Reviews

To be honest the first time I played this game I didn’t appreciate it , I was just 13 in the summer of 84 and it looked daunting , strange and unlike anything else I had ever played. Even the old world style language used in the game was unfamiliar , luckily a pal of mine was more persistent and got to grips with the then unfamiliar way the game played , he called me up to come and see the game in full flow , I saw armies battling , a full world of warriors , magic and excitement , from that moment I was hooked.

Starting off as the four main characters – Luxor , Morkin (his son) , Rothron the Wise and Corleth the fey the object of the game is basically to save your land of midnight from the witchking doomdark . You must use each one (except Morkin ) to gather up a large enough army to guard your citadel Xajorkith against the impending attack by doomdarks forces.

Getting back to Morkin , his quest is a different kettle of fish , he must sneak up towards doomdarks citadel Ushgarak and recover the ice crown , the item that has plunged the land of midnight into a perpetual winter , and destroy it with the help of Fawkrin or drop it into the lake of mirrors.

The graphics were and still are very impressive, the game is played in full 3d , the mountains , forests , armies , hills , keeps , citadels and more , rise in the distance rise as you progress through the world of Icemark. It might not sound much by todays graphical standards but it was a major leap back then.

During the day the land of midnight is yours to wander quite freely , except for various creatures such as skulkrin , giants and wolves which can be deadly to a lone traveller are usually disposed off easily , the hours of daylight left are built into the terrain that’s traversed during day which can last between 2 and 7 moves per character , sometimes if your lucky you can find items which bring a new dawn or maybe your army is tired from marching all day and need a rest to rejuvenate them , also the lakes can be used once to fully refresh a tired lord or army.

Recruiting riders and warriors to the cause is done via the keeps and citadels , each Lord will have his own army and usually have spare riders or warriors at his citadel , as long as your Lord matches the race of warriors to recruit then you can quickly gather a huge army behind Luxor and make your way to defend Xajorkith. When playing i usually try and recruit at least fourteen lords , each with a huge gathering of armies and lead them to the capital , as the game progresses and doomdarks forces march on towards your citadel your army must be in place and ready to stand and defend for around twenty nights of intense fighting , you can also send one chap (usually I send Corleth the fey ) up north as it were , to recruit some fringe troops which you can meet later on , once the battle in the south has eased off , meanwhile Morkin is making his way up the western side of the map towards Ushgarak trying to steal the ice crown and distracting doomdarks forces along the way.

Considering this game is crammed into around 42k of ram , Mike Singleton has done an exceptional job , it contained 32,000 different views from within the land of midnight , 6000 locations , independent computer controlled warriors , great graphics and for the first time made you believe in the world you played in , I was totally astounded by the plot and depth that was shown in the game , it is a non linear game so you can play it in a different way every game , I think that’s part of the appeal , at the time its closest rivals would have been the basic wargames combined with a text / graphical adventure , to me it was a great leap forward , showed what the spectrum was capable of and will always remain a milestone in gaming history.

Barry Mcguigans Boxing was probably the best boxing game for the zx spectrum, released early in 1986 at the height of the little mans popularity you started off either as a new comer or a contender to try and claim Barry’s Featherweight World Title.

It was different in many ways to other beat em ups of the time due to the fact that your character was built up of individual skills, training, temperament, best punch, stamina, strength etc , making you develop a very personal fighter.

You also trained your character before every fight with items such as the speedball, heavy bag, sparring and road training, which you could use to beef up any needy points your character lacked.

As soon as the bell sounds the action began with both boxers menacingly approaching the centre of the ring ready to trade blows, you couldn’t actually move your boxer left or right, but this left you to control all the jabs, uppercuts, hooks, swipes and also enabled you to block your opponents punches, it was a truly innovative system , it worked well as your fighter piled on the pressure he forced the other guy further and further back , but it did take a few fights to get used to but once mastered it enabled you to concentrate on the fighting much better than other games of this ilk.

Climbing the ranks from number 20 up to fight Barry himself as World Champion was some feat and with no save option it can take hours of your time to actually win the belt.

Obviously the first few bouts were quite easy and I used to fight the first two or three fighters at least twice each to build up my stamina , but as soon as you reached around rank 15 the fights took a serious turn and became a lot harder, reaching into the 5th or 6th round until you felt you had the fight in the bag.

Quite often the fights became Rocky style affairs with each fighter going down a couple of times in a round and you really had to work at blocking the blows to keep yourself in the fight as your endurance was sapped , you felt great satisfaction when you finally defeated a dogged opponent.

The graphics were excellent for the time and loading it up last night they still look good today , good animation of the boxers , flashing lights from the crowd when there’s a knockdown and good detail in the ring. It also had one of catchiest tunes on the spectrum , sort of a Rocky style theme which did add to the atmosphere.

I lost many many hours playing Barry McGuigans Boxing and it was and still is one of the very best sports games to appear on any 8 bit home computer.

