Spectrum Computing

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:32 pm Absolutely agree. This is also my fave pinball game.

I remember that game! probably the only pinball videogame I've ever played too.

By the way, I've just learnt that a Subbuteo game was released for the Spectrum.

Time Scanner is a good pinball IMHO, but it's hard.

My today's recommendation is a spanish game by Magic Team: Rocman. An adventure in which you must find a old treasure using keys and other objects. Cute. It's got a cool intro voice that welcomes you to the game.

Spent a few hours between sunbathing/eating ice cream* playing Just Imagine. IMO it's the easiest to get into of the software management games (the main others being Software House/Star) and looks to be programmed at least partially in BASIC (?). The gameplay is well balanced, it's obvious when you are risking everything but it's also hard for money to breed money.

Tips for getting a toehold:

-Offer roughly 1/3 of the game's chance of success as royalty
-Don't be shy on pricing! unless I got the promo very wrong it seems you need to price >£10 from the beginning (but less than £14.30)

The biggest failing is that fireproofing your offices doesn't seem to be an option...

*For the first time in the Holocene the UK has a clear sky on a Bank Holiday Monday.

Last night I played an interesting Spanish game Star Bowls, although I dont know much about it.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=4812

The game itself has nice graphics and animation, as well as sound effects and I think it's worth playing.
Since I'm not the best with Spanish, I put instructions in google translate and got this:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=
I see that the same publisher (Zigurat) has another similar game - Nuclear Bowls, which also looks pretty good.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=3471

Nuclear Bowls is the prequel of this game. I haven't played Star Bowls much, but Nuclear Bowls a lot, in spite of it's a bloody masochistic platform game in the line of Abu Simbel (non-lineal, though).

Spectrum 2.0 now recognizes all games from SC, ZX Info, ZX-Art, and WoS:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=717

For everyone that posted reviews of games in this thread, I suggest also adding their reviews to Spectrum 2.0. This way, everybody interested in a certain game will easily find your review too, not just people reading this thread.

Star Bowls and Nuclear Bowls are very typical Spanish games - pretty and colourful but very hard.
Somehow I like this guy on Star Bowls loading screen, he's certainly a tough bloke, not to be messed with

Xeno, by A'n'F.



Very cool and addictive futuristic game. I love it.

Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Fri May 11, 2018 5:33 pm For everyone that posted reviews of games in this thread, I suggest also adding their reviews to Spectrum 2.0. This way, everybody interested in a certain game will easily find your review too, not just people reading this thread.

I've started with Space Escape from the new titles and an old, lesser known one called SQIJ.

Today's game: Froggy, by DJL.



As Z-Man, this is a very decent conversion by DJL from the classic arcade game (my fave one, by the way!). Very payable, in spite of its poor graphics.

Having a go at The Brewery.



It's a decent, simple little management game. The most fun parts are naming your Brewery/product and watching the monthly sales. Unfortunately Beardo's brewery failed to make a name for its main beer - Hopf**ker, and it went belly up after a few months.

Remember it was made in 1983, so good luck if you want to charge more than £1 a pint.

It's very interesting to see how cool a management game can be (like this, seems cool!)

Maybe we should start a thread about how many types of (weird/cool) management games we can find for the Spectrum...

High Noon by Workforce



This little jewel from Workforce is a nice conversion from the very old Midway's Boot Hill arcade classic.

A western duel in which you have limited bullets and a moving stagecoach and two cactus as shields. Simple but addictive.

One of the first Spectrum games I've ever played. Great for a 1983 one. Even the crappy Chopin's Funeral March played when a player loses a life is a fond recall.

Its inlay is definitely erm, innnovative!

Uroboros.



Without doubt the best Snake game on the speccy, probably beyond.

Looks cool.

The only similar game I've ever played for the Spectrum is Light Cycle by PSS:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/inde ... 6&id=2879

River Raid by Activision.

Not the best graphics ever, not the best sound ever, but is highly payable. I love it.

Wolfman by CRL.

Sounds like a standard Sunday morning hangover.

I tried playing Wolfman, and got out of the village without much problem, but am now stuck.
Pros:
It's got some nice atmospheric writing.
An interesting first puzzle.
Cons:
It doesn't differentiate between things it doesn't understand and things you can't do, so it's not obvious whether you have the idea or the wording wrong.
There's a bug where 'remove key' works but 'take key' breaks the game.
I'm rather surprised it's from 1988 as it seems very similar in tech to a Scott Adams game from 1980.

It's weird - the reviews mention gruesome images but it seems to be pure text so far (unless I'm missing something in emulation).

Z-Man, if you fancy a short gaming. A cute Pac Man game for the Spectrum.

Hunt the Hurkle - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=16720



Just found this one looking into "Maze" games, and the concept is pretty interesting. It is just a treasure hunt: you move, the computer inform if you're good on the track or not, but you can play with different set of clues: warm/cold, bearing, how many units again. There are 10 different sets including variations.

Jason's Gem - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=2579

Just rediscovered this game, I'm pretty sure I saw pictures on magazines, but never played it. Reminds me the first multilevel games on the Speccy, and I can say the map looks cool:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3-xC5VMeDg

I'm a big fan of Jasons Gem. I've no idea why, because it's so hard to even get to the platform levels, let alone finish the game, but, I seem to have some odd fondness for it.

Penetrator by Melbourne House. Great game with a mix of good sounds, simple but effective graphics and a great gameplay. A very great conversion.



Any other good Scramble clone for the Spectrum?