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Visual Intensity 4
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Visual Intensity - Issue 4 (1994-05-29)(Dual 4Mat)(Disk 2 of 3).adf
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{tb{L{: S P E C T R U M R E T R O S P E C T I V E
{C{7
BY BOB TESTICLES
{I{8
Part 2 : The Software
{C{5
Computer Magazines
{A
{41) {5Spectrum Orientated Mags
{C{7Crash
{A{8 Easily the best magazine for the
Spectrum. It consisted of mainly
games reviews (with a percentage
rating system), games help, a very
entertaining letters section and
technical bits and pieces. The
reviewing system was usually accurate
and the whole thing was very well
presented. Full marks to the Crash
team.
{C{7Sinclair User
{A{8 This was another god one but it went
off towards late 1986 when it adopted
a "fun" image. At its best from
1984-1986 it had good games reviews
(with a star rating system), technical
bits, interviews and program listings.
My only real niggle with this one is
the fact that the games reviews go on
and on so you have to read the whole
thing but this was corrected later
with the inclusion of a summary box.
{tb
{C{7Your Sinclair
{A{8 I never bought this one as in
general, it was not particularly good.
Sort of like a poor man's Crash.
{C{7Sinclair Programs
{A{8 This mag concentrated mainly on
listings so if you wanted a
programming mag you couldn't go far
wrong here. I thought it was a good
mag but it obviously didn't cut the
mustard with the Spectrum fraternity
and vanished in late 1985.
{42) {5Multi-Format Mags
{C{7The Games Machine
{A{8 A multi-format mag from the makers
of Crash which first appeared
Christmas 1987. In general it was
very good although I found the
reviewing (using the percentage
system) a little odd. It had some
very good articles concerning new
technology though (i.e. coin-ops,
satellite TV etc.).
{C{7Computer Gamer
{A{8 I didn't like this one at all. It
had a very strange reviewing system
based around different types of stars
(ie. nova, supernova etc.). Most
disturbing.
{tb{C{7Computer And Video Games
{A{8 This one sold by the skipload but I
never thought much of it. Memorable
for the 'lovely' nonexistent tipster
Melissa Ravenflame.
{C{7ACE
{A{8 AKA Advanced Computer Entertainment.
Sort of like the Games Machine but not
as good. Another bizarre reviewing
system. The intercut curves they used
were good though.
{C{7Your Computer
{A{8 Along with Crash, this was an
essential purchase during the
Spectrum's heyday years of '84-'86.
This was the mag for the serious user
and featured good games reviews, tons
of listings and technical advice. The
only drawback was the ridiculous
amount of advertising.
{C{5 Software Companies
{C{7Beyond
{A{8 During '84 and '85 these gave us
some of the Spectrum's best games ever
in "Lords Of Midnight", "Psytron" and
"Shadowfire". Then in 1986, they
disappeared up their own arseholes.
{C{7Elite
{A{8 Elite gave us arcade conversions of
the highest quality ("Commando",
"Paperboy", "Ghosts and Goblins"),
dodgy tie-ins ("Fall Guy", "Airwolf")
and other dodgy stuff ("Overlander").
{tb{8Along with Ocean, these were the
arcade kings.
{C{7Firebird
{A{8 AKA The software division of British
Telecom. Firebird started off as a
budget company and then branched out
in full price games. Most Firebird
games were of good standard (apart
from some dodgy budget ones) and they
gave us classics like "Starglider",
"Booty", "Bubble Bobble" and the
incomparable "Elite".
{C{7Gremlin Graphics
{A{8 Gremlin's output was prolific but in
general hit and miss. The company is
best remembered for the "Monty Mole"
games.
{C{7Hewson
{A{8 Probably the only company to
constantly deliver brilliant games
consistently (apart from Ultimate in
their heyday). Hewson gave us some of
the best speccy games like "Uridium",
"Exolon", "Nightfire" and the
brilliant "Quazatron".
{C{7Level 9
{A{8 In the field of text adventures,
Level 9 were legendary. They gave us
brain busters like "Red Moon",
"Emerald Isle", "Snowball" and "Lord
Of Time".
{C{7Mastertronic
{A{8 The undisputed kings of budget
software. From late '4 onwards,
{tb{8Mastertronic belched out tons of 1.99
games (some good, some bad) and later
added the Ricochet range of
re-releases and the 2.99 MAD range
which gave us the wonderful
"Spellbound".
{C{7Melbourne House
{A{8 An Australian company which has been
around since the early days of 1982.
Melbourne House gave us some classic
games like "Penetrator" and "Way Of
The Exploding Fist" and loads of
coding books.
