Hello, and welcome to  the very first issue of Format Review. Well, that’s not strictly true. In a sense, this is the first issue of volume 3 of the zine. It previously existed as a seven issue run from April 1998 to June 1999 as Format Magazine. A second volume followed, now called Format Review, for another four issues from October 1999 to October 2000. I’ve made a few attempts over the years to bring it back – first in November 2000 with what was planned to be a three part series of mini specials of Format Magazine (I made one). I started a couple of fresh templates after that around 2006-2007, but I never got beyond plotting out a few pages before moving on to other things.
This time however it feels different, and for a couple of reasons. I recently spent a few weeks recreating those earlier issues, warts and all, in Affinity Publisher. Due to various issues (mainly lack of suitable backup options in 1999-2000), the master files were lost a long, long time ago. That meant that, before starting this project, the only copies I owned were the original hard copies and some quite poor, low quality scans of those hard copies. On that basis, it made sense for me to preserve that little bit of my history as best as possible.
That inevitably led to thinking about if there was a way of starting afresh and bringing the zine back. After all, there are so many more resources available now for something like this, from press kits to distribution options – a far cry from the days of Microsoft Publisher and printing each issue manually on an inkjet! That has led us to this very issue you hold in your hands (figuratively or literally).
Now, what will be the purpose of this third volume of Format Review? For the most part it will be very similar to what we did before. Video game reviews from all eras and all consoles, features, and an old-school media and entertainment section. The games are unlikely to be hot off the press reviews of brand new releases – the internet and other publications tend to do a pretty good job of that. Instead, the focus will be on current-gen releases, no matter their release date.
And that leads us to this issue’s cover star and mascot-themed issue. Crash Bandicoot 4 released in October 2020, with a next-gen update on PS5/Xbox Series X/S in March 2021, So, clearly not a “new” new game, but given Crash’s calibre, it was an easy choice for the first cover.
As for the future, it would be nice to make it beyond 12 issues, just to outperform my 16 year old self. So with that in mind, let’s get the ball rolling. Enjoy the issue, and feel free to get in touch if you have any comments. Details are below.
Simon.

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Staff:

Editor – Simon Prior
Assistant Editor – Dan Morris
Entertainment Mogul – Jazz Cat
Accounts – Felicity Blunderbuss