News

Jim Synoski and Arnold Hendrick, designers of Microprose's "Project: Stealth Fighter", were promoting the game ahead of its launch. While they admitted nothing official was known about the fighter, they felt that they had "a fair idea of what the capabilities of the plane must be".

Incentive's "Driller" was shaping up well on the Speccy.

Electric Dreams had the rights to "Knightmare" - the game of the TV series.

Archer Maclean was busy finishing up "International Karate 2". The sequel would see a third player join the other two on screen, a remixed soundtrack and a new bonus round.

C&VG declared that "Bravestarr" would be "THE cartoon cult for Christmas", with a TV show, comic and video game (developed by Probe Software) all due to land by Christmas. I can't say I've ever heard of it.

"Hysteria" was to be Software Project's next release.

Bandai hoped that their new interactive TV toy, "The Video Challenger", would be a big hit at Christmas. It consisted of a light gun which would respond to video playing from a VHS tape which, in theory, enabled the TV to "zap back" at the player (points/hits were recorded on the gun).

System 3 was continuing its martial arts theme with "Bangkok Knights".

Electric Dreams were bringing arcade games "Rampage" and "Karnov" to home computers.

Electonic Arts and Lucasfilm were working on a game set in the "Gulf crisis" - I'm guessing this was the Iran-Iraq war - called "PHM Pegasus".

English Software's unique take on pool/billiards/snooker, "Q-Ball" for the ST, was getting an Amiga port.

Microprose's "Airborne Ranger" promised a "Commando"-esque arcade experience, but with a number of new features that would provide deeper gameplay.

Virgin had licensed two rather different IPs: "Action Force", the toy/comics, and Ade Edmondson's "How to be a Complete Bastard".

The first screenshot of Andrew Braybrook's "latest and possibly greatest" game, "Morpheous" [sic] surfaced. Braybrook also teased a mockup screenshot of how he thought "Uridium" might look on the Amiga (quite different from how it ended up looking).

C&VG wanted readers to write in and say what music they liked to listen to while playing games.

Robocop was to hit UK big screens around Christmas, and Ocean had snapped up the rights to the game.

CRL's "Mandroid" was to be the sequel to the infamously repeatedly delayed "Cyborg".

Formula One driver Nigel Mansel was heading to home computers in the form of Martech's "Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix".

Features

Tony Takoushi took up two pages gushing over Novagen's upcoming 16bit games, "Backlash" and "Damocles" (quite rightly - both were brilliant).

This month's Big Screen section previewed "The Untouchables", "Extreme Prejudice", "La Bamba", "The Big Town", "The Big Easy", "Outrageous Fortune", and "Hope and Glory".

There was a preview of "Slaine", a look at the game's developers, Creative Reality, and the people behind the comic.

A big special on the Amiga and ST - judging by the slew of titles enroute to the 16bit machines, it was clear software houses had started to take them seriously.

Company profiles of Infogrames, Magnetic Scrolls and Microdeal (who were all releasing games for the Amiga/ST).

Tony Takoushi began a new regular section called "Mean Machines" which would cover the latest console gaming news and reviews.

An interview with Delta4 who had become Abstract Concepts and a look at their upcoming distinctly non-spoof adventure game, "The Enchantress" (I'm guessing this ended up being "Mindfighter"). Interestingly, while their previous adventures had all been written using the Quill, this time they had contracted a third party to create an entirely new adventure system.

It was PCW Show time again and C&VG detailed a load of games that would be there to check out.

Tony Takoushi (a busy man this month!) was somewhat pleased by "ST Wars" - a Star Wars type game for the ST from Miles Computing Inc, and ranted against the smutty imagery making its way into gaming mags, shows etc (he called out System 3's Mark Cale, the "Game Over" ad, "Defender of the Crown" and "Barbarian" for its cover with Maria Whittaker).

Notable Previews

• "Ancient Mariner" System Architects (ST & Amiga)

Notable Reviews

• "Bubble Bobble" Firebird - C64 9/10 Game of the Month "Firebird's done an ace job of converting Taito's hit coin-op Bubble Bobble to the likes of Commodore 64 [sic]." (baffingly they scored the Sound category "N/A")
• "Druid II" Firebird - C64 8/10 Game of the Month "As sequels go Druid II is a masterpiece, a game which develops and enhances the original's features."
• "Addictaball" Alligata - ST 10/10 C&VG Hit "Up to now the ST has been lacking games of this addictive quality - but Addictaball will alter all that!"
• "Last Mission" US Gold - Spectrum 9/10 C&VG Hit "It's addictive, compulsive and real lasting appeal stuff. If you liked Uridium then this is the next game for you!"
• "Defender of the Crown" Cinemaware/Mirrorsoft - C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Of course, the C64 can't duplicate the digitised sounds, or highly visual graphics of the Amiga, but you get a whole lot of game with this version of Defender of the Crown."
• "Ace II" Cascade - C64 8/10 C&VG Hit "Ace graphics and ace sound - from music man Rob Hubbard - ensure Ace 2 is a worthy successor to Ace."
• "California Games" Epyx - C64 10/10 "California Games deserves all the accolades and trophies it's likely to get this year. The action is realistic and the graphics detailed." (Oddly no "Hit" was awarded to it)
• "Death Wish III" Gremlin - Spectrum/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Despite the violent nature of Death Wish III, the game is technically excellent with brilliant graphics and a three channel sound track from the film's title music. Some of the screens show graphic gore and lewdness, particularly on the Commodore version, but no doubt others will pass judgement on this Gremlin title - probably without seeing it first."
• "Codename Droid" Superior - BBC 9/10 C&VG Hit "There's lots going on and plenty of imaginative features to keep you going for a good long time."
• "Faery Tale" Haba Marketing/Microillusions - Amiga 9/10 C&VG Hit "Faery Tale is full of neat touches like the day and night feature. With superb music and digitised sound effects, together with well designed graphics, plenty of characters to meet, both good and evil, and lots of objects to find and use, this first class animated adventure should keep adventure and arcade adventure freaks occupied for ages - highly recommended." (what a ridiculously long sentence!)
• "Impact" Audiogenic - ST/Amiga 10/10 C&VG Hit "Combine the editor feature with the incredible sound effects and the icon weapon system, stir in liberal portions of playability and addictiveness and Audiogenic have a sure fire ST and Amiga winner on their hands."
• "Stationfall" Infocom - C64/Atari/Amstrad/ST/Amiga/Mac/PC/Apple II 10/10 C&VG Hit "A more gripping sci-fi thriller I have yet to play!"