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This month in... C&VG '87

Mike Keith

News

Rainbird's "Universal Military Simulator" for the ST promised wargaming fans the ability to re-enact a vast array of different battles, including ones between armies from different time periods.

"Stratton" from CRL would see the player attempt to shutdown the automated defence units of a space station which had suffered a terrorist attack and had turned on its inhabitants. (unable to find evidence of this being released)

Bike racing game "500 Grand Prix", published by French house Loricels, was heading to the ST, IBM and C64.

In an unusal move "Knight Games Two" was to ditch the medieval theme and instead be set in space (including a 3D space invader part, apparently).

Piranha admitted "Roy of the Rovers" was delayed, saying that it was in the process of being reprogrammed. Ouch. I'm not sure if it ending up with Gremlin was due to it being totally dropped by Piranha.

David Braben caused a bit of a stir with "Zarch" for Acorn's recently released Archimedes.

Anco were preparing a few budget Amiga games: "Sky Fighter", "Dr Fruit", "Final Trip", and "Vader".

According to C&VG, diagonal scrolling that "has to be seen to be believed" for the ST & Amiga could be expected from English Software's "Leviathan".

The first mentions of Realtime's "Carrier Command" appeared, which described the "3D solid graphics" as "amazing". ("Starglider" was somewhat incorrectly attributed to Realtime.. they did handle the Spectrum & Amstrad ports but the original developer was Argonaut).

Huh. Superior Software had gotten the game rights to the... "All Because the Lady Loves Milk Tray" chocolate advertisements from Cadbury's.

Piranha threw a big birthday bash to celebrate their first year. There was "outrage" (mock, I assume) when C&VG writer John Gilbert won a personal CD player at the event... it was then announced Piranha were developing a horror game with Gilbert called "Coven". I'm not sure if they were being serious, but apparently there was a tank full of actual piranhas there.

Correction time: in the previous issue C&VG had stated the price of Alligata's "Addictaball" for the ST as £24.95, when it was in fact £14.95.

Quicksilva snapped up the rights to "Pac Land", which was to be released in time for Christmas.

Kids TV show "Trapdoor" would return in 1988, with the first series being re-run every Saturday morning until March.

Tynesoft's "Winter Olympiad 88" was released in time for the Calgary Olympics which would be kicking off in February.

Judith Child, ex-Delta4, was working on a new Quill adventure called "From Darkness into Light" for CRL. It was sadly never released.

Speaking of unreleased, Anita Sinclair's pet project with Magnetic Scrolls, "Upon Westminster Bridge" had been delayed until 1998.

And speaking of Delta4... Congrats were in order for Fergus McNeill and Anna Popkess who had announced their engagement.

Features

There was a big US Gold sponsored special section, featuring "Out Run" arcade (C&VG would be giving away the hydraulic version next month!), a bunch of previews of their upcoming arcade conversions, and a look at the next releases from their sub-label GO!. US Gold had also acquired the rights to use Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe in games.

Star Trek fans were about to finally get a follow up to the original series in "The New Generation", and C&VG travelled to Hollywood to have a look behind the scenes.

There was a look at Fantasy Role Playing Games and the different forms they took (traditional, play by mail, live role playing with swords, books, board games, computer games and fantasy figures). Some offerings from each were reviewed.

The movies reviewed this month: "Bellman and True", "House of Games", "1972 LA Cop", "Slam Dance", "Made in Heaven", "Creepshow 2", "Surrender", "Bliss", "A Month in the Country".

The comics section included the results of this year's Eagle Awards:

  • UK Categories
    • Comic: 2000 AD
    • Album: D R & Quinch's Totally Awesome Guide To Life
    • Character: Judge Dredd
    • Villain: Torquemada
    • Supporting Character: Ukko the Dwarf
    • Most worthy of own title: Captain Britain
    • Continued story: Halo Jones Book Three
    • New comic: Redfox
    • Cover: 2000 AD #500
    • Specialist comic publication: Speakeasy
    • Roll of honour: Frank Miller
  • US Categories
    • Comic: Watchmen
    • Graphic novel: Dark Knight
    • Character: Batman
    • Group or team: X-Men
    • Villain: The Joker
    • Supporting character: John Constantine
    • Most worthy of own series: Wolverine
    • Continued story: Dark Knight 1-4
    • New title: Watchmen
    • Cover: Dark Knight #1
    • Specialist comic publication: Amazing Heroes
    • Penciller: Frank Miller
    • Inker: Terry Austin
    • Writer: Alan Moore

Tony Takoushi enjoyed "Space Ranger" for the Amiga (he was strangely subdued compared to his normal frothing). And, good lord, I find myself in agreeing with his rant this month: the Amiga (a far superior machine) receiving lazy, crappy ST ports.

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Thundercats" Gargoyle Games/Elite - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad 9/10 Game of the Month "Brilliant graphics, a driving soundtrack by Rob Hubbard and superb action make Thundercats a real winner - and we're not just saying that because we had a tape on the front cover last issue either!"
  • "Nebulous" John Phillips/Hewson - C64/Spectrum 10/10 Game of the Month "When programmers Steve 'RanaRama' Turner and Andrew 'Uridium' Braybrook suddenly quit Hewson back in September it must have hit the software company for six. Turner and Braybrook were responsible for their most highly praised games. Would mean this mean the glory days were over? Did it hell!"
  • "Buggy Boy" Elite - C64 10/10 C&VG Hit "The graphics are good and playability, well I reckon it almost goes off the old C&VG's ometer. Addictive isn't the word. If you're a Buggy Boy fan, or even if you aren't, then beg, borrow or steal a copy."
  • "Jack the Nipper II" Gremlin Graphics - C64/Spectrum/Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "So, to sum up. If you're fed up with the millions of shoot-'em-ups around and hanker for some good, old fashioned platform and ladders fun, you could do worse than Jack the Nipper II."
  • "Terrorpods" Psygnosis - Amiga 9/10 C&VG Hit "Congratulations are due to Psygnosis. In the past there [sic] games have been pretty but somehow lacked that vital playability. With Terrorpods, everything has come right."
  • "Trantor" GO! - Spectrum/Amstrad 9/10 C&VG Hit "Animation and graphics are excellent on both Spectrum and Amstrad versions. And gameplay is totally addictive. The Amstrad game is one of the most colourful and action packed that machine has ever seen."
  • "Shoot'em-up Construction Kit" Sensible Software/Outlaw - C64 C&VG Hit (no rating) "There are some products which almost make you tremble with their power and potential. The Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit is one of them."
  • "Cruncher" Anco - Amiga 10/10 "A really neat and extremely fast version of the arcade classic with extra bits like a screen editor. Nice graphics, although not what you call Amiga standard, and the sound isn't much cop either, but it has it where it counts."
  • "Action Force" Virgin - Spectrum/C64 10/10 "Great to see Virgin come up with a winner after so many disappointing games this year."
  • "Plundered Hearts" Infocom - C64/ST/Amiga/Apple/PC 7/10 C&VG Hit "Plundered Hearts, written by new Infocom Storyteller, Amy Briggs, is too romantic for my tastes but should suit beginners."