'Back
in Time' is a monthly feature where we look back at the classic video
gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. This month it's December
1990 when Robocop 2 began patrolling the gaming streets, the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles burst onto all formats, Creatures invaded the
Commodore 64 magazines and Narc started shooting up a storm on the
Spectrum...
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C&VG
were going Turtle
crazy with
issue 109. To coincide with
“all versions revealed” inside, there was a pack of
Turtles
movie cards mounted to the cover, as well as the chance to win a
turtles coin-op. The first of softco challenges began with a trip to
Adleston and home of The Kremlin, Domark’s development team.
The challengers included C&VG’s
Richard Leadbetter,
reader Dave Moore, reader Andrew Butters and John Cavanagh (head
programmer at Krelmin). Game one, STUN
Runner, proved to be a one
man
race as John Kavanagh raced to victory with 111,865 (his team
converting the game may have helped). Game two, Badlands,
was
Richard’s game (having reviewed the game last month obviously
helped). Escape
From the Planet of
the Robot Monsters was the
third
game which was narrowly won by Andrew with a
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score of
13,750.
Klax would
determine the
triumphant winner and, with two special Klax
moves,
Richard stormed through with a massive score of 531,120.
Best of the best games reviewed this month included Strider
(Mega
Drive) and Powermonger
(Amiga), which both garnered mighty impressive
ratings of 95%. Richard Leadbetter said “that Megadrive Strider
is arcade Strider!...
You’re pretty
much getting
three thousand quid’s worth of arcade machine for forty one
notes...” On Powermonger,
Richard stated that
“Populous
was ranked as
one of the greatest strategy games of
all time, but, believe it or not Powermonger
simply blows it out of the
water.”
Other ‘Hit!’ games this month included James Pond
(Amiga, 90%), F1 Circus
(PC
Engine, 87%), Spiderman
(Amiga, 87%), The
Secret of Monkey Island (PC,
94%), Indy
3 (NES, 89%), Legendary Axe 2
(PC Engine, 91%), Wonderland
(PC, 88%) and Hellfire
(Mega
Drive, 94%).
In the update section (different versions of games already reviewed)
included Kick
Off 2 (Amiga
1MB update, 96%), Paradroid 90
(Atari ST,
93%), The
Spy Who Loved Me
(Atari ST, 90%) and Time Machine
(C64
& Amstrad CPC both 90%). Arcade games gobbling up
Jaz’s coins this month were Air
Inferno (88%), GP Rider
(90%) and Mega
Twins (86%). |
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The
One’s coverdisk
included a dual format Amiga/Atari ST
playable demo of Cybercom III.
With Empire’s official Spider-Man
game
nearing completion, Phil South took a look at the
history of the famous super hero franchise. To accompany the Spider-Man
article, ‘The One on One’ interview featured the
comic book legend Stan Lee.
Sim
Earth on the
PC topped the games ratings with 95%, beating the
nearest rival by a clear 5%. Those games sitting on 90% included Golden Axe
(Amiga), Narc
(Amiga) and Car-Vup
(Amiga). |
In ‘Palm
Power’, ACE
looked at the Game Gear and
the three launch games: Columns,
Super
Monaco GP
and Pengo.
With no
official UK release date announced, ACE predicted that
“importers will be stocking up huge stocks of what must be
the best value handheld console in the world.”
‘Welcome to Gamesworld’ feature predicted what
gaming would be like in 1999 with issue 150 of ACE.
In Silicon Strips, ACE
investigated
the latest batch of comic-inspired games releases.
‘The
Final Assault’ concluded Matthew Stibbe’s
mini-series on
the
design and coding of Domark’s ‘Nam.
Elsewhere,
Rik Haynes talked to Maxis, the company that gave the world the
SimCity...
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| Screentest
started
off on a high with Savage
Empire on the PC getting a
rating of 955. “As a dedicated Ultima
fan,”
enthused Steve Cooke, “I have to admit that I’m
pretty taken aback by Savage Empire.
