News

Not games related as such, but May saw the launch of C&VG's "Bring Back the Doctor" campaign after the BBC announced Doctor Who was to end. I don't know if the BBC had specified when this was to happen, as it would last another 4 years.

The "Designer of the Month" was Stephen Redman, a 21 year old uni student who released the somewhat controversial (how innocent we all were) game "A Day in the Life". The game sees the player try to guide Sir Clive through his day and onto a very important appointment at Buckingham Palace. From what I can tell, this was Stephen's only game.

Gossip included Colin Stokes leaving Software Projects and joining Ocean, and Jeff Minter refusing the lamb dish at a trade dinner due to his fondness for sheep...

Level 9 announced they would be moving towards disc-based adventures.

Notable Reviews

• "Gyron" (Firebird) - Spectrum 10/10, Game of the Month "Once you've got the hang of driving the Hedroid around the maze - and it does take a bit of getting used to - you'll be hooked. Don't fail to have a look at Firebird's best full price game yet."
• "Slapshot" (Anirog) - C64 9/10 "There's only one thing wrong with this superb sports simulation from Anirog. You have to have two people to play it."
• "Pitstop II" CBS/Epyx - C64 10/10, Star Game "Slip into the driving seat and prepare for the best Formula One racing game since Pole Position!" I remember playing this 'round my mates place. It took so long to load from tape (15+ mins?) that we would go outside and play some footie while waiting... and then it would fail to load about 25% of the time. Great game, though.
• "Wizard's Lair" Stephen Crow/Bubble Bus - Spectrum 10/10 "A worthy sequel to Atic Atac. Wizard's Lair is extremely well presented, great fun to play and terrific value for money." Of course they didn't mean "sequel" as in any official way - it was a clone of Atic Atac, but an exceptionally good one.
• "A Day in the Life" Stephen Redman/Micromega - Spectrum 8/10 "The game isn't just good because of its novelty value - it is playable too."
• "Cauldron" Palace Software - C64/Spectrum 9/10 "There are lots of things to discover and puzzles to be solved"
• "Everyone's a Wally" Chris Hinsley/Mikro-Gen - Spectrum 10/10 Star Game "Everyone's a Wally will keep you busy for hours - and when you've solved it you can still admire the pretty graphics."
• "Yie Ar Kung-Fu" Konami - MSX 10/10 Star Game "If you haven't got an MSX, beg or borrow one just to play this game."
• "Dropzone" Archer Maclean/US Gold/DataSoft - Atari 10/10 "Fast smooth scrolling - as you'd expect from the Atari - nine different alien attackers and superb moon landscape graphics go to make this the best Atari game around right now."
• "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Infocom - 12,877,431/10 "The puzzles to be found in the Adventure are somewhat like its humour, that is, as rich and nutty as my mother's fruit cake - and that's great!"
• "Emerald Isle" Level 9 - 8/10 "All in all, another offering from Level 9 of the high standard we've come to expect."

Features

• May saw the first instalment of "The Bond Diary", which was a development diary of the upcoming "A View to a Kill" licenced game from Domark. Very little information about the actual development, and more just deals the bosses made and general marketing. Includes the supposed factoid that Roger Moore enjoys/enjoyed computer games.
• One of the game listings was for a game called "Pyramids of Aaron" for the Spectrum, by Richard Evans - maybe the same Richard Evans of Black & White/The Sims fame?
• "Alien8" (Ultimate) and "Sorcery" (Virgin) mapped.