Halloween parties and preparing for Bonfire night is the main topic of conversation at the Towers,
and what a pain (are you listening Roberts?). The ‘jolly’ CRASH team complete with Freddy
Kruger masks keep sneaking up behind me while I’m hammering away at my Hermes, and scream
BOO! EEEEEEECCCCHHHHKKK! The shocks wreck my nervous system — and mmikes ttipying
evarr sOo dudfficulot. Kids! Pass the sedatives someone...
CRASH WEDDING
Dear Lloyd
After all these years of buying CRASH (and believe you me it’s an
anniversary for me but I’m not telling which), I’ve finally bucked
up the courage to write to you. I thought you’d like to know I’m
probably one of the oldest CRASH readers, and guess what, I’m getting
married this month, and he loves me for my Speccy games (okay, stop being sick
out there because it’s so... romantic). And no it’s not the only
reason, because we’ve both got different computers. His brothers have an
Atari ST, and even his 84 year old granny likes computer games. So who said TV
is killing the art of conversation?
Regards
Jan and the Mob
PS We need the £40 for more games (crawl, crawl)
Nice to hear that the Speccy and CRASH have brought you
happiness, Jan. Don’t computers stop civilised conversation? Judging by
all the swearing in the Towers, I have my — AAAGH! Stop it, Roberts!
Enjoy the wedding present!
LM
COMPLETE 007
Dear Lloyd
So Nick thinks it should be ‘Licence to make the player jolly mad’
does he?, I think it should be ‘Licence to complete’. I am of
course talking about Licence To Kill from Domark. After reading your review in
CRASH issue 68, I thought ‘oh good, a nice challenging game’. So I
popped into my local computer store and forked out ten quid. When I got home I
loaded up the game and had a few goes. About an hour later I had managed to
reach the final level. After a further few attempts I had completed it. To
prove it here is the message that appears — ‘Well done James, you
have smashed Sanchez’s evil drugs empire.’ So how about it Nick?,
by the way I think CRASH is brilliant.
Yours sincerely
Colin Chapman
I personally think Nick lacks
real arcade skills, and OUCH!
LM
Next time I’m in Selkirk, I’ll show you just what I
think of smartyboots — Nick
PUBLIC SPIRIT
Dear Lloyd
I am in the process of setting up a Spectrum Public Domain library at the
moment, although I am still slightly short of contributions. Due to this I am
appealing to fellow CRASH readers. The sorts of things I’m looking for
are music utilities, games, pictures and fonts and any unusual programs.
Anyone who submits a program will receive a free catalogue and some free
programs of their choice. So if you want to contribute, or receive the
catalogue just write (and send an SAE) to:
Robert Blackmore
Nice initiative, Robert. Make sure all contributions are genuine
reader originals, though! Or else...
LM
FOOTBALL DEBATE
I personally am a football game freak and believe they should be
given a fair go as there is usually more to see than the finances, results and
team, and I feel that maybe two days playing a high quality game is not enough.
Reading the review it appears it was written off on the fact that it was
unoriginal. I find this makes no difference.
The Wiz from Liverpool obviously shares the sentiment:
He gave you a right rollicking didn’t he? Well it’s
your own fault! If you employ reviewers who have closed minds on the subject,
ie prefer shoot ’em ups, maze games etc, then you are bound to get biased
reviews. I am an avid game player, from the likes of Double, Soccer Boss,
Football Manager, Football Director. Footballer of the Year, Soccer Q to
Premier League. I play the games for seasons on end so I get a good idea of how
good or bad the games are.
But then P. Clayton (no relation) from Northants and proud owner
of the old Football Manager makes his point:
Time goes by, and I decided to have a look at what the current
scene had to offer. Treble Champions had a whole host of features, so I thought
to myself: ‘Look no further.’
I find it hard to believe that, in this day and age a company
like Challenge (E&J) has the GALL to charge £9.95 for something which
isn’t even budget quality. The overall speed of the game is a JOKE. The
list of features IS impressive but there is no real gameplay or addictiveness.
So it’s back to Football Manager for me. Sorry, Challenge. I’m
sure you spent a lot of time on the program, I just wish you’d spent some
more on the speed and gameplay.
And to cheer Nick Roberts up, The Wiz:
Might I add that the reviews in the same issue for Soccer 7,
International Football, British Super League and The Footballer, are spot on,
as these games are basically the same format as earlier seen from Cult.
There we go. More next month if opinionated enough.
LM
Moans, quibbles, silliness — just send it in for shredding
to: Live Circuit, CRASH.
CONTROL YOURSELF!
Apparently the new joystick about to appear from the
Spectravideo stable is such an advancement on previous sticks they plan to call
it a game controller (which is all a ‘joystick’ is at the end of
the day). The Quickshot QS 129 Flight Controller looks neat and different.
Control is achieved by placing your thumbs on the cursor and firebutton,
holding the device in both hands like an outlandish steering wheel. Could be
great, could be uncomfortable. We’ll have to give it a CRASH test soon.
The marvel of modern technology will be available soon for £12.50 from all
good stockists.
TENGEN DUO DUE
Raring to go after Tengen’s Toobin’ and
Hard Drivin’ (see this month’s previews) are
Cyberball and Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters.
