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This month in... C&VG '88

Mike Keith

News

The issue came with a "Barbarian II" poster.

"Pandora" was a new sci-fi game from Firebird where character interaction was as important as blasting.

London's The Museum of Mankind opened a new exhibit that made use of video discs and computers to create a game where visitors would learn what life in the Arctic was like.

The first game to hit the shelves from new publisher Electra was to be "Better Dead than Alien".

EA's "PHM Pegasus" was making its way to PC/IBM compatibles.

Interceptor was back with two sequels: "Joe Blade II" and "Fungus II" (doesn't look like the latter was released).

The Big Apple Entertainment Company was an apparently well financed new software house. They had various new ideas including offering loyalty points to customers that could be traded in for CDs, Walkmans etc. Their first title was "Oops!".

Cinemaware was creating what was effectively a computerised boardgame using the "Three Stooges" license.

"Skyrider" (unreleased?) from Creation was a sequel to their "Stormtrooper".

Gremlin were getting in on the skating action with "Skate Crazy".

"Phantasm" (unreleased?) was a 3D shoot'em up from Exocet.

RCA/Colombia were apparently looking to cash in on the success of "Robocop" with the straight-to-video "R.O.T.O.R." (Robot Officer Tactical Operations Research).

Gremlin picked up a license to do "Mickey Mouse", which would be loosely based on the Sorceror's Apprentice.

Aberdeen would be playing host to Drakcon '88, with all proceeds going to famine relief. Last year's event raised around £800.

Two celebrity deals this month were Loricel's "Eddie the Eagle" game, and Elite's footie game endorsed by TV personalities "Greavsie and Saint".

ITV's "Get Fresh" held a competition for charity featuring the specially produced "Race Against Time" by Codemasters. A Justin Dawson was the winner.

The Amiga was to be the star at this year's Commodore Show, which would take place June 3rd to the 5th at London's Novotel Hammersmith. Celebrities expected to swing by included gold medal Olympian Tessa Sanderson, Radio One DJ Bruno Brookes and some of the Chelsea footie team.

CRL announced two new shoot'em-ups for the C64: "Hell and Back" and "Trigger Happy".

The new adventure from Magnetic Scrolls was revealed to be the excellent "Corruption".

There was a collection of half a dozen cheesey photos software houses had sent out promoting various games.

Jeff Minter was still beavering away on his "Colour Space" light synthesiser. By now it had out grown home computers and was ready for live gigs.

Features

A "review" of "Roadblasters" for the C64, which was being ported by the father and son team Amazing Products who had previously brought "Out Run" to the C64. There was no review as such.

This month's movie reviews were: "Prince of Darkness", "A Prayer for the Dying", "Making Mr Right", "Five Corners", "Ironweed", "A Tiger's Tale" and "Jane and the Lost City".

A look at how horror movie gorey effects, makeup etc are created.

The finals of the World Class Leaderboard Computer Golf Championships (doesn't exactly roll of the tongue) were held at Beltry Golf Club near Birmingham. The winners were: Simon Stewart of Lanarkshire (novice cup), Mark Hyman of London (amateur cup), and Chris Dale from Sheffield (professional cup).

John Minson's new "Out to Lunch" column replaced Tony Takoushi's "Hot Gossip" at the back of the magazine. This month Minson was ranting about the sharp decline in quality of games as development times grew ever longer, licenses more expensive, while software houses wanting more titles on shelves. Were the US developers doing a better job? After all, that's where Rob Hubbard had disappeared to.

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh" Imagine - Amstrad/C64/Spectrum 9/10 "Despite some initial reservations about the slowness of the bat, I kept on playing and playing and playing."
  • "Buggy Boy" Elite - ST 9/10 C&VG Hit "Elite's been pretty quiet on the new games front of late and hopefully Buggy Boy heralds their return. A great 'comeback' game."
  • "Garrison II" Go! - Amiga 9/10 "If you have already bought Garrison I then the question is do you want to pay a hefty £25 for an extra set of levels. If you haven't, then the choice is much easier."
  • "Jinks" US Gold - Amiga 10/10 "There isn't a single aspect of Jinks which isn't brilliant. The sampled jazz music, the incredible quality and variety of sound effects, the brilliant graphic design, the imaginative gameplay and the endless variety are all impressive."
  • "Firepower" Microillusions/Activision - Amiga 10/10 "If you own an Amiga and do not rush out and buy this, then you are missing one of the best games around. Firepower is setting standards for other software houses to follow."
  • "Target Renegade" Imagine - C64 9/10 "Renegade was pretty gross on the 64, and a lot of criticism was given. Imagine has obviously listened to those complaints very closely and come up with a sure fire number one. Easily the best 64 arcade game for ages." (there was a rumour that the game's Mr Big bore an uncanny resemblance to Ocean's MD, Jon Woods)
  • "Karnov" Electric Dreams - Spectrum 9/10 "Karnov is a game for map makers and tipsters as well as arcade experts - it's one of those games which will spawn a thousand maps and a hundred hints."
  • "Carrier Command" Rainbird - Amiga/ST 9/10 C&VG Hit "Without a doubt, one is fully justified in using the well-worn term 'state of the art' when describing the graphics and sheer technical wizzardry [sic] of Carrier Command. As a game, it will not be everyone's cup of tea."
  • "International Soccer" Microdeal - ST 9/10 "International Soccer is very playable, features a selection of good tunes and nicely detailed graphics."
  • "Legend of the Sword" Rainbird - Amiga 9/10 "It should establish Silicon Soft among the best of adventure producers, and maintain Rainbird's reputation for high quality, high tech adventures."