› ›

Game reviews

BuzzySoundsBuzzySounds
edited January 2006 in Games
Who do you think gave the fairest reviews and marks for games back in day? Looking back it seems like Your Sinclair were very generous and easily pleased, whilst Crash on the other hand could be quite harsh and a bit `nit-picky`. I prefered Sinclair User myself - Kamikaze Bear and all!
Post edited by BuzzySounds on

Comments

  • psj3809psj3809
    edited January 2006
    Christ are you serious ?

    "I prefered Sinclair User myself - Kamikaze Bear and all! "

    I was never a huge fan of Sinclair User but it went downhill even more with Kamikaze bear. I mean it changed late in the Speccys life when the majority had grown up with a Speccy and were now much older, most of us 16-18 so kamikaze bear was totally for kids.

    Crash i thought were very honest and got most reviews spot on (Apart from Fat Worm) and Your Sinclair also i agreed with most of their reviews.

    But i must admit i dont know enough about the reviews in SU as i refused to buy SU after all that Kamikaze bear rubbish !
  • Bluce_ReeBluce_Ree
    edited January 2006
    the worst were Crash - they'd dish out Crash Smashes all over the place. I'm pretty sure there were backhanders involved (how else do you explain Renegade 3????).

    SU and YS both seemed pretty fair.
  • ArjunArjun
    edited January 2006
    I thought CRASH were moderately fair but they had a huge Ultimate hangover. YS had some great reviews and I particularly liked the Adventure Reviews by Mike Gerrard.

    I actually read 2 SU's (during the Kamikazi times) and they were quite readable and well written.

    Of the three I tend to agree with CRASH reviews more though.
    Zero - A modern Spectrum emulator for Windows.
    Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
  • NickHNickH
    edited January 2006
    Crash had the tendency to Smash all Ultimate games, which is very annoying for historians. Fortunately SU and YS were much more honest, open, and in some cases downright brutal...
  • Ian HamiltonIan Hamilton
    edited January 2006
    Kamikaze Bear wasn't too bad, when compared to Wayne "Smelly" Smedley anyway. Now that was a low point for Sinclair User. It's a pity because it was a great magazine in 85. It was the first Spectrum magazine I read so all others were compared to that one. :)

    Necros.
  • NickHNickH
    edited January 2006
    It looks like SU didn't pioneer having cartoon characters host their letters pages - the CVG letters pages of 1986 (maybe 1985 too) are just unreadable because they thought it would be a good idea to have a set of characters "host" the magazine.

    So, it's an EMAP phenomenon. Did I say "phenomenon"? I meant "disease".
  • Ian HamiltonIan Hamilton
    edited January 2006
    I remember reading an issue of YS back in late 86/early 87 and there was a character called Doctor Hex or Farmer Hex (I can't quite remember) who wrote the game tips section, and at the time I thought he acted like a condescending wanker towards the people that wrote in.

    Marcus Berkmann was great though, as was Jon Riglar (I wonder what he is doing now).

    Necros.
  • NickHNickH
    edited January 2006
    That would be Hex Loader, a take-off of Max Headroom, who also acted in a similar way and not to be taken too seriously :)
  • zx1zx1
    edited January 2006
    I thought Your Sinclair was the best speccy magazine on the scene, it lasted the longest. Crash was okay some of their cover tapes were okay as well but I didn't like SU at all - that Kamakaze Bear was just the pits!
    I wonder where all the old YS writers are now? Linda Barker, David Wilson, Marcus Berkman etc.
    The trouble with tribbles is.......
  • Bluce_ReeBluce_Ree
    edited January 2006
    Crash was okay some of their cover tapes were okay

    the covertapes killed Crash.

    yes it was great getting Micronaut One and Moon Cresta on that first (proper) tape but at what cost? The mag got about a quarter of the usual size.
  • rich_chandlerrich_chandler
    edited January 2006
    ZX Computing was a great mag until it introduced cartoon characters. Luckily said characters were only involved in the game reviews. The rest of the mag was still pretty much coding and hardware heaven.
    I wanna tell you a story 'bout a woman I know...
  • Ian HamiltonIan Hamilton
    edited January 2006
    Speaking of old magazines, how long was Big K in existence? I only heard of it in the last year or two so I assume it ceased to be before I got my Speccy (1986).

    Necros.
  • rich_chandlerrich_chandler
    edited January 2006
    On 2006-01-17 01:19, Necros wrote:
    Speaking of old magazines, how long was Big K in existence? I only heard of it in the last year or two so I assume it ceased to be before I got my Speccy (1986).

    Necros.
    IIRC not very long...
    I wanna tell you a story 'bout a woman I know...
  • chaosmongerschaosmongers
    edited January 2006
    I believe CRASH had the best reviews - they seemed a lot more in-depth and researched than other magazines reviews.

    The worst reviews were I think C&VG. Because it was a multi-format magazine, they had a tendency to mark unfairly - e.g. give a Spectrum game a poor score for sound (compared to the C64 version).

  • LeeTLeeT
    edited January 2006
    On 2006-01-17 01:19, Necros wrote:
    Speaking of old magazines, how long was Big K in existence? I only heard of it in the last year or two so I assume it ceased to be before I got my Speccy (1986).

    Necros.

    Twelve Issues (1984-85)
  • snurpsnurp
    edited January 2006
    On 2006-01-16 20:54, zx1 wrote:
    I wonder where all the old YS writers are now? Linda Barker, David Wilson, Marcus Berkman etc.
    Remember Rich Pelley? He now works for Nuts magazine. He often crops up in photos with some bird or two with their baps out. Good on him. I always enjoyed his wit in YS.
  • SkarpoSkarpo
    edited January 2006
    Rich Pelley, the man on the television ... erm ... not sure if I got that right.

    Sorry ... acid reflux flashback ... or something.

    [ This Message was edited by: Skarpo on 2006-01-17 18:33 ]
  • CKayCKay
    edited January 2006
    I liked Crash for reviews, purely for the fact of different point of views, but then I never got my Spec` `til end of `87 by which time according to P.O.V.`s Sinclair User had gone down the Shitter, always held Your Sinclair in high regard though for the type ins...

    Bear in mind though (no pun intended) that Sinclair User had the marvelous `Blueprint` section features in the late 80`s that those of us who were new computers owners cherished... still nowadays I remember that and when Edge started making a point of fps` and technical stuff... I just hope that Retro Gamer doesn`t follow gamer`s and stop mentioning what hardware and speed old machine`s actually ran at.... I personally get excited when I read a fps or processor used statistic... :)

    Crash was sheer class though from `87 to early ninete`s... :)
Sign In or Register to comment.