The 20 games with a <= 10% rating from all three major ZX Spectrum magazines
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2024 3:05 pm
Last year, I made a thread about all the games that got awards from all major ZX Spectrum magazines. It was titled 'The 52 games with awards from all three major ZX Spectrum magazines', as that's what I found in my initial calculation. However, it's actually 53, as I learnt when @zx4ever responded to point out how I missed Jinxter.
The YouTuber 'Seb's Place' decided to make a video on my research a year later and not bother crediting me, and in his sloppiness, he copied my initial mistake by missing out Jinxter. Yeah, thanks for that, Seb.
This weekend I took the step of identifying the 20 ZX Spectrum games which effectively scored 10% or less as an overall rating from the three major Speccy mags. I look at that as being an 'inverse' award, based on the almost-true rule that Crash would award a Crash Smash when a rating of 90% or higher. (Yeah, they didn't always do that, hence my 'almost-true' caveat.) When it comes to a 1/10 rating, I regard that as being the same as 10%.
Some maths pedants could say I should really go for 0-9% instead as that'd be a lower tenth. Or is it? None of the major three Speccy mags ever gave a 0% rating, although Big K issued a 0/3 rating to seven games and Personal Computer Games issued a 0/10 rating once. If we eliminated both 10% and 1/10 from the criteria, then we'd only be left with six games covered by the trinity of YS/SU/Crash.
Anyway, enough waffle, let's get onto it, by starting with the be... er, um, 'least worst', at the 10% level:
10% or 1/10
Battlecars by Games Workshop
Your Sinclair reviewed this 1984 game in 1988. (Crash 66%, SU n/a)
38% average
SAS: Operation Thunderflash!! by Super Sparklers!
Sinclair User reviewed this £2.99 trash when it was rereleased on Top Ten. It previously positively reviewed it when it debuted on Thorn EMI's unlamented 'premium budget' label (also at £2.99) a year earlier - giving it a 4/5 review. (Crash 63%, YS 4/10)
37.66% average
Count Duckula 2 by Alternative Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this for the second time, in March 1993. It's an individual rating for it as part of Alternative's Kid's Pack 2 compilation of six games at a £6.99 price.(SU 64%, Crash n/a)
37% average
Kickboxing
Sinclair User reviewed Firebird's Silver Range £1.99 effort. (Crash 41%, YS 6/10)
37% average
Time Trax by Mind Games
Sinclair User reviewed this £9.95 game which scored a 'Globella' award from ZX Computing magazine! (Crash 63%, YS n/a)
36.5% average
Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona by Grand Slam
Sinclair User reviewed this turkey for the second time in 1987, as it's a £1.99 rerelease on Bug Byte, having previously rating its full price Grand Slam release as 3/5. (Crash 42%, YS 5/10)
34% average
Realm Of Impossibility by Ariolasoft
Crash reviewed this £8.95 effort, also received 3rd place in the magazine's 'Least Pleasing Game' reader awards. (SU 2/5, YS 3/10)
26.66% average
Space Jack by The Power House
Your Sinclair reviewed this £1.99 dog's egg from this abysmal budget label. (SU 41%, Crash n/a)
25.5% average
Pneumatic Hammers by Firebird
Sinclair User reviewed this budget effort. (Crash 18%, YS 4/10)
22.66% average
Freedom Fighter by The Power House
Sinclair User reviewed this budget game from CRL's notoriously poor budget label. (Crash 19%, YS 2/10)
16.33% average
Saracen by US Gold
Sinclair User reviewed this £7.99 US Gold thing. (Crash 15%, YS n/a)
12.5% average
Piggy by Bug Byte
Sinclair User reviewed this budget effort. (Crash 7%, YS 2/10)
12.33% average
Headstart by Bug-Byte
Sinclair User reviewed this £2.99 game, no other magazine did, even outside of the YS/SU/Crash trinity.
