The Complete Guide to:

FILM AND TV LICENCES

(Cough, Deep, manly voice.)
'In the beginning there were loads and loads of Speccy games. Loads of them. They sold all right, but not exactly in enormous numbers. The trouble was, you see, that none of them seemed particularity exciting. They had nothing that caught the public eye. They were just computer games. Had no 'cred'.
Then a small cog within a long-since-extinct software house had an idea.
"Why don't we give our next game the same name as an incredibly popular film? Then everyone would buy it just because they'd seen film and they'd foolishly think the game would be just as good. How about it, eh?"
"Er, we could do, I suppose."
"Great."
"But what if the film company finds out? They might sue us or something."
"Oh yeah."
"Tcha."
"I know - we could ask them first."
"That's a point. Go on then."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah. Give them a ring and ask if they'd mind."
"Oo-er. Cripes. Okay then."
(Dials very long trans-Atlantic phone number.)
"Hullo, We'd like to name our new game after your film and we were wandering if it was okay by you. Right... yes... oh, I see."
(Cups hand over receiver.)
"They want us to give them lots of money."
"Erm, well in that case we'd better."
(Removes hand.)
"Yes, that'll be fine. We'll send you some right away. Bye."
"Super."
"What?"
"How are we going to come up with a game that's anything like the film?"
"I don't know really."
"How about if we have a bloke walking around shooting people?"
"That sounds fine, I'll program it right away."
And so the film and telly licence was born. It... cough. Choke.'
Oops. There goes the deep, manly voice.

Anyway, film and telly games, eh? Everyone's doing them these days, as they're one of the few remaining ways of making serious money with computer games. Run a grubby finger down the charts and you'll find nearly all the top-sellers are film and telly licences, (Or arcade conversions, of course.)
But why do we keep buying them? After all, just because a game's named after a really brill film doesn't mean it's going to be any good, does it? Surely we aren't buying them simply because of the flashy name on the box? Erm, well.

In the old days, software houses assumed this to be the case, and chucked out a stream of absolutely appalling games with 'big name' titles. Things like Miami Vice, The Dukes Of Hazard and Highlander were all pretty dreadful, but it was hoped that they'd sell on the strength of their names. But we weren't fooled. Oh no. The games didn't sell well, and the companies were forced to think again.

Eventually they came up with... the 'bloke walking around shooting things' idea. And they've used it more or less ever since. Lucky then that they tend to be jolly good all the same, and sometimes come up with the odd original idea to spice things up (like The Untouchables did, or perhaps Back To The Future Part II).

WHAT'S A FILM AND TELLY GAME THEN? HMM?

That's easy. It's a game for which the software house producing it has had to hand over a vast wad of money to a film or television so they can call their game The Sound Of Music or Newsnight or whatever. Distinguishing features are, as you may have gathered, the name a of a famous film or telly programme splashed across the box and a bloke who walks round shooting things. Apart from that, though, just about anything can happen in them. They might be shoot-'em-ups or collect-'em-ups. They might scroll or they might 'flip'. They might multiload or they might not. (They usually do though.)

So they're not very hard to spot at all then, which makes writing this guide a whole lot easier.

THE FIRST-EVER FILM AND TELLY GAME

(Purses lips and inhales very slowly.) That's a tricky one. It ought to be pretty easy to pin down Film and Telly Game Number One, as they haven't been around for too long compared to other sorts of game. Well, I reckon (but don't quote me on this) it was Terrahawks from CRL, the game of the puppet programme. The thing is, though, I'm sure there was a Blue Thunder game floating around quite a long time before, but I can't find any references to it anywhere. So we'll stick with Terrahawks, eh? And, as was usually the case with these 'first-ever' games, it was pretty useless. There weren't actually any puppets in it for a start, just a whole bunch of 3D wire-frame building things which you had to explore (in a spaceship) in the hope of finding a vortex through which to exit. Our reviewers weren't too impressed and gave it 2 out of 5. Still, the pioneering spirit was there, and the game was a few months ahead of the first-ever film game - Activision's Ghostbusters. That was pretty hopeless as well, but did extraordinarily well.