The world is doomed , the SS future is on a collision course with the planet earth and as usual its all down to you our intrepid hero to save the day !

Written by the hugely talented Dominic Wood , author of the classic Kosmic kanga and who also went onto to program other spectrum games such as 1942 and Viz , Project future is set across a sprawling maze of a spaceship (256 screens), the aim of the game is to find the ships self destruct codes , set them and leave the ship before the whole thing goes kaboooom ! You play the role of Cadet Farley (why on earth send a Cadet ?) , you’re given half a chance to complete the mission via the fact that you are armed with a powerful laser gun that can wipe out any nasties in your path , they are nifty little dudes though so you’ve got to be a bit sharp on the controls as any touch results in a life lost.

The ship is also split into 5 decks each with distinct graphical styles , you can reach each level either with or without the use of teleporters , but it’s far easier with.

Also to help you along the way are various objects and items , the best two being an invulnerability suit which lasts for 4 screens and kills any nasties upon collision and a superb little vehicle which zooms around the ship which looks like a C5 with an anti grav mechanism.

It plays very similar to a range of games from that era , such as Atic Atac , Wizards Lair and Sabre Wulf but takes the genre a step sideways , the map makes up a giant spaceship instead of a standard 16 x16 grid , introduced new ideas , uses a different theme and is very playable.

It’s a fun game , great for an afternoons entertainment , it still looks bright and colourful today and I can vouch for a few lost hours trying to save Earth (again) earlier today.

Manic miner - a game that will forever be entwined with the zx spectrum . It made an overnight hero / success out of the author Matthew Smith , a somewhat wacky monty python fan who could produce quality games for the black wonder !

Starting in the central cavern you have to collect each of the several glowing items on each level , then and only then will you make your way to the exit , tot up your score via the amount of oxygen left and progress to the next mindbending level , 20 of them in all and i must confess that without cheating 6031769 i would not have seen them all , i started to crash and burn everytime i got as far as the the kong level.

The game itself now seems fairly simple , just left / right and jump , but therein lies the addictiveness and playability , it drags you back (even after 25 years of playing) for just one more go , its fun to play , the graphics are well animated , varied and very smooth , its wickedly designed as well and has stood the test of time superbly.

Youv'e probably played it and know what im waffling on about , but if you haven't - fire up the speccy or emulator and waste a few hours enjoying a classic game.

Synonymously linked to the zx spectrum - knight lore - the jaw dropping classic from Ultimate play the game !

Sabreman has been cursed by a wicked magician , by night he becomes the dreaded werewolf , by day he returns to human form , the only way to stop the spell is to collect a seemingly random array of objects and drop them into the magicians cauldron which will eventually free the curse.

The gameplay (for anyone who doesn't know) is a 3d isometric arcade adventure , you can carry 3 objects to help you along the way , other objects such as chairs , blocks and tables can be used to ward off enemies or reach hard to get items.

It plays fairly simply now compared to some of the later isometric games (head over heels , get dexter , movie etc) but it still has a magical charm , the graphics are monochrome but very detailed , some of the puzzles are ingenious requiring you to be the werewolf (greater jump height) and overall its really well designed.

I'm sure knight lore will always remain a true classic to spectrum owners.

Good grief , what a bloody good game - Jetpac , written in less than 16k by the amazing Stamper Brothers at a time when most bedroom programmers were knocking out average arcade rip offs or text only adventures , they tore onto the spectrum scene with a full machine coded arcade style shoot em up which still looks decent today.

The aim of the game is to collect the pieces of your spaceship , then simply refuel it , dodge or shoot the alien hordes and (once your ships refuelled )blast off to the next planet (level) , it's cleverly designed , graphically excellent and very smooth , making it instantly addictive.

Its recently been updated and relaunched on xb live arcade but for me the original is the only way to play this fabulous game.

Quazatron is the spectrums version of the classic c64 game " paradroid " , its been updated and instead of a flat view , we get the game in full isometric glory !

Starring Klepto the parts pinching robot , you must liberate each level by either a) shooting and killing each robot or b) challenging each one to a game of grapple.

Grappling with a robot takes you onto a seperate section , a mini game were you get to battle for control of the enemy robots circuits , its fun and never seems to get boring , even after hundreds of grapples !

The graphics are very detailed and the scrolling (though its very jerky) , does work well , considering the amount of code the speccys moving round.

Its addictive , fun , has a slight comedic element through kleptos face , it's a picture when hes happy or sad , the facial expressions are great.

The only slight annoyance is the circuit overload / damage than can occur at almost anytime and can result in an extremely quick death / game over , but other than that its pretty much faultless.

For me its a game that has really stood the test of time and i'd recommend it to anyone.

Ahhhh - chuckie egg , for me its one of the most nostalgic games out there for the spectrum , i can't think of many games that evoke such fond memories.

I think most people know the games format but for the uninitiated , its a fairly basic platform game , containing ladders , levels and lifts , with eggs and bird seed to collect , stopping you from having such an easy time are the hens which shift around the platforms fairly randomly , its all set against a bonus time clock and move along at a hectic pace.

Henhouse Harry is under your control , he zips around and climbs , jumps and runs with ease around the screen , he can bounce of platforms or lifts but if he falls too far or touches a hen , thats a life gone !

The graphics look quite simple nowadays but they do the job well , they are bright , well defined and smoothly done.

The game is highly addictive , there's a few ways it achieves this , it has the next screen factor and a high score table as well , i've actually never got beyond level 8 even after playing it for over 25 years but it's still one of those games that gets a dust down every few months. A classic .

After waiting an eternity (about 6 months in child time) , i finally managed to purchase Doomdarks revenge from Smiths in Preston , i eagerly scampered home , fired up the speccy and slotted it in the tape deck and hit play.

After a short load (due to the very high pitched speed loader ) i placed the iconic keyboard overlay down and set off into the land of icemark to do battle once again with the forces of evil , this time lead by Doomdarks naughty daughter Shareth.

For anyone familar with its prequel - the lords of midnight , it plays very similar , you get a full 3d representation of the land around you and control your troops / lords / characters through their eyes , you start off with three recruits and quickly increase your armies by recruiting others to your cause.

Morkin (your son) has been kidnapped and the only way you're going to get him back is to travel north , defeat Shareth and rescue him from her bewitching clutches.

Being the follow up , it had more locations , more vaired terrain , different groups of characters such as Giants , Icelords , Barbarians and Dwarves to try and recruit , some groups wouldn't alliege to you if you had already recruited another type , so you had to plan ahead or end up losing an alliance you'd already forged earlier .

This time round Mike Singleton had inserted a tunnel network , which for a time could help if you were getting pasted in a battle , sneak in a tunnel and emerge a few locations away to retreat from a larger army (always a good idea) , the other major new feature was mist , i didn't care for this as you could end up lost or bumping into Shareths rather large army or a group of Icelords just when you weren't up for battle.

I really enjoy playing both the lords of midnight and doomdarks revenge , they are both extremely well written , very deep (especially for a spectrum game) , the graphics are wonderful , they are also both a decent challenge , iv'e actually only completed doomdarks revenge once after all these years of playing.

Anyone wanting a really tough challenge , look no further than Doomdarks Revenge , immerse yourself in the game and enjoy it as much as i have done.

I purchased the game mid 1984 after it got a glowing review in Crash by the super adventurer Derek Brewster.

You play the part of the intrepid secret agent Kim Kimberly , your mission is to safeguard the snowball 9 starship on its interstellar voyage when – you guessed , something goes wrong and you awake in a freezer-coffin. Pull the lever , light unfolds and you’re thrown into a highly complex text adventure with puzzles galore , nightingale robots , colour coded lifts and a crew to be rescued !

The main task is to reach the engine room and correct the faults that have occurred during the journey , getting there is another matter altogether , the starship itself is huge and its fairly easy to get lost amongst all the locations and those nightingale robots mentioned earlier will cut you to shreds should they catch you.

I remember getting almost nowhere years ago and it was consigned to the shelf for the odd game now and again , but playing it again for this review and it does seem a lot easier to make your way round the ship , the puzzles are far easier than I remembered , a lot of repeating instructions / going back and forth across locations to complete each set task , particularly the colour coded tickets and sheets which hit you hard towards the middle of the game.

The atmosphere provided by the detailed location descriptions is pure level 9 , its almost as if you are reading a decent science fiction book at times , the locations are very well described and set the scene perfectly.

Snowball was released late in 1983 and is the first part of the silicon dreams trilogy , just in case you fancy having a go at those they are Return to Eden and the Worm in Paradise respectively , sequels both featured graphic locations as well as text.

Id recommend snowball to anyone who fancies a bit of a challenge , but doesn’t mind the lack of any graphics at all , once you delve a bit further into the game it really can get quite tense , they certainly don’t make them like this anymore – whether that’s a good or bad thing – you decide !

1990 – was a wonderful year in my opinion , we had cracking music , I’d just purchased my first 16 bit machine and to top it all we were treated to a long hot summer alongside the greatest world cup competition ever – Italia 90 .

Adidas championship soccer was to be released by Ocean to coincide and challenge the official World Cup game released by Virgin but unfortunately due to delays came out just after the fever had died down.

The programming team chose to use to top down view familiar to anyone who’d played kick off or micropose soccer at the time , the front end was exceptional as you’d expect from Ocean , especially seeing as this was a 128K game only , they really had done their job well , superb in game menus and great intro tunes.

Once you choose your team (England for me – predictably) , the game moves onto the group stage draw , its very atmospheric and really well done , each group of four is drawn out fairly slowly there’s an air of excitement , I’m drawn against France , Bulgaria and Japan , im happy with that , onto the gameplay itself.

