2 i No 6 July 1984 75p ^^V 1 Tj 1 "^ >M ' CRASH takes an in>depth took at 1 perspective i in games 1 SABRE WULF f . ON SCREFN' "^ ^^^k. 4h % \ ^9b \ %. 1 DEREK BREWSTF^ ^ \ ADVENTURE TRAIL SNOWBALLS! ^ 2 -PART PULL-OUT M AP OF ATIC ATAC MiCflOMEIM: DEATHCHASE imk CRABS HAUNIED HEDGES STAfiCmSH Ail £6.35 16itgr48K Spei;trvkm Trade enquirms MK;fodeal&r D727 34351 Wfrbsters 0483 62222 Ti06^ H1 420 UBt Pinnate 0883 73141 Prism Mtcro Produdi Aw3iSk'5ltii& ^Cri mEGn 3-Dimensional arcade strategy on the 48K Spectrum- £6.95 Gompotibie wWh Kempston, ProteWAQF, and Interface ?. joystick types. Menzie^ sp.eEtrikDiT BmoT ftegefKean ConiuttanT Ed tlor Franoo Fcey production Designer David WMt«fn Art Bmor Arfv#ntyr« Edtlor Derek B^ow^l^f Staff Writer U^Mangmfn Contributirtg wiitef* Matinev^ Utfindell ChnsPassey Cltmt LlalTBon JohriEdvwds SiibKrlpflicin Miiug«f Defuse nol^$ft& Tttophorw nunrtbef& G«fi«r«l oWii^ 0564 Sa?0 Editorial studio &584 &BSt Advftfliting 0584 585^ Hot Un« 0584 301 5 C If ' Newsf lekl Umii6d CrMh Mk^m IS pubiitwd monMy by NmslMd Ltd . , POBmia Ludlow, Shfopshtf^SYBiDB No materiiiJ may b^ reproduced in wtiolo or in part without vmiton cons^nd of the cOf^yngM hoidei? PhOlOSetiir^g by SIOS. 111 SalysburvRoad, CokHir Dnginatk>n by Scan StLid^)s. 44 Watiaf^ Rosd. London N1 PMtod m England by CArttsto Web CWset (Memter d Itw BPCC GroupK Newiown Trading Esrate. Carlisle DisifibuUgnbyCOMAG, TavMx^k Road. West Drayton. Middlesex UB7 70E Subscriptions; 12 iSSuM E9.0DUKMainlarvd(p<3Sf tree) Europe: 12 issues £15 (posi Iree) We cannot mmtiAks to return any Mritten of photographic rnatenai sent to CRASH MICRO unless «iccomparkied by a siampefl addressed envelope Cover by Oliver Frey ATICATAC-THEMAP! A two part pul^^5ut cotour poster REVIEWERS* COMFEnnOli Some *3peaaJ Mentiooa' MAKING AN tMPRESSIOII The R4D Digital Tracef eKairrined 3D OR NOT? That IS the question the CRASH i earn ask as they plough shfougti a mammoth article on 3D in compuief games EDITORIAL NEWS INPUT A bf ^&* round-yp for the month CRASH FORUM Lioy4 Mangram pnms some of your letters ADVENTURE TRAIL Dere*^ Brewster hops a&oard the SnowtiaH to kwk at some games SfGNPOST Adventure game tips and hints from Derek and hit correspofTdents CRASH HOTLINES Top 50 f Bve ga mes a nd ihe Adventure chart RUN IT AGAIN Eiecirogobbie - wa compara some Ghoel Gobblers PLAYING TIPS Game hjnts from readers and L^yd'a HaH of Slime (7J TERMINAL MAN Cross and the Arcadiarts return aftef a morm s atoenoe PLAY POOL A Compsntion to the game from G.D.S, MtooayelefTfti TO THE STARS! Gargoyle s Ad Astra hat Nt the MKTOdeaiar charts - now s your diaf>ce to w^n one o1 the 1 00 copies going m ihtt qyriz CRASH QUIZ Awthef main-ieaser a^ fesulis CRASH July 1984 And why nor? if has the finest graphics yet to emerge from a Spectrum game. Fly fhe btesi svwig-wng fighter bomber with full 360*^ control Seek out and destroy enemy targets, Lond refuel toke off at will With 3D mufti -screen, multi-diredionaf wroporound landscape, ifs guoronieed to give your brain hypennania Fly Tomodb low Level today -- ju^ one in a series of mindbl owing action garner m m KIN I Mi □ T. L L momm m £5.95 D ANDRaOTWO SPfCTiruM4§ic £5.95 TOTALVALUE £ Gof^nii^ uufSiDi^lf^ hf kf^vtxxMfi and (OyVkcl 50FJWAR£ rJMAi ADC«5& L DEAIBR ENQUIRES ■ CAIL 061 973 9580 J VORTEX ACTION GAMES ■ AVAILABLE FROM ALL LEADING RETAILERS fttjc Attack -The Map Th« response fo our drsw an Atic Aiac map compettiiori has provefk lo be •nonnoijQ As I write thts Itaibthy Stmifier of Ultimate leii rno frwat ifve pnze te kmmpfs one above the o4hef to itwe ^ a fmi^Jieid poeief approxjmately 297mm wide by WOmmhigh There rnust still be people anxjod who wN find ihe map usehjl as a guide to pitying auc AUc* but for those wtx> a I ready kmwrtfM place hside out we iTOpe ^ poster will nifljce an intijarastang decofation and provide a memo^ ol hours speni undoing Wh^l U Iti mat;^ h m wrought^ Big is Beautiful I wa$ ini^i^wtKt m the reactort of a caiPtr wtio, in paasirw. (^mmented that CRASH so often ooncentraied tin revk^ws ort tmaNer, ofian unknown, software houftffls ITierewastheimpiication in ih© tone oi his vo*ce thai this waa aerMtttino ot a lading - raitver aa though we were unatT^e to get gmea to fevtew from me t>™ef . nrne impoitani cOrtvpanK^s & perhape it was a rvleretice to tt>e lack di good gemee in summer Whichever, ^t has to be sakt Ihal CRASH set ou! to be a compr^hensavo review magazbii (that can be ditt^cuit ai tinges,, tiut we do our best I and as such is duly bound to review games trom any sk^ed sottware company wf^n aix3 Qs space aMowa. Besides which . even the b^ggeat ioflware iKiuses today wef e afl lltti one* a yeor Of two bach, Who Is to say thai some aerius operating from his or her bad< be* oom today won! be a 0ant come Chnsimas'^ It s the Ideas thai count WT^ is a SiDCi thQ item on Ihe Goildf n ity ol ACG wa^ written, Ihe superti IropHy has strive el - and tl stands H inctics higti Qn lb Im, W licit CUT Icr the il«it iflee, Wkeit I3^e winner Willi be annnynsedr In ihe tfiemtinifl . pliit are afoci I or a follow -up cdrnpetnisn Iram Ultimate bisect m S^l^re Wu)l Walcfi Dut lor dtiaiU- neit issue probtorti for the young and unknown software housae ia exposure - lettinQ peopifl ktvuw Ihal they're ifiefa. Ahix^ every magazir^ tn the txisiness w^ll de^e space instantty m Je/ Set Vmy afxt S^br& WulL but who apart from \h& specialist ma^ will bother wrih Denms Througn the Oitnking Glass or AppltcatKin s foHow-up The Tebbn'^ \ knmt thai the majority of readofs are only inier ^ted in the biggjes . but it can lead m missing out on a lot of very good and enteftaifMr^ games. In CRASH we try ie redress the t>alar>ce a bit On top ol thai i\ would be a good question 1o ask - do the biggies' aJways come up with the goods'^ I Summer Slump Running on Irom the above piece , small aixJ large software tiouses aiiKe are now lacirig ttw fr^tional su mmet alurtip , It nwy seem odd to talk Dt a tfaditk>n ^ a maifcei barely m its third ya^r, but expenenc^ indicates that the summer 19 alwma poor for softwaie salea, Not unnatur^. games pleyeri who would have 10 be dragged away from ihieir Spectrums m the dark winter riKjnths fir>d that ttiere aie rrM:>re iniereslir^g thi^iigs to do ouldoors during the iummef ConseQueiTtl^, less software is bought and loaded. Lasi summer. N^ss waiy , the software houses cam^ on advertising m the magazines and *&re then upset when they found thai The saJes tigures didn t ecpal Ehe advertasing biiis This year, everyooe is acting more cautiously, looking over their sfwjicters at itie circuUttng ■ jmours Ihal so and SOii iboul Ip gour^der Maluraily.tho Slump hits the smaller companies wrth Jess furidtrtg much harder, tjul one or two of Itie rea^ b^gg^es" don t seem to ^nd it easy I0 pay lor ttieir adveftising tn^ls either Tt^e records do stxwf that ^les ot games drop m ihe summ^ but periiaps the software houses are helping 10 perpetuate a vicio^^ circle by hitMrnabrtg ThiSES considered