Ratings

As always seems to be the case, the trusty old ratings system doesn't really seem adequate when it comes to film and telly games. So here's what we've put together instead...

Lights:

What does it look like? Nice? Or not very nice at all? (You mean are the graphics any good? Ed) Er, yes. That's it in a nutshell. (Then why didn't you just say that in the first place? Ed) Erm...

Camera:

How does the general atmosphere compare to the film or telly programme the game's meant to go with? Have the programmers just taken a bog-standard game and stuck a flashy name on it? Or have they made an effort to incorporate a bit of the 'feel' of the original?

Action:

Does the plot follow along the same sort of lines as the film or telly programme? Is there plenty of action-packedness? And is the game the same all the way through, or does it follow the original's twists and turns?

Cut:

Um, how does the game compare to all the other licences around at the moment? Is it better? Or worse? In other words, is it a 'cut' above the rest? (Is that really the best you can manage? Ed)

FILM GAMES

These form the largest category by far. Just about every major film has a game to go with it, and as there are lots of films that means lots of games. What they're actually like tends to vary though. In some cases they're just ordinary beat-'em-ups or shoot-'em-ups with a very tenuous link with the film (generally just the name). Cobra and Highlander both went for this approach. Or they might be much the same sort of thing, but divided up into levels which are meant to refer to scenes from the film. Since most films are just beat-'em-ups and shoot-'em-ups anyway this tends to work pretty well, as with Robocop and Total Recall. Last of all are the games which are split up into completely different levels, like the early Bond efforts. There might be driving bits, walking bits and puzzle-solving bits, and they're usually pretty faithful to segments in the film. They do tend to pay a heavy price in terms of quality though (so be careful).

CARTOON GAMES

Moving into television territory here, and these are generally the most popular telly games, especially on budget labels (witness Hong Kong Phooey, Count Duckula, all that sort of thing). The licences are probably pretty cheap to acquire, especially if the cartoon hasn't been on for about 20 years, and they're a doddle to convert to the computer. Cartoony graphics are about the easiest to pull off successfully on the Speccy, so they always look good. What you get under the surface though tends to be a very ordinary beat-'em-up or arcade adventure.

QUIZ GAMES

Another popular category, this, as television game shows are just begging to be computerised. They're mainly just a case of answering silly questions and filling in spaces on a scoreboard (or something), both things the Speccy is ideally suited to. There's usually the odd digitised piccy of your 'host' thrown in for luck, and lots of irritating tunes from the telly programme. Whether they're any good or not is very much a matter of opinion. The programming's usually well up to scratch, and they're always faithful replicas of the telly versions. But, as TV game shows are utter dross, the games tend to be too. Check out Sporting Triangles and Bob's Full House (if you must).

OTHER TELLY GAMES

There are all sorts of things left over, of course. There are the Gerry Anderson puppet programmes, which have formed the basis of the odd decent game. There are crusty old series like Flash Gordon. There are modern(ish) American programmes like Knight Rider and Miami Vice which haven't proved too successful on the Spectrum. There are 'cult' programmes like The Munsters and Monty Python. There are kiddies' shows like Postman Pat. All sorts of things really.

Rambo
Ocean
This one goes back a bit, being one of the first film games ever. (Quite possibly number two after Ghostbusters.) And, of course, it stars Rambo who walks round shooting people. He's got a large map to wander round though and plenty of weapons to collect, along with an overhead view to make them easier to spot. After plodding round the jungle fighting off enemy soldiers for a bit he comes across the enemy village which can only be got into at a certain point (a bridge, in fact). In there he finds the hostage he's after, who needs cutting free, and then moves on to find a helicopter and fly it to freedom. Considering its age (five-ish), Rambo isn't bad at all. The range of weapons available is well thought-out, with the ones that do the most damage tending to attract the attention of more enemy troops. The only trouble is the jerky 'flipping' scroll system and the graphics, which tend to be mainly empty black spaces. A good one.


