Reviews

... Of all-time Spectrum classics, probably the best

Without a doubt, the best when it came out, and still in the inmediately later era.

Precursor and previous to Alien 8, the latter was the only way to get better :)

All the ZX titles are either previous or later to Knight Lore. Yes, it's the true pivotal software to the legend Spectrum!!

Let's analyze some of the most recent reviews:
Last Vampire, The (1990)
Well I think that'll be easy.
Basically, you have Firelord with the ability to fire from the beginning.
Oh, and that nice day/night cycle. A nice touch, indeed.


Unfortunately, it looks easy to be hit by fast characters. Or at least, collision occurs a few pixels before contact, I don't know, maybe it's me or emulation.



in any case, it's 1990 and maybe you expect more. But overall, it's a fairly correct software, though it lacks passion.

Continuing with critics to recent reviews, this is a fair videogame but there are some flaws: big sprites appears with clash color, in an otherwise well polished background (and foreground, in a Jack the nipper II style). I mean, big sprites must prevail over the background, including its color.
Details are interesting, but it somehow suffers from lack of interest the more you play.
My subjective verdict: 3/5

well, it looks like the trend here has finally become to critic any vampire/horror creature-themed software.

Now let's go with this pretty lovely albeit relatively unknown title.
On the negative side it's 1 bit colored.
But it has some details that make up for that:
You have the most lovely mouse roaming the floors since Back to Skool. You have the ability to turn yourself into flying vampire. You have the ability to turn yourself into the most charming werewolf since Knight Lore. You have flying witches.
You have pretty animations of every character (highlighting as some noted the death sequence of your victims whose blood was sucked)
You have even a decent upstairs/downstairs animation movement, reminiscent, by the way, to another one that will be revised next review: the one from Vampire's Empire.

...Pity that there's no sound in some emulators, or due to be 128 you can't play in the 48/+. Not to speak, the quick loss in addiction once you discover those funny actions and details.
These, and some other setbacks, somehow sentence this otherwise good title.

Vampire's Empire (1988)
This could be an excellent videogame, if not for a series of serious flaws.
It has a huge map, full of funny details. Some foes are integrated in the background itself!
At the beginning, you get caught out of guard and the monsters suck fast your energy.
Good to have a great deal of instruments to accomplish your mission. Indeed, You are the Master Van Helsing!
In the technical aspect, the action is quick and flow thanks to use XOR graphical impression. But here and there, a bit quantity of graphics are chaotic in itself, you don't have to see the character mixed with a background to not being able to realize if that is the graphic in itself or there is a bug, or something.
Maybe it's worth to see "Historical development graphics" in WOS to check that, aside of excellent individual sprites, there are some ruined ones. Maybe it was because this is the least important version of Vampire's Empire, being behind the C64, Amiga etc. In fact, it could be that, being german programmers, they opted for those different plattforms as the priority effort, given that sales of ZX in Germany were low; or maybe they ran out of time!
In any case they fell short of doing an excellent job, but not for much.
Overall, 3.5/5

Oh . Weird memories. Lovely and cute .Great.
Its simplicity works, and achieves the less is more principle

Indeed ... a Great escape... I mean example of Exploration and Adventure. A dark game with a big deal of elegance.

Probably the most elegant spectrum game ever.
It 's right at the top of Mount Olympus next to very few chosen games

Its excellent isometric view, combined with amazing graphics made it stand out from other anyway good games that lacked so many definitive touches.

Truly unforgetable.
. . . . . . . . . . . .

Subsequent and unavoidable EDIT:

As you all can see, I took the time to criticize HIGHWAY ENCOUNTER. At first, I didn't realize it because I saved the read of the previous poster for moments after I'd have the most of the text (and also I logically should have read correctly the review title).

I leave it just as is:
1) as a fun confusion
2) as a further testimony of how good is Highway Encounter, to the point of being able to positively influence this otherwise unknown software ;)
3) unintended april fools joke

Probably the most elegant spectrum game ever. 
It 's right at the top of Mount Olympus next to very few chosen games

Its excellent isometric view, combined with amazing graphics (Wonderfully elegant and serious drawings, interface...) made it stand out from other anyway good games that lacked so many definitive touches.

Truly unforgetable. 

Very very decent sequel of Highway Encounter.
I'm with the other reviewers. Fairlight I / II comparation is OK. Straightforward but with a bit of tactic elements

Yes, it could have been better. But Tetris will always be a safe bet

Indeed, there is much more than one can write about it

Here's one of the few wonders capable of comparing itself to immortals, just like Head over Heels | Knight Lore | SkoolDaze saga....
Besides, its overwhelming depth manages to immerse you in its universe

Fantastic SHMUP ! ! ! ! ! !