a poor lime to releaae newgerr^s I wnte this on; itie eve ol seeing Ultinfiate's new gam^. SBbte Wuif. M mighl be saiutory to remember Ihil Sifire V\fulf is only Uftimaee s sevefA game. t>eing reieasad m the summer, and tt^t their first two J^ tp^c and Ps ss r. wvi Launched about a year ago ridht in the middle of everyone e^e'ss^ump As a result of thefr expenences across tw yier. 1h»y ar# pFot>at>ly quite unomcemed about rij^lea^ing a rr^^jof 9ame I wrth a n^w pnce tooHn TO middle of ftunvtwf h highlights a laHacy Wi the Cheory that a good prochictshDuU be caved up un^i ChrMmaa - witt^ a leek of good ^TTWS to txiy and play, any realty good game reieafied will sland out - and Be tMiughi But if Ihere is a rendency to [iJV in the homs during ttie summer and not release good games, thpin the txjyers are go^ng to boiner even less, thus tightening the vicious c$rd#. CRASH Holline The Holline IS tiotting up' Calls coming m rKsw are viftuaiiy swarriping the system, especMy wMh the advent ol the ad^nture fine Each rnonth now riftsults in CRASH Jufy 1984 i thouiiffiids and Q^ousands di calls - a M dV paf^on-hourv kiwilw the d0t8ib into the OCfnpillvfbr analy$4$. Foftunamy mo«i oiiefs kr>ow xtmr minds ind siat^ their bu9iD^S3 e^iciemly Bui there are the gigglefs^ These Mi into hNo iMMtf MMOdriti «* thOie who stall to giMlt. fut a tmv« iiin on and aome^ow gel thrgugih (a Sub- firoup are those vvfu break down tDiif>g VMMtlMliraiidgai iwrlpmniaoray b ffie aeoond qpcnip iiAn probrtriy never Mended ii sorioiis vole m the llrsi place. s4ai1 giggling. lt>ori lyrn the call inio something else altogether Ms just as well that the team taking the details are broad-mindedl Unfoftufiaialy ttila telephonic jncontfnenoe waetes a toi of rime, eepe^iy when you gel a bunch of people wrth unlimHed funcSs for the phone who Irke to ring OOTYlmuou^y arid pi aclise Itwir petty jolt&B or Captta^ RadKj's DJ dlMvearcompotitHan entnee. It's tunfiy now ihe ttiOLighl o( an unmanned answering macnine antads m^ atf«intiort5 04 bofad peoplel StiH. whtm theffi s ihe lime, these Calls can pravtui^ hOMT^ of amusement at the Cfl ASH otfces But we woirid preier to just get the rates! CRASHTIONNAIRE WINNERS The winoBf ol the CRASH OuestK?nnaire draw was J.S. Underhiil of Bromtey. Kent, who wans tM worth of software of his choice plLTS an yb4Quitous CRASH T'Shin The Ihree runn^s-yp each gel a T shiri plus a Ihn^e-monlh SubSO^Iion to CRASH. They are mitpi Brown from Hove. East Sueam. Chnstophef Powell from C3^wi?5(ry. ShnipQhire. and Kevin Spacers from Ccoyden, Suifey. I woutd like to thank aM tho^ who toofc the IroutJte to fill out and send in the loims. wtiich are snll being coltaled for a Anal result ONE CHR$ INKEY$ A new CRASH column which reflect* the pergonal view» ol people who either read or write for CRASH. This month G.G. Watson, from Aithorpe, Sooth Humberslde, hsrmmers home the message. HAMMERING HOME THE MESSAGE By G.G. Watson A3 you lean hack in your chelr. monsiers stare out al you w#i their glowiriQ multi-o^loured gye$. Space ships zapping anylhirq, or anyone m their way stra^ through sedof's of ttie gplajcy never visrlfid hsiore Robote stumble across aKien LarKtscep^, tanks rumbio thrown the nyWiied femflinsoi piar^l Earth Rao^ caim speed round and round Ffwe and all manner ot cfeatures andw^Uie hop ar>d l^ap across intt§iriifyite«mscap0s Evii beings and wtiards cast their spells in d » v< toh plots lo enslave h4jm^nity. UiVMcted man has onfy hi^ wKs lo keep him alive fto. this IS nol the scenario for a complect r^ew corr^pi4er garT>ei N is a subiectrve in^x^aion ol the garish, sensational. eoffwAB tdvertssament^ [Contained wtthiri ttie pages of any popular oqmpuier magazine you migN cvffl to mention How exciling the new world d ttielioma oomputer loofes' Thow apvWng Imagee entice us to htinwlataly go found to OMT neisr^ oomputer shop lo pert wMh our money. Yes, be ihe first to own the etoctfonic game which wii stra^ ttie skife and imelligence ot you arxj your IrienA to their i»mrts Daj7ie the neighbourhood with ihfs bnShani newtpy Those are some oHhe Ehings advttrttements ten us Even neg^rtive feviews ot a game cannot Qurie awwince us that It wilf not spervl rnych time on Our tetevision screen rf the advertidsement m a^i rts giowing imagery has hooked our interMt. The adwrtsements tof oorrqiuter softwafen ^xj hardware, are stick and profesefional. It is only a-pHy the gamse and machineiy Itmi they ainc) the praisee of so weH dbnoTarways QuR^e Ihre up to their inflated and verbose lyrks s^Wich leads nie lo wond^ i!( ita paopto who piodiice the advertising enworlK end Itterelura should pertvaps 1^ lo educate oomputer i:Nrogrammef3 and deeioners how lo produce matenai ttxst has an equal irnpai^ on our senses. Many oommefitatoi^ have noted me par ai49is t^etween the compuler aothwre indu^ and the pop muakr tndi^Ary. Indeed, some computer compan4as have encouraged this comparison by attempiing lo make their prog rammers into "stars" All hough this refTects the fast growing poputenty ol home ^xnpuf ing arid its stalus as a form ol enieflamment H a3so means Ihas hype and *rnagie become more imponani ttwi the product. Taken lo its extmme^. can we one day expect to see screaming teenagers chasing alter the programmers of Iheir f ^vounte QamffS^ Will prtme time television shorn leature the Top ol ttie Floppies' and contain promotional videos ol programmers dancing MidiMl Jackson-type steps across back -pcoiecled irnages of lhe 39 Aliiini.si 40 IlKmtilan 33 Beyond SofMMt IS Mk:romanl« 91 ervinbOT Softwfe 63 Mici omega a C«mbndg« Computing 42 M.C, Lottitonen 10 ' CCS. 70 New Gef>erB«iofi K CO.S. Microsvatvms 41 NewiSott 33 CflL. 64,65 Ouick»tlvA Back pag* 1 Chcwtah Son M flflinbDw EI«elronica S3 Cra 9h ( T ■ »h ms ' BinderB) 71 Sincltir n«Marchi 7 Cr««h MatI Ofder an Stocii 43 Crealivc Sp«rk» 72 Slarzona »s 16 unimaM 59 Jt4 VdHllMa 111 DnwnSoltwan 63 Vorin « FintaiySoftwAf* 90 wnm 43 Ttiis might ^^ourhd turmy bul tt is not long ago that many gamee were produced in houses, wagee. and caimmy Eittie otflcea Now phjsh office suites arxJ ea|Mriikvt. «xtremoly fast, sports cam wMcfi Imll oulMe in the axeouCM cmp&M, «» tw order ot tnedey> At ttie momant tie software Indu^ is booming and new tatani i^ quicidy utitoed and promoted, just in tt>e same way as the pop music industry grew and devekiped in (he Sotties &u1 wtiatever happened to the music scene in ttie Seventlea? It plummeted to ttie depths of banality and had to t>e knocked I nio S4nae by the punk ravDhJton I Is ttite what MM h^ven to the aolVifare industry in ^ Ntnet^ or late Eighties? Will the hype and image being geriof ated so caf efiiiy now kill oif the creative flair and Instanci that stiJI survives today? Only tme and the cor^umers will tiammef home the answers to theea qyartor^. iet a hope everyone concerned will fare t>elter than moei space invadens or |>acmenf INDEI TO GAMES IN THIS ISSUE Am BASE INVADER CP Sohwva S2 ANTICS Bug-Syte Software 9 ATLAS