I’d imagined a rather
pale imitation of the previous games but instead Origin have come up
with a winner.” However, that rating was nothing compared to
the 973 Alex Ruranski gave to Powermonger
on the Amiga. Alex said that
“Powermonger
is in a
class of its own. .. A sublime example
of the art of computer gaming…” Other
‘ACE Rated’ titles included The Immortal
(Atari ST,
910), Wing
Commander (PC,
949) and Covert
Action (PC,
902). |
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The
dual format Amiga/Atari ST coverdisk of Zero
issue 14 included the full
game of Rampage,
as well as a
playable demo of Simulcra. The main Under
Warps article and cover feature was US Gold’s
work-in-progress of the Amiga and Atari ST arcade conversions of Line
of Fire. Tim Ponting visited
US Gold’s headquarters in
Birmingham to get the lowdown.
No ‘Zero Hero’ awards given out this month, but
there were two ‘Console Classic’ games with Moonwalker
on Mega
Drive and Teenage
Mutant Ninja
Turtles on Gameboy,
getting 91 and 92 respectively. “The game itself is a pretty
tame rip-off of the classic coin-op Elevator
Action,” the
uncredited reviewer stated in the Moonwalker
write up, “but
there’s a certain something in there that keeps you coming
back for more.”
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It was the third
issue of Mean
Machines and in the regular
‘Consoles We Once Loved’, the crew looked back at
the classic Coleco system. With early eighties coin-op conversions like
Burgertime,
Centipede, Frogger,
GORF,
Mr
Do, Q*Bert,
Spy
Hunter, HERO,
Pitfall
II, Miner 2049’er.
Leading the ‘Mega Game’ awards was John Madden
Football on the Mega Drive,
which scored a fine 95%. Julian
Rignall
praised the Electronic Arts game as being “the most stunning
sports simulation I’ve ever seen!” And it
“perfectly recreates all the thrills and spills of American
football.” Matt Regan was equally impressed and wrote that it
was “easily the most popular game we’ve ever had in
the office, and deservedly so.” Other ‘Mega
Game’ |
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| awards went to Solar Jetman
(NES, 94%), Super Monaco GP
(Mega Drive,93%), Pang
(GX4000, 93%) and Hellfire
(Mega Drive, 93%). |
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Also
going Turtles
mad this month was Sinclair
User with their 106th
issue. Not only were the four mutant heroes bursting out from the front
cover, but also the main headline proudly announced an exclusive
playable demo and the first review. That wasn’t all, as there
was a chance to win Turtle
videos and T-Shirts as well as a free pull
out poster. Cowabunga. Non-Turtles
related covertape action included a
128K playable demo of Pang
and fully playable games with the likes of Galvan,
10th
Frame, Crystal Castles
and Blackbeard.
That front cover promise of a Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles review turned
out to be a 94% rated ‘Sinclair User Classic’ game.
Garth Sumpter couldn’t praise the game any higher as he
mentioned that the “graphics are turtlely |
| brilliant, with colour clash
down to a
bare minimum and a true depth of
gameplay. Teenage
Mutant Hero Turtles is
brilliant.” Also getting the
‘Sinclair User Classic’ treatment was Pang,
which came away with an
even more impressive 95% from Garth, who described the game as
“the
future of 128k games on the Spectrum.” And in the Coin-Ops
section,
John Cook racked up an Addict Factor of 94 for Cisco Heat. |
Not to be outdone
in the covertape wars, Crash
themselves had a pretty
impressive bundle of ‘Game Thrills’ bundled on the
front cover. Saint Dragon
led
the way with a playable demo, followed by
full games Technician
Ted, Virus,
Shuriken,
but most impressive was Egghead 2,
which
was coded by one Jonathan Cauldwell. Yes, the very
same man behind recent homebrew efforts on the Spectrum.
Shooting its way to the top of the game reviews this month was cover
game Narc.