At least,back in its time it really made very much noise.
Problem now, its technique to save you from color clash doesn't impress nobody, but back then it was a revolution !.
Frantic colourful intergalactic action!!

July 7 is San Fermin and the best game that may seem like the party in Pamplona is the Underwurlde.

After all, when an enemy reaches you, you don't lose a life, but you are thrown into the air.
Just like in Sanfermines' encierros when a bull catches you.

Yes! A true classic...
one of the Best so far.
Especially when it comes to add on's. This was probably the best game when it came to interpreting the art of add-on.
True about the problem with color and projectiles, but not as serious as in other games

classic arcade that could not miss the Spectrum catalog. It is very well achieved and survives very well even today

...capable of competing with nowadays equivalent clones, so it's time tested to the extreme .
 ... Darwinian doctrine in its purest state !!

Nice title, simple and without complications. Perfect example of 3 out of 10

 

I think it has a lot of merit to Try anything 3D related on the humble ZX.
In this case, as the most ones, it's vector-based instead of polygon based.
Fun, action driven and technically brilliant

I remember it. Good points were a great variety of movements and its Correspondent graphics.




We can conclude, the displacement of the background could be much better (parallax) and this ends up being monotone in terms of color and variety
However, there is a hidden gem: one of the Best end-game animations ever. If only for that, it's worth to try to end the game

I conclude a not very dissimilar conclusion like the ones of the previous comrades.
A bit of a lost opportunity.
Firing and the graphics (imsufficient vertical sync)being some lower arguments. OK for some others but Hewson could make much better

True that it's not that very original, but very very nice.
And the animations, almost every detail.
All in all, a highly polished final product

Nice and funny.
Another game more than sufficiently polished. I rate it between 3 and 4, although it must be recognized that something is missing. Its title is very appealing nonetheless!!

Excellent gem, and worth to play for these sunny days. Every aspect of the game is polished till extreme, and so it's fun and delightful to play.
You can find quality and fun at a same level.



This marvel doesn't give up on anything

This is hard to rate, because it mix too many features, like a great map, but with playability problems.
All in all, great merit for pack into the 48Kb such a huge adventure full of details

This ZX version of GNG is a hard to rate game because you have the Greatness of the Lovely GNG but in a limited fashion. This definitely is not one of the greatest conversions out there, it's technically very flawed and full of little errors like the incongruent print routine from certain areas of the screen.
But on the other hand, the responsiveness is very good and all in all this GNG version is sufficiently faithful to the mytical arcade.

S trange that this game was not evaluated till now. Being a relative big launch, with several versions. Anyway, the only big real thing about it is real disappointment

another game that has not been reviewed till summer 2020!
It has nice touches, average graphics, a relatively big hero in size.
But it lacks so much details, nuances and so on...

A little hard to successfully rate.
It has so many bright details
but fails miserably in another Equally important aspects, because other technic ones are good or interesant

this game is amazing.
I did not know it back in its day and I have to say that I am surprised by its quality and originality.

*a well deserved 5/5
**and a special mention for being so innovative and groundbreaking

'Asterix and the Magic Cauldron' on the other hand, is a game that, being excellent, carries some problems. I was about to rate it a 4, but I think it narrowly falls into the category of 5.

... the redrawing of the screen is not dramatic although I suppose that its main attraction (the Asterix and Obelix universe) gives it many more kudos than usual

This is a funny surprise of a game!!

It requires a good deal of hard skills
...But in a different way the all time classics do. I mean, the classic pixel-perfect skill but by a factor of 2 (you And a chasing Computer controlled friend).

Look after your mate and mind the correct route or you won't success!!

Excellent Karate and M artial Arts simulator (ha ving into account limitations

Another Centipede-esque attempt
This one has a funny detail:Cain is the programmers surname

This first version also deserves a 5.
Altough it's slightly less avanced, it's top quality also. Martial arts forever

Indeed, a very detailed and cute piece of software
I like that type of graphics more than say, Dizzy

I like it, Altough Simple

Very fine adventure.
Maybe a bit amateurish in a few aspects but very solid in general


Good points of originality and details of greatness. It is fair to give it a very good grade and high regard

This instead is one of the best adventures that have ever been programmed.
Nothing negative to say, just marvel yourself at a superb display of quality

another great programmer, Costa Panayi, started to train his skills as programmer.
It already began to glimpse something of what was to come.

the game itself?? a normal game, that was not bad for its time.

