IF day$ > 'Christmas' THEN GO TO LINE 2: Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to everyone! If you've not finished reading last issue yet, then don't worry! But this issue is a real scorcher, the best bit of which is the Penguinised cover and cassette featuring the second CRASH Smashed Batman and Firebird's Savage. GUARANTEED GREATNESS!!

LLOYD STICKS TO IT

A thicket of joysticks. From the elegant curves of the Navigator to the blocky angles of the RAM Delta, we put them all to the 'Mark Caswell plays Decathlon' test. After close analysis of the debris we put together the ultimate guide.

The year in which budget games dominated the charts and re-releases proliferated: Lloyd Mangram takes his traditional look back over the year that was. 365 days (366 in fact! - Ed) of Spectrum software history, all the Smashes and loads of Hot Shots.

REGULARS

• CECCO'S LOG
• COMMS
• ADVENTURE TRAIL
• LLOYD MANGRAM'S FORUM
• CRASH CHALLENGE
• NICK ROBERTS'S PLAYING TIPS
• SCORES
• TECH NICHE
• ET AL
• JETMAN
• COMPILATIONS ROUNDUP
• CHARTS
• PBM MAILBOX
• PREVIEWS

DO IT YOURSELF

• USE THE FORCE...
  ... and win a JVC Video Recorder and the complete set of Star Wars videos
• PLAY FAIR...
  ... or foul to win tickets to Barry McGuigan's next fight and a Mike Tyson video
• DON'T GET BURNED...
  ... enter CRASH's superb Afterburner competition to win an F-14 (model)

REVIEWS

• Airborne Ranger MicroProse
• A Simple Case of Espionage Skyslip Software
• Barbarian II Palace
• Batman Ocean
• By Fair Means or Foul Superior
• Espionage Grandslam
• Fist+ Firebird
• 4 Soccer Simulators Code Masters
• Guerilla War Imagine
• Lancelot Level 9
• Netherworld Hewson
• Powerplay Players
• Terrorpods Melbourne House/Psygnosis
• Total Eclipse Incentive
• TRAZ Gamebusters
• Trivial Pursuit: A New Beginning Domark

Editor Dominic Handy
Assistant Editor Stuart Wynne
Staff Writers Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts
Photography Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson
Contributors Jon Bates, Robin Candy, Raffaele Cecco, Ian Cull, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page, Paul Sumner
Editorial Assistants Caroline Blake, Vivian Vickress
Production Manager Jonathan Rignall
Reprographics Supervisor Matthew Uffindell
Art Director Mark Kendrick
Assistant Art Director Wayne Allen
Production Team Ian Chubb, Melvin Fisher, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Yvonne Priest
Editorial Director Roger Kean
Publisher Geoff Grimes
Advertisement Director Roger Bennett
Advertisement Manager Neil Dyson
Sales Executives Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales
Assistants Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins
Mail Order Carol Kinsey
Subscriptions Denise Roberts
Cover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey