Reviews

This was the game that sadly made £9.95 an acceptable price for a Spectrum game. It was done through very skillful marketing - beautiful teaser advertising and a very stylish box. The game, it must be said, looked beautiful too. It still does.
This was just about the first major step to style over substance in computer gaming. The actual experience of playing it was not a patch on its predecessor Atic Atac.
Ultimate's stupid key layout further confirmed how low down the pecking order playing the game actually came.
The draw of nostalgia between me and Sabre Wulf is still strong. I still want to like,it as I wanted to back then, but I only have to bustle down a couple of sceens of maze, sabre in hand and get unfairly boxed in by a hippo to know that it just isn't good entertainment.
Sabre Wulf - a magical amulet that hypnotised teenagers into liking it by good looks alone. The expensive blond of Spectrum gaming and just as poor on reflection the morning after.

Ultimate's seventh game is largely a rehash of their sixth, Atic Atac. The setting is moved from a castle to a jungle, and instead of finding three parts of a key, you need to find four parts of an amulet. The junglescapes are beautifully rendered in colour, and somewhat reminiscent of those of the artist Henri Rousseau. There's also some beautiful animation of the creatures you come across and of Sabre Man's sword-fighting moves.

Many of the changes haven't been for the better however: There are far less in the way of interesting objects and special locations than Atic Atac, although there are a few subtleties in the way of magic orchids and hints from the natives as to where the amulet parts are located. Instead of losing energy when you're attacked you lose a life and you've also got to engage in hand to hand combat either left to right making it very difficult to go up and down when there are enemies in the way. Almost inevitably you'll get yourself into some situations where you'll lose a life; a curse that would afflict most of Ultimate's later games. However, with some perseverance bonus lives are to be found, and it's still very possible to complete the game.

Overall, it's not quite as good as Atic Atac, and certainly not worth the huge price hike that nearly doubled the price. Still, this is a cut above the bulk of the clones that came from other developers and very much an Ultimate classic.

One of those mythical games from the early days of the Spectrum published under the label Ultimate Play the Game.

Back in the 80´s every child at that time dreamed of playing this sort of games facing rhynos and other wild beasts with a sword.

Cool game with cute and colorful graphics in the vein of Atic-Atac.

Sabre Wulf has also been widely imitated, but never equaled.

Now this is very nice looking game. And it's a game that I really want to like because it's such an iconic spectrum game. But the fact is it's just not very fun to play. And that ultimately (no pun intended) is what really matters.

1984 Ultimate (UK)
by Tim and Chris Stamper

I never fancied much any Ultimate game. They were all too hard (Underwurlde) or too simple (Jet Pac, Cookie or Pssst).
They looked good though, and played fast with fluid movements. And the story behind each one was also very captivating. But somehow I never got into any that much. Give me anytime a straightforward shooter like Commando or an action platformer like Bruce Lee or for that matter, any war, formula one or football strategy game, and I will be happy.

However, in 1984, a game like Sabre Wulf would always raise eyebrows and make kids emit strange sounds of excitement. The plot itself is engaging enough to make you submerse yourself into the game. Some characters really made kids dream of them. The main reason I played this game was to at least, take a glance at the dreaded Wolf, everybody talked about.
Well, if you haven't seen it yet, I advise you to stay that way, because I'm certain the image you have on your imagination is 100 times better than the real one.

The same goes for the devil in Underwurld or Dracula, Frankenstein, Quasimodo or the Mummy in Atic Atac.
Nonetheless, Sabre Wulf is a good Arcade adventure maze game, with plenty of action and pretty scenarios to look at. Isn't it what modern games offer?

It's Atic Atac, only more colorful, harder and placed in a jungle - which also means narrower passages, all ridden with animals, cannibals, etc.
The smaller animals can be defeated with your twirling sword, but the biggest, like hippos and rhinos, can only be pushed back and turner around in their furious race. The same with the cannibals. Anyway, of course it's a sort of treasure hunt, for the usual amulets or maps or something - plus dozens of other objects littered anywhere [this jungle seems like a junkyard].
Playability is definitely lower than in Atic Atac, and more akin to Underwurlde - but if in the latter there are more efficient techniques that you can learn to survive, in Sabre Wulf there are more random contacts with enemies appearing out of nowhere, and your self-defence is limited by the fact that you can use your swords horizontally only - so a lethal contact easily verifies - and if in Underwurlde it might mean only another session of bouncing around, in this case it's death.
So I'll give it 4/5 because is very well done, with a nice tune and all, definitely above average, especially for 1984 - but it has not chances to improve its score. Underwurlde is better, as far as I can see.

One of the Spectrum classics, a true masterpiece by Ultimate.

The first adventure of one of the most iconic Spectrum characters, Sabreman, an intrepid explorer in a giant maze, a jungle infested with wild animals (tarantulas, gorillas, scorpions, …) and dangerous natives where he must search the four pieces of a medallion.

You'll come across some orchids, depending of their colour they will help you... or not. Some animals can be killed but others not, just try to avoid them, specially the wolf that prowls the southern jungle.

Superb (and hard) game with frenetic action, colourful graphics and cool sound effects that made you immerse in an unique arcade atmosphere. Unforgettable intro music.

Continuing with the COVID lockdown and the exploration games-based treatment, we reach Sabre Wulf

A true Masterpiece, this is Probably the Great Spectrum title prior to the pseudo-3 D era.
Not 100 % rrvolutionary per se, but a formidably well equilibrated software with no weak points

A monumental achievement for a date as early as 1984: The admirably colorful and varied graphics get you immersed in one of the greatest adventures / searches of all time in the ZX Spectrum catalog.
Cleverly designed mazes.
What else can you expect from a good title? ...
A good tune... Well I really like classical music but I mostly can't distinguish the authors, or their works but I think the Amazing melody is (was) made by Mozart (... maybe J.S. Bach???). In fact, the games that had classical music used to be some of the best (!!)

An inmortal classic and superb example for the ones to follow