{C{7Mikro-Gen
{A{8 Another company whose output was
generally hit and miss. They are best
remembered for the "Wally Week" games.
{C{7Ocean
{A{8 Along with US Gold. Ocean were the
big name in Spectrum software. They
bought the Imagine label in 1985 and
used it to put out arcade conversion
of a very high quality. Ocean
classics include: "Cobra", "Daley
Thompson's Decathlon", "Renegade" and
"The Great Escape".
{C{7Ultimate
{A{8 In their day, Ultimate were THE
software company. They were streets
ahead of other programmers and every
release stretched the Spectrum's
abilities to the limit. Sadly, in
1985 they lost it and were later taken
over by US Gold.
{tb{C{7US Gold
{A{8 US Gold started up in 1984 as a
company marketing American games in
the UK but later turned into a huge
software conglomerate in their own
right. Their output was generally hit
and miss with hits being "Bruce Lee",
"Spy Hunter", "Gauntlet" and
"Leaderboard".
{C{5Early Years Of Spectrum Games '82-'93
{A{6 1982 - Games Of The Year
{C{7 Meteor Storm - Quicksilva
{A{8 Probably the best "Asteroids"
variant available and totally faithful
to the original with the same line
graphics and features.
{C{7 Galaxians - Artic
{A{8 Easily the best invaders type game
(and there were tons of them back
then) with all the features of the
original and very playable.
{C{7 Penetrator - Melbourne House
{A{8 Easily the best scramble variant
with the added option to design your
own landscape.
{C{7 Time Gate - Quicksilva
{A{8 Ahead of its time, this one. It's
an "Elite" type 3D game where you
whizz around space zapping aliens and
going through time gates. My
favourite game of 1982.
{tb{C{7 Harrier Attack - Durell
{A{8 This copped a lot of flak on "bad
taste" grounds due to its reference to
the Falkland's conflict which happened
the same year. Anyway, it's a decent
enough shoot and bomb things game
marred only by the use of cursor keys
as control method.
{C{7Horace Goes Skiing - Psion/Melbourne
House
{A{8 A simple but entertaining (and
infuriating) game in which Horace has
to run across the road to get his
skis, run back, and go skiing.
{A{6 1983 - Games Of The Year
{C{7 Laser Zone - Quicksilva
{A{8 A thrilling shoot-em-up where you
have two guns on two sets of axes and
you shoot the baddies on the screen
without shooting yourself.
{C{7 Jetpac - Ultimate
{A{8 One of the classics with superb (for
the time) graphics and loads of
action. I could play this for ages.
{C{7 Zzoom - Imagine
{A{8 Probably the best game to come out
of pre-Ocean Imagine. You flew a
plane and had to shoot the enemy
planes and hostages. No, that's not
right...
{tb{C{7 Pinball - Sagittarian
{A{8 The best pinball game for the
Spectrum and hugely enjoyable if you
like pinball.
{C{7Manic Miner - Bug Byte (Later released
by Software Projects)
{A{8 Probably the most famous game for
the Spectrum and fondly remembered by
all. I wasn't a huge fan of it but it
is very good though and was immensely
popular in its day.
{C{7 Scrabble - Psion
{A{8 An unbelievably good version and one
of my favourite speccy games. It
hasn't dated one bit and I still can't
beat it on level 4.
{C{7 3D Tunnel - New Generation
{A{8 A graphically good game which used
blocks of colour instead of lines to
get the tunnel effect. Great fun.
{A{6 Four Years Of Games - 1984-1988
{A{: This is a month by month guide to
games released from when I had my
first Spectrum through to when I
stopped buying games.
{A{7 February 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Deathchase 3D - Micromega
{A{9 Deathchase was revolutionary on the
fact that it was one of the first
games to give the impression of
realistic 3D movement. It was based
on the speeder-bikes sequence from
{tb{9"Return Of The Jedi" and is very
playable and addictive.
{A{7 March 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Atic Atac - Ultimate
{A{9 More action packed fun from Ultimate
which involves rushing around a castle
zapping things. The yardstick to
measure arcade-adventures by.
{A{7 April 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Codename MAT - Micromega
{A{9 I could never get into this but it's
the class game of this month. It's
sort of a more complicated version of
"Time Gate". I will have to sit down
with it and see if I can suss it!
{A{7 May 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Jet Set Willy - Software Projects
{A{9 THE platform game for the Spectrum.
Nuff said.
{A{7 June 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Sabre Wulf - Ultimate
{A{9 Sabre Man's first appearance is THE
maze game for the Spectrum. Sabre Man
has to find the ACG amulet (in 4
pieces) and avoid the scary Sabre
Wulf.