Like I mentioned above it’s a top down view , the game moves pretty fast , its in monochrome , green against black and the graphics are detailed , the scrolling is smooth and its easy to pick out your man with an arrow over him , there is a referee who will appears in a small box at the top corner to indicate a free kick , corner etc which works well , the only small gripe I have is that the game can be a bit frantic and it does seem to run away with itself , id not played it for about 15 years though and I might just be out of practice.

As to my campaign , I drew with France and Bulgaria after leading at half time (both games ended 1 – 1) and I lost to Japan (0 –2) thus ending my world cup challenge , but never mind there’s always Graham Taylor and 1994 to look forward to !

I was really looking forward to playing this superb strategy game again , I had vague memories of it being very in depth and easy to play , but hard to complete.

You start off by applying for your boxing license , until the forms filled in ,you can go no further , after inspection by the British boxing council you are granted a license and can manage up to 6 boxers , I chose just a couple to control.

You name the boxers yourself which can be as realistic as you want or as daft as you fancy , I simply chose Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno but with a bit of imagination you could have a bit of a laugh getting Bart Simpson etc challenging for the title !

Onto the main menu , you have 5 options , Advance the date – which moves the day along , Filing cabinet – in which you can check your boxers records , current rank , contracts etc , Phone – this is were the bulk of the office work is done , negotiating fights with other promoters , ringing up various boxing boards to sanction fights and sending out scouts to check on rival fighters , The door – this takes you to the gym and physio room , if a fighter is injured you can get all the details you need here and also put your fighter into peak condition ready for each fight.

As the days pass you must change the fighters training schedule , this keeps you busy , making sure each part of their ability gathers up to maximum strength , any less than this and your fighter could struggle during the next fight , sometimes (which is a pain) a fighter will injure his hand in the gym or cut his eye sparring , you can try and cancel the fight but more often than not it will be too late.

Onto the main fight screen , its very atmospheric for a strategy game , the text commentary is excellent and your fighter is graphically represented with a mugshot that gets more and more battered as the fight progresses , the rounds can be sped up if you wish , but its advisable to read every line and adjust your tactics at the end of each round accordingly. When the bell rings and you have your fighter back on his stool , you can patch him up if he’s cut or bruised and throw water at him if hes been knocked about a bit . It’s a vital time and can make or break a fight.

The first fights are fairly easy , allowing you to get into the game without too much trouble , as you progress up the rankings they do become a lot tougher , you can win local belts , national belts and then onto the world titles , it became an obsession to get my fighter to world champion , I was scanning the fights weekly for changes in the rankings as my man moved up the long ladder , I finally managed it after playing it every night for four weeks and he then decided to leave me for another promoter , that’s just way too realistic for my liking !

Overall it’s a great game , it has that bit of magic that can keep you playing for hours without you realising , it’s a bit of a hidden gem and I personally think it is the best sports strategy game on the spectrum.

Viking Raiders is a fairly simple turn based war / strategy game loosely based on the game Battle 1917 which preceded it by about a year.

The basic aim of the game is to defeat the other Vikings by taking over their castle , this was done with the clever use of the limited resources , soldiers , ships and deadly catapults. These had to be purchased at various costs , soldiers could either defend , move into battle , get drunk (if they went next to the drinking sacks dotted around the map) or collect gold from the treasure chests to boost your war funds.

The land was covered in a network of rivers and the only way to traverse them was by ship , each ship could carry 3 Vikings up and down the map , the could disembark the ship anytime the ship was near land so they were a good way to sneak up and capture an enemy castle or launch an attack on some unsuspecting soldiers.

Catapults were used every turn to fire one shot across the map , this could also sink ships which could prove costly if you were carrying 3 Vikings.

The movement was simple enough , a 1 – 9 directional control was used to point and move each man , ship or catapult , then pick the length of movement , also between 1 and 9 blocks , if you collided with another Vikings troops a random battle would break out with some nice animation , one Viking would be victorious and continue in the game , the other would be killed !

After about 15 turns the rivers would freeze over , reducing the ships usage , ships could get locked in the ice and were no longer of use , opening up the whole area for use on foot.

If and when an enemy viking reached your castle , he could attack and if successful take over your base , thus ending your game. The last viking left standing won the game.

The great thing about Viking raiders besides its simplicity was the fact you could have multiplayer games , which at time was quite unusual , 1 – 4 players took part , any combination of human / computer controlled players could take part and it made for some smart battles , the computer did have 1 mayor advantage though , its catapult could fire anywhere on the map where yours could only fire a maximum of 9 blocks in length. It didn’t spoil it though and you just had to plan ahead.

Viking raiders was and is a great little game , it was released by firebird on their budget range and is still a fun game to play now , its remembered with great fondness and If you haven’t played it , bypass the simple graphics and give it a go !

I first played this game late summer in 1984 , it was the end of the school holidays and my mate had bought it because the superb magazine Crash had decided it worthy of a Crash Smash.

It was unlike anything else we had ever played , it seemed daunting at first we didn’t check the inlay and we ran around like headless chickens trying to get the various tasks complete.