	Lights:	65%
	Camera:	60%
	Action:	85%
	Cut:	80%



	Overall:	78%

The Flintstones
Grandslam
Thank goodness The Flintstones isn't on anymore, eh? Long, boring and raising only the most canned of laughter, it made 5.30 to 6pm a nightmare every time it was on. Almost makes you grateful that Neighbours came along and took over, doesn't it? A computer version was inevitable though. So inevitable, in fact, that there are two of them - Yabba Dabba Doo, which was a boring wandering-around-collecting-things game, and this one which is more of a multi-stage, lots of sub-games affair. First of all, Fred's got to paint a wall of his cave, using a squirrel's tail as a brush (ho ho) and trying to stop Pebbles (his irritating daughter who appeared just as the cartoon was really going downhill) from scribbling all over it. It's about as fun as painting a wall for real. Then there's a bit where he has to fix his car (by the way, can anyone explain how the Flintstones' car is steered?) before driving down to the bowling alley for a game of whatever it is they do there. Finally you've got to rescue Pebbles from a building site. It looks nice, but gets very boring jolly quickly.


	Lights:	80%
	Camera:	93%
	Action:	68%
	Cut:	50%



	Overall:	59%

Big Trouble In Little China
Electric Dreams
The film was probably a bit crap (I didn't actually see it), and so's the game unfortunately. It's a very ordinary scrolling beat-'em- up where you've got to rescue a couple of chicks who've been kidnapped by some baddie or other. There are a couple of novelties. The most exciting one is that it scrolls from left to right (i.e. your character walks along from right to left), which means that the other innovation isn't very thrilling at all. You actually control three characters, although two of them just follow the third around. You've got to swop between them to take advantage of the special skills of each. The graphics aren't particularly good, naff animation being their main problem. There's not a lot of variety either - just two main types of baddie and the odd weapon to pick up. But the numero uno snag is that it just feels a bit silly. The character under your control responds very strangely to the controls - not in the least bit 'human' - and the other two look ridiculous following your every move. Worst of all though is that it's just a beat-'em-up with a film's name bolted on. Tsk.


	Lights:	63%
	Camera:	45%
	Action:	41%
	Cut:	55%



	Overall:	52%

Yes Prime Minister
Mosaic
The 'hilarious' Downing Street-based sitcom would seem to be virtually impossible to convert to the Spectrum, and indeed Mosaic (who?) had to come up with a completely original structure for the game. Thankfully they avoided a predictable 'walk around Whitehall collecting things and beating people up' game and plumped instead for a semi-adventure game where you've got solve prime-ministerial problems over a period of five days to get your poll ratings up to a decent level. The game revolves around your desk, where you receive memos and phone calls informing you of what's going on. The most important events are meetings with your colleagues where you have lengthy conversations interspersed with multiple-choice bits. Pick the right thing to say and your standing improves, with a corresponding increase in your poll rating. It actually works very well as a game, and somehow manages to pack in all the atmosphere and humour of the programme while still being fun to play. It's a bit text-based though, and certainly won't appeal to everyone.


	Lights:	64%
	Camera:	93%
	Action:	90%
	Cut:	85%



	Overall:	89%

Star Wars
Domark
Actually this is more of an arcade conversion than a film and telly game, but we were a bit desperate. It's the game of the really old arcade game of the film, you see, but it just about sneaks into our definition of things. It's actually quite good as film games go as it makes an excellent attempt to stick to the film's plot without getting too bitty and generally crap. Also, and most critically, it doesn't have a bloke walking round shooting things. You're Luke Skywalker, and what you've got to do is destroy the Death Star. This means firing up your X-Wing fighter, flying through space warding off enemy TIE fighters, then flying over the Death Star picking off towers and finally flying through a ventilation duct (or something) to take out the Death Star's heart at the end. It's laid out as a 3D wire-frame shoot-'em-up which was impressive when it appeared in the arcades all those years ago and still plays well today. The only weird thing is that it's pretty easy to complete all three levels, whereupon you wrap back round to the first and end up destroying the Death Star 20 or 30 times per game. Spooky.


