CRASH 27 - Readers' Awards (original) (raw)

THE 1985 CRASH READERS AWARDS

At last, after much grunting and groaning, our Database Minion has keyed in all your votes and come up with a full blown analysis of how the votes were cast in the 1985 Awards Poll. Here’s a summary of all the statistical evidence we gathered.

We’ve gone through the categories in the same order as they appeared on the voting form, so pin your eyes back or whatever it is you’re supposed to do, and absorb the information we have for you.

BEST GAME OVERALL

ELITE

Firebird

Lenslok can’t have made that many enemies for ELITE to come tops in this supreme category. Melbourne House came a respectable second with EXPLODING FIST and Steve Crow’s one-man game STARQUAKE published by Bubble Bus third, trailing FIST by one percentage point. You don’t have to be big to be beautiful in the eyes of CRASH readers, that’s for sure.

BEST PLATFORM GAME

DYNAMITE DAN

Mirrorsoft

An easy win in the platform category with DYNAMITE DAN from Mirrorsoft, which collected nearly a third of all the votes cast for Best Platform Games. MONTY ON THE RUN legged it into second place, while old Charlie Fotheringham-Grunes pottered shakily into third place clutching a handful of alchiems from NODES OF YESOD.

BEST SHOOT EM UP

COMMANDO

Elite Systems

The only really warlike game to enter into the running in this group came out tops! COMMANDO drew nearly twice as many votes as second-place MOONCRESTA from Incentive, and perhaps a little surprisingly, ELITE from Firebird is in third place. Who says you can’t do a bit of trading in between battles?

BEST ARCADE ADVENTURE

FAIRLIGHT

The Edge

Bo Jangeborg, the programmer, and The Edge, the publishers will be well pleased when they learn their 3D game has achieved this piece of fame. Steve Crow fans put STARQUAKE from Bubble Bus into second place, while MARSPORT from Gargoyle Games beat DRAGONTORC from Hewson’s into third place by two votes.

BEST TEXT-ONLY ADVENTURE

MORDON’S QUEST

Melbourne House

Almost a Melbourne In-House fight in this section of the awards. MORDON’S QUEST came top, HAMPSTEAD came second but BORED OF THE RINGS by Fergus McNeill managed to prevent MH from spending the rest of 1986 bursting with joy. Silversoft’s game came third.

BEST GRAPHICAL ADVENTURE

RED MOON

Level 9

A close run contest once again, with Level 9 elbowing Beyond’s DOOMDARK’S REVENGE into second place. GREMLINS, from the now-defunct Adventure International slithered into third place — good job no-one fed them!

BEST FLIGHT SIMULATION

TOMAHAWK

Digital Integration

You don’t mess about with someone flying in a Tomahawk helicopter. Even if you’re ELITE from Firebird or DAMBUSTERS from US Gold you agree to come second equal to Digital Integration’s latest release. TOMAHAWK collected as many votes as ELITE and DAMBUSTERS put together. No contest.

BEST SPORTS SIMULATION

HYPERSPORTS

Imagine

A nice solid lead for HYPERSPORTS with EXPLODING FIST leaving a good gap and falling into second place. Oldie but goldie MATCH DAY from Ocean couldn’t resist coming third. So there.

BEST WARGAME

ARNHEM

CCS

ARNHEM battled its way into the lead, fighting off a challenge from Elite’s COMMANDO, oddly enough. BATTLE OF THE BULGE from MC Lothlorien put up valiant resistance but had to retreat into third place.

BEST GRAPHICS

FAIRLIGHT

The Edge

Bo and The Edge will be pleased! Coming Top twice is not a bad achievement! FAIRLIGHT was chased by ROBIN O’THE WOOD from Odin and Melbourne House’s EXPLODING FIST. ROBIN won second place by one vote. Almost a photo-finish!

BEST SOUND FX

STARQUAKE

Bubble Bus

Steve Crow will soon have an award to put on his mantelpiece, for just beating Mirrorsoft’s Rod Bowkett and DYNAMITE DAN into top slot in this category. A mere three votes settled the tussle for first and second place, EXPLODING FIST from Melbourne House trailing behind just a tiny bit, arriving in third place.

BEST MUSIC

FAIRLIGHT

The Edge

Gosharootie! They’ve come top for the third time. What a team Bo and The Edge make! Worldmaker? World-dominator if you ask this Minion. Melbourne House’s GYROSCOPE came a respectable second and Mirrorsoft’s Musician programmer Rod Bowkett slotted DYNAMITE DAN into third place.

TACKIEST GAME OF THE YEAR

THE GREAT SPACE RACE

Legend

Should we allow this one? Oh alright then — Foregone Conclusion and all. Anirog’s FLIGHT PATH 737 managed to take off and land in second place while SUPERGRAN from Tynesoft got on her bike and arrived third.

STATE OF THE ART AWARD

FAIRLIGHT

The Edge

WOW! They’ve cleaned up this year. The Edge’ll have to move to new premises to make sure they’ve got enough room on their office walls for all the awards they’ve won from CRASH readers this year. Well done! ELITE from Firebird traded a few places and came second, State-of-the-Artwise. In third place, Denton Designs make their only appearance in this year’s awards list with SHADOWFIRE.

It’s all over for another year: our Database Minion can go back to sleep until it’s time to start filling Apricots (computers you sillies) with the CRASHTIONNAIRE results. Thanks to everyone for getting out pens, scratching brains and sending in voting forms. All that’s left to do is organise the awards and make sure they’re sent off to the rightful new owners. Ho hum...