You play the part of a robot – with a limited amount of charge , your task is to maintain and steer a ship across the sea , delivering the cargo which is stored in various rooms. Sounds simple , but the trouble is that the ship is a leaky old wreck with water springing up all over the place , it starts on the lower decks and if not kept in check by you , soon floods the top deck and eventually sinks the ship. To avoid this you are armed with various implements to aid you , first and most importantly you have a small supply of metal plates which can patch up the leaks , you also have a pump handle , attach it to the pump and drain the water off the boat , you can only carry one item at a time , so you must use your time wisely.

The water has another effect – it drains your battery , so from time to time you need to scoot across to the recharge chamber and power up to keep topped up. The ship is set across 11 flip screens and the problem arises when you have to multi task , the ships leaking in a few rooms , its going off course , your charge is low , your searching for metal plates etc , its fun but frantic , if you get it right and get the ship across to the other side of the sea , the leaky old vessel will need repairing and this comes off the price of the stock , then the remainder is added onto your score.

The graphics are very colourful , detailed , well animated and it’s a really fun game , it will get you panicking as your ship just about manages to stay afloat , it’s a decent challenge as well , I loved it back in the 80’s and playing it today was just as much fun , I recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different to play.

Digital Integration didn’t make many games , fighter pilot and night gunner were two earlier releases and both were pretty good , Tomahawk was basically the follow on to fighter pilot and was delayed for over a year whilst in development , with Crash and Sinclair user running adverts for months before release , expectation was very high.

The game is a 3d flight simulator , it might seem silly to say nowadays but at release it was one of only a handful of actual games based on piloting a flying machine.

You are put in total control of a US Army AH-64A Apache helicopter , armed to the teeth with a 30mm chaingun , laser guided missiles and hellfire rockets , enough power to wipe out any enemies you encounter , which vary from tanks , field guns , soldiers and another deadly helicopter which heads pretty much straight for you.

It has a detailed landscape , single trees , forests , buildings , landing pads , mountains and pylons , these are physical property and will damage your apache if you make contact with them , except the landing pad which will re arm and re fuel your craft.

You can also alter the enviroment , fly day or night , alter the height of the clouds , crosswinds (on/off) and your skill level from trainee to ace , these features are not just extras they really alter major elements to the game.

The game has 4 main missions , the 1st one is just a basic training type , enabling you to get used to piloting the heli , 2nd mission has you helping your forces in a small battle against ground forces and then zoom back to base , in the next mission you take off surrounded by enemy vehicles and troops and you have to liberate each section of the map. Mission 4 is full combat , a large scale battle for control of the entire map , use your apache to its best of abilities and win the war..

Flying the helicopter is as real as you could get on a spectrum and exceeds expectations , there are a lot of keys to get used to and its difficult to get used to but once mastered it becomes second nature. The sense of speed is also amazing , flying low to avoid enemy radar , dodging treetops whilst blasting out a tank is a real buzz.

Playing it this week brought back a lot of good memories , especially dogfighting over the mountain range , the game still plays well , its quick , graphically still good especially considering its wireframe , its difficult without being impossible and highly recommended.

As many young lads do, I dream't of becoming a footballer, playing for a professional team, winning the FA Cup, playing for England and enjoying the fabulous lifestyle that comes with the territory, but alas it didn’t happen, except when I was playing Footballer of the year, a little gem that was produced by Gremlin Graphics, a sort of amalgamation of management and arcade game designed around the life of a football player.

The main objective of the game was to score goals for the team and lead them to victory in all the major competitions, the league, European, league and FA cups were all there for the taking if you and your team were good enough.

You could start of with any team you fancied , It could be as big a gulf in class as Barcelona and Wrexham , but the higher the status of the club , the higher priced the goal cards became , these were essentially the crux of playing or not playing , so If you started at a 4th Division club goal cards were £50 a card , at Juventus they would be £300 , you had to use these every week to play and then score , earn more , win leagues and generally improve your footballing status.

Random elements were also thrown in for good measure, they didn’t affect the gameplay, they did however affect your bank balance , for instance you might suffer a broken leg , cost to fix £9000 , or you might open a supermarket , fee paid to you could be £1000 , it was a touch frustrating sometimes though , as random transfers could occur whisking you from your beloved team to a completely new team dangling precariously above the relegation zone , I suppose that was before the Bosman ruling !

The actual arcade section was fun if a bit basic , you played the ball , in a slight 3d angle being chased down by 2 defenders , hit space to shoot and angle the ball into the net , penalties came about frequently and were a bit of a let down as you could only really score down the middle , this was even worse when you final got an international call up , the only way to score was via a penalty !

After a few seasons of doing well you finally got a nomination for the footballer of the year trophy along side such greats as Chris Waddle , Bryan Robson , Gary Lineker etc , the next step would be to win the trophy itself , a major achievement.

