News

This month saw C&VG turn 5 years old and to celebrate they had a bunch of special features, including a Spectrum listing by Steve Turner's dad.

Microsphere revealed their next game would be "Contact Sam Cruise", which was inspired by classic private eye movies. There was also a hint that there might be something for fans of "Skool Daze" at Christmas.

Arioalasoft got the licenses for two Hanna-Barbera cartoons: "The Centurions" and "The Challenge of the Gobots". The games were due in December.

Durrell announced "Thanatos" in which the player played as a dragon. Oddly enough C&VG included two screenshots for it, but one was the title screen of "Fat Worm Blows a Sparky".

Domark had found considerable success with their "Trivial Pursuit" adaptation and were planning to release several additional editions, the first of which would be "Young Players".

US Gold and Data East were bringing the arcade game "Breakthru" to home computers.

Mike Singleton was working on "Throne of Fire" for Melbourne House which would feature a split screen allowing either one or two player gaming. Rumours were that Mike was also working on a "Lord of the Rings" arcade game with the same publisher.

Meanwhile, Melbourne House was finishing up "Inspector Gadget", based on the cartoon of the same name, "Bazooka Bill", and the long awaited "Judge Dredd".

C&VG drooled over Palace's rather beautiful "Sacred Armour of Antiriad" that was coming soon for the C64.

Mark Cale claimed System 3's upcoming "Dominator" would be "unlike anything yet seen on computer". Other games on the way from the software house were "Bangkok Knights" and "The Last Ninja".

The next adventure up from St Brides "Bugsy" would see the player assume the form of a blue rabbit attempting to build a criminal career in the 1920s.

Pete Cooke's followup to the excellent "Tau Ceti" was to be a prequel set in Gal-Corp's Skimmer pilot academy. "Academy" would sport some very impressive features (like a completely customisable HUD) and 20 different missions.

Mev Dinc ("Mev Ding" according the snippet) named the 3D isometric scrolling routines in his new game, "Prodigy" "Mechavision" (hard to say what was different from the existing Ultimate isometric games)

US Gold looked to be doing a fine job with their "Gauntlet" conversion and C&VG predicted it would be a number one hit. Also in time for Christmas would be the brilliant "World Games" - interestingly enough arriving on the ST first, followed by the C64 and Spectrum.

Martin Walker's "Chameleon" was due for release this month.

Continuing in their tradition of film and TV licenses, Ocean were bringing out a game based on "Top Gun". The movie hadn't been released in the UK yet, but it'd certainly done well in the US.

Level 9 had been working with the scriptwriters of The Archers to produce an adventure game based on the radio series.

Martech's next title due out this month would be "Tarzan".

"Crystal Castles" and "Montezuma's Revenge" had been out in the US for a while but were finally going to hit the UK shelves thanks to US Gold.

Tony Takoushi raved about "Marble Madness" on the Amiga.

Features

C&VG looked into how Rod Pike's "Dracula" came about and reviewed it, even though the copy they had was lacking any graphics (which would turn out to be rather controversial indeed). They scored it 8/10.

There was a rather incomprehensible piece on the beginnings of C&VG which was presented as a Star Trek themed dream.

Mel Croucher provided a characteristically off the wall summary of the past 5 years and his vision of the 5 to come. He ended it by saying "Why are we still in this industry five years on? Because, gentle reader, we love it!"

Keith Campbell took a look at 5 years of adventure games.

C&VG presented their "birthday honours" list:

• The Review C&VG Got Wrong - "Monty Mole" Gremlin Graphics
• Longest Surviving Software House - Level 9, Hewson and Mikro-Gen
• Most Innovative Software House - Ultimate (although the prize actually was accepted by Geoff Brown of US Gold who had bought the rights to the Ultimate name and catalogue)

There was a look back at all the computers/systems C&VG had covered in their 5 years, most of which had long disappeared.

Notable Previews

• "Aliens (UK)" Electric Dreams

Notable Reviews

• "Trivial Pursuit" Domark - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad/BBC 10/10 Game of the Month "Trivial Pursuit on computer is as much fun to play as the original - and the graphics and sound add a whole new dimension. TP will make a far from trivial addition to your games collection."
• "Dan Dare" Virgin - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Now as I said last issue, Dan Dare on the 64 is a totally different game from the Spectrum/Amstrad versions. But fear not, it's just as good, in fact it may be better."
• "1942" Elite - Spectrum 9/10 "This is an extremely satisfying and very playable bit of arcade action."
• "Alleykat" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson - C64 8/10 "Alleykat is a cracking game. There is detail, speedy gameplay, and enough depth to keep you coming back for more."
• "Druid" Firebird - C64 9/10 "I say Druid is great, and those of you who like Gauntlet can have real fun without putting pounds into the arcade machines. Me, I'll wait for the official Gauntlet."
• "Conquestador" Melbourne House/ERBE - Spectrum 9/10 C&VG Hit "Conquestador is a classic arcade adventure which would grace even the most choosy gamesters collection. It looks good, sounds good, and by golly it does you good!"
• "Room 10" Pete Cooke/CRL - C64/Spectrum 9/10 "Room 10 must be one of the most obscure titles ever for a game. It tells absolutely nothing about this new and excellent variation on the bat and ball game."
• "The Trap Door" Don Priestly/Pirahna - Spectrum 9/10 "The Trap Door is a brilliant game - one of the most original and entertaining I've seen for ages."
• "Deactivators" Ariolasoft/Reaktor - C64/Spectrum/Amstrad 10/10 "Deactivators is a demanding, challenging and original game. It requires quick thinking and fast reactions. I was hooked from the moment I started playing. Deactivators is destined to become a cult game."
• "Head Coach" Addictive - Spectrum 9/10 "Head Coach will appeal to American Football fans with strategic minds and owners of Addictive's other classic soccer simulation."
• "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" - C64/Atari 9/10 "If you're under-18, or not very broad minded, you shouldn't even think of playing this game - in fact, you shouldn't even be reading this review." (It was a strange review in that there was nothing terribly positive said about the game)
• "Moron" Atlantis Software - Spectrum 9/10 "It has to be said Atlantis have done it again! There's plenty of adventure there for your £1.99, and it's worth playing!"