The side scrolling
arcade conversion from Ocean bagged a
‘Crash Smash’ award with 95%. Nick rounded off his
comments by stating that “you can wave goodbye to the boring
beat-‘em-up and say hello to the new craze in computer games
– gratuitous violence simulator! |
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| At least
it’s all
in a good cause…” ‘Crash
Smash’ awards were also handed out to Shadow of the Beast
(92%), Kwik
Snax (92%) and Magicland Dizzy
(93%), which was
reviewed as
part of the five game Dizzy
compilation. |
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The
Your
Sinclair Four Pack covertape
included three full games Sweevo's
World, Shockway
Rider and Krakout)
and one playable demo
(Shadow
of the Beast). Front
cover action included Robocop 2
in first
review and poster exclusive. The review itself was a mighty fine 93
rating. Matt Bielby commented, “this is about as good as
Speccy programming gets, with some very smooth scrolling, nice
animation and so on.” Following close behind was Shadow of
the Best (88°), Plotting
(84°), St Dragon
(80°)
and Puzznic
(86°).
Film and TV licences are everywhere in gaming and YS
looked at the best
of them. Coming top of the licence ratings was Batman The Movie
(90). |
With
games coverage at a minimum
and regular editorial fodder such as
‘Oozin’ Eugene’s Scum of the
Earth’, ‘Post Apocalypse’ and various
other hip features, YC
was never one to take itself seriously and this
attitude spilled out into the magazine’s content with reviews
and features on comic strips, Quasar light gunning arenas...
The Yoinks-Comic section began this issue and featured stories such as
‘The Secret Origins of Post Apocalypse’ and
‘Oozin’ Eugene: The Beginning
(probably)’. These were basically black and white hand drawn
two page strips starring YC’s
very own Post Apocalypse and
Oozin’ Eugene in cartoon form.
Games wise, Strider II
was
featured as the cover review, slicing and
dicing out an 89% and a ‘YC Fun One’ award. Also
strapped to the front cover
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the
covertape, which
included Knightmare,
Mobster,
Software
House and Limbo II.
However, it was Last
Ninja Remix that stealthily
stole the show with a mighty fine
96%. Not bad for a
remixed game, eh? Rik Henderson couldn’t hide his praise for
the game: “graphics are STILL incredible, and the
presentation has been vastly improved – the game’s
intro is gorgeous… if you want something more than the
average shoot-‘em-up you can’t go far wrong with
Ninja Remix.” Also impressive looking were ‘YC Fun
One’ games Creatures
and Buck
Rogers: Countdown to
Doomsday,
with ratings of 91% and 92% respectively.
In “Fists Out For The Lads’, Sean Kelly looked at
the greatest beat-‘em-ups on the Commodore 64… Way
of the Exploding Fist, Bushido:
The Way of the Warrior, IK+,
Kung
Fu
Master and The Way of the
Tiger. Rik Henderson took
time out from
editing the magazine to visit development team of System 3, arguably
better known for their work on the C64. As well as getting the low-down
on upcoming releases, Rik revisited their back catalogue, including the
Last
Ninja trilogy, Myth
and International
Karate+. |
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Front
cover exclusive time again,
this time Zzap!64
announcing the first
review of the cartridge version of Chase
H.Q. 2 – Special
Criminal Investigation. Also
adorning the front cover was the
Xmas
Megatape, with Tunnel Vision,
Rollin’,
Hacker
II and Connect
4.
Robin Hogg continued to talk to Cyberdyne’s Dan Phillips in
‘Cybertalk: part two’, with discussion on Deadlock
being in limbo and Last Ninja III
emerging. Other exciting exclusives
included the first pics of Turrican
II on the Amiga and C64...
Frohliche
Weihnachten! In ‘Wrath of the Demon’, the
programmers of Dragon’s Lair
and Space
Ace unveiled an
amazing new original game. Warren Lapworth went to software house
ReadySoft to get info on this impressive looking C64 cartridge game.
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Creatures finally
released, it
was the final instalment of
Creature Feature – the Creatures
development diary.