The game looks quite simple now and played recently it can throw up some weird results , imagination plays a big part when playing it , you really need to let yourself get immersed in the game , it also seems a touch to random and the arcade section is average at best , but back in the 80’s it was enthralling , entertaining and I still have great affection for it.

A three part dungeons and dragons game , released 24 years ago for less than £2 , can’t be any good ? Or can it ?

Well you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that it is a gem of a game , the aim of the game is to find the Elixir of Hagar which has been stolen and taken to a castle far off to the North.

You start the quest off in a dark dank smelly dungeon , you control your character with the cursors , blindly working your way through each level trying to find gold , gems , keys and potions. The potions can either be good or bad , poison or refreshment , occasionally one turns out to be a genie who will offer you an escape or gold coins , taking this route out of the dungeon is the easiest way of escape , otherwise you can find yourself searching level after level for the exit.

Onto the second part , you find yourself in a market town , you place an advertisment for a party of men to join you in your quest , hopefully you have enough gold collected from the dungeon to create a fearsome posse to take with you , each man also carries certain spells which are useful later on.

If you find yourself a bit short on cash you can always pop down to the local race track , this is a basic sub game enabling you to gamble on the outcome of a rat race , it’s a bit of fun and can pay dividends if you’re getting low on funds.

Once your party is complete , your off to the next stage , each man has a strength rating , this can decrease via the turn based battles (think of a very early final fantasy 7 style battle) , through hunger or lack of sleep. You move your party again with the cursors and have two major quests in this section , find the bridge across the river , then find a way into the castle , its not to difficult but quite a lengthy hike , you do get help along the way though from the mystical golden trees which offer direction, food and spells , once you get across the river and into the castle the game style changes again !

The last part of the game is a series of mini games , you’re inside the castle now and moving from room to room via a series of corridors full of bouncing balls , each time your hit the strength of your party decreases until unfortunately one or more start to feel the grim reapers touch , the main rooms offer games such as find the keys , coded doors and rooms filled with gas to escape , all good fun ! Finally making it to the end room depending on how many men have survived you get a final battle with a dragon guarding the elixir.

Overall it’s a great game , some parts can get a bit tedious (especially if you get bogged down in the dungeon) , but its got some really neat touches and ideas , smart functional graphics , it is very addictive and its quite a challenge to complete and at the time represented amazing value for money.

Crikey - these 16k games aren't half bad !

3d deathchase written by Mervyn j Escourt was the 1st ever Crash - Game of the month way back in issue 1 before the heady days of Crash Smashes .

Its a simple enough premise , executed really well , a virtual " endor bike chase scene " simulator , you are propelled foward at lightning speed , the only thing you have to avoid are the trees , hit one - lose a life , lose 3 and thats it ! Game over.

To complete a level you have to shoot the bikers which are always ahead of you , they weave in and out of the trees with ease , there's also bonus points for shooting the tanks or helicopters that occasionally pass by.

The graphics are very basic , but considering its all done to fit into less than 16k , its mighty impressive.

The controls are responsive and the game has levels / high score feature to keep you coming back for just one more go , a speccy classic .

Jet set willy was the first game i ever queued up for , we (me and a cousin) had spent months conquering the prequel manic miner and decided to make sure a copy of jet set would be ours on release morning.

We eagerly jogged home , hit play and waited for it to load , first thing to hit us was the colour coded protection ,we'd never seen anything like this before but it wasn't too difficult (sounds silly now) and we entered the code and got the now familiar title screen , a nice tune played for us , pressing enter to play (and not seeing many screenshots before) , we were again a touch confused that you could walk from room to room fairly unhindered. This is a world all of its built inside the spectrum , fantastic , we spent all day messing about , even writing the names of all the rooms we could , excited when we found a new one , dismayed when we lost all our lives on a repeated death.

Sorry for rambling but i don't remember being as excited or intrigued by any other game - ever.

For anyone not familiar with Jet set willy , it only requires 3 keys to get you around Willys huge mansion , left / right and jump , the aim of the game is to collect all the objects scattered around the various rooms after a mad party before the time runs out , stopping you are a variety of wierd and wacky well animated objects such as skulls , penguins , saws and other such nightmares from the mind of Matthew Smith.

The rooms were ingenious in design , simple by todays mega bucks but in 1984 ,( good lord 25 years ago ! ) , they were a breath of fresh air compared to most releases.

Its been copied hundreds of times now , and not many come even close to the impact that the original release had , to be honest i hardly ever play it now , but whenever i do , i enjoy a wave of nostalgia and fond memories of the summer of 84 , that can't be a bad thing !

Cyclone was the official follow up to the excellent T.L.L and as such was highly anticipated by the spectrum community.

It didn't disapoint , the plane was swapped for a chopper , the task had evolved into rescuing crates/people and the map had been split into lots of seperate islands to search.

Also this time round you had an enemy , a vast swirling invisible enemy - a cyclone ! which traversed the map like a deadly assassin , wreaking havoc whenever you got too close to it.