ASSIGNMENT Virgin Games 7& BE WAREHOUSE Po«itrve Image 108 BUBBLE BUSTER Smciair 12 CARNIVAL tclipse tlO C A R PET CAPERS Ter minal 60 CASEV JONES Bia^ 12 COWPUTER COOK BOOK Bug- Syt? 99 COSMIC CR UISER Imagine &T DEATH STAR R^bM 107 OtAMOND QUEST CCS 75 DRILLER TANKS S^ndaif 53 EHkC AND THE FLOATERS Sinclair M FACTOflV BREAKOUT l*opOTSott 97 JUNOLE ADVENTURE CCS 107 LESFLICSPSS t07 MATRIX Salamander 61 MOON ALEAT Ocean 46 MU08V MelDoume Houae 50 POOLCDS 40 (THE) PRKE Arcade S8 PSI-SPV Poaiem 61 REVENGE OF THE KILLER TOMATOES Vis^cw^ 1 1 (THE) RtNa OF DARKNESS WintorsoW 7S SAB R E WULF U Ltirt^iaia K SNOWBALL Level 9 Cotnpiitting 7^ SPACE cbUMANO Virgin Games 109 SPECGRAFAntrog 61 SPELLBOUND Beyond 51 STOP THE EMPRESS Sinctoir 4i 3D BAT ATTACK Oheeiah Soft 109 TURTLE TIME WARP Pefteclion 13 WAXWORKS Digilal F antasia 77 WORSE THWGS HAPPEN ATSEASivefSOft B ZtPFER FUPPiR Sindair 59 e CRASH July 1984 A fine day for tennis on your Spectrum] Thb H Wimbledon The home of British tehn^ Mjc3yir>g Britajni But thrs wmm^r, thinp wi te drf^mt If rain ^ps pUy on court, youK be able to <4riy on playing - ^th Sindairt 'Malch Point Match Poinf ts one of six new, ali-adKxi prqgrarns toe fouf SpectrumL tt lets you play t^nnb I ^n^ the computef. a tnend. Of |^ sit back and wabch an exhibition niatch Injoy aH the features of tennis -badkhand arid foreharxl shots, kst% drop^holi^ voHeys^a scoreboard ev«n baJl bqy^ are oii^ddL But good tennis stokes areni evcrythifift To win the AAatdi Point Open ChampiWKhip| ytxjil need ^li dnd Uctia Luckily Ihoi^. you won t have to rely on Ihe^^eatheff 'Match Poinf h^ been developed by Psion, one of the UKi top software fxHises. YcHi"ll firnJ it aton^ide Sindair^ other nevft^ titte - Stop the E^qxe^ Bubble Buster. Zipper Flipper. Erk and the Floaters and Onller lante-- in the shofK^ today At £7S5, ift a fca! iMnneft Selected S indair software lines are available from WH Smrth computer stores, Urger l)ranctics o* Boots, John AAenzies. Greens and most other software ^ockRts nabonwide. Sindair fl«eardi Ltd, Camberk!y C027Q 685311. Worse Things Happen at Sea Producer: Stfverso^ Memory required: 48K Retail price: C5 J5 Language: machine code Auttior: Mlndsey# H's hard to believe, tooking al this latest Silversoft gameK that worse things could pc^s- ibiy happen at $ea, but perhaps the author was refef- ring to H & fl's Titanic when he thought up the title, or perhaps ha was thinking about White Star's Tttanic - that wastrl a game I Here you are c^ied upon to safety take a cargo ship from poii \o pon A diagrann at the top of the screen f howa the pods and ^ur ship wrth a navigable distance that would take a few moments' freestyle to complete for the poore^st of swifnmers. Judging the difficul- ties )fOu are about to face from this innocent littie diagramma- tte representatkm would be foolish in the esctreme! You play the pari of a robot (it's an automated ship this ooe)p and one can cnty aup- poe« that the aulhorrties a!kw the ship to ieave port with its seaworthiness certrficate signed because it only carries a crew of one. and a robot to lKX3t. Boots, however, are of little use - throat length waders would be more appropriate, because this ship starts sink- ingthe 3ea:>nd it leaves port! The ship ocMisists of 11 a^eas, six on the top deck and five below. Each area is sealed off from the ne^t by hatches. and hatches in the floor of ttie top deck access to lifts to take you down betow. The top dght-hand ar^ contains a materialisation machine, frorn whk:h your robot starts life, and next to it. a recharge chamber for fesioring the robots power which is drained by work The other rooms contain nefanous bits o1 equipment . but it i$ tf^ pipe and pumping handles Ittel are important A patch is also supplied in eadi area, but only six pump handtes for the 11 pumps. The sad state of the ship can be immediately seen on the lower deck where numerous leaks are letting the sea gush in The rising tevel ol water is shown by the norma] !y white background turning black- The robot has several tasks which include opening and shutting hatches (green or red itghts show above the hatch on either side, indicating whether it is open or closed}, picking yp patches and placing them over leaks and then pumping out Hie water in the particular room. Of course, you can only cany one thing at a time. Hatches shoukJ be left closedn as this slows down the rate of flooding t»etween sedior^, ar>d indeed, it isn't possible to pump out a section rf all the doors are open, as the water flows in too fast for the pump to cope. The Bcreen display is very tiusy. About two-thirds is taken up with the depictiofi of a room, f^oving through a hatch remitts in the display scrolling across to be replaced by the next room entered. Atxive this is the score and hi-score (shown in £). a diagram of the 1 1 rooms with the one you are in flashing (also the effect of nsmg water), a yellow square which indi- cates what Object you are car- rying. a bar code shcwinp robot energy, a cx>ur$e irxJh cator (the robot has to keep the boat on course as wait!) and gauges for temperature, water tevel and cargo value. As ttte water nsas. so the cargo value sinks. Docking suo^s^lly al poft results in your cargo remaining being evaluated for points. Lives are tost by running out of power r afthough to help a rapid return to tt>e recharge chamber you can hyperspace, but this might take more er>efgy than ts left. Also, the robot snort cir- ourts if he's operating under weater. and this drains power f^er. Should the ship sink, you at feast have the saiisfac- lion of matching the event on the screen at the verytop^ e CRASH July 1984 UHiii(;i;sM • TTiis Is a super-original game from Silversoft. The graphfos and detail a/e very good and the gam© is very playable and addKlive. I really enjoyed H and I'm sure itm game will be a huge suoiess. It's pot>ably one of the nrost Oflgifial games of 34 so far. There are many f eaturdft in ttie game to make A varied ahimj^ to give it tasti ng appeal ^ excel* lefitr • / am amazed iftaf such a simph idea - using a trusty robot to piug hoies in a teaicy ata shtp ana ke^p it BftoBt - shouid pfOve to db m much fun to pfay^ The s/d^ ^^w of the ship is extremely plBSBing graphicaHy and weft da^M andoolour&d. I found that after comptQting a few succe^sfut crossingB th&t worse thinm began m happen af sea. Far mstancB ttie ship kept going off Gourse, th& Qngine ovBfhe- ared due to tack of oit, ar\d more hofes appeared in diftor-^ errf ptacBS Severe/ greitf tunes are ptayed. and tha sound during the game fe good. Sitver^oit have pro- ducBd an incrBdibty arfdto- tive, p/ayable and amactiva game.' • 'There are some games you come acrt^ that, based on a simple idea, are nevenheless completely compelling - this is one Worse Things i^appmt At Sea ts a nightiriare of activity. At ttfst ft a(l seems fnjitless. bb t I AT-I though you Dan f\&vm keep Vh& ship aAoat. but as you a^ l>0t- ter il seems easier , Unfortu* natrty. me game has been pfo§fa mined (0 grow with yotif Qling engines and st@«fing whMte mB achted to the already Hercy^n lasks of pympng and patching. The g^p^ics are neally v^ good, crisp drawing and good colour- ing. A missive choice of keys Is offered end the keyboard is very responsive too Atl in all &n excel bnt, ohglnal game. Great instmcbons on ^reen too; COMMENTS Contrcrf keye: Q/W tett/right, E/R yp down, T - door/take, t - pymp/power Tliere are five other combinations offered induding cursors and SJndair Joyttlclt: Kempsion, Cursor type8.S(2 K«yt»oftrd play: excelleni responses Use of colour: very good Graptiici: very gooo. plenty of detaH and nice touches Sound: great tuneSp very good throughout Skill levels: progressrve LIvm:3 Screeni! 