elite
  2. "Ghosts and Goblins" Elite
  3. "Bomb Jack" Elite

Adventure

  1. "Heavy on the Magick" Gargoyle Games
  2. "Lord of the Rings" Melbourne House
  3. "Spellbound" Mastertronic