Its played in a 3d isometric viewpoint , you can switch the view (north or south) , you can land and refuel or just rest from the pursuing whirlwind .

Its graphically excellent and still looks good today , the task is hard but fair and never gets boring , overall id highly recommend it.

Pssst - possibly the rudest sounding of all spectrum games , it was actually the first spectrum game i ever bought , £5.50 from the local off license shop , i hadn't played it before or read any reviews , but i just knew it would be a little gem as i had already got a c15 with jetpac and cookie on it (also by ultimate (for the uneducated)).

You play robbie the robot , armed with various sprays , each one will stun or kill each type of nasty , all hellbent on destroying the lovely sunflower growing in the middle of your garden , if too many bugs attack the flower it simply won't grow , so grab you're spray , zap em and make sure they don't touch you or lives will be lost !

Simple fun really , but a great highly addictive little game , with great cartoon graphics , nice sound , humourous touches - and all in a measly 16k .

Overshadowed somewhat by the more familiar named but much simpler football manager , The boss never seemed to get the credit it deserved or the fame it should have had.

Released in 1984 two years after Kevin Toms more famous football manager , the boss took the game to a whole new level , it introduced a lot more depth and features to the management genre , such as actual weekly events which affected your squad or cashflow , goalscoring charts , you could even view other sides and actualy poach their star striker if you so desired !

You chose your team and were plopped down into division 4 , fighting all the way through to the 1st division and then if you were good enough to win it , europe beckoned for your superstars (however it was only a tiny bonus as you just saw the results , no actual gameplay). It was this kind of attention to detail and it always felt the programmers went the extra mile to make this game better than FM .

Although there were no match highlights , it is a very tense affair with the timer counting up to 90 minutes and goals for either side popping up alongside whichever player had notched it.

You could also check how other divsions were doing as well , quite a lot of calculations whizzed away inside the speccys CPU and it wasn't a slow game to play by any standard.

Perfectly enjoyable , great fun , deep and probably the best Football management game on the spectrum .

The aptly named Match Day II (sequel to match day !) was released early in 1987 to rave reviews and a crash smash (making up slightly for the cock up of never smashing match day).

The game was basically an arcade game simulation of a game of football , but they way it was done was second to none on the spectrum (Im looking you right in the eye Emlyn !).

The newly introduced diamond deflection system really made a difference with the ball flying off in the right directions with the right velocity everytime , it really made a difference and felt just right .

The pace wasn't electric , but due to the scale of football - make it too quick and you get games looking unrealistic , make it too slow and again boredom would set in , i think it was just about right .

The gameplay was easy to pick up and especially on the harder levels , very hard to win , the kickometer played a part as well , you couldn't just hoof the ball every kick , it had to be timed or you could end up loosing possession.

It also had a game editor , so you could change all the Ritman Uniteds etc and produce your own premier league or La Liga if you so wished , this was a great feature and added extra spice to the games .

The usual league / cup / single game option were available to play on , but the other option of two player (either together on the same team or against each other) , opened up the chance to show your mates who was the boss !

Overall its a magic game , far and away the best football game on the spectrum , its so enjoyable , well paced , uncomplicated and whether or not some Emlyn fans may disagree , we can't all be right.

Match point - crash smashed in August 1984 , god that looks a long time ago now , loading it up just to refresh my memory as ive not played it for a couple of years , im instantly transported to a world were all that matters is the ball , two bats and a net .

Entering a virtual wimbledon , (the green grass gives it away ) , i start off slowly but i manage to remember some of the old techniques and get to grips with the computer opponent , destroying him in the last set to reach the semis . Wow , the speed and accuracy by the computer opponent seems to have doubled and i am pummelled left right and centre and left battered and beaten by a much better player than me - the cpu.


The game is simplicity supreme , the graphics are well animated but very basic , although saying that i think it helps the speed of play by keeping it all neat and tidy , leaving the cpu to process ball movement so well.

Its a cracking game , much better than a lot of newer variations of tennis and has stood the test of time very well.

This along with Match day 2 provided most of us young Robsons and Lineker wannabes with a computerised footy fix.

Played in the same style as the aformentioned Match day 2 (now refered to as MD2) , it was a horizontally scrolling fast paced all guns blazing football simulation.

I say simulation rather than arcade game , because it was a bit deeper than its rival MD2 , the combination of joystick manouveres could result in some spectacular passing moves and fabulous flicks , back heels and attempts at goal.

You could also design your own league or cup competition , change skill levels, design (to a point) a player based on various skill levels to designate.

It's a cracking game , one that still gets a play even today , i did prefer the more sedate MD2 , but this was a really good alternative footy game to bang on when you wanted a bit of fast action.

Sadly the only thing really stopping it from getting a 5/5 was the unrealistic sort of skating on ice type gameplay , which at times looks ludicrous as players slide in / past / around the ball.

Its close but it's not the king of footy games some make it out to be.

The follow up to Jet Pac was Ultimates first foray into the 48k market , released almost simulaneously with atic atac .