1 1 OrlglriaJlty: vefy high based Oft concept and piavaWiity Gsfwral ratiF>g: addtctive, playable. gefieraJty excetlerrt. UMolcompyter Graphic* Playabillty Getting started Addictive qualities Originality Value for money Overall 86% 89% 92% 86% 94% 95% 93% 91% Antics Produ(^r: Bug-Byfe Menrory required: 4eK FWall price: E5,&5 Language: machine code Author: Adrian Sherwln In the tiifift tionoured dnema tradtkxi of 'onoe youVe got a Nn on your hands - tirt it agwi\ Antics is The Birds and the Bms ft. It can t really be called Son ot Birds and the Bees, sif^oe the hero of Anttcs is Bar- nadee, who happens to be a cousin to Boris See, the hero of the previous game. (Some of these garnes recently are get- ting a cast list as complicated as a Shakespeare playl), T>ie scenark] states that Boris Bee (he of B&B fame) has been set upon t^ a vicbus gemg oi ants arid locked away •OTDewhere \^ithin tt^ir nest, to await a teiritrte fate (what, worse than death?) Fortu- nately for Boris, help is at hand in the shape of his cousin Bar- nabee. who is about to launch a daring rnission of rescue. The game takes ttie form of a large number of interlinked maim which represent tlie various layers of the ants nest, Bamabee starts off above grourkd by his hive and can fly to the right through four screens avwjlng tt^ bTue birds which kill on contact. In screen three and tour there are entr- ances 10 the ant complex below ground. The o*^eci is to discover the whereabouts of imprisor^ed Boris and rescue him Boris will follow Barnatiee it he is dose erKXighH but Boris it iveak, so you have to ty slowly on the way out back to the hive. The nest is infested with ants and beettes Contad with these creepies will sap Bar- nabee's strength (Bar coda a£K>ve) but \Hmng the flewew that also live Fn tt\e nest v^R restore strer>gth ttirough pol- len. Some flowers have the property of openir>g up waits in the mazes when they are v^is- ited. The wall opened may not be in the maze on screen at tt>e time. In some mazes the walls are weak and will collapse as Bamabee Louches them. There are also energy- sappirig thorns embedded in the waJis ofthemaies. Antics is played To the tune of 8adi's Tocata Fuge in D - a sort of ja22ed up version. Is that why J,S. Bach appears in the halls ol fame aJong with Mrs Mopp, AAAAAAA arxl Mr Spock? There s also Or. Jor^s Did Not Believe It in there too. CRITICISM • Don't prejuc^e this game because Jt's a follow up to The Birds and the Bees - it does have the same style graphfcs. ir^gly difflojlt to outrun afil keep you active enough. The sound is iu^ great with a well- known tune played continu- ously (like Mamc Mimr and Jm Set WfHyl This can be switctved off it it drives you mad. The keytxjard laytxxjt la just perfeci (in fact same as JSWj The bee flaps his wif>gs vefy realistically and pack gives you tour scenarios spt icr ^OtliCeiUury Con8id£;A^hanist2n» Angola, inai and Kent following the Gerrnan invasion in *0. Pl6r'Wl^ siom; ni/*-*--* V .. ATMOS/OAlC 48K EeJS Attacked by tjats, t>asties awl everything that moves, intrepid ejqjlorer Hugo First ftghts his way through the spooky niansion coHecting weapons, wakens Oiacula and condemns him to atiery heti. Great effects arrd sountt goorf machlne^XKie graphics. 10 levels 3 Lives. 7scT0«ls, ^ ,«-^' ATMOS/ORtC 48K £6.9$ Munsters in the mineworkjngs try to stop you taking your goW ^j to the'Bank Clear the screen and they re-emerge with new recfijits (up to QQtjagjjt he game speeds ujPWWK: Grc sound arKJ g!fapNc& fames (s^ (Bief islts). Coflad 3 toypm OKt rek^r r , ru 1 1!^ lof a itt^ Ui trioiwi g ... .. iMdtype spacecraft onflBBT^ flight when you are attacked by ^ ^n Alien force. Dare you test your HyperlDlast and plunge into | Hyperspace? Fast actron. 100% v machine-code. 1 5 screens. | Keyboard mafweuveratMlity, iSialnjdHIir I jlfeMlWufittslfcril ; ^ zxeitei(-: COMMODOnE^ J,' ■ on-standard ma^e game is the adventure etemifit whereby visrttng cer- tain of the Ikwers atiow^ exits in the maz© which weren t there bofore to open up At first 1 thought Antics was a charm- ing Jooking ganne with not much going for it, but a Few minutes playing soon cures you of that. Controlling Bm- nab^ 1$ e difficuft task as he has a high inertia - guiding him through nanow openings m a vertical wall can be very frus- trating when stamina is njn- ning out This is a game thai needs a m^ drawn 1 Very ptepble and surprisingly addictive. COMMENTS Control keys: Q'W and aiamates cxi r^t of row - liRfright. bottOfFi row flap wings. S = sound on . A sound off. Joystick: any Keytioard priay : with three keys, verv easy: keys are responsive but Jt takes getting used 10 the momenturn factor Use or colour: excellent Griphics: excellent - smooth, detailed, ?asi and dear Sountl:excelient- ooniinuous tune which manages to continue while a death rattle sounds if you lose youf life* General rating: original, playable and addictive - eKceltent value and highty racocn mended. Use of com puter B9% Graphics 90% PJayability 92% Getting started 87% Addictive q ua I ities 92% Originality 87% Vitue for money 90% Overall 90% Smlfty glvei up compulin for gardinlniB - but is II B wise df citlon? Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes Producer: Visions Memofv required: 4SK Retail price: £6,95 Language: machine code Author: Kevin Bezant Visi^ons desonbe this game as a Video Nasty" ~ a game which give$ a virhoie r>ew meanmg to the phrase, meal and two veg. The n>0at in this case is Vis- ions dashing young hero Smiffy, who appeared in the computer complex of F 9 9^ He is now enjoying a much quieter occupation - cultivaiing the soil Bui in this garden ihe fows of cabbages move all over lt>e place and it is infasted with kil- ler tomatoes (make sure they dont k etch-up with you}, psycho swedes (no jtonophobta intended} and manic mushrooms (no retef- enc© to any other game i^ended). Scoring is done by awarding points for every weed pulled, completing a day's work and points are docked for treading on the cabbages The screen display is veiy uncluttered with no score lines or other info visible - this gives a large pEaying area, which tekes the form of si^ ro^^ of large cabbages by four rows across. Alternate lines move in opposing directions