1/10
Survival by Central Solutions
Your Sinclair reviewed this 99p (according to ZXDB) text adventure. (SU and Crash n/a)
1/10
Bananablip and Spacemanblip by Le Lu/Lu's
Sinclair User reviewed this MIA £2.50 homebrew mail order double game pack (a residential address in Blackpool) of puzzle games. (YS and Crash n/a)
1/10
The Boss by Peaksoft
Sinclair User reviewed this 1984 football management game on a 1987 £1.99 rebrand/rerelease from Alternative Software where it got its new name, the previous being 'The Boss', originally being £6.95 in 1984. (YS and Crash n/a)
1/10
Now let's go through the sub-10% efforts, from 'best' (ahem) to the worst...
9%
Count Duckula 2 by Alternative Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this £3.99 effort in Dec 1992, two months after SU did, and yes, you are reading this again, only this is the original release. (SU 64%, Crash n/a)
36.5% average
Voyage into the Unknown by Mastertronic
Crash reviewed this, no other magazine did. (SU and YS n/a)
9%
8%
Advanced Lawnmower Simulator II by J Aron Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this mod of a joke game as part of special on reader-submitted games which really does seem to be a precursor to CSSCGC. Maybe this doesn't really belong here what with it being a deliberately awful effort, but hey, to be complete, here it is. No other magazine reviewed this, understandably.
8%
7%
Piggy by Bug Byte
Crash reviewed this budget effort. Yes, you read this earlier in the 10% secton. (YS 2/10, SU 1/10)
12.33% average
5%
Video Classics by Silverbird
Crash reviewed this £1.99 compilation of six retro-esque games. (YS 5/10, SU n/a)
27.5% average
3%
Kosmik Pirate by Elephant Software
Crash reviewed this £5.95 BASIC game. Your Spectrum also negatively reviewed it, giving it a 'Miss Of The Month' label but no numerical rating. (YS and SU n/a)
3%
Outside of the YS/SU/Crash holy trinity
Personal Computer Games handed out 1/10 ratings were handed out to 2003: A Space Oddity; Hawks; I'm In Shock; Tomb of Akhenaten and Deathstar
Finally, they had special ire for Pi-Eyed, which was given ZERO out of 10!
Phew... do you think these ratings are deserved? Or should have been even more damning?
The YouTuber 'Seb's Place' decided to make a video on my research a year later and not bother crediting me, and in his sloppiness, he copied my initial mistake by missing out Jinxter. Yeah, thanks for that, Seb.
This weekend I took the step of identifying the 20 ZX Spectrum games which effectively scored 10% or less as an overall rating from the three major Speccy mags. I look at that as being an 'inverse' award, based on the almost-true rule that Crash would award a Crash Smash when a rating of 90% or higher. (Yeah, they didn't always do that, hence my 'almost-true' caveat.) When it comes to a 1/10 rating, I regard that as being the same as 10%.
Some maths pedants could say I should really go for 0-9% instead as that'd be a lower tenth. Or is it? None of the major three Speccy mags ever gave a 0% rating, although Big K issued a 0/3 rating to seven games and Personal Computer Games issued a 0/10 rating once. If we eliminated both 10% and 1/10 from the criteria, then we'd only be left with six games covered by the trinity of YS/SU/Crash.
Anyway, enough waffle, let's get onto it, by starting with the be... er, um, 'least worst', at the 10% level:
10% or 1/10
Battlecars by Games Workshop
Your Sinclair reviewed this 1984 game in 1988. (Crash 66%, SU n/a)
38% average
SAS: Operation Thunderflash!! by Super Sparklers!
