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This month in... C&VG '86

Mike Keith

News

Tony Crowther moved back Alligata, the company he started out with. He had briefly run his own software house called Wizard Developments.

After finding success with Delta4's "Bored of the Rings" CRL had signed up the new St Brides spoof "The Very Big Cave Adventure".

Little of the much hyped "Nexus" had been heard over the previous few months, but now it had resurfaced with news that Beyond would no longer be the publisher. Instead the rather appropriately named Nexus had picked up the game.

Mel Croucher's new game "iD" was announced. The game would see the player effectively take on the role of a psychiatrist trying to help a "being from another world or dimension" pick up the pieces of its shattered identity via conversations.

Halley's Comet had recently visited and Hot released "The Comet Game" to coincide with the launch of the Giotto probe.

Coin-op favourites "Paperboy" and "Ghosts 'n' Goblins" were due to hit home computers courtesy of Elite. Elite also announced that their Spectrum and Amstrad ports of "International Basketball" had been scrapped due to "prolonged programming delays."

Electric Pencil lost two of its programmers - Rupert Bowater and Paul Norris - who had left to form Binary Vision. The "amicable" parting occurred during the development of "Zoids".

Marshal M. Rosenthal attended the glitzy launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System at New York's Visage nightclub. His conclusion? "This is a game system that does a good job. But doesn't present anything new or innovative."

Features

"Elite" had been released some 18 months earlier and was still regularly in the charts. C&VG covered the various ports out there and provided a guide for newcomers.

There was a short interview with Anita Sinclair of Magnetic Scrolls.

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Get Dexter!" PSS/ERE Informatique - Amstrad 10/10 Game of the Month "The graphics are excellent, so is animation and sound. Get Dexter! is already a French number one under its original name, Crafton and Xunc - and it's destined to be an instant hit in the UK, too."
  • "Batman" Jon Ritman & Bernie Drummond/Ocean - Spectrum/Amstrad 10/10 C&VG Hit "Jon Ritman, of Bear Bovver and Match Day fame, assisted by Bernie Drummond, has come up with a game that's going to leap to the top of the charts with one might bound."
  • "Turbo Espirit" Durell - Spectrum 8/10 C&VG Hit "Be warned - this isn't an easy game to get into. But it's definitely worth the time and effort."
  • "Superbowl" Ocean - Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Superbowl stands next to Hardball as a great sports simulation. But when is someone going to do the same thing for a British sport - like cricket?"
  • "Knight Tyme" David Jones/Mastertronic - Spectrum 128K 10/10 "Buy it. It's brilliant and at £2.99 you would be a fool to miss out."
  • "Thrust" Firebird - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "Thrust is a simple but totally addictive game - and at just £1.99 you'd be stupid not to add it to your collection. It's tricky but lot's of fun. Some neat music from Rob Hubbard, too..."
  • "Doomsday Blues" PSS/ERE Informatique - Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "The graphics create a real doom laden atmosphere and ARE really unlike anything seen before on the Amstrad - just like controlling a TV cartoon."
  • "Bomb Jack" Elite - Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Bomb Jack is an extremely playable fun game - an excellent conversion of the arcade original, well presented and with some nice sound effects. A must for every arcade action fan."
  • "Rebel Planet" Adventuresoft UK/US Gold - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad/BBC 10/10 "If Stefan [Ufnowski] enjoyed writing the game, then I had twice as much fun playing it. It has a fresh approach and that devious sort of wit that has one laughing with rage on discovering the answer to many a problem."
  • "Borrowed Time" Interplay/Activision - C64/Apple II/PC/Mac/Amiga/ST 9/10 "Borrowed Time is an apt title. It combines a fast-moving narrative structure with the essential mystery elements of an adventure in a most realistic way. You ARE the private eye, and time is not on your side."

Golden Joystick Awards

Charts

All Formats

  1. "Hardball" US Gold - C64
  2. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine - All
  3. "Formula One Simulator" Mastertronic - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad

Amstrad

  1. "Rambo" Ocean
  2. "Sky Fox" Ariolasoft
  3. "Caves of Doom" Mastertronic

Spectrum

  1. "Movie" Imagine
  2. "Sky Fox" Ariolasoft
  3. "Winter Games" Epyx

C64

  1. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" Imagine
  2. "Southern Belle" Hewson
  3. "Exploding Fist" Melbourne House

BBC

  1. "Hardball" US Gold
  2. "Yie Ar Kung Fu" US Gold
  3. "Kung Fu Master" US Gold