Cyberball is set in the not too distant future when the game of
Gridiron Football has been taken over by huge robots many times the size of a
man. The game remains the same, move the ball up the pitch and score a
‘touch down’, but here the the ball is... a bomb. Spend too long
faffing around and BOOM, one barbequed quarterback. Escape From The Planet
Of The Robot Monsters sounds like a B-Movie and has either Jake or Duke
(two hip ’n’ trendy lads) — choose which you want to be
— descend to the surface of Planet X to thwart the plans of the evil
Reptilons. These are nasty alien creatures who have enslaved a bunch of humans
and are forcing them to build a robot army to invade Earth. Both will be
released early next year, and both will be absolutely brilliant, totally...
snip.
GREMLINS IN A BOX!
Gremlin, those nice people who brought you Sam Stoat
this CRASH, are poised to release The House Mix, a fabbo compilation:
Artura, Techno Cop, Motor Massacre, Skate Crazy, Night Raider and
Dark Fusion. Sounds like a great value box of goodies. The House
Mix should be in the shops late October.
’ERE WE GO — AGAIN...
’Ere we go, ’ere we go, ’ere we go... Yes,
another footy game has just been announced. Not deterred by the opposition
Screen 7 have signed up Vinnie Jones, hurrah... what do you mean who’s
Vinnie Jones — he’s the star player of Leeds Utd. The game will be
programmed by Emerald Software and titled ‘Vinnie Jones Soccer
Spectacular’. We hope so. Release date should be November.
THALAMUS’ ONSLAUGHT!
Crikes! Thalamus are back — back! Producers of
Sanxion: The Spectrum Remix are back in action in a couple of months
with a bountiful line up of wizzo Speccy games set to thrill and amaze.
The big one to look out for is a mammoth arcade adventure called The
Search For Sharla and is based on a similar theme to the classic Lords
Of Midnight, using walkthrough graphics.
Also planned is Mindroll: Que-dex USA, a conversion of the
Commodore 64 (spit!) game Que-dex by EPYX in the States. Also
there’s the mega space blaster Armalyte, one of the best selling
shoot ’em ups of last year. Screenshots soon...
QUACK! (EEEEK!)
Alternative Software are set to release a £2.99 game based
on the cartoon hero Count Duckula — everyone’s favourite vegetarian
vampire duck! Lock up your lettuce!!
ADVENTURERS IN RESCUE BID SHOCK!
Adventurers, RPGers and computer strategists everywhere,
don’t despair: Help is here! Inter Action, a new home grown
company set up by four of the most insane but adventurous people we know, aims
to rescue stranded players ready to throw themselves out the window. The
Harlequin and Rob Steel (ex ZZAP and TGM adventurer), Auntie Marg (a very nice
girl despite her liking for Trolls and Goblins) and Nik Wild (ex TGM media star
— or so it says here) are the people responsible. What they offer is
Inter Action membership, six bi-monthly A5 Harlequin and Steel dossier packed
with news, reviews, hints, maps etc., access to a telephone helpline, plus an
intermediate newsletter to keep you up to date on all the happenings in
adventureland. All this for £5! Can’t be bad, can it?
COMIX
What’s happening in comic land and what to look out for!
Mark Caswell makes his choice
The Sensational She-Hulk
Marvel Comics, 70p Monthly
Jennifer Walters was a petite defence lawyer until she ran foul
of local mobster Nicholas Trask. His thugs tried to kill her but failed —
only just. Luckily Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) came to
the rescue, giving her a blood transfusion. Later in hospital Trask’s
goons tried again, only to find Banner’s radiated blood given to Jennifer
had turned her into a 6’ plus green goliath.
Thus The Savage She-Hulk was born. The comic bombed in the States and
everyone thought they’d seen the last of Shulkie. But Marvel have given
her a second chance, and nine issues into the new series I think they made the
right decision. Because even fighting baddies like The HeadMen, The Circus Of
Crime and diabolical Dr Bong, her wicked sense of humour is very rarely shaken.
The artistic and writing genius of John Byrne succeeds in portraying Miss
Walters as a very human character despite facing totally preposterous villains.
This is Marveldom, and Shulkie is one of my greatest heroines. Try her, you
won’t be disappointed.
The Punisher
Marvel Comics, 40p weekly, 70p monthly
The Punisher appears in several comics, a British weekly, two
American monthlies (The Punisher and The Punisher War
Journal) and several glossy graphic novels. The man behind the Skull
emblem is Frank Castle — Vietnam vet and only survivor of his
family’s murder at the hands of the mob, now the black clad vigilante
known and feared by crime bosses as The Punisher. A Punisher film starring
Dolph Lundgren and a computer game by The Edge will be out soon to cement his
popularity. Parallels between The Punisher and Batman can be drawn, but Mr
Castle’s methods of cleaning up the streets are more drastic. A good
story with lots of gratuitous violence thrown in!
Aliens
Dark Horse Comics, £1.25 Bi-Monthly
It is several years on from Aliens, the movie where everyone bar
Ripley, the young girl Newt and Space Marine Corporal Hicks perished. Newt is
now a young woman confined to a mental hospital, and Hicks drifts in and out of
trouble with everyone assuming he has somehow been infected by the Aliens. The
comic follows their adventures and further encounters with the aliens in
glorious mono. Worth a look.
There, something to get on with. More comix news soon!