{A{7 July 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Moon Alert - Ocean
{A{9 The best "Moon Patrol" game for the
Spectrum. Frustrating by being very
playable.
{tb{A{7 August 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Lords Of Midnight - Beyond
{A{9 My favourite adventure for the
speccy. It dispenses with the text
and uses keypress instructions
instead. It also has thousands of
possible views in a huge playing area.
Excellent.
{A{7 September 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 3D Tank Duel - Realtime
{A{9 The best "Battlezone" game for the
speccy with some nice graphics from 3D
whizzes Realtime.
{A{7 October 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Match Point - Psion
{A{9 The best sports simulation for the
speccy bar none.
{A{7 November 1984 - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Daley Thompson's Decathlon - Ocean
{A{9 Hugely popular and the third best
sports sim available for the Spectrum.
Infamous for destroying joysticks all
over the land!
{A{7 December 1984 - Games Of The Month:
{C{8 Skooldaze - Microsphere
Starstrike 3D - Realtime
{A{9 "Skooldaze" was a wonderfully
entertaining arcade-adventure set in a
school while "Starstrike" remains the
best "Star Wars" game available for
the Spectrum.
{tb{A{7 January 1985 - Games Of The Month:
{C{8 Knight Lore - Ultimate
Underwurlde - Ultimate
Boulder Dash - Front Runner
{A{9 "Knight Lore" revolutionized games
programming with its 3D graphics and
became the second most cloned piece of
software after "Wordstar"!
"Underwurlde" was a damn good 2D
arcade adventure and "Boulder Dash"
was a "move the boulders around"
puzzle game and huge fun (but the
jerky scrolling let it down on the
Spectrum).
{A{7 February - Game Of The Month:
{C{8 Match Day - Ocean
{A{9 The second best sports simulation
available for the Spectrum.
{A{7 March 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Moon Cresta - Incentive
{A{9 An absolutely faithful adaptation of
the arcade game. All you need now is
somewhere to put the 10p's (No gags
please).
{A{7 April 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Deathstar Interceptor - System 3
{A{9 The second best "Star Wars" game for
the Spectrum and it featured solid
graphics instead of vectors. For some
reason, every magazine except "Crash"
slated it in their reviews. "Crash"
gave it a "Crash Smash" and I agree
with them.
{tb{A{7 May 1985 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Bruce Lee - US Gold
Spy Hunter - US Gold
{A{9 US Gold released two of their best
ever speccy games this month. "Bruce
Lee" was a brilliant (but sadly too
easy) platform game and "Spy Hunter"
was a very playable shoot-em-up. Top
stuff.
{A{7 June 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Ocean
{A{9 I believe Frankie were the only pop
group to appear in a computer game and
very good it was too. It was a
multilayered arcade adventure with
loads of subgames like "Raid Over
Merseyside" and "The Sea Of Holes".
{A{7 July 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Dun Darach - Gargoyle
{A{9 Another great Spectrum adventure
which Crash gave 97 per cent (their
highest rating to that date). Here,
you walk around an intricately
detailed city performing various tasks
to free your character and escape.
{A{7 August 1985 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Jet Set Willy 2 - Software Projects
Spy V's Spy - Beyond
{A{9 "Jet Set Willy 2" was basically the
original with about 70 rooms bolted
on. Reviews at the time slagged it
off for this reason but I felt it made
a brilliant game even better. "Spy
V's Spy" used a split screen to show
the two spies battling with each
other. "Spy V's Spy" was both
{tb{9ingenious and very entertaining and
came out at a time when Beyond could
do no wrong.
{A{7 September 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Highway Encounter - Vortex
{A{9 After Ultimate's "Knight Lore" this
game was one of the next big steps in
3D graphics on the Spectrum. It took
the 3D perspective idea further and
allowed you to travel along a road and
guide a bomb to the final screen. It
was also the only game where you could
lose lives before they came into play!
{A{7 October 1985 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Way Of The Exploding Fist -
Melbourne House
{A{9 This revolutionary karate game was
not bettered by anyone for 2.5 years
until System 3's "IK+" came out. The
graphics were excellent and the action
compelling. It was only let down by
being too easy.
{A{7 November 1985 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Elite - Firebird
Starquake - Bubble Bus
{A{9 "Elite" - Best game by anyone ever.
"Starquake" was the best arcade
adventure run around, zap and collect
game not done by ultimate. Both were
essential speccy games.
{A{7 December 1985 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Tomahawk - Digital Integration
Back To Skool - Microsphere
Tau Ceti - CRL
{A{9 "Tomahawk" revolutionised speccy
flight sims by adding surface detail
{tb{9and TADS. "Back To Skool" was even
better than the brilliant "Skooldaze"
and "Tau Ceti" is the speccy's second
best space game (after "Elite") and
featured some rather tasty solid 3D
graphics.