Sinclair User reviewed this £2.99 trash when it was rereleased on Top Ten. It previously positively reviewed it when it debuted on Thorn EMI's unlamented 'premium budget' label (also at £2.99) a year earlier - giving it a 4/5 review. (Crash 63%, YS 4/10)
37.66% average
Count Duckula 2 by Alternative Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this for the second time, in March 1993. It's an individual rating for it as part of Alternative's Kid's Pack 2 compilation of six games at a £6.99 price.(SU 64%, Crash n/a)
37% average
Kickboxing
Sinclair User reviewed Firebird's Silver Range £1.99 effort. (Crash 41%, YS 6/10)
37% average
Time Trax by Mind Games
Sinclair User reviewed this £9.95 game which scored a 'Globella' award from ZX Computing magazine! (Crash 63%, YS n/a)
36.5% average
Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona by Grand Slam
Sinclair User reviewed this turkey for the second time in 1987, as it's a £1.99 rerelease on Bug Byte, having previously rating its full price Grand Slam release as 3/5. (Crash 42%, YS 5/10)
34% average
Realm Of Impossibility by Ariolasoft
Crash reviewed this £8.95 effort, also received 3rd place in the magazine's 'Least Pleasing Game' reader awards. (SU 2/5, YS 3/10)
26.66% average
Space Jack by The Power House
Your Sinclair reviewed this £1.99 dog's egg from this abysmal budget label. (SU 41%, Crash n/a)
25.5% average
Pneumatic Hammers by Firebird
Sinclair User reviewed this budget effort. (Crash 18%, YS 4/10)
22.66% average
Freedom Fighter by The Power House
Sinclair User reviewed this budget game from CRL's notoriously poor budget label. (Crash 19%, YS 2/10)
16.33% average
Saracen by US Gold
Sinclair User reviewed this £7.99 US Gold thing. (Crash 15%, YS n/a)
12.5% average
Piggy by Bug Byte
Sinclair User reviewed this budget effort. (Crash 7%, YS 2/10)
12.33% average
Headstart by Bug-Byte
Sinclair User reviewed this £2.99 game, no other magazine did, even outside of the YS/SU/Crash trinity.
1/10
Survival by Central Solutions
Your Sinclair reviewed this 99p (according to ZXDB) text adventure. (SU and Crash n/a)
1/10
Bananablip and Spacemanblip by Le Lu/Lu's
Sinclair User reviewed this MIA £2.50 homebrew mail order double game pack (a residential address in Blackpool) of puzzle games. (YS and Crash n/a)
1/10
The Boss by Peaksoft
Sinclair User reviewed this 1984 football management game on a 1987 £1.99 rebrand/rerelease from Alternative Software where it got its new name, the previous being 'The Boss', originally being £6.95 in 1984. (YS and Crash n/a)
1/10
Now let's go through the sub-10% efforts, from 'best' (ahem) to the worst...
9%
Count Duckula 2 by Alternative Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this £3.99 effort in Dec 1992, two months after SU did, and yes, you are reading this again, only this is the original release. (SU 64%, Crash n/a)
36.5% average
Voyage into the Unknown by Mastertronic
Crash reviewed this, no other magazine did. (SU and YS n/a)
9%
8%
Advanced Lawnmower Simulator II by J Aron Software
Your Sinclair reviewed this mod of a joke game as part of special on reader-submitted games which really does seem to be a precursor to CSSCGC. Maybe this doesn't really belong here what with it being a deliberately awful effort, but hey, to be complete, here it is. No other magazine reviewed this, understandably.
8%
7%
Piggy by Bug Byte
Crash reviewed this budget effort. Yes, you read this earlier in the 10% secton. (YS 2/10, SU 1/10)
12.33% average
5%
Video Classics by Silverbird
Crash reviewed this £1.99 compilation of six retro-esque games. (YS 5/10, SU n/a)
27.5% average
3%
Kosmik Pirate by Elephant Software
Crash reviewed this £5.95 BASIC game. Your Spectrum also negatively reviewed it, giving it a 'Miss Of The Month' label but no numerical rating. (YS and SU n/a)
3%
Outside of the YS/SU/Crash holy trinity
Personal Computer Games handed out 1/10 ratings were handed out to 2003: A Space Oddity; Hawks; I'm In Shock; Tomb of Akhenaten and Deathstar
Finally, they had special ire for Pi-Eyed, which was given ZERO out of 10!
Phew... do you think these ratings are deserved? Or should have been even more damning?