Weeds, blue in colour, appea^? at ran- dom points and times, also moving along wNh the cu- bages The killef veg rr>oves inoepdendenlly. but "bounces ort the cabbages Between attack waves the display intorms you of what to expect nexi. Game i:nstn>ctions and objectives are well displayed on several sheets which can be called up Irom the menu. CRITICISM • This is a good game featur- ing some v&fy high-quality graphics very smooth The game is tx>lh original and play- aWe (a rare feature lately) I enjoyed it. especially as i1 had a fairly high degree o1 addictiv- ity." • If gardmerstpfogtafTtmers imagine that ^matoes, mu^- rooms and swedes wifl turn savag& one day then ihefe's no hopB tor any of usf A flighty original idea. fhBre's nof much that can be said about this game, just that all the gfaphics are large, dmaifed. cofourful and thBY fnove about the screen snmothly, After a while i hund the game decame tir- jng due to the way that the cabbages move about the screen with the other v&g manoeuvfing around them. You rnayfind Killer Jom%has a fasting appeaf, but f tfiought that the novelty of the veg muttipfying every so Oflerr not only daunting but bonng An oriQinai vtdeo nasty that won't grow on you!' m "The hero, Smiffy, is instantly kientillable as tf^ hero of Visions' J 994 game, and it Fooks as though tfve same movement routine fias been useNJ. Whai worked m that game, works less wdl here, as Smitfy seems 10 gal- lop rather than potter {or what- ever it is you do in gardens). The i^a is original and well implemented with eKceJfent graphics and good jnstn>c- tions. tKJl ortce into the rhythm, it becomes qude easy to stay alive and score points Tt>e tomatoes are the least intelJFg- ent kiHers, with the mushrooms being positively aggressive chasers. In later attach waves you get increasing numbers Of killers and mixed veg varieiies. Quite addidive. but perhaps the appeal won't last all too long/ COMMENTS Control keys: user-definabte - requires four directional keys Joy si ic k : Almost a ny via U0K.p1usZXiaJidZX2 i^ntertaces Keytioard play: self -selected. very responsive CRASH July 1984 11 mii«^ Uwof eolowr: clear, biA limKed. nicely us^d in instructions Graphics: vary^xxJ, smooth and detailed Sound: average SktIHevels: tO Ltv«^:5 Originality: nothing else like Jl on the market Gei^eral rattrig : with a rang© of skill levels and reasonable addictiveness. good value Uae of computer 81% Graphtc^ 78% Playability 77% Getting started 75% Addictive qualities 70% Value for money 65*=, Overall 74% if any bubble should hit you. Points are only scored for hit- ting the small bubbles and bursting them The first three stages have increasing numbers of bub- b4e$ The fourth Is a bonus point stage where the bub&tes don't harm you arvd you must score as much as you can in a limited time period Atief this everything repeats at a greater pace. CRITICISM • Bubble Buster is another relatively original game pro- vided by Hudson Soft for Sinc- lair It s a shoot em up but ihe aliens ar^& of a differenl breed In fad, if you saw the recent renin of The Prisorver on TV. you may know what they are - Kilixiin bubbltt in i gamt ol wfial i^t up nntit tui aty a^uaih yay flit wi^ii H ttfnat ilom. Bubble Buster Producer: Sinclair Memory required: 48K Retail price: C5.95 Language machine code Author: Hudson Soft Bubbh Buster is pretty simple to descrit)e You are a small man a1 the t}ot1om of the screen and you can move left or right, firing missiles upwards. A iarge yellow bubble comes sailing m from trie top left and trounces about aii over the place The Object is to hit i1. when it wili sptit into two smaller bubbles. Hitting one ol these wtH cause it to s^ into three tiny bubbles, and each of ttiese h rt will bu r si You re dead 12 CRASH July 1984 bubbles. The graphics, though simpfe (i.e. round things) are @Ktremdy well animated tlie tiubbles move just [ike the real thing with gravity involved to make ihem bounce aboul all over the screen I found this to be a very original shoot em up type of game it had a fair bit of addi^ctivity but did lend to become a litlle repetitive Perhaps a little variation would have improved the situation " • Why Sfndair st70utd have put out a game as simple a$ this one makes me wonder whethm they ever design&d computers in the first p/ace, Shootir^g batts with what kmks tike an arrow tiad to a pi^ce of green gardening stmg is not i/^iy thrilhng. This gaitJe does ha)/B an afement of Asi&roids' when batk^ms spM - but not very etfectfvo Both cQfour and sound are wBBk and couid be improved | COMMENTS upon. The keys ere responsive but not well positioned. Over- ait, a fasi compteteiy umnter- esting game. ' 9 Bubble Buster is a very simple idea, which turns into a pretly fast game the furl her you go. Howevef, the initial tun wears off vety fast too. as there s little more to it than shootir^ tiaHoons and dodging Ihem I'm not saying this is an easy task. t>ut seme of the ditfi- culty involved is a bit unfair "You" are just fat enough a character to get hit by the bal- loons too easily, so tnere s t^ fine adiustmeni possible, wtiich lowers the skiH factor And that together with the extreme simplicity of the game means it isn't very tfihlling to play for more than aboul ten minutes The graptiics are reasonable, with good boLrr>C' ing effects, but "you' are a bit primitive looking. ar>d couldn't a bit more tun have been added with some more col- ours? Not reaKy worth il Contro* keys: A/D or J/L ieh fight. GAPS SPACE = fire Joystick: ZX 2 Keyboard play: responsive, by I slightly irntaiing with (he lefl right key Use of colour: poor Graphics: large, fast not detailed Sound: fair Skit I levels: progressive difficulty and spmds Lives: 3 Originality: not totally cnginaJ as concept seems to oe based on several dihars like Asterods, Galaxlans arid Breakout General rating: fair. Use of computer 70% GrapHics 61% Playabirity 53% Getting started 66% Addictive qualities 45% Originality 45% Value for money 58% Overall 57% Casey Jones Producar: Blaby Computer Games Menrfcory required 4fiK Retail price: £5.50 Language: machine dode Author: Gary Capewell Blaby packaging has always been quite novel and with Casey Jones the company has gone on to the larger plaslFC cassette case with a cover insert whteh shows a lovely phoiograoh of an old American Looo belch^rvg smoke as it lushes along the track. There was a critic wti^^ worcte appeared in this magazine who said once thtal he couldn t understand why software houses afways insisted in edu- cational games of iltustrating the word TRAIN with a picture Of a steam locomotive when they disappeared Irom our railways alriKasI two decades ago We1(. m Casey Jones ttie anachronisrn is obviousiy Quite intended As it says on the cassette Wurb, Here's your onEy charKe to p^lot a steam engine. Not only does this train fly but also has an unlimited supply of megatron missiles/ Wouldn t John Wayne have loved it! The anachronism goes even further of course, tor