	Lights:	59%
	Camera:	78%
	Action:	80%
	Cut:	77%



	Overall:	80%

Street Hawk
Ocean
The telly version of this was one of those one-series wonders that was once very popular but fizzled out after no time at all. Which was a bit unfortunate for Ocean really, who took absolutely ages to get this game out, after completely rewriting it at one stage, so that it arrived at rather an awkward time. It's one of these playing-it-safe film games - really just a scrolling shoot-'em-up that could have been called just about anything. It's more like Spy Hunter than anything else, with vertical scrolling, you on a bike instead of a car and plenty of other traffic to shoot/avoid. And that's about it really, apart from a Jump key which lets you, erm, jump over other traffic, a Turbo key for a bit of extra speed and every so often a baddy who appears on the road and shoots at you. It's not outstanding in any way, but the graphics are slicker than usual and its got quite a good 'Street Hawk' feel to it. All that's missing is variety, so it gets boring after a while. Oh, and our resident biker and Art Assistant says that "his off-side crankshaft sprocket's not quite to scale". We told him to shut up.


	Lights:	72%
	Camera:	77%
	Action:	79%
	Cut:	65%



	Overall:	69%

Batman The Movie
Ocean
Along with Robocop, which is probably the biggest-selling game of any kind ever, this was one of Ocean's biggest sellers last year. Its success was obviously a result of the film's popularity rather than anything great about the game itself, although it's very well put together and enjoyable all the same. Needless to say, Batman is the chap you control, and he walks around killing people. Well, on the first and last levels he does anyway. These are easily the best, with Bat-rope and Batarang featuring prominently. The rest of the game consists of a driving bit, which is a bit boring, a flying bit, which is also slightly tedious, and a puzzle-solving bit. The graphics all the way through are great, if a bit monochrome, and the game is generally one of the most comprehensive film conversions around. It's just a bit obvious that all the programming effort went into the walking-about parts, and they're the bits that are just like any other film game. Ho hum.


	Lights:	90%
	Camera:	92%
	Action:	92%
	Cut:	88%



	Overall:	90%

Predator
Activision
Here's another film game, and like so many others its star is Arnold Schwarzenegger. That means, of course, that it's a scrolling shoot-'em-up. It's set in the South American jungle where Arnie's up against not only the usual rebel guerillas but a mysterious alien foe as well. In akchaw fact, I've just spotted that the scrolling, shooting bit is only Level One. There are two more sections as well (which multiload, naturally) where you actually come up against the alien who's been pestering you all through the first part. And there's also an impressive but lengthy scene-setting intro sequence where you see the alien landing from outer space. Sadly, however, Level One's a bit on the tricky side, which means that the rest of the game is out of bounds to all but the most hardened game. Still, the first level's quite nice, with pretty graphics and a fair amount of variety. What a shame we don't get to see the rest, eh, readers?


	Lights:	85%
	Camera:	68%
	Action:	72%
	Cut:	64%



	Overall:	66%

Licence To Kill
Domark
Domark didn't have much luck with their early Bond games. They weren't desperately bad, but the programming smacked of amateurism and they were generally considered to be wasted opportunities. What those first games had though, which Licence To Kill doesn't, is a reasonable level of originality. They were multiloaders with several very different (if slightly crap) levels, while this one is more of a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up with very minor differences between levels. There are flying levels, driving levels, walking levels and even swimming levels. They're all vertically-scrolling. And they're all quite good. Yes, although it's not brilliant, this Bond game has at least been properly put together. The graphics are fine, it plays quite well and ties in with the film pretty convincingly. But it's still only 'quite' a good film game. It proves Domark can program properly if they really try, but it doesn't really further the cause of licences by extracting much inspiration from the film.