Receiving the highly coveted ‘Gold Medal’, with an
astonishing 96% overall rating, was the highly anticipated Creatures
from Thalamus and development team of the Rowland brothers. Robin Hogg
praised the game, stating that the “hilarious torture screens
rival most cartoons for action, originality and brilliant black
humour.” Stuart Wynne wrote that “Creatures
is the
best original game since Turrican,”
while Phil King added
that the game was “superbly thought out and slickly
executed...” Games that
‘sizzled’ this month included Chase H.Q.
2: Special Criminal Investigation
(C64, 93% & Amiga, 91%), Midnight
Resistance
(C64, 90%), Puzznic
(C64,
90%) and F-19
Stealth
Fighter (Amiga, 90%). The
Think Tank ‘Sizzler’ was Legend
of Faerghail
(Amiga, 90%). |
On
the flash new packaged Commodore
Format PowerPack covertape
was Split
Personalities
(complete game from Domark), Spiderman
(demo), Badlands
(demo), Gutz
(complete game), Vidcom 64 (video art package) and Midnight Resistance
(demo). The Gauntlet, CF’s
gaming challenge competition, was
back, and so was Chris Jordan, the reigning champion. New challenger
Richard Reynolds took on Chris in a whacky head to head on Monty
Python's Flying Circus, but
narrowly lost out.
Highlight of the month was Buck
Rogers. The Sci-Fi
RPG from
SSI/US Gold
impressed Sean Masterson, who gave it a rating of 95%, a well-deserved
‘It’s a Corker’ accolade and wrote:
“It’s a massive game and it has a massive price tag
[24.95 disk]. But it’s very playable
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enough adventure
to last for many months… Guaranteed to give you
bags under the eyes.”
Last
Ninja Remix
from System 3, which is basically The
Last Ninja 2,
erm, re-mixed, also impressed Steve Jarratt, who gave the game 92% and
‘Corker’ award. Atomic
Robo-Kid also garnered a
‘Corker’ award with a 90% rating. Elsewhere, Andy
Dyer was going compilation crazy in ‘Bundles of
Joy’, reviewing four new packages. TNT from Domark (Xybots,
Toobin',
Dragon
Spirit, Hard Drivin',
A.P.B.
– 62%), Accolade
in Action from Accolade (Blue Angels,
Grand
Prix Circuits, 4th and
Inches, Fast Break
– 92%), All Time Classics from Accolade
(Serve
and Volley, TKO,
Rack
'em, Steel Thunder
– 70%) and
Platinum from US Gold (Strider,
LED
Storm, Black Tiger,
Ghouls
'n
Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds
– 78%). |
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Amstrad
Computer User
sported a new look this month, kind of. The logo
had been changed and now sported the snappier initials ACU.
In Space
Froggin, ACU
looked at Space
Froggy a game designed from
the Sprites
Alive software package. Both the game and software package were
programmed by Glen Cook.
The centre page spread and ‘Amstrad Computer User Gold
Award’ went to Subbuteo,
Electronic Zoo’s computer
game version of the classic tabletop football game. John Taylor gave
the game a “Rabbit out of the hat” verdict. Other
positive verdicts were given to Deliverance
(Thumbs up), Hostages
(Pot
of gold) and Tie Break
(Hot
curry). |
In issue 63 of Amstrad
Action, Rod Lawton spoke to
Gremlin's technical chief James North-Hearn about the company's
approach to Amstrad graphics and the new console... ‘50 Best
Games of the Year’ began with part 1 as Rod Lawton picked out
the 50 best games of the year. Standout games from January to June
included Ghostbusters
II
(94%, AA52), The Untouchables
(90%, AA53), Chase H.Q.
(90%,
AA54), Myth
(94%, AA55), Castle Master
(91%, AA56), E-Motion
(92%,
AA57) and Turrican
(90%,
AA57).
Shadow
of the Beast
dominated the front cover, featured in the
interview with Gremlin’s technical chief James North-Hearn
and earned an ‘AA Rave’ with 84% in the reviews
pages. “Shadow of the Beast
is a game we thought we’d |
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| never see on the
Amstrad,” stated Rod Lawton.
