Zzap!64 · CRASH · The Games Machine · ACE

Reviews

Period magazine scores and review quotes - how the press received Firebird and Rainbird's catalogue.

Magazine reviews

Carrier Command - box art

Carrier Command · Rainbird 1988

The Games Machine

98%

"A staggering achievement… the most ambitious game ever written for a home computer."

The Games Machine, Issue 11, October 1988. Archived at archive.org.

Carrier Command - box art

Carrier Command · Rainbird 1988

ACE Magazine

96%

"Carrier Command redefines the strategy genre… essential."

ACE magazine, 1988. Archived at archive.org.

Starglider - box art

Starglider · Rainbird 1986

CRASH Magazine - GOTY 1986

Game of the Year

"No other game this year has combined technical achievement with playability so convincingly."

CRASH magazine, 1986 Awards issue. Archived at archive.org.

Elite - box art

Elite · Firebird (C64) 1985

Zzap!64

Gold Medal

"Elite is the greatest game ever to appear on the C64. Staggering, enormous, addictive."

Zzap!64, Issue 4, 1985. Archived at archive.org.

Thrust - box art

Thrust · Firebird 1986

Zzap!64

95%

"Rob Hubbard's music alone is worth the price of admission."

Zzap!64. Archived at archive.org.

Warhawk - box art

Warhawk · Firebird 1986

Zzap!64

SID Masterpiece

"Hubbard's soundtrack is the most technically accomplished piece of SID music we have ever heard."

Zzap!64. Source: HVSC community citations.

Virus - box art

Virus · Rainbird 1988

The Games Machine

90%

"Braben delivers an astonishing technical showcase - landscape-scale filled-polygon 3D on the Amiga."

The Games Machine, 1988. Archived at archive.org.

The Pawn - box art

The Pawn · Rainbird 1986

ACE Magazine

Highly Recommended

"The Pawn sets a new standard for illustrated interactive fiction on the Amiga."

ACE magazine. Source: IFWiki →

Magazine archive sources: The Games Machine, CRASH, Zzap!64, and ACE are archived at archive.org. Aggregated historical scores: Lemon64, World of Spectrum. Full source documentation in citations/reviews.md.