CRASH — A LOOK AT THE XMAS GAMES

If you don’t already know you certainly will by the time you’ve finished reading through this issue, that as from next month, the Crash Catalogue is turning in to a real magazine being sold through W.H. Smith and J. Menzies. This is one reason why there are no proper reviews in this catalogue, because everyone is busy getting stuff together for the first issue of the magazine. So the aim of these two pages is to give a brief run down on some of the games contained here, especially the newer ones.

Still a steady seller and probably one of the best asteroid type games is SENTINEL by Abacus. It requires deft fingers and four eyes in your head if the aliens and asteroids aren’t to wipe out your space station. Another of the older games still proving popular is THE WIZARD’S WARRIORS by Abersoft. This is not an adventure but a fast moving & difficult robot/maze game, a sort of souped up Frenzy.

Anirog have now released a whole batch of games for the Spectrum, some of which have already achieved popularity on other computers. Their MISSILE DEFENCE is a hard version, and KONG looks very good.

RAIDER OF THE CURSED MINE from Arcade is still selling steadily and provides good value since it’s a long game to play. Their THE DETECTIVE appears in an article in the first issue of CRASH. Detection is the name of the game from Automata’s latest release with the long title of MY NAME IS UNCLE GROUCHO YOU WIN A FAT CIGAR, where, together with the PiMan and Groucho Marx, you must discover the identity of a Hollywood Star. There’s a fabulous prize for the winner when the competition closes next summer. Also from the same people comes MORRIS MEETS THE BIKERS a fast moving arcade game where you must help a poor little car escape from a multi-storey car park full of mad bikers.

Another escape story comes from Blaby and ’GOTCHA: You’ve escaped from your prison cell — if you can get past the guards you can make off and start robbing and looting. It’s an extremely tough game of timing, not unlike Manic Miner. In PLUGGIT you have to fight your way through the innards of your computer to find the socket for a chip that’s come loose — playing too many games no doubt! Britannia Software is a relative newcomer with three games, STOMPING STAN, HOME RUNNER & GRAND PRIX DRIVER. The first two are platform type games where you jump up through holes in moving platforms whilst avoiding various monsters. Home Runner also includes a middle section of a Berserk type. Grand Prix Driver is a very new road racing game with full 3D graphics.

The less said about MANIC MINER the better — it’s still driving everyone crazy: Definitely one of the best games this year.

If physical strategy isn’t in your line then there’s a whole batch of new titles from CCS who brought you DALLAS. You can attempt to save the British car industry in BRITISH LOWLAND, fight your way to the top of the Mafia in GANGSTERS, steal the Spanish gold in PLUNDER and try your hand at getting past the customs in SMUGGLER.

CDS are planning to release a number of new games before Christmas but at the moment their POOL is a big favourite and in competition with Abrasco’s POOL. Get tired of the green baize and Abrasco can offer you a very good game of GOLF, a neat version of this popular simulation.

Software giants DK Tronics haven’t been idle either with 8 new games just out including the highly praised MAZIACS and a version of the old favourite, STAR TREK 3000.

Well away from bustle of mazes and deep space Gilsoft’s new adventure game writing utility THE QUILL has caused a lot of excitement. With this highly praised program, anyone can sit down and program a complex adventure game without any knowledge of machine code. You could even sell your program to a software house!

Hewson have two new games, an adventure called QUEST and a zappovision cockpit affair called 3D SPACE WARS which has very exciting visuals. Another war game is the follow-up to all time best seller Zzoom from Imagine and it’s called STONKERS.

One of our favourite maze games recently has been Ian Andrew’s SPLAT on the Incentive label. Splat is a maze game with a cruel difference — the walls scroll around all over the place and it’s no easy task to avoid being splatted. It’s highly addictive and offers a cash prize for high scores.

A long awaited and much heralded event has been the release of VALHALLA by new software house Legend. Valhalla boasts the best graphics yet seen in an adventure. Apart from the highly detailed backgrounds all the numerous characters on the screen including ‘yourself’ are animated. The lives of the Valhallans go on quite independently of whatever you do. As in the Hobbit, you can talk to them, fight them or get them to fight for you.

