Beach-Head

Big K

Graphics 1/3

Playability 1/3

Addictiveness 1/3

Overall 1/3

Fin Fahey 1/3

ELDERLY AMERICAN MAKER: U.S. Gold/Access Software FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £7.95 It's nice to know that the dam' Yankess can produce turkeys as easily as an Brit software house. Beach-Head is as well thought-out as the average White house press release. The sleeve notes are promising. There are seven stages in play, each of which is a little game in itself,. The trouble is that they're all totally boring. To take one example, the first, all you have to do to complete it is move a cursor across a map from point A to point B. This involves the superhuman ability to distinguish between the up, down, left and right keys. A half trained rhesus monkey could do it. U.S. Gold's Commodore products impress me. When it comes to the Spectrum, I think they'd better sharpen up their act.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 9/10

Sound 7/10

Lasting Interest 7/10

Overall 8/10

Chris Anderson 8/10

Martyn Smith

Peter Connor

Peter Walker

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys, Kemp, Sinc, Prot FROM: US Gold, £7.95 Ocean have done a great job converting this Commodore 64 game onto the Spectrum. They've managed to keep the same superb 3D graphics which sent the original version to number 1 in the charts. If they were impressive on the '64, on the Spectrum they're astonishing. The sound is also effective, proving that the Spectrum can do more than just beep. The idea of the game is to use your fleet of ten ships to destroy the Fortress of Kuhn-Lin, but to do so you must survive several dangerous attack-waves. For the first you can choose between attacking the enemy fleet head-on or trying to navigate a hidden passage. The latter strategy means guiding your fleet, one by one, through a large pool which has been heavily mined. It appears as a single screen with an entrance at bottom-left and exit at top-right. But as well as dodging mines you must look out for the torpedoes. The combat sequence which follows is graphically the most brilliant part of the program. Enemy aircraft take off from an aircraft carrier and swoop toward you to drop their bombs. The 3D effect as the planes grow larger on the screen is superb. If you survive this you move onto the artillery stage which means bombing the enemy ships. This can be tough going, especially as they return fire extremely accurately. Should you make it, you move on to the beach-head which means another obstacle course. This time you're guiding tanks and have to avoid walls, mines, enemy bunkers, towers and tanks. My only doubts about this one are in its long-term appeal. With graphics like this you could be seduced into buying something you won't end up playing all that often.

Sinclair Programs

Rating 67%

June Mortimer 67%

PRICE: £7.95 GAME TYPE: Arcade Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your computer, the bombers are back with a vengeance. Beach head throws you in the deep end with a challenging naval battle, forces you into an invasion by land, and then leaves you to storm the enemy fortresses. Firstly you move across a map, choosing where you are to begin your assault. Move through the hidden passage, avoiding the torpedoes and mines, then shoot down the bombers approaching from the aircraft carrier, bomb the enemy ships and then move on to Beach head and the final battle. Arcade enthusiasts will love this game. The graphics in many sections are superb, especially the representations of approaching aircraft which appear from the distant decks of an aircraft carrier, approach rapidly and then swerve above you. The difficulty levels are also well set. The game is easy enough for novices to accumulate high scores, but difficult enough to make it very difficult to complete. Earlier in the year it appeared as though games of mindless destruction for the Spectrum were disappearing from the charts once and for all, to be replaced by more thoughtful and more fantastic games. Although Beach Head is an excellent arcade game, it is a step backwards thematically. Beach Head is produced for the 48K Spectrum by US Gold Ltd., [redacted].