	Lights:	79%
	Camera:	71%
	Action:	76%
	Cut:	69%



	Overall:	77%

Howard The Duck
Activision
Howard The Duck started off as a cartoon, progressed to a pretty chronic film (which attracted a limp cult following) and then moved onto the Spectrum. And like the film, the game was projected to be a huge success but wasn't really at all. Howard, then, is a duck, but not a nice, chummy one like Donald or Daffy. He wields a Neutron Disintegrator and is a Quack Fu Master. Rather handy, that, as he's faced with the prospect of having to rescue some of his pals who've been stranded on an island by the Dark Overlord. So, presumably Howard walks round shooting people? Well, yes he does, but for a change you get an overhead view and Howard's in a maze. There are pools of slime to jump over, rivers to cross with the aid of a jet pack, and plenty of things to collect. And after that there are various mini-games to complete before you get to take on the Dark Overlord. It's all very well programmed and everything, but not all that inspiring.


	Lights:	58%
	Camera:	50%
	Action:	71%
	Cut:	59%



	Overall:	55%

Ghostbusters II
Activision
So Ghostbusters was the first film game then. And it was a huge hit as well, the first Speccy release to sell over, erm, some huge number of copies, despite being a bit rubbish. So a Ghostbusters II game seemed only natural (or as natural as a small piece of plastic with two holes in it can look), and this is it. It's a slickly-put-together little number, unlike the first game which was distinctly rough around the edges, and follows the plot of the film very closely. In fact, just in case you're not too sure what's going on, it tells the plot as the game progresses along with digitised pictures from the film. In-between all this you've got about three sub-games to tackle - a bit where you're descending a shaft picking off ghosts, a horizontally-scrolling shooting bit and something else too. The only problem is that all these bits have to be loaded in separately using an appalling multiloader which makes you load everything more or less from scratch every time you bite the dust. It may not sound too disastrous, but it is (believe me) and knocks a good 20 or 30 degrees off what is otherwise a jolly good film game.


	Lights:	83%
	Camera:	87%
	Action:	73%
	Cut:	60%



	Overall:	64%

Blockbusters
TV Games
Bob fans will find that this one's worth getting if only for the digitised pictures of their ageing hero to be found within. They're even animated (sort of), so Bob reads out the questions and grins broadly when you get one right. Everything else is there too, like the signature tune, the Gold Run and even the odd "Can I have a P please, Bob?" if you keep your eyes peeled. And if you find the telly version compulsive, the game should set your adrenaline pumping too. There are one- and two-player versions to choose between. The two-player game proceeds pretty much like the programme, while in the one-player version you only lose a square if you answer a question incorrectly. And there are plenty of questions. Several load-fulls, in fact, with 50 in each so you shouldn't find repetition a problem. Well, question repetition that is. The game as a whole is incredibly repetitive, just like the telly programme. If you like the show then the game is just as good. And if you don't it's, er, just as bad.


	Lights:	50%
	Camera:	88%
	Action:	90%
	Cut:	75%



	Overall:	74%

Sooty And Sweep
Alternative
Here's another mystifyingly well-known program. But why make a game out of it? It was bound to end up as a walking-around-collecting-things game. Sweep's left his bones lying around all over the house and, rather than kicking his teeth in, Sooty decides to help him clear them all up. This means wandering round, picking up bones and trying to avoid all the creepy-crawlies that have sneaked in from the garden. It's a dire idea, of course, and the only ray of hope is the two-player option where Sooty and Sweep are competing to collect the most bones. And calling it 'a game for younger players' is no excuse either.


	Lights:	45%
	Camera:	50%
	Action:	35%
	Cut:	29%



	Overall:	36%

Count Duckula
Alternative
At last a decent licence and a half-decent game. Count Duckula is a mildly amusing cartoon along the same lines as Danger Mouse (who's got a couple of computer games of his own), and its central character is a vampire duck. He's a 'nice' vampire, naturally, and your job is to help him, erm, walk round collecting things. Sob. But that's what we're stuck with, so let's make the most of it, eh? It's just about the best budget licence around actually, with attractive graphics, plenty of rooms to explore, lots of mapping potential and a particularly odd cheat mode. But original it's not.


	Lights:	75%
	Camera:	46%
	Action:	55%
	Cut:	69%



	Overall:	70%

Postman Pat
Alternative
Postman Pat, as you probably know, is a lump of plastic that stars in one of television's more nauseating kiddies' programs. He's irritatingly smug, overwhelmingly tacky and inexplicably popular. There's Postman Ruddy Pat merchandise everywhere you look, and the licence was bound to be snapped up by some eager cheapie software house. This is the result, and it's a predictable walk-around-delivering-things game. Pat drives around in his van stopping at houses where's he's given errands to run. And that's about it really. All it excels at is being as boring as the telly program. Buy it for your kids? They'll never speak to you again.