Boy did they use the extra memory well , the gameplay took place on our moon and had you in charge of the lunar rover with a rock hard mission to destroy the alien bases that had taken root on the surface ,this had to be done before the timer ran down and the alien missile was directly launched at the rover - ending the game - no matter how many lives were left.

To do this you had various implements and items to help you , the main one being your character jetman , armed with a laser to blast the enemies and a jetpac to help dodge and avoid them (and fight the moons gravity).

The precise object of the game was to load up the rover with a bomb , drive it to the alien base and with a bit of effort and luck ! Drop it on the central tower of the base , its harder than it sounds though as meteors and aliens bombard you throughout each level to make the game just a touch difficult (some say too difficult).

Whilst driving the rover , craters would appear before you , these could be fixed with girders that you could grab out of the vehicle , again providing another challenge. You could also teleport via the phone boz looking items on the surface or even turn your rover into a battletank by attaching a gun turret.

Some dismiss the game quite quickly as it is quite frustrating at first , but as soon as you pick up and destroy the 1st few bases you will have a game for life ! It is amazing !

Along with bomb jack and hyper sports this would be the best of all the arcade conversions on the spectrum.

As a lone trooper with just a gun and a few grenades you're dropped off in a war torn jungle ready for action.

A vertical scrolling all action shoot em up with smooth graphics , a tough challenge and decent level design.

Theres not much more to say really as its such a basic style of game but sometimes the best ideas are the simplest and the game is simple to perfection.

This gorgeous little game was bought for me way back in 1984 , i presume it was a cheap stocking filler but if i remember rightly i spent more time on this on christmas day than most of the more expensive titles that had been unwrapped alongside it.

Your task is to search a fairly large house , get the correct object to each family member in turn and they will then let you play on your computer .

This takes you to a game within a game , a sort of defender style game , with a helicopter instead of a space ship and the sea instead of a landscape .

The game is fairly simple to play , graphicaly its decent but nothing amazing , where this gem wins is playability , it has that just one more go factor , the game only cost £2.50 and was great value for money , even today i still pop it on now and again .

Its a budget classic and if you've not had the chance , have a look , you will be pleasantly surprised.

Upon first playing this text / graphical adventure in 1983 , i didn't get any further than the maze which appears around half a dozen locations in , so with a bit of help from C.A.S.A i decided to venture the mountain again.

Obviously the games the same , based around escaping the mountain with your life intact and with the secret scrolls in your sweaty palm , you use the usual text input to solve various puzzles enabling you to get further through the game . Some of the puzzles / locations are a bit illogical and i must confess that without the help of the guide i'd have been stuck again (but further than the maze this time).

So (yesterday night !) i was ready for a challenge and finally made it all the way through to the end , it was nice to see some new locations , enjoy the puzzles and complete the game , the graphics are very simple (line / plot / draw etc ) , but serve their purpose and add some atmosphere to the game .

Overall it's well worth a 3 out of 5 , a bit more logic and less confusion (it doesn't always tell you when you can go in a certain direction) and it would have gained an extra point.

Nightshade was the first game by Ultimate to use the famous Filmation 2 , which allowed the same freedom as filmation 1 but with a scrolling play area .

The object of the game was to find objects to defeat the phantoms that lurked around the town , graphically it was a joy to behold , smooth scrolling , large detailed characters and great animation. But somehow the game was lacking addictive qualities or playabilty (certainly compared to other ultimate games) .

It is probably my least favourite ultimate game (not counting the us gold efforts) , its not terrible , just lacking sparkle.

Alongside enduro racer , commando and hyper sports - bomb jack stands head and shoulders above the usual bog standard arcade conversions on the spectrum.

You must realise that back in 1986 arcade games were rarely converted this well to the home computers , the graphics are obviously less colourful to avoid clash , but they are slick and well animated , it plays almost to a tee as well as the arcade game.

A huge hit in its day , deserved a crash smash and still plays well today.

Bomb Jack by Elite - the perfect arcade conversion .

Taking on the school boy role of Eric was an amazing experience , no longer were you confined to the boredom of real school life , you could scrawl on blackboards , punch the swot , fire your trusty catapult at teachers - and if you so desired - actually play the game the way it was intended and try and retrieve your terrible school report from Mr Whackers safe .

Firing at the school shields and then deflecting the shots onto each teachers head would give you a piece of code to scribble down , get all the codes in time and unlock the safe and save the day , sounds easy ! But the day to day distractions of school life soon put your best plans to rest .

Its a fabulous game , one that really does stand the test of time , its got a one more go addiction , the graphics are clear , its fun to play and quite rightly takes its place in the top 5 spectrum games of all time , and on wos actually won the spectrum game world cup !

Way before Grand theft auto 3 was a twinkle in rock stars eyes , Turbo Esprit on the zx spectrum gave us all a taste of what its like to drive through a full 3d city , shooting cars , ramming robbers and drug dealers into submission and generally having a whale