“A game with a reputation of being all graphics and
no
game-play. Well Gremlin has retained its excellent graphics, by Amstrad
standards, and tweaked the gameplay to the point where it really is a
very good game in its own right.” Meanwhile, other
technically impressive 16-bit games, Kick
Off 2 and Sim City,
made
their way to the humble CPC, with ratings of 86% and 82% respectively. |
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Following
last month’s Speedball 2
frenzy, it was Amiga
Action’s turn to
get some of the, erm, action. The
futuristic
sports brawler came away with an impressive rating, certainly by Amiga
Action standards, of 87%.
Steve Merrett wrote “Out of all
sports games around at the moment, Speedball
2 has to be the best I
have ever seen and there should be no hesitation when purchasing
it.” Alex Simmons agreed, stating that “everything
about the second version is bigger and better, and I’d even
say that Speedball
II is by
far the best game to appear on the Amiga
for a long time.” Only one other game came close, with James
Pond getting 88%. |
| Not much in the
way of gaming action in Amiga
Format issue 17, either on
the coverdisk or in features,
but there was two ‘Amiga Format Gold Award’ games: The Killing Game Show
and Indianapolis
500. Maff
Evans gave the Killing
Game Show 92%, stating that
“the action is frantic, the
puzzles are difficult and it has a hook which could wind in a killer
shark. Watch the superb intro, then play the game and be blown
away!” Neil Jackson was equally impressed with Indianapolis
500, giving it an equal
rating of 92%. “Without doubt, Indy
500 is the best race game
money can buy,” wrote Neil.
“A realistic, totally believable example of an old idea given
new life, it comes as a breath of fresh air in what was a stagnant
genre.” |
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“Robocop
2 exclusive
– on disk, on screen and on
trial” ran the Robocop
special front cover. CU
Amiga were
going Robocop
gaga with a
playable demo, plus reviews of the Ocean
game, the blockbuster movie, as well as a special behind-the-scenes
feature on the making of the movie. Accompanying the Robocop 2
Game
demo on the coverdisk were demos of E-SWAT
and Lemmings.
With a number
of comic book licences about to be released, CU Amiga
looked at the likes
of Ranx Xerox, Spider-Man, Buck Rogers and Rogue Trooper.
The Robocop
2 game itself was
considered “a
mish-mash of game styles” by Dan Slingsby, but he admitted
the
game was “addictive and there’s certainly a lot
going on.” A final rating of 83% seemed to be a fair rating.
‘CU |
| Screen Star’
of the month was Z-Out.
The
Rainbow Arts shoot-‘em-up hit the mark with a fine 89%. In
the Arcades, John Cooke was playing Cisco
Heat and rated it 93%. |
On
ST
Action’s coverdisk
this month were four playable demos, Defender
II, Toyota
Celica GT Rally, Flimbo’s
Quest
and Z-Out.
As usual, there was a making of feature for each demo. To coincide with
the reviews of three car racing games, ST Action
looked back at some of the better ST games in the genre, including Test Drive,
OutRun,
Lombard
RAC Rally, Power Drift,
Hard
Drivin’ and Chase H.Q.
There was eight A1 rated games in the reviews pages this month. Leading
the pack was Speedball 2
with 92%, followed by two racing games Lotus Esprit Turbo
Challenge and Toyota Celica
GT Rally,
getting 90% and 86% respectively. The other high rated gamers included 9 Lives
(88%), Voodoo
Nightmare (85%), M1 Tank
Platoon
(85%), Atomic
Robokid (84%) and The Spy Who
Loved Me
(84%). |
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With
issue 13, S
the Sega mag was no more. The
Sega dedicated magazine had now morphed into Sega
Power. Although Fire &
Forget II adorned the front
cover of the revitalised
publication, the game wasn’t the highlight of the reviews
pages.
Beating Fire
& Forget’s
82% rating were Populous
and Columns
on the Master System with
93% each. Populous
on the
Mega Drive was described as “A wonderfully original and
thoroughly enjoyable game to play. You're bound to enjoy playing
Populous for a long, long time.” |
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