Spectrum Computing

Z-Man, by DJL Software.



A very cool pac-man clone for the Spectrum.

Death Star Interceptor by System 3 Software.



Been playing this game over the weekend. Really addictive arcade action. Excellent graphics and I love the sound; the digitized speech, the explosions and especially the screaming Tie Fighters.

The difficulty is just right, though on the hardest one, Commander, it seems a bit unfair when you're getting close to the exhaust port. Your Fighter locks its vertical movement and you've got laser turrets firing on both sides, making it impossible to avoid their shots. It might be possible to take them out before they are able to fire, need to play this some more.

Sadly the game is nigh unplayable on ZXDS due to the DS's LCD being a bit slow, during the trench run the laser turrets' blasts are so fast that they're pretty much invisible. Managed to complete 1 loop on the first two difficulties but on the last one you really need to see the lasers if you wish to survive. So I continued playing on Spectaculator.

My best score so far is: 043900 on the hardest difficulty, that's two loops completed, dying just short of the exhaust port on the third stretch.

Highly recommended arcade shooter.

Psycho City (Players) by Charles Bystram.



It takes place in an apocaliptic 1991. The streets of our city are no longer safe. And you must find infamous Mr Big's hide out and blow it away. You also can collect money bags and stolen goods to be dropped into the bank vault and get a reward. And shot anything that moves, of course.

A quite atmospheric adventure, surprisingly interesting, that was released in a year (1989) when isometric games had declined.

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:33 pm Cavelon by Ocean.



I love maze games, and this is one of the coolest. Collect door pieces to reach next level and a final battle with the wizard.

But only a few times I reached screen 2

Would be nice to see a variation of this game where it scrolled constantly, rather than just scrolling when you get to the edge of the screen. Always seemed to get knights appearing almost on top of you and trapping you.

I think I managed a few levels back in the day but last time I tried it I couldn't get close to level 2.

Morkin wrote:
Would be nice to see a variation of this game where it scrolled constantly, rather than just scrolling when you get to the edge of the screen

That's a cool idea.

Pool by CDS.



There are tons of pool games for the Spectrum, but this is my fave one because it's simple to use and graphically correct. It can be surprisingly addictive.

There are tons of pool games for the Spectrum, but this is my fave one because it's simple to use and graphically correct. It can be surprisingly addictive.

Yes, it's great. Simple but clear and very playable.

Later people tried to add some features to these pool games. They even tried to do it in 3D. It all ended either in ugly monochrome or equally ugly colour clash with much worse playability.

Nothing beats this version.

Ralf wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:17 am

There are tons of pool games for the Spectrum, but this is my fave one because it's simple to use and graphically correct. It can be surprisingly addictive.

Yes, it's great. Simple but clear and very playable.

Later people tried to add some features to these pool games. They even tried to do it in 3D. It all ended either in ugly monochrome or equally ugly colour clash with much worse playability.

Nothing beats this version.

Yeah, this game is the 'Match Point' of Pool/Billiard games

Precisely I planned the other day to look for a pool game that I liked to play back in the days. I recall the player could move the cue tip around. Another good game seems to be Video Pool 1984. It has crossed my mind to mimick a pool-like football game in Basic, if Juan knows what I mean

hikoki wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:48 am I recall the player could move the cue tip around.

That's just Pool by CDS.

hikoki wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:48 am
Another good game seems to be Video Pool 1984. It has crossed my mind to mimick a pool-like football game in Basic, if Juan knows what I mean

Recently I'm becoming an expert in this kind of games!

No, it must be Billar Americano (Artic's Snooker) though I'd like to think it was Bug-Byte's Pool.
Do you know some futbol-chapas game?

hikoki wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:22 am Do you know some futbol-chapas game?

Even though I used to love playing the real futbol-chapas back in the day, I don't remember any game for the Spectrum.

(Futbol-chapas: playing football with bottle caps, a sort of cheap Subbuteo )

Subbuteo?? Naaah..too britny classy. I would prefer dirty bottle caps and DRAW lightnings aka ellipSical physics

Yeah, this game is the 'Match Point' of Pool/Billiard games

And I would say we have similar case with flipper games

This one:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=3718


is an early game from 1983 and I would say there are very few later flipper games better than that. Or maybe none

Absolutely agree. This is also my fave pinball game.

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.