BEST GAME
DRILLER
Incentive
HEAD OVER HEELS
Ocean
EXOLON
Hewson
With one in five of you voting for Incentive's innovative eye opener,
Driller swept the board - but not without a challenge. The Jon Ritman /
Bernie Drummond game, Head over Heels, came a very close and respectable
second with 16% of the vote. Raffaele Cecco's first Hewson masterpiece, the
tremendous, attractive and playable Exolon, brought up the rear with
a credible 8%.
BEST PLATFORM GAME
AUF WIEDERSEHEN MONTY
Gremlin Graphics
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Firebird
EXOLON
Hewson
The platform game seems to be a dying breed in 1988, but that isn't to
say we didn't get some great ones during 1987. With a tremendous 19%
Gremlin's Auf Wiedersehen Monty just came top. Following only 2% behind
was the very colourful Bubble Bobble and again coming third, was
Exolon. The same 8%, no doubt.
BEST SHOOT 'EM UP
ZYNAPS
Hewson
EXOLON
Hewson
WIZBALL
Ocean
With a combined vote of 57%, Hewson games dominated the shoot 'em up
awards. When it comes down to pure mindless violence Zynaps just
had to come top, with 34%. Exolon - always the bridesmaid never the
bride - came a notable second with 23%, while Ocean's Wizball
received 6% and third place.
BEST ARCADE ADVENTURE
HEAD OVER HEELS
Ocean
STORMBRINGER
M.A.D.
GAUNTLET
US Gold
No surprises here! Not only it is a favourite in the CRASH offices, but
Head Over Heels also gained a 26% winning vote in this categoty,
proving its popularity throughout the land. No-one else came even close:
second place Stormbringer had 7% and the arcade licence, Gauntlet
came third.
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BEST SIMULATION
GUNSHIP
Microprose
COMBAT SCHOOL
Ocean
TOP GUN
Ocean
You all had your minds made up on what was going to win the Best Simulation
awards when you filled in the forms in the Christmas Issue. Even though they've
only produced two products on the Spectrum the American giants, Microprose,
needed only Gunship to get almost half of the readership (43%) voting
for them. Trailing way behind, but still interesting to note, came Combat
School (6%) and Top Gun (5%), both from Ocean.
BEST SPORTS GAME
MATCH DAY II
Ocean
WORLD CLASS LEADERBOARD
US Gold
BOBSLEIGH
Digital Integration
Match Day II gained an amazing 62% of the vote in this little
contest - thus giving no-one else a hope of winning. However, the golfing
classic, World Class Leaderboard, must have appealed to all you
Arnold Palmers out there, gaining 15%. After Calgary '88, Bobsleigh
was obviously in the minds of the 5% that voted for the Digital Integration
simulation.
BEST ADVENTURE
THE PAWN
Rainbird
SHADOWS OF MORDOR
Melbourne House
KILLED UNTIL DEAD
US Gold
The adventure market was very quiet in 1987 but Rainbird still had lots to
shout about when they released the highly complex and intelligent game The
Pawn - and so did 15% of you (I don't think they were ALL Rainbird
employees). Melbourne House's Shadow of Mordor came a very close
second with 14% of the vote - sadly Melbourne House seems to have forgoten
about adventure games now. US Gold pooped its head in with the detective /
mystery Killed Until Dead in third place (7%).
BEST STRATEGY GAME
VULCAN
CCS
TAI-PAN
Ocean
THE SENTINEL
Firebird Gold
I can't say that this was much of a surprise. Vulcan has been
at Number One in the Strategy Chart almost since it was first started. And
with PSS now pulling out of the market (see Frontline) CCS seems to have it
sewn up. Vulcan got 34% of you voting for it. Interestingly,
Tai-Pan and The Sentinel came second and third, with 5% and
4% respectively - even though they weren't reviewed in Frontline.
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MOST IMAGINATIVE GAME
DRILLER
Incentive
THE SENTINEL
Firebird Gold
HEAD OVER HEELS
Ocean
Driller certainly seems to have caught the imagination of the CRASH
readership. In a very wide-spread category the Incentive game got 19%, for its
amazing Freescape technique, followed closely by Firebird's The Sentinel
(15%), another game with impressive graphics, and Head over Heels
(12%).
BEST GRAPHICS
DRILLER
Incentive
HEAD OVER HEELS
Ocean
EXOLON
Hewson
Gaining more than twice the number of votes as Head Over Heels
that unforgettable game, Driller (30%) again zoomed to the top. But
as far as REAL artists go (Freescape is a graphics generation program) Bernie
Drummond, who drew all the cute characters in Ocean's extravaganza, must
still be regarded as the Number One Spectrum artist. Exolon - The
Runner-Up of 1987 - gained a respactable 12% in third place.
BEST MUSIC
TRANTOR - THE LAST STORMTROOPER
GO!
LIGHTFORCE
FTL
AGENT X II
Mastertronic
The synthesised four-channel sounds of GO!'s Trantor appealed
to 16% of you. The ageing Lightforce and Agent X II gained
5% and 4%.
BEST SOFTWARE HOUSE
OCEAN
HEWSON
US GOLD
If ever there was a two horse race then this was it. Ocean and Hewson
were streets ahead in 1987, with CRASH readers giving them 39% and 32%
respectively. Ocean can be remembered for such hits as Top Gun, Wizball,
Match Day II, Combat School and Renegade. From Hewson we had
Exolon, Zynaps, Nebulus and Ranarama. The producers of many a
license game, US Gold gained 5% in third place.
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