CRL Group plc was a British video game development and publishing company. Originally CRL stood for "Computer Rentals Limited". It was based in King's Yard, London and run by Clem Chambers.
They released a number of notable adventure games based on horror stories. Dracula and Frankenstein were rated 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Censors for their graphics depicting bloody scenes; Dracula was the first game to be rated by the BBFC. Jack the Ripper was the first game to receive an 18 certificate, Wolfman also gained an 18 certificate.
CRL-published games that achieved critical success include Tau Ceti and Academy.
The 1984 game of the series Terrahawks was one of the first video games based on a TV show.
Games
1982
- Rescue
1983
- 3D Desert Patrol
- Alien Maze
- Bomber
- Caveman
- Crawler
- Derby Day
- Draughts
- Escape from Manhattan
- Galactic Patrol
- Grand National
- Jackpot
- Lunar Rescue
- One Day Cricket
- Pandemonia
- Test Match
- The Omega Run
- The Orb
- Space Mission
- Zaraks
1984
- £.s.d.
- Ahhh!!
- Cricket 64
- Glug Glug
- Handicap Golf
- Handy Andy
- Incredible Adventure
- Olympics
- Orpheus in the Underworld
- Show Jumping
- Terrahawks6
- The Great Detective
- The Magic Roundabout
- Tritz
- Whirlybird
- The War of the Worlds
- The Warlock's Treasure
- The Woods of Winter
1985
- Blade Runner
- Bored of the Rings2
- Endurance
- Formula One
- Juggernaut
- Space Doubt
- Tau Ceti
- The Causes of Chaos
- The Rocky Horror Show
1986
- Academy
- Bugsy
- Doctor What!7
- Dracula
- Hercules1
- Pilgrim
- Robin of Sherlock2
- Room Ten
- Samurai
- The Boggit
- The Very Big Cave Adventure
1987
- Ball Breaker
- Book of the Dead
- Cyborg
- Death or Glory
- Federation3
- Frankenstein
- From Darkness into Light
- I-Alien
- IQ
- Jack the Ripper
- Jet-Boys
- Last Mohican
- Lifeforce
- Loads of Midnight
- Mandroid
- Murder off Miami
- Ninja Hamster
- Oink!
- Outcast
- Plasmatron
- Sun Star
- They Call Me Trooper
- Traxxion
- Vengeance
1988
- Ball Breaker II
- CounterForce
- Cyberknights
- Discovery
- International Soccer4
- Kellogg's Tour 1988
- NATO Assault Course
- Purple Heart
- Road Warrior
- Sophistry
- Thunder Cross
- Time Fighter
- To Hell and Back
- Trigger Happy
- Wolfman
1989
- Inner Space
- Lancaster
- Professional Soccer
- Search for the Titanic
1990
- Hellhole
Unreleased
Software
- Fifth (1983)12
- Stargazer Secrets (1983)
- Highway Code (1984)13
- 3D Game Maker (1987)
- 2D Game Maker (1988)
- Hi-Rise Scaffold Construction Set (Unreleased)
Platforms
- Acorn Electron
- Amiga
- Amstrad CPC
- Amstrad PCW
- Atari ST
- BBC Micro
- Commodore 64
- Commodore Plus/4
- MS-DOS
- Oric-1/Atmos
- ZX Spectrum
- ZX81
Notes
1 Hercules was originally released in 1984 by Interdisc 2 Bored of the Rings and Robin of Sherlock were originally released in 1985 by Delta 4 3 Federation was originally released as Quann Tulla in 1985 by 8th Day Software 4 International Soccer was originally only released on cartridge in 1983 by Commodore International1415
Further reading
- Retro Gamer Magazine, issue 97, Graeme Mason
External links
References
"CRASH 9 - News". http://www.crashonline.org.uk/09/news.htm ↩
"From cavemen to rocky horrors". Amstrad Action (19): 30. August 1985. at World of Spectrum /wiki/World_of_Spectrum ↩
"Bram Stoker's Dracula". Eurogamer. 26 October 2007. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/bram-stokers-dracula-review ↩
"Dracula unbound: The story behind the first 18 certificated video game". Eurogamer. March 2015. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-01-dracula-unbound-the-story-behind-the-first-18-certificated-video-game ↩
"Your Sinclair". http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=YourSinclair/Issue60/Pages/YourSinclair6000058.jpg ↩
"Your Spectrum 09 - Joystick Jury". http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jg27paw4/yr09/yr09_59.htm ↩
"Doctor What! At Spectrum Computing - Sinclair ZX Spectrum games, software and hardware". https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=1416 ↩
"World of Spectrum - Enchantress". http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0011680 ↩
"World of Spectrum - Spearhead". https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/software/games/spearhead-crl-group-plc ↩
"The Blues Brothers (C64) - 1987 CRL - GTW64". https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/the-blues-brothers/ ↩
"World of Spectrum - the Malinsay Massacre". http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0011871 ↩
Taylor, Richard. "Fifth User's Manual". World Of Spectrum. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. https://worldofspectrum.org//pub/sinclair/games-info/f/Fifth.txt ↩
"Highway Code at Spectrum Computing - Sinclair ZX Spectrum games, software and hardware". https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=96&id=9110 ↩
"Funny Old Game Innit Cecil?". Computer and Video Games. No. 86. EMAP. December 1988. p. 99. Retrieved 19 December 2022. https://archive.org/details/cvg-magazine-086/page/n97/mode/2up ↩
"Zzap Test: International Soccer". Zzap. No. 76. Newsfield. 9 June 1988. p. 75. Retrieved 19 December 2022. https://archive.org/details/zzap64-magazine-039/page/n75/mode/2up ↩