Yes!!!
It's a very modern game
But it's so cute!
Adorable creatures that are bloodily slaughtered!
...and with admirable use of rainbow techniques, multitude of colors.

Well, not because it is modern it will not be on this list with a good note and Rating.

in fact, it is technically excellent. This russian team of programmers led by Denis Grachev did an excellent job

Luckily there were hig quality "optimized" games back in the day. That is, using advanced techniques or the like.
This is a perfect example

Incredible that this wonder was cheaply priced

Curious that so far this game has not been reviewed because without being a work of art, it has its details. It is certainly not a BASIC type in game, so it was time to appear here.
I remember seeing it advertised. But I didn't play it.
Good graphics. Very good, yes.
 

This is a very nice game, it is not a wonder but I did'nt know it back in its day.



the character reminds me that of the great Starquake and Terminus/Tantalus as you, Gentlemen gracefully pointed out.

Curious and certainly peculiar and popular back in its day.

Crime oriented Strategy in all its Glory!"

My vote is mostly influenced by Brunhilda's resemblance to Vicky the Viking.

unforgettable memories
...for the cartoon

Darko is Right!! This is an absolute classic

So far, unfairly forgotten.
But undoubtly, Starquake deserves to be taken into account.

This new iteration of Android left the mark much higher. Ready to scale to TLL

Not sure if it's a magazine game but this venturama looks like the love child of Myth: History in the Making and Jack the Nipper 2

I fact, this is a different game and concept than Android2 because first, you have a true 3D environment (well more internally than display-esque) and second, its own 3D 'illusion" allows for a much greater deal of freedom and scenery detail

This is one of the coolest and funniest characters.

Not only that, It is visually well made. To the point it is recognizable.
Few times a sprite has achieved as much with as little resources.
Also, fun action and level variety .....

This is the Match Day of basketball.

True, great 2 player matches.

Great maze game. A bit Archaic
BUT a very good example of how they could make a simple but effective game. Interesting the animations

wanna more Ant Attack derivated games?

Moon cresta
It was so good that even if you had it ... you kept putting coins in the machine if you saw it in a bar or in an arcade

fantastic modern creation that shows the possibilities of developing ZX games today

if you want to put a negativity point: its gameplay does not represent a clear advance
but it is very good at style, graphics, overall presentation...

In general, the couple of programmers that created this, gives the games an absolutely identifiable graphic character. You can tell it's theirs

Arkanoid, such unforgetable memories...
This indeed is close in concept...






Well, this is a classic. And more in the 80s. so it could not be missing in the Spectrum catalog

Krakout is specifically the best Arkanoid clone (or is it said Breakout, with which it rhymes and has phonetic and semantic similarities?).


They also had the courage to make a major change in perspective!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EoPzT75XUAEKOFG?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

Thanks to China's Chang'E 5 we finally know that the boys from Odin Computer Graphics were right:






The galleries into the moon are there.


Just need to find the mole!

The good thing about this one is that it returns to the popular theme of oriental fighters!!

Hooray! More oriental fighters, in this case one of the most loved ones. Who doesn't love ninjas?...

Altough we need to say this is only an average late 80's game.
Graphics are O.K. but scroll, altough not horrible, it could be better. Detailed (but excessive/not equilibrated with characters) background doesn't help either.

What two great second parts you have chosen!

Especially the Tetris follow-up because it is exceptionally well polished.






And it preserves the tension and need to focus of the first part
GOOD DONE

Very good stuff too; although not so much, but a more than worthy successor to a classic of great significance

interesting game that suffers however from being not very extense. At least if you compare with the likes of Alien 8, Knight Lore, Head over Heels...





Although now that I think about it, it may be too unfair to compare it with the best of the genre.
After all, it's a Durell's game. They were very good, but not at the top. It's more than correct.. they tried to put some color in a somewhat monochrome genre.

Wheelie... badly written

I have tried to find Wheelie and I have been surprised by this. What I can say is that it is crap to avoid at all costs. Although you can take it as an example of flickering and slowness (BASIC in all its glory, no doubt).

Wheelie is NOT an historical game per se. But it served as they said for their programmer to hone his technical ability to create one of the best masterpieces out there.
keep in mind it's Boy Wander's favorite game!!

With Skool Daze we reached one of the great goals of the Spectrum. A game that could perfectly change the history of our machine. That is, if it does not appear, what course would the development of the ZX games catalog without SD have followed?