Casey Jones is realty a Moon Buggy type game where you must feap the craters arxJ obstacles, shoot away ttxjse to^ big to leap, and contend with mur- derous aliens hovering above you Ttie 12.15 from Bour- nemouth IS delayed due to hos- tile alien activity The screen presents you with a graphic representatran of the steam kxx> on the cover which iravefs left to right against a scroll kng tiackgrcHjnd of rails, fences, telegraph potes and mountains The aliens drop bombs which will destroy the engine if its hit, and which ieave fires burning in the ground - these also des- troy the engine Getting through ail the attack waves and reaching ih© station will taunch you on to the track again with a tender behind the er>gine, making a tiigger target. The aliens in ihis game are unusual. The first wave con-^ sists ol barmy burgers - a reference to Blaby s game ol the same name: from then on there are vanous in^ joke references with aiions ranging from Eugene s toilet, Horace to camels Access cards and Daleks. Eighteen attack waves in all. Hi I Iflfif wty ^ 1lk« tUlfon an Um iJiiy Cbtlinooii CNia Uioo. GRmClSM • This IS a "Moon Buc type game but wifli a irain {me Qf sound and graphics is good. Generaify evefything is good except for pEayability , rha train m an easy targat and ils lumping musl l)e ciMely timed The game seefned loo hard lo be ^Jii - if was more ot a task. Even so. it is reasonat^ odcNc- t(ve Bs It s always nice to see whai iha nexi attacfc wave* is ardsoon. • Th& game ts quite ditticuli until you ger the hang of dodg- *Tg bombs Voof tr&tn fhes very w&fK snd for the first Ume ^ith this type of getme you can move the train left and hght (wett^ bBCkwardsftOf wards) tn mtd-a^r - very useM To each wavB there ts a different alien, Reachtng the station is quite a t&sk - and then you piay the game agatn t>ut with a tender attached, and this ts moch rmre ditficutt The graphics arB detailed and varied, and cotoufts w^H used The sound fs fair and coutd have t)een much better This is an onginat graphic presentation or the star^dard Moon Buggy" con- cept' • Cmey Jones m fun and hard ai liie same t>me The gr^ics are tun because they ^e original and large and ihey aM move quite well The train does present a fattier large target for the alien bombs which adds to the game's ditfi- cutty. on the other hand the pfogfammef has made it the most controllable vehide of its type. Yoi# can take neat little hops or gigantic run at em leaps. With so many attack waves there i$ pter>ty to do, but perhaps there could have been more levels of play. All in all, fun and addictive in play ' COMMENTS Control keys: Z0( left right. L to jump and ENTER to fire Joystick: Kem^pston Keyboard play' good positions and very responsive Use of colour: very good Graphics^ large, detailed, quite fast and smooth Sound: mixed feelings from very good to average - it is quite powerful though Skill levels: progressive difficulty Lives: 3 Screens: 18 Originality : game type is quFfe common nov, but presentation is htgNy Ofiginal. a fact whFChi is relied n the t^Ung betow G«ii«ral nrting: an above afw»g« to good game with Dew features and quite addictive to plaiy Use of computer 70% Graphics 74% PlsyabJIity 6?% Getting started 71% Addictive qualities 64% Originality m% Value for money 69% vera J I 68% Turtle Timewarp Producer: Perfection Software Memory required: 48 K Retail price: E5.95 Language: machine code Autnor: Tim Williams Perfection enief ed the games software business wWh a flour- ish and rheir game Odyssey r , which won a programming prtee. Turtte Timewarp is their fourth progiam, «ei in a watta tisrypled by tiermonyclear destruction The last humanoids have gone leayir>g behind turttes which have not sjyffered mutation like all other Cfeatures because ot some uf^Stated alien intarventiCMi As th« biggest and strorigest turlfe you must go around collecting smalter tuntes and carry them off lo the dubious safety of t>Du^$ left t>ehirKJ by humans. Uslr^ 1h© timewarp gat© pro^ video by the aliens, you must go from land to land COlieCting all the turtles. In this doom-lad»n Day Atlef world, all the mutated creatures fancy a bity of turtle and your only hope is to drop a stun bomb in a mutation s path. This leaves it safe to cross o'mi it for a short period, but there'e only one stun txxnb allowed on *5creen at any one time Extra bombs may be obtained from the lair which appears ai the oentr© ot the screen from lime to time. Tha screen takes the form of a simple maze wttti several dead ends. Tucked into the dead ends are large s^ed question marks, eight in all At first you are chased by two mutations, but th$ question marks n^y be smalt turtles or they may be more mutations which will give cKhase after two seconds it it s a lufile it will cifmb on youf back and a humanoid house will appear somewhere on Hie screen. You must deposit the small tur- lie safely and then go for another When five have been rescued Vtm timewarp gal^ will appear in the centre of the screen and yoit may move to anothef land wliere there will be rT>ore mutated creetuires to chase you - of course! The maze forms are dittereni on *f - fprent screens CRITICISM • Yet another origrnal game wrth a great klea. The screen tayout is quite good aHtK>ugh the graphics range from (air to good Cdour could be belter used Teams of mutations tend to gang up on you giving no chance to get away - this does tend to make a fairly simple game into one much more dif - ficutt. The timewarp gates rotate very well The sound is fair during ptay but there is a great, wellhnown tune, while tt>e compulef waits for a key QuHe a good game fi^om Per- fection - again, this one lacks something on the content skie, but this improves after about 1 m I n u les ot continuous play. ' • 'I must sayj found the turtle a lirtle h&rd to controt became this is one of those games where your 'man" moves unaer his own steam, chang- mg dtrectfon wdh a keyprms^ Stiih you get the h&r^g ot that quite quickty. A (oystick cer- tamly helps, as things move very quickly once tmre are severaf mutations after their dtnner, and in tfi« respect the game is \/ery good as it has user-definabte keys to suit most pysticks Th^ graphics are a bit \^anable wfth a some- CRASH July 1984 13 ^it^ DpM i» lei ^ Of liki Ihe mDft«v >^ "i"^ Tuflti Tlfntvwp . what simple tookfog turlSe that isn't animatBd. Bvt he does CUft up nicBly - or withdraw Into his shBtt, shoutd I say. and th& mmations am ^ery Btf&c- live. Quite addictive. ' • Turtfe Timewarp ^Its for a fair arrx^unt of skill in getling $8f@ly round thi^ hazardoys series o1 mazes, espi^ally as the chasefs are quit© inte)[ig- ©fit. The Idea of nevef hf>ow(F>g whether ymi are about (o catch a hiftle or a nasty cold do^ keep yoii on your toes. I liked the game and found it addidive t>ecause it does get very hard as yoy progress ' COMMENTS Control keys; user definable. four needed ior direction and one to drop bombs Joystick; almosl any type via UDK Keyt>0ard play: responsive Use of ootour* although generally good perhaps it coujd have been more vaned^ Qraphbs: quite detailed. maeonat^le in movement SOMQd: only useful beeps during ptay, bul good tune Skill Fevelfl: pf ogresive difficulty Lives: 3 Screens: 10 Originality: a rKivel type of creepie t>ased on the maze lofmat Gef>ersr rating: above average to good with addidivenesSv Use of computer 83% Graphics 70% Playability 72% Getting started 73% Addictive qualities 70% Originality 6B% Vol ue tor moriey 69% Overall 72% Froot Loop Producier: NTD Software Memory required: 48K Retail price; £3.00 Language: machine code Froot Loops a pretty simple game to descfit>e You are a small black face on the ouf ^ide of a series of variously shaped rooms wrth sir^gle enlrances ro them inside the rooms there are green apples which you must go round eating. In some rooms there are pale bJue EK|uares which kill you off if you should run inio one Now and then the apples go rotten and pick i no one up will also kilt you off. However, when this unseafionM>te occurrefKse 14 CRASH July 1984 takes place, darik btue tjananas appear in soma rooms, and eating on© ol Ihese will uriacoountaWy restore the rotten apples to whdesome- ness once more. To make tife more difficutl, there are guards patrolling the outs(de of the rooms Should one get too close you can hrl the panic bunon which wiN freeze the guards for a moment. On some screens^ tfie appl^ are entombed Within rooms lackir>g doors. You a/e a!so provrded with a blaster to shod oui the walls Both blaster and panic button eat heavily ^nfo your time limit, and aJI the apples must be eaten before this is up m order to progress to the nexi, more difficult screen. CRITICISM • 1 oouldn 1 see any point in playing this game wti a I soever What s &o lantaslic about eat- ing apples ar>d bananas, whtz- ling round the block a1 super speed? The graphics are small and inBigniticanj, movedby the block, although quite detaiied and fast moving. The brick walls are quite well drawn but the guards look more l^ke jugs 1 The keytioard iayouL is goodp being very responsive - perhaps over- responsive But its a poorHquality garne with an unknown py stick option." ai least he is with a joystii* (programmable, because Ihe joystick option stated on Itw inlay doesn t actuaity say what pfOlocd it's for). Amusing lore while, but the primitive looking graphics and the lack of any- Uiing worth while to do makes it unaddictive. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down, OfP lett/righi. BREAK ^ Waster, 1 = panic Joystick: unstated Keyboard play: belter Ihan with joystick, as keys well )aid Out and responsive Use of colour: average Graphics: bkxA, smalt fast moving Sound: average Skill levels: 6 Uv««]5 Sereent: 10 Ortglnallty: well Iher e s not rmicA akM Mto H, but coHactiM ttems and dodging guefdi isnl a S ^ y g B M [ jX^f l guirdi, rotttn ipples arrd blut bam nit Id drive you nutt tn Ffool • .'TherB (S a sort Ot martfc quSfty to Froot Loop which might appBai to some, but it didnt to me. The scrolmg up of tfie scrmns at the end when you have cleared one is nicety done But as to the game n$etf, i wouldn't r^comrnend ft. as therB i$ so httiB tQ it. Yes, on th^ higher skill tei/ete it ts t&st, but insanely fast, pointlessty fast. When wilt software houses wake up to the fact that sheer speed fn a game lAn't what makes them dffticuft • For about half an hour I think f roof Loop might appeal as a somehwat mindless pur- suit, but It s appeal is bound to be limited because there isnt much to do, and in the end too many lives get lost not through lack of skill but because the man is too hard to control well - ali that original General rating: below average, but t)etter value for money due to price. Use Df computer 60% Graphics 51% Playability 48% Getting started fW% Addictive qualities 3fl% Originaltty 44% Value for money 58% Overall & 50% :;..if:r-/'<'-*^'':'7 m^^-rii4jZ ,e.\?iewfr are •vi: - .;v*»-: CHALi/NGING SOFTW Wc'vv invcnrcd ii new prt»jiriiinminj^ rcchniqiicciilleJ Lin^isciipiny^ crcutini: ;j Ci niipk'tol V new kin J v >t j^iuik', the HPJC:. Y iiill j;er the diuncc n^ shiipc tlu- ch;iracrcn> inrn your nvvn f;\nrasv m jvcl h\ playinji: v mr the JittcTCnt rok> in rlie<.'vcr chant'int' wni / ^tio. '*»TTR. fiDSoj o^i:?. ^^"ON* 9S CWTf S>.95 '''ftrf/V >*=v. 1 r-^^S" Jf 4W/V: WVD4;5 ii/^j 9S "^^^^^fe^S **>*ln, *^^ fiA^ ^37W' '*»**»» «ft irinlTi ikf *•*» -^-^^s: '^ '^eretii *^, -^sasrci 50^ •*Ml«, *-^t^ c,?. sv^-; e,^ % M^loiS,^^ f TAXI C550 Any Spectrum efew* t i -11 - #t^ FOOTSALL UA«Ut T l—t-™. ; FOOTBALL £7,95 4&K Spvctrum Laagu« AnahM - taiy to u»fl raitt If HIFTVflM PILO ^ ■ 1- J \ i; ." ."* / •' Mftnzits, Gr»flf>t, U*$4cyt S|>«cirufti D«al9n. Vl^dVO P«IAC9, Z4PP0 tnd iji good ComputAr thopi r ■ \ _ \ ih V HGHTER PILOT e7,95 4aK Sfwctnim jijyib^ UOfftpiitlii moM i>i;«rig JMIIMW with : AMng »^ «di^ vMw and A mo*) nalitltK i( 10 V oornbiA ityw iMA on sv tptctnim" ^GrrAC \TDN V * T" VVatClhimool Road. CauTil^r%y. Surray GU15 3AJ rx. ' L MoMig gamn for ihe 5p«Ctruin IJf«ttm« QuifairtM OwquMpi^ibiBiDDigitiiiniagiai^ Nar« Adclf«« ^ - N^ht Gunnef 46K D £fi.S6 Fighier PiJot 4SK Q E7.95 Fooltjall 48K n E7 95 Tiwr (Any Spectfuffil Q £S.50 VAT 8nd p & p incJuwvfl wilhm UK (Ovef sfl A$ inc ^^. per caii^iitlvj Trtdt tnd EipOft tiiqiilrltt P»e&s« 9«fKf Co Digltat tm«graiiori, Dept CM4 Watch moof IrMe Centre. WAfc^moor Road, Cainberiiif. Syrrey GUIS 3AJ Or debit m7A^^$^^^^^HA I I I 1 M I Ml M ! I M I Account No it^ How three dimensional is the 3D game? Software houses have been sticldng the prefix 3D on com- puter games for some time now> It's supposed to help them sell better But does 3D work, and are all the games lat>elled as 3D really 3D? CRASH makes an attempt to put things into perspec- tive . . * 3D OR NOT? At a small gatherir>g of the computer press held by Hewson Consultants in mid-May, programmer Sieve Turner presented a short lecture on 3D in computer games. Steve is known for his trilogy of 3D games produced by Hewsons arourtd the Selddab theme. Both Steve Turner and Hewsons are con- cerned about the definition of 3D, and feel that the press should attempt a definition of it. At the gatherir^ Steve put fonward his own definition! f * i The ptayBf shoufd. for th0 maprity of the playing time, Ewr K> be imfnersed in a wfc ptaymg ama. Tham a nOfmaHy be some tf^imMimBiion to true pers^ p«ctfv# unless oth&f ^affia&nt strong d-^Hm^nskmaf cues are prBSBnL This dBfinftion attows fwo main types ot game to be c/as- slfied as '3D'\ in the fimt type the playBf is represented by a figum on tfia screen but his vmw is from a fixed position above and outsid^ the playing ar0a. 3D effect are generated by stong visual cubs ir\ the shapes and shadir^g ot the ptaying area. In the sea^d type thB ptayer is nor rep- resented on screen but ins- tead has an eyabair or 'cockpit' view of tfre piayir>g area. He can manoeuvre within U7e arena and 3D effects are generated by perspectiva and paraiiaM using a