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This month in... C&VG '89

Mike Keith

News

This month saw C&VG getting a revamp based on reader feedback. Coin ops and consoles would get more pages, the adventure section got a make over, there was more space dedicated to previews and overall there would be a lot more colour. The announcement of these changes referenced the fact that some features were dropped, but they didn’t actually specify which. Somewhat worryingly, there were no adventure game reviews - just some tips. The beginning of the end?

Rumours were circulating that Acorn was on the verge of doing a deal with Amstrad to have the main Archimedes boards repackaged as something targeted towards the game market. The Archimedes was an undeniably impressive machine, but the costs put it way out of reach of the average consumer (the A440, a top end model, retailed for an eye watering £2499 plus VAT), so a more budget focussed model would make sense.

Microprose bought Telecomsoft from BT and signed up the next two Freescape 3D games ("Dark Side" and "Total Eclipse”) from Incentive.

Charity OXFAM were on a drive to take donations of unwanted games.

Electronic Arts launched a new range of budget re-releases. The “Software Classics” range included such titles as "Bard’s Tale”, "Marble Madness" and "The Archon Collection”.

Frustrated adventurers would now be able to call Activision’s help line (apparently staffed by one person: Julie Barwick) for assistance with titles from Infocom, Sierra and Micro-Illusions.

C&VG apologised for a “cock up” in last month’s review of Pac-Land. The game should’ve been awarded a healthy 77%, but instead got 57%. Amusingly enough, the correction included a misspelling of “report”.

Features

The Golden Joysticks winners for 1989 were:

Notable Previews

Notable Reviews

  • "Stormlord" Hewson - C64 89% Spectrum 87% C&VG Hit “Another terrific arcade adventure from Raf Cecco, who once again shows there’s life in Clive’s old dog yet.”
  • "Forgotten Worlds" US Gold - Amiga 92% C64 90% Amstrad 88% Spectrum 87% ST 87% C&VG Hit ”On the Amiga, the graphics are wonderful, with beautifully-drawn parallax scrolling backdrops and excellent alien sprites. It’s an absolutely stunning conversion - the best I’ve seen from US Gold - and is easily THE BEST Amiga shoot ‘em up to date.”
  • "Bio Challenge" Delphine/Palace - Amiga 88% C&VG Hit “Fabulous music, unusual gameplay and exotic graphics make up for a basic lack of variation in the gameplay.“
  • "Voyager" Ocean - Amiga 85% ST 83% “Voyager brings the classic Battlezone concept up to date by keeping the same basic formula, adding hordes of different aliens and play strategies and stunning Starglider II 3D filled vector graphics.“
  • "Renegade III" Ocean - Spectrum 84% Amstrad 83% C64 82% “The graphics on all versions are excellent, with whacky cartoon-style sprites giving the game a humorous look and making the game even more fun.“
  • "Blood Money" DMA Design/Psyclapse - Amiga 85% PC 85% ST 84% “A smidge more variety would have helped the quality of the gameplay match that of the graphics and sound more closely, but there’s still no denying that Blood Money is a damned good blast.“
  • "Lords of the Rising Sun" Cinemaware - Amiga 90% C&VG Hit “Superb graphics, sound and gameplay are combined to produce one of the best Cinemaware games to date.”
  • "Kick Off" Dino Dini/Anco - Amiga 88% ST 84% “The options available may be little more than you’d expect and the display at best functional, but what makes Kick Off special are its playability and atmosphere - especially when there are a couple of rabid footie supporters competing.“

Charts

All Formats

  1. "Robocop" Ocean
  2. "Treasure Island Dizzy" Code Masters
  3. "Dragon Ninja" Ocean

Amiga

  1. "Falcon" Mirrorsoft
  2. "TV Sports Football" Mirrorsoft
  3. "Super Hang-On" Activision