	Lights:	58%
	Camera:	85%
	Action:	42%
	Cut:	40%



	Overall:	49%

EVERY FILM AND TELLY GAME EVER
(As near as dammit)

	3-2-1	Microcomputer
	Airwolf	Elite
	Alien	Mindgames
	Aliens	Electric Dreams
	Aliens US	Electric Dreams
	Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes	Global
	A View To A Kill	Domark
	Back To The Future Part II	Image Works
	Basil The Great Mouse Detective	Gremlin
	Batman	Ocean
	Batman The Caped Crusader	Ocean
	Batman The Movie	Ocean
	Battle Of The Planets	Mikro-Gen
	Benny Hill's Madcap Chase	Dk'Tronics
	Biggles	Mirrorsoft
	Big Trouble In Little China	Electric Dreams
	Blade Runner	CRL
	Blockbusters	TV Games
	Blue Max	US Gold
	Bob's Full House	TV Games
	Bruce Lee	US Gold
	Buck Rogers	US Gold
	Cobra	Ocean
	Count Duckula	Alternative
	Danger Mouse In Double Trouble	Sparklers
	Danger Mouse In Making Whoopee	Sparklers
	Death Wish III	Gremlin
	Dukes Of Hazard, The	Elite
	Eastenders	Tynesoft
	Empire Strikes Back, The	Domark
	Flash Gordon	MAD
	Flintstones	Grandslam
	Ghostbusters	Activision
	Ghostbusters II	Activision
	Gilbert - Escape From Drill	Again Again
	Give My Regards To Broad Street	Argus Press Software
	Goonies, The	US Gold
	Highlander	Ocean
	Hong Kong Phooey	Hi-Tec
	Howard The Duck	Activision
	Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade	US Gold
	Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom	US Gold
	Inspector Gadget	Melbourne House
	Knightmare	Activision
	Knight Rider	Ocean
	Krypton Factor	TV Games
	Licence To Kill	Domark
	Live And Let Die	Domark
	Living Daylights, The	Domark
	Max Headroom	Quicksilva
	Masters Of The Universe	Gremlin
	Miami Vice	Ocean
	Mickey Mouse	Gremlin
	Mike Read's Computer Pop Quiz	Elite
	Minder	Dk'Tronics
	Monty Python's Flying Circus	Virgin
	Moonwalker	US Gold
	Munsters, The	Again Again
	NeverEnding Story, The	Ocean
	Nightbreed, The	Ocean
	Orm And Cheep - The Birthday Party	Macmillan
	Pink Panther	Gremlin
	Platoon	Ocean
	Popeye	Dk'Tronics
	Postman Pat	Alternative
	Postman Pat II	Alternative
	Predator	Activision
	Rambo	Ocean
	Rambo III	Ocean
	Real Ghostbusters, The	Activision
	Red Heat	Ocean
	Return Of The Jedi	Domark
	Road Runner	US Gold
	Robocop	Ocean
	Roland's Rat Race	Ocean
	Scooby Doo	Elite
	Short Circuit	Ocean
	Sooty And Sweep	Alternative
	Spitting Image	Domark
	Sporting Triangles	CDS
	Spy Who Loved Me, The	Domark
	Star Wars	Domark
	Street Hawk	Ocean
	Tarzan	Martech
	Terrahawks	CRL
	Thunderbirds	Firebird
	Thunderbirds	Grandslam
	Thundercats	Elite
	Top Gun	Ocean
	Total Recall	Ocean
	Untouchables, The	Ocean
	Yabba Dabba Doo	Quicksilva
	Yes Prime Minister	Mosaic
	Yogi Bear	Piranha
	Yogi's Great Escape	Hi-Tec
	Young Ones, The	Orpheas
	Zorro	US Gold