{A{7 January 1986 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Spellbound - MAD
Commando - Elite
Vectron - Firebird
{A{9 "Spellbound" added pull down menus
to arcade adventures and was utterly
riveting. "Commando" was one of the
best arcade conversions and
mindbogglingly addictive. "Vectron"
was based on the movie "Tron". It was
a "love it or hate it" game. I loved
it and it featured some very fast 3D
vector graphics and some of the best
music ever heard on the 48K machine.
{A{7 February 1986 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Gunfright - Ultimate
West Bank - Gremlin Graphics
{A{9 "Gunfright" turned out to be
Ultimate's final decent game (I didn't
really like "Cyberun") and the second
to use their "Filmation 2" graphics
technique (the first being
"Nightshade"). "Westbank" stood out
after some mediocre releases from
Gremlin the previous year. It was a
very simple idea (defend the bank
against bandits) and proved to be very
compelling.
{A{7 March 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Winter Games - US Gold
{A{9 A Winter version of "Decathlon" and
the fifth best sports sim for the
Spectrum. The best events were: Ski
{tb{9Jump, Hot Dog and Bobsleigh. It also
had some very nice graphics.
{A{7 April 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Bomb Jack - Elite
{A{9 Elite, hot after the success of
"Commando" brought us another first
rate conversion in "Bomb Jack". Like
its predecessor, this game is very
playable and utterly addictive. Avoid
the duff sequel.
{A{7 May 1986 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Turbo Esprit - Durell
Green Beret - Imagine
{A{9 "Turbo Esprit" was one of the best
car games in which you chased baddies
around 3D streets in your Lotus. The
streets were minutely detailed with
traffic lights, crossings, one way
streets and window cleaners. You
could even run over for a laugh!
Imagine (now owned by Ocean) had given
us some very impressive conversions
this year with "Yie Ar Kung Fu" and
"Ping Pong", and "Green Beret" was
another first rate effort. It's sort
of a horizontal "Commando" where you
can stab people!
{A{7 June 1986 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Quazatron - Hewson
Spindizzy - Electric Dreams
{A{9 1986 was the year of the "Marble
Madness" clone. "Spindizzy" beat off
competition like "Gyroscope" and
"Bobby Bearing" to be the best
straight clone while Hewson's
"Quazatron" took the idea a stage
further by adding a fire button and
the "grappling" subgame.
{tb
{A{7 July 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Ghosts 'N' Goblins - Elite
{A{9 Another excellent conversion from
Elite. The gameplay is very similar
to the earlier "Green Beret" and the
later "Cobra" (ie. run across a
landscape, jump and shoot things) but
sheer playability put this above most
other stuff knocking about that month.
{A{7 August 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Pyracurse - Hewson
{A{9 During 1986 and 1987, Hewson could
do no wrong. This is another in a
seemingly endless series of ace games
which puts you in control of three
characters and a dog hunting treasure
in an ancient 3D city.
{A{7 September 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Dan Dare - Virgin
{A{9 A brilliant arcade adventure which
keeps you playing for ages. Nuff
said.
{A{7 October 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Paperboy - Elite
{A{9 Elite continued to deliver the goods
with their conversion of the arcade
favourite "Paperboy". I never worked
out how you wired your BMX handlebars
to your speccy though.
{A{7 November 1986 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Lightforce - Faster Than Light
{A{9 Faster Than Light was the arcade
division of Gargoyle and their first
game on the new label was smashing.
{tb{9The graphics really were something
special as they managed to use colour
without clashes. Plan view
shoot-em-ups were in, in late '86 and
'87 and this was one of the better
ones.
{A{7 December 1986 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Cobra - Ocean
Uridium - Hewson
{A{9 "Cobra", as I mentioned earlier, is
very similar to "Green Beret" but was
very playable and addictive indeed and
captured the spirit of the film.
"Uridium" was great on the speccy so
all you 64 fans can cock off now!
{A{7 January 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Starglider - Rainbird
{A{9 The speccy does vectors very well so
this was as good on it as on the 16
bit machines. It's a superior 3D
shoot-em-up but not as good as
everyone reckoned and certainly not
better than "Elite".
{A{7 February 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Gauntlet - US Gold
{A{9 "Gauntlet" turned out to be an
excellent conversion and contained all
the features of the original, a cheat
(press symbol shift and hold it down
while playing) and the dreaded
multi-load. It was also cloned to
death.
