Alternating between on-foot platforming with floating TARDIS screens, this is a decent not-quite-Doctor-Who game from the highly productive Sloanysoft.
TURDLE ZX
Wordle? Turdle, more like. HuhHurHur. And that's as far as that joke would have gotten for most of us, but no, here we have a word game with a deeply unpleasant mascot. It's rude Wordle, and skillfully executed too.
FOREST ESCAPE - A KNIGHT'S QUEST
First things first - this one's for charity, so as it's Christmas, maybe consider pushing a few quid their way. It's worth it, too, for a colourful jump-'em-up ( my new name for platformers ) with an interesting mushroom-eating powerup system. Sequel to last year's Castle Escape.
TERROR BY NIGHT
But Holmes, you can't expect me to believe that someone's made a game of a movie even older then the Spectrum? It's preposterous!
Perhaps, Watson, but true nonetheless.
A multiple-choice text adventure with screengrabs from the 1946 movie.
Bomberrun
Some nice flourishes in this BASIC bomber game. I especially appreciate the jolly Unabomber-style plot.
Haunted House
An excellently presented text adventure, in a snappy custom engine.
Pac-Hic III - The Great Sewer Escape
A Jolly tune underpins this straight-forward maze game starring a dissolute Pacman with feet.
The Unforgiveable Innocent
A unique design for this Boriel Basic entry - you have to collect the the powers while avoiding the lasers that pop up. Features a bonkers storyline about excaping hell. An interesting package all round.
Tuerkas the White Cat
Pretty slick cat-themed platformer with some unique traversal gimmicks.
Manic Person
Another tough-as-nails JSW mod, this one featuring different music on every screen. I can verify this for the first 2 screens - any more proved beyond my capabilities.
LPrint Runaway
A Game&Watch prison escape game, in full colour.
Jeff and the Christmas Tat
Who would have thought that Jeff Lynn would star in not one but TWO Spectrum Games this year? A fine cap to a distinguished career in the arts.
Colourfusion
Simple colour-picking game, where you have to identify the colour of a rectangle. Sounds easier than it is.
ZX Robots
Sharp-looking isometric game with fun block-pushing robot-smashing action. Back in the Spectrum's heyday, you couldn't move for isometric games, but they're few and far between these days. Refreshing.
Area 51 - The Roswell Incident
They've got an engine, and they're going to use it. Another mutiple-choice text adventure from Furillo, This one on a 50s b-movie/x-files tip.
Jesus Vs. The Romans
Not what it appears on first play, I'll just say that. Technically, a bit of a show-off, and arguably the most Christmassy game in this year's Woot!
ZX Bomb Sweeper
Game and Watch was always a misnomer. Game and Clock, sure. But you could never wear one of those as a watch. Anyway - here's another game and watch conversion. Run through the maze, be careful not to bump the walls, or you'll block yourself. Again, basically perfect, but perhaps a mite too simple.
EXO-TICAL
The first obstacle in this bright and colourful Cybernoidesque shooter is a set of vines that you have to blast through, in what feels like an homage to Airwolf's infamous wall. The vines are trivially easy, but the don't let that put you off guard. The rest of the game is absolutely unforgiving, but there's enough variety to keep you coming back. Top notch.
Crazy Forest
Oddly themed exploratory platformer. This one rewards perseverence and is lovingly put together.
Batmanolo contra el ataque mutante a Lloricatown
Impressive platformer in BASIC, with a transform-into-Batman mechanic. Too hard for me, if I'm honest.
Lil' Ninja
Super fast, tricky single screen actioner, kind of like a hyperactive Bubble Bobble with single character graphics.
Mickey and Donald G&W
Another basically perfect Game and Watch conversion.
BOMBERBOT
Nice single character sprites and a jolly tune set up this cute bomberman-mechanic action game. I'm not sure that the wide open maps suit the mechanic, but it's worth a look.
Return of the Aliens Disguised as Christmas Items
Frantic shooter, that would be best played with a Tempest-style spinner. Sadly, 'frantic' and 'Boriel Basic' are not good companions.
Up7
2-player only card game.
Tiny Nightmares
Creepy arcade adventiure with nicely atmospheric heart-rate health system, some tense hiding bits and a slightly odd inventory/object system.
Hopman
Plain but precise scrolling platformer.
Roasty
A festive potato self-immolation simulator featuring a clever control gimmick. The right kind of frustrating.
Lunar Rescue RX
Lunar Rescue is a moderately obscure arcade game from 1979. That's, like, before the 80s. Wow. This is a spot-on conversion of that.
Slide-ZX UPG edition
A slidey-puzzle game/toy featuring classic Ultimate loading screens.
Javi versus Parrish
Another mutiple-choice adventure from the Furillo fellas - this one a light-hearted modern-day farce.
Crazy Christmas
A straight-forward, no-frills platformer. Has Santa in it, so automatically good. Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!
La Estrella de la Mañana 2023
A text adventure with lovely black and white graphics. In Spanish though, so I can't say whether it's any good.
Return to Long Shadows
Cor, a proper roguelike. A long-awaited sequel to 1986's Forest of Long Shadows. If you like this kind of thing, this is very much the kind of thing you like.
Gioco di Em
Started by an 8-year old, finshed by a 44 year-old. The Speccy spirit, ladies and gents. ( It's a nippy Snake, with awkward 4-5-6-7 controls for added challenge )
Duckstroma 2
A novel and complete arcade adventure with your duck's jumping enhanced by the deployment of exploding eggs.
Mario Bros. Game & Watch
Kind of perfect - looks great and emulates the original as exactly as you could want. It just inherits the limitations of the original, so it's not very long-lived.
Pegged
It's solitaire, the one with all the pegs and you have to finish with one in the middle. I learned how to do that on a real board last summer, so for a couple of weeks I was a Solitaire Champ. I've forgotten now. Pegged has a selection of puzzles using the mechanic, and it works well. Interface is very nice.
Zedex Tanks
Fun Tank game, with 2-player mode. No frills, a modicum of thrills. Spectacular loading screen.
Fitris
Tetris is one of the best games of all time. This is a version of that. It has THE MUSIC and the little dancing guy in the corner, but only has one rotate button, which might be an issue for high-level players. If I ever meet one, I'll ask them.
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