Sinclair User

A smash badge plus two readers awards in the same breath is the Spectrum desk standing up.

Did Sinclair user climb that high as well?

Higher in, uh, badge terms.

Sinclair user, uh, EMAP’s, uh, Spectrum title stamped it a Sinclair user classic in issue forty-two, their top honor, and called the Grax graphics streets ahead of Knight Lore for variety.

Your Sinclair Dennis Publishing’s, uh, Spectrum magazine, uh, later scored it, uh, nine once that title was, uh, up and running in eighty-six.

Then you flip to the sixty-four conversion.

Mapping matters, uh, because the castle is laid out like a castle, not a neat grid.

Before the sound desk, let’s open the stories that stuck to the sequel.

Pretty much.

Uh, Sinclair User, uh, EMAP’s, uh, Spectrum magazine went eight out of ten.

The Games Machine, uh, Newsfield’s brand-new multi-format title launching that autumn, scored eighty-two in its first issue.

ACE Future’s new multi-format magazine, um, loved the Spectrum build at, uh, eight hundred and forty-five out of a thousand.

Crash sat on eighty-nine.

Uh, Your Sinclair on nine.

Sinclair User on eight.

Zzap on ninety.

Uh, The Games Machine, Newsfield's all formats title, went 95.

But Sinclair User, the EMAP Spectrum mag, only gave it 76, so somebody on that desk was keeping a cool head.

76 against 95 is, um, a real gap, Lee, even if it isn't the canyon we sometimes see.

Uh, what about the Commodore side? Because Zap were usually the ones swinging the biggest stick.

If the Amiga made the Batwing look like the film, that alone sold a few more of those Batman packs.

Time for our marks.

The magazine spread went from Zzap's ninety-seven on the Amiga and ninety-six gold medal on the sixty-four down to Sinclair users' seventy-six on the Spectrum with Crash on ninety-three and Amstrad Action on ninety-four.

From me, the Amiga, uh, version gets a nine.

They still had Your Sinclair.

They still had Crash, still had Sinclair User.

But by that time they were giving away a lot of full games, wasn't it, on the cassettes?

Oh.

Especially Sinclair User and-

Heavens, yes

...

Yeah, it's like they all had, like Crash had- ... their packs.

Uh, Crash, which had started putting whole games on the cover the year before to keep up with Your Sinclair, gave the Spectrum 174.

Uh, Sinclair User, uh, the eMap mag, uh, gave it 75 and said there wasn't a speck of originality in it.

Over on the Commodore, uh, Zzap 64, which was, uh, reviewing Amiga games as well by then, gave the 64 version 57.

They said it was, uh, acceptable rather than, uh, enjoyable and that landing a punch was irritatingly hard.

Spectrum.Oh, I love that, Lee.

It's buzzier than the 64, but it absolutely bounces along.

Sinclair User called the music rather super, and for once I can't argue with them.

And finally, the Amiga, uh, with proper sampled sounds, uh, playing over the intro.

Your Sinclair, which had only changed its name from Your Spectrum at the start of that year, gave it nine out of 10.

And, uh, Sinclair User, EMAP's mag that had been going since 1982, um, gave it the full five stars.

stars.That's a clean sweep for the Spectrum, and I love it when all three of the big Sinclair titles agree on something because, um, it n-- it barely ever happened.

But you said there was a row, and, uh, I've got a feeling it's on the Commodore side.

I think the Spectrum one plays the best because you can always see what's coming at you.

If I'm getting one out of the loft this afternoon, it's the Spectrum with Cooksy's tune playing on something else in the corner.

Scores then, just to recap the mags, Crash gave it 88, your Sinclair 9, Sinclair User 5 stars, Commodore User 8, Zappa Miserable 44 and Amstrad Action 81.

I'm giving it an 8.

And Crash issue twenty-two in November, uh, gave the Spectrum version ninety-six percent and a smash.

Sinclair User, one of the longest-running Spectrum magazines and published by EMAP, went the whole way with five out of five in November.

Computer and Video Games, the big multi-format monthly, made it game of the month in its November issue.

So the Spectrum desks were basically throwing flowers, which is rare when Crash and Sinclair User agree that hard.

I'm curious about the later Commodore and Amstrad pages because a flip screen maze can feel very different once the colors and the sound chip change.

What did those machines get when the ports arrived?

I'd put it second behind the sixty-four and ahead of the Spectrum for pure listening.

Let's talk about, uh, how it looked, because music and graphics don't always agree.