{A{7 March 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Ranarama - Hewson
{A{9 Speak of the devil!... Here's the
best of the "Gauntlet" clones. Like
{tb{9"Quazatron" before it, "Ranarama" took
a game and souped it up to deliver a
brilliant game.
{A{7 April 1987 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Arkanoid - Imagine
Leader Board - US Gold
{A{9 "Arkanoid": Bat + ball + blocks =
computer addiction. "Leader Board":
The fourth best sports sim for the
speccy.
{A{7 May 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Enduro Racer - Activision
{A{9 To my knowledge, this is the best
motorbike game available for the
Spectrum and a surprisingly good
conversion.
{A{7 June 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Barbarian - Palace
{A{9 "Way Of The Exploding Fist" with
swords. This one set new standards
for violence in computer games by
allowing you to chop your opponent's
head off.
{A{7 July 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Zynaps - Hewson
{A{9 Easily the best of the "Nemesis"
clones and another winner from Hewson.
{A{7 August 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Exolon - Hewson
{A{9 In this one you are a spaceman who
walks across a landscape and shoot
things. I'm not a huge fan of it but
it's the class game of this month.
{tb
{A{7 September 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Renegade - Imagine
{A{9 More mindless violence in a superior
arcade conversion where you beat up
eight people at once.
{A{7 October 1987 - Games Of The Month
{C{8 Bubble Bobble - Firebird
Wizball - Ocean
{A{9 "Bubble Bobble" turned out to be the
best arcade conversion of 1987 and
captured all the playability and
addictiveness of the original.
"Wizball" had a very odd control
method but once you got used to it, it
was very hard to stop playing.
{A{7 November 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Jack The Nipper 2 - Gremlin Graphics
{A{9 I never had the first "Jack The
Nipper" but if this sequel is anything
to go by, I missed something special.
A very smashing arcade adventure.
{A{7 December 1987 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Driller - Incentive
{A{9 "Driller" was the first game to use
the revolutionary "Freescape" graphics
technique which allowed Spectrum users
to move around a solid 3D world in
first person perspective for the first
time. Great graphics and the gameplay
was good too.
{tb
{A{7 January 1988 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 Flying Shark - Firebird
{A{9 My favourite plan view shoot-em-up
on the Spectrum. It is let down by
being in monochrome but it is packed
with features and is very addictive.
{A{7 February 1988 - Game Of The Month
{C{8 IK+ - System 3
{A{9 My final "Game Of The Month" is, in
my opinion, the best beat-em-up for
the Spectrum and the only game to
surpass "Way Of The Exploding Fist".
Here, there are three fighters who
beat the crap out of each other with
very smooth animation indeed.
{C{5 Seven Innovations On The Spectrum
{A{41) {61983 :- Jetpac - Ultimate
{7 Showed that decent arcade quality
(then) graphics could be done on the
Spectrum.
{42) {61983 :- Manic Miner - Bug Byte
{7 A big step in games. "Manic Miner"
showed that the speccy could do
complex multi-screen arcade games.
{43) {61983 :- Ant Attack - Quicksilva
{7 The first true 3D graphics on the
speccy.
{44) {61984 :- Knight Lore - Ultimate
{7 The first game to use the now
familiar isometric 3D technique.
{45) {61985 :- Way Of The Exploding Fist -
Melbourne House
{tb{7 Revolutionised combat games on the
speccy and set new animation
standards.
{46) {6 1985 :- Tomahawk - Digital
Integration
{7 Revolutionised flight simulations by
including ground features (in
wireframe 3D) for the first time.
{47) {61987 :- Driller - Incentive
{7 Incentive revolutionised 3D graphics
on the speccy by creating a solid 3D
world that you could move around in
any direction in. The programming was
light years ahead of what anyone else
had done and the Spectrum world was
gobsmacked when they saw "Driller" in
Christmas 1987.
{C{5 Bob's All-Time Top 20 Games For The
Spectrum (Not In Order).{A
{7 Elite - Firebird
{8 Commando - Elite
{7 Scrabble - Psion
{8 Quazatron - Hewson
{7 Match Point - Psion
{8 Spy Hunter - US Gold
{7 Back To Skool - Microsphere
{8 IK+ - System 3
{7 Jet Set Willy 2 - Software Projects
{8 Spellbound - MAD
{7 Match Day - Ocean
{8 Daley Thompson's Decathlon - Ocean
{7 Turbo Esprit - Durell
{8 Sabre Wulf - Ultimate
{7 Bubble Bobble - Firebird
{8 Flying Shark - Firebird
{7 Leaderboard - US Gold
{8 Uridium - Hewson
{7 Tomahawk - Digital Integration
{8 Arkanoid - Imagine{A{: End.