News

The 1988 Euros were about to start and Grandslam were putting the finishing touches on "Peter Beardsley’s International Football".

Titus was following up their "Crazy Cars" with "Fire and Forget", a vehicular combat game featuring cars decked out with an array of weapons.

Crocodile Dundee was heading back to the cinemas, but this time his antics would take place in New York.

German developer house Logotron was to release a heavily Defender inspired shooter, "Stay Ray", for the Amiga.

C&VG's new design was obviously not the only change this month - they carried news of New York Seltzer, supposedly the number one soft drink in the US...

"Netherworld" was Hewson's next game. It was being programmed by Charlie T, aka The Flying Finn.

NEC's London office was being flooded with calls from people wanting to know when the PC Engine would make it to the UK. Interestingly enough, NEC's vision for the console wasn't as a games machine, but as the hub of more sophisticated home entertainment systems.

C&VG took a brief look at some of the new waterguns on the market...

The Comic of the Month was Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta".

"Dream Warrior" from US Gold would see the player take on hoards of Dream Demons in a run & gun.

Hewson were throwing their hat in the battlecar genre with "Marauder".

C&VG got a bit of a slap on the wrist from Nintendo after including a Mario badge on the cover of last month's issue without permission.

Spectrum strategy fans could look forward to "The Battle for Stalingrad" from CCS.

Fantasy artists Tim White and Chris Achilleos both had new collections out.

Loriciels in France had instituted new security procedures for dealing with any software sent to them. Any new disks arriving would first go through an "isolation ward", and they had already caught one case of a hoax game that was intended to spread a destructive virus.

"Phantasm" was a new 3D shoot-'em up from Exocet (never released?).

A fat, greedy car park attendant isn't the most likely of game heroes, but that's precisely what Grandslam's "Chubby Gristle" was. The software house was also working "Power Pyramids" ("a sophisticated version of pinball"), a series of Thunderbirds games, and a computer version of the board game "Espionage". While there had previously been two failed attempts, they planned to resurrect the Bug Byte name for budget re-releases.

Domark had a hit on their hands with the home computer versions of "Star Wars", so it was no surprise they were working on "The Empire Strikes Back".

Speaking of Lucas... the movie "Willow" had been turned into a game.

The Society of Software Authors had been founded to support workers in the games industry. "Overworked, exploited, ripped off and generally unappreciated" - how times change.

C&VG was obviously getting a bit sick of car combat games, with their snarky comments about Martech's "Car Wars 3" (I can't find any mention of any "Car Wars" games).

Features

Movies reviewed in this issue were: "Suspect", "Throw Momma from the Train", "Cop", "Prison", "Maybe Baby", "Shy People", "Man on Fire" and "Wings of Desire".

Justin Edward Swords from Coventry won the first ever C&VG Winner Stays On videogame competition.

John Minson described at length the time he met Batman (Adam West).

Notable Previews

• "Barbarian II: The Dungeons of Drax" Palace Software

Notable Reviews

• "Last Ninja II" System 3 - Spectrum/C64 9/10 C&VG Hit "Ninja II is one of the best sequels I have seen. It works because the designers were brave enough to stick to the same basic concept."
• "Football Manager II" Prism - Spectrum/C64/Amstrad/Amiga/ST 9/10 C&VG Hit "Football Manager II is simply a football fan's dream come true. It's a beautifully structured and presented game and is engrossing, challenging and very, very addictive - it had me burning the midnight oil several nights running!"
• "Gauntlet II" US Gold - ST 9/10 C&VG Hit "The gameplay is superb, and again it's totally faithful to the original. I've spent many hours fighting through Gauntlet II's 100 levels, and can honestly say that it's one of the finest arcade conversions I've ever seen - don't miss it."
• "Pandora" Firebird - Amiga/ST/C64 9/10 "Certainly not a game you can expect to finish quickly, then. Fortunately, there's so much to see that there's not a chance of getting bored."
• "Darkside" Incentive - Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 10/10 "If it isn't already clear from this really inadequate review, Dark Side is absolutely stunning."
• "Great Giana Sisters" Rainbow Arts - Amiga C&VG Hit 9/10 "That's it really, a bloody good game, and if it didn't get Game of the Month, it's only because we were loath to give it to such an obvious filch."
• "Interceptor" Electronic Arts - Amiga 8/10 "Interceptor is destined to become a benchmark against which future products of the type will be judged. If you like this kind of game and you own an Amiga then buy it at your first opportunity."
• "Corruption" Magnetic Scrolls/Rainbird - Amiga/ST/PC 9/10 C&VG Hit "Here is a game that Magnetic Scrolls is not urging people to rush out and buy. They recognise that it is a completely different genre from their previous titles, and, while they hope their fans will like it, would prefer them to read reviews and think carefully whether or not it's their type of adventure before deciding."
• "Shadowgate" Mirrorsoft - ST 10/10 "Great entertainment, with surprises and puzzles all along the way!"

Charts

All Formats

1. "Steve Davis Snooker" Blue Ribbon
2. "Ghostbusters" Mastertronic
3. "Way of the Exploding Fist" Mastertronic

Amiga

1. "Barbarian" Palace
2. "Sidewinder" Mastertronic
3. "Obliterator" Psygnosis
4. "Ferrari Formula 1" Electronic Arts
5. "Fairy Tale" Micro Illusions