CRASH

LOOKING AHEAD

THERE'S something disorienting about January - it's suddenly easy to feel lost without a seasonal prop. Still, by the time you read this it'll be well nigh Valentine's day and the round of gimmickry can resume.

The games producers will be accused of gimmickry again this year, as the rush of tie-ins accelerates. Some software houses - most egregiously Gremlin Graphics and Piranha - are all but devoting themselves to tie-ins, it seems. And you'd hardly think the universe could take another master.

But the top games this month are good old-fashioned state-of-the-art stuff - an eminently playable martial-arts challenge from System 3 in IK+, an exciting flight simulator from Firebird in Flying Shark and a classically text-only adventure from Level 9 in Knight Orc.

There's an interview with the minds behind Level 9 in the new-look Adventure Trail, too - and we hope you'll write to let us know how you find that section. (Signpost and Signstumps will return next month, when there's space - and Lloyd has something defensive to say about space in the Forum...)

HAPPY GNU YEAR

New to CRASH this month are one game-reviewer and two Staff Writers. Nathan Jones from Church Stretton developed an unhealthy attachment to Mirrorsoft's Andy Capp soon after his arrival at the Towers, but we'll still let him come in every Saturday for re-education sessions.

Gordon Houghton joins us as a Staff Writer from Blackburn in Lancashire, via three years at Oxford studying for joint honours in horizontal scrolling and comparative arcade adventures. And Mark Caswell, who's been contributing the odd comment for several months, joins that small but intrepid band that roves from mag to mag.

BARNABY PAGE

REVIEWS

New year, new games

SMASHED!

  • BLITZKRIEG
  • IK+
    Three heads are better than two with the latest martial-arts Smash
  • KNIGHT ORC
    Level 9's most interactive, complex and humourous adventure yet

HOT SHOTS
80% and over...

  • FLYING SHARK
    Graftgold flies into Firebird with a stunning simulation
  • INSIDE OUTING
    Have the time of your life in The Edge's creepy mansion
  • SUPER HANG-ON
    Hold on tight for the ride of your life!
  • TERRAMEX
    More monochrome adventures from the skies of Quicksilva

FULL INDEX

  • Andy Capp
    Mirrorsoft
  • Blitzkrieg
    CCS
  • Blockbusters
    TV Games
  • Brave Starr
    US Gold
  • California Games
    US Gold
  • Clever & Smart
    Magic Bytes
  • Combat Zone
    Alternative
  • Compendium Gremlin
    Graphics
  • Dan Dare II
    Virgin Games
  • Dynatron Mission
    Mastertronic
  • Enlightenment - Druid II
    Firebird
  • Eye
    Prism
  • Firetrap
    US Gold
  • Flying Shark
    Firebird
  • Galactic Games
    Activision
  • Gary Lineker's Super Star Soccer
    Gremlin
  • Gauntlet II
    US Gold
  • Gryzor
    Ocean
  • IK+
    Activision
  • Inside Outing
    The Edge
  • Knightmare
    Activision
  • Knight Orc
    Rainbird
  • Masters Of The Universe
    Gremlin Graphics
  • Out Of This World
    Reaktor
  • Out Run
    US Gold
  • Pro Golf II
    Atlantis
  • Psycho Soldier
    Ocean
  • Rampage
    Activision
  • Salamander
    Konami
  • Scruples
    Virgin Games
  • Sorceror Lord
    PSS
  • Street Hassle
    Melbourne House
  • Super Hang-On
    Activision
  • Super Stuntman
    Code Masters
  • Terramex
    Quicksilva
  • Tour De Force
    Gremlin Graphics
  • Winter Olympiad
    Tynesoft