On a more domestic note poor old Henry has taken Martha to Spain for their hols in MAD MARTHA II from Mikrogen. If you liked the first, you’ll love the new game and you’ll get as mad as Martha with it!

If you haven’t tried Martech/Durell’s JUNGLE TROUBLES yet, then we can recommend it. The animation’s wonderful and there’s enough to do to drive you to complete distraction and make you try again, This is a dangerously addictive game, but be warned, getting your man to jump is an art to be mastered.

A brand new company called Lotus Soft has a neat mazeish game called LORD HARRY & LADY HARRIET out, in which you find yourself lost in 4 interconnecting gardens. Eating mushrooms keeps you alive and two guard dogs chase you. On the shoot em up side, our reviewers have given a rave thumbs up to Lotus Soft’s HAWKS which has excellent graphics and sound and tons to do fighting off the swooping enemy whilst laying mines to blow up their hatching eggs.

Eggs are at the centre of a new game by war masters MC Lothlorien. BEETLEMANIA has fabulous machine code fast graphics and mazes of increasing complexity as you eat the beetles’ eggs and try to evade their growing numbers. BEDLAM by the same author is another fast, welI animated maze game that will keep you on your toes. While in a more traditional vein Lothiorien also have PARAS and RED BARON out. If you liked REDWEED or JOHNNY REB then PARAS is for you. The object is to capture a bridge held by the enemy with your troops and their varying weaponry. RED BARON is a World War I aerial dog fight simulation with a complex range of options in playing.

Back to the depths with a new offering from Micromania — TUTANKHAMUN — in which you must penetrate the five tombs to get at the Pharaoh’s treasure while avoiding the horrors in there. The ‘horrors’ move very fast and there are a lot! Addictive!

For those who have never forgotten the pleasures of their electric train set Microsphere’s TRAIN GAME is a must. A highly rated program which will keep you engaged for hours without having to connect up a single length of track!

New Generation are out to bend your nind with their CORRIDORS OF GENON, a nhcture of maze and Master Mind calling for brawn and brains. But if you’re bett er off with mind-blowingly fast arcade action then Ocean’s amazing TRANSVERSION has one of our highest ratings. Simple in concept, this is a maddeningly addictive game and not easy for hi-scores. Good sound too.

Back to the brains bit for COMPUTER SCRABBLE. Despite its high price it’s good value. A simply amazing piece of programming art. You get the real game with tremendous graphics and plenty of scope for playing.

A creepy creatures convention has trapped a group of humans at the top of a space station in a new game from Procom called BONKERS. The object is to get the humans out — but can it be done?

If space stations can get a bit claustrophobic, submarines are even worse. The Protek people who brought you AIRLINER now give you command of HUNTER-KILLER, a highly realistic underwater simulation with the enemy dangerously close. Meanwhile the Captain’s wife is at home doing the chores in MRS. MOPP from new Computasolve. Not unlike PSSST in concept, you have to use the correct utensil to clear up mess.

Quicksilva have 5 new games out. Highly recommended are SOFT SOLID 3D ANT ATTACK with the best ever 3D graphics, amazing; BUGABOO (THE FLEA), the most colourful game yet for the Spectrum and madly addictive; and GAMES DESIGNER which allows you to redesign 8 arcade games to suit your own taste. The author of MINED-OUT, Ian Andrew, is taunting everyone with SPLAT!, a maze game with a difference — and the £500 prize is still open until JAN 14!

Silversoft are offering 4 new games, EXTERMINATOR, BRAIN DAMAGE, ARMAGEDDON & MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. All four are fast moving arcade games with the high standard one expects from Silversoft.

And of course there’s the two new smashes from Ultimate, LUNAR JETMAN, and ATIC ATAC. Showing just what can be done with 48K, Ultimate have packed in just about everything but the kitchen sink. Jetman is probably the most addictive game of this year.

Virgin have 10 new games out, some arcade, some adventure, but our tip for the top is a game by Watson Software — STAR SOCCER, a very good two-player game which will engage even those who don’t like football.