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 3/5 HIT

Roger Willis 2/5 HIT

Ross Holman 3/5 HIT

JOYSTICK JURY What's on your software shopping list for Christmas? Let Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls and Roger Willis help you make your mind up! This month, our motley crew of Joystick Jurors include Dave Nicholls, a self-confessed adventure fanatic and seasoned hacker; Ross Holman, ace games player and winner of the Jet Set Willy prize; and, last but by no means least, Roger Willis, a relative newcomer to the Spectrum scene. Dave and Ross you'll already know from our monthly major games reviews. Roger Willis, on the other hand, is probably more at home in the saddle of a massive motorbike... but that was before he discovered the thrills and spills of the Spectrum. Check out what they thought of the latest in games software... BEACH-HEAD US Gold/Ocean £7.95 Ross: One of the Commodore 64 gamester's most popular releases, Beach- Head has now been implemented on the 48K Spectrum - courtesy of the combined might of US Gold and Ocean. Personally, I never found it that brilliant on the 64, but certainly it's easily as good on the Speccy. Beach-Head is a multi-screened (six in all) arcade/war game where the aim is to penetrate the defensive power protecting a piece of coastline, and capture the enemy fortress. The first screen is a plan view of the coast you're going to attack; you move a cross (representing your fleet) through a secret passage and into combat with the opposing forces. The other five screens are rather more lively. They involve steering your ships through a barrage of torpedoes, shooting down attacking planes, sinking the enemy ships, guiding your tanks through the shore defences and finally blowing up the enemy's Big Gun. This is definitely the best piece of code ever written by Ocean. It has good instructions, comprehensive player and control options and a good range of skill levels.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 8/10

John Gilbert 8/10

DEATH ON THE BEACH Memory: 48K Price: £7.95 Joystick: ZX, Protek, Kempston A call to General Quarters and a beach head invasion are the stuff of which generals are made but Beach-Head, a typical American import from US Gold, gives you the opportunity to fight the war single handed. You guide your fleet around an aerial reconnaissance map making sure that you locate the enemy before they find you. Encounters at sea are shown in 3D with your ship's gun turrets at the bottom of the screen, firing salvos at the aircraft which fly in low releasing their bombs in suicidal strafing runs. Once you have found the enemy base, hidden in a secret passage, and avoided torpedoes, rocks and mines, you can have a go at wreaking your revenge on the enemy. The graphics used in the beach scenes and at sea are best experienced at least four feet from the computer where they appear to be realistic. Do not let that put you off what is an excellent game of arcade skill and strategy. It looks as if US Gold is intent on bringing the best of the US software to Britain. If this, its first conversion to the Spectrum, is anything to go by the American products should be well received.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Use of Computer 86%

Graphics 80%

Playability 79%

Getting Started 76%

Addictive Qualities 77%

Value For Money 75%

Overall 79%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: US Gold Ltd Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £7.95 Language: Machine code Author: Spectrum version by Ocean Beach-Head arrived in Britain from America with plenty of pre-publicity as one of those new generation US games that had to be seen. U.S. Gold are now busy bringing all sorts of famous games under licence like Zaxxon (already available for the CBM64 and hopefully soon for the Spectrum). The graphics of Beach-Head on the CBM64 were very good and many people wondered how good they could still be on the Spectrum. The result makes for a favourable comparison - there's hope for Zaxxon as well then! Beach-Head is a six stage game based loosely on American experiences in some Pacific war, the Second World War judging by the aircraft type. Stage one is the map screen where you must move your cursor to the area you wish to attack. If you opt for the hidden passage you risk losing ships (lives) in sailing them through the mine infested and torpedo-ridden narrows. On the other hand your entry into the inner bay protected by the enemy's fleet goes unnoticed, so they have less time to scramble fighters and bombers against your forces. The second screen is seen from the deck of your landing craft with anti-aircraft guns at the base and the enemy carriers beyond. Bombers cross from left to right while fighterbombers attack you. Too many direct hits and you'll lose a life. Following this is a screen where you must attempt to sink the enemy shipping - a carrier crosses your field of fire, while other ships fire back at you. Completing this takes you to the beach-head itself, where you control tanks as they advance up the dunes, avoiding enemy obstacles. the final battle is the breaching of the giant gun. Here again you are in control of artillery and the object is to shoot out several white blocks in the tower's base before the giant turret can swing round and blast you out of existence. Scoring is a fairly complex business, well explained in the detailed inlay. COMMENTS Control keys: user-definable, for directions and fire needed Joystick: almost any via UDK Keyboard play: any position to suit, very responsive Use of colour: very good Graphics: good, varied, fairly large and detailed in most cases with good 3D in battle scenes Sound: good Skill levels: 3 Lives: six ships Screens: 6 stages

The enemy fleet retaliate to your intrusion in a vain attempt to stop you gaining the shore. Nice graphics on the aeroplanes.

Torpedoes and mines block the way through the Hidden Passage in BEACH-HEAD.