Today and for a long time, games allow almost infinite actions. In 1984/5 I hardly move (one or at most two axes) and I shoot, or perhaps jump (only rarely both). With Skool Daze there are a large number of possible actions, and they all have a logic and a specific purpose. The fun is continuous and at the same time the tension (make mistakes and you will be punished with the typical lines of sentences that you write on the board. 10000 means being expelled, repeating the course and therefore defeat.




Nothing remotely like it had ever been seen before.
A new era was born.

Saboteur!
Infiltration games. A Dangerous yet funny precedent.
This was another Ninja Revolution. Back in the day ninjas were cooooool

Very fine late era game
Artistically impress anybody. IThink.
A game that so many digital artists would like to be involved into.

It was misunderstood by many, but even those of us who did not understand it knew that there was something very large and very deliberate there behind those strange polygons.

Very funny, more in fact that Boulder Dash for many but I miss the equivalent of the Amoeba (flames are the closest but yet too far from being so cool)

I did not know that this popular franchise had its spectrum version. but of course it is from the last years. However I have been looking at it these last days and it looks very good


I deduce from the credits that its authors are from the demoscene

Ouch!
That ferocious puma has left me drained
of energy. I'll stand for a while to recover a little.
I'm really happy to hear from this one again, one of the best second parts of our beloved Spectrum



Quality and tense fun as you infiltrate the fortress

I have to find a way to get the modified report back to its safe. If I want to successfully reach the next academic year, of course. Otherwise, I can always have fun running away from classes and doing all kinds of mischief



One of the most sympathetic and fun titles by far. Also one of the best second parts!

To be a title of the first year of life of the machine, it is not bad at all but we must not exaggerate either ...









For the good and for the bad, to say that this was the typical game that helped to fill the cassette tapes but without being bad. That is, it was a "filler" or placeholder of the good ones.

Great fun and great way to update a myth

I like the way to display the PacMan without too much color clash.
So much attention to detail

True, this game looks to age better than others.
The view of the action is so interesting, not true isometric. A true delight, no doubt. And the mechanics of the action.
Everything fits so well

Excellently funny, humorous and more than average colourful adventure that made the best of its first part and got better

Ultimate made history. They were always one of the best ones creating games. And they always received a lot of criticism, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Consider it this way: if you are so criticized you cannot leave anyone indifferent. In the specific case of Alien 8, it was probably their last great game (although their worst games could be the best of most of the companies that competed for a slice of the pie). Keep in mind that Nightshade and the later ones did not have so much "magic". Specifically, Filmation II (or whatever it was called) was a great innovation but it was not properly exploited .

So we have that Nightshade and Gunfgright somehow missed the opportunity to be their last really big creation (even tough the two were excellent games).
Alien 8 on the other hand can be considered one of their true top games, quality-wise and playability.

Firelord is wonderful.
They not only achieved a large challenge but also knew how to give it an equally large map but with no danger to be too tired to navigate across it.
It's the perfect fit for any game, same for the varied colours.


But let me confess a secret: collision control does not happen on a logical level but takes place directly on the screen. That is, depending on what is on the screen there will or will not be a collision. You can traverse the areas that have certain graphics. And others not, but depending on what is printed on the screen at that time. Simple demonstration: in the emulators you can load a * .scr file that fills only the screen memory . Aany screen you load will alter the collision zones according to its content.

If not for Darko ' s advice I wouldn't have known this title. It's very good, a superb concept that is translated to the Spectrum's capabilities in the unavoidable 2 colors fashion. I doubt it's possible to code it that way much better

the plot:
this is a game I didn't remember or even I didn't know it back in the day. It looks more than sufficiently
polished, and only viewing the bats flapping their wings gracefully is enough to give it a try (!)

It's amazing how little it takes sometimes to design a game that will satisfy almost everyone.

I would give it a 6, even a 7 (out of 10) if you take into account the time and the trends when it came out.
One thing that I didn't like when I was a little boy was the final enemy, built from solid 8x8 grids that I thought could be done perfectly with the predefined graphics consisting of a grid with 4 4x4 Squares and that would give it more resolution (not a lot more but it's something).

Continuing with the category of games that embarrass gamers, I can think of jumping Jack.

Although this is not exactly a bad game, rather an old one and with limitations.
Indeed many users are ashamed by Jumping Jack but there are much worse games out there. At least, I would put it in the most top side of the 2/5 games.
It is also a classic in the Spectrum platform land for 16Kb

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