vanishing point ' * CRASH July 1984 t7 1 r LOOKING BACK 3D arrived m home computer games before the Spectfufn. Malcolm Evans (Ntew Gener- atian) had written hts MonF:ref Chase (we mJSlead^r^ly implied his game Escape for Ihe Spectrum was h(s second when It was aclually Monster Chase} for the 2X0 1 a classic example When I he Specify m arrived on the scene Ihere were a few rapid conversions of 3D gannes to take advantage of the better graphics and col our The prefix 3D was immediately recognised as a selling point' and was often ©mptoyed quite untruthfully. A nol uncommon t nek was to add shading to the edges ot. say. a nrmze and call the result 3D even though the game adually played like any other 2D game. Bui before games car\ lib defined as 30 or not. it's impof tan! to estabfjsh exadty whal 3D IS From \fm earliest of times mankind has b^^ dnv^n to represent the real wodd he sees about himsdf as an image on a flat surface. The caveman painted on cave walls. Leonardo da Vinci had h$s canvas and George Lucas uses the cinema screen. Whal is common to alf three is that they must conven the Ihree dimensional inspiralion to rep- resent it on a two dimensional area and then convince the onlooher that what He is seeing IS real MAKING REAL WHAT IS NOT Humans have two eyes, set sliqhlly apart. Each eye pro- vides the brain with an inn age, but these images are offset from each other by a tiny amount You can achieve rm fe^t ie brain distance' It is this we tnangularion (a^ttiodof Judg* ir>g \hE distarK;^ to an object) as long as thereVar© two tr|j gulation points. The hwo such points, a of Ihe oftsel imaq IS able to caicut and therefore depi sefiise of depth whi C^e In the worid I hat has driven artistic ate it in paintings \ Dunng the refill period (starting abj^i 1 290) artists began to iJxl the concept of perspecl within another centuiy worked out the mathi required to reduce the world to a flat canvas in siJcVi a .way liiat afT onlooker. bould be1iqi4|fe'%as really sebih^ a ^jM^iSEon e^ depjh^ in^ pic- tiike None bl tH|^^ devices has changed Over flei nterv }ng years, ar>d Joday s lor programmefis tt>em if they wn three dimensional Perspective is the most important, but there are dther visual cues which lell ttie brain that an object has depth The classic form of perspective is usually referred to as Vanish- ing Point Perspective. Put Simply. I his says all parallel lines converge a1 a point on the hon^on (see figure 1) From this simple concept, all other forms of visual cue emerge. It doesn t take much irrvagi- nation to take Ihis concept a st^e further and state that an obied nearer to the oljserver will be larger than a similar one which IS further away: nor that an object which is not moving actually straight at the observer will appear io take a diagonal path across the observers field Of view From these three basic ideas, most computei' games denve their three dimensior^ality There IS a second fornn^ ciers(>eciive^ usu^lty^efd^ed to jas^ ProjecJton or Isometric s^c^ve. It IS used a lot in inical" drawings (see figure ?The objects depic1|gikFe from above and Wone InsteafJ of alio wi rig lines iilar if ngth to diminist;i m I aimdy>nove away f r^n [^server fm accordance *jJ^anishing Pv^ni PerspGC- 1ly3n>wy are made to remain iddfAtKfdl. Games hke 3D Ant ,or the das&c arcade tBvxon are 8Kl^mples ^^^ soft of per^^cjuMl Isometric perspecti^^ft^h be With fitlle el as ^'olhef pfov jed ne brain t c<^ms ^ffe^i a ect Look at figure 3 see IS a tito ed shdipe) liaVng seeing cube. Another al cube. some shading in added, and now m doyt>T fou me a Ihree dmnensional visual cue which helps isometric perspective to worl* IS what wa might call Hid- den Vtews Figure 5 depicts two Cirdes, one broken by run- ning into the other Because the unbrqK'dn one is bigger, we have nd size related 10 distance Objects nearer to i^ are bigger and they edlM obiecte farther away Ihaf appear smaller L^ghtjfl^hade create an illu- lidity and when these are alt combined cing 3D fesuHS Bui Jjj^lfs are three other import ^lemen^o' consider «thidr ai mo^t»tg»^ ive ^oht 1$ rel^Mmiuch a ; tti4i^sj0^R!^as appear resuh the to accept that a or dimmer object is way than a tDnghter or more strongly defin^ Of^ Ttie arcade garne Battt&zQn& uses Ihis principle and Steve Turner uses tt in 3D LunBUsck . where dtstanl (hghtai'S hiaves^\ tess tt pixefe m thw graptws than those nearer to the player The second element is parallax movement. When you sil in a car or train, Ihe land- scape closest to you flashes by far faster Ihan the landscape in the distance If you look at fig- ure 6 you can instantly see that \[ 18 CRASH July 1984 F^gufi ft (he lengths of lines A and B a/e ditlereni. A betng much lof^ger. atthCKigh in realrtv ihey would be the same because I he van- ishing perspective lines are supposed to be parallel It fol- lows that obfects mi^t move (aster the nearer lo the observer they are to cover the same distance The Ihird ele- ment IS focus, something which is a modem concept of distance, one brought home by the adveni of the camera The eye, of course, can focus across an enomrous range of distance the camera cannot Today we afe &o used to seeing phoiographed images incorporating a depth of field whifcir hm mm and disfafU ob^ts OLTi of focu&. that we have come to accept this as another visual cue it is this device which we have played on to produce this month s cover ol CRASH The painting was done m several layers and cul out before being photo- graphed, as you can see m tig- yre 7; PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHEfl The problem confronting the compuier programmer is what soft ol perspective lo choose, and wherfc having done that, how IG ifnplemenhtin^he p^og- CRASH July T9S4 19 ff ram Vanishing Pc^ni Perspec- tive is an obvious cboic© because il is the one 1f^ eye accepis instant I y Bui there are serious problems For a slart oM. Ihi^s wH require objects to zoom oui of the screen at the player, which m&ans Ihai &ach object musl be defined many times over, i.e as small and distant, big and close, and as many stages as possible tn between Obvi- ousl^y (he more antmairon stages empbyed. the more realisiically 3D the graphic will appear Classic examples of this ^re Zfoom (Imaging) and. belter still. Deathchas^ (Mic- romega) Eveo 4aK of RAM becomes insufficiefil if a lot of characters must be stored for each obied as -i grows bigger, and ^^cialiy so \\ thera ara lo be a lot of different objects lo be moved Compromises musl- be decided upon to get as mu<* (nformaiK)n m to handle Ihe graphics while leavifig efKHign space lor the game commands and handling WMh l&ometnc Pefspeclive the programmet s life is muc*» easier because the scenery or^y has to be defined once as It doesn't char>ge shape physi- calty dunng the game Look at Ant Ana(;k (QuicksilvaJ and you II see this eMadly. The city is a large graphic over which the scfeen scrolls, so the only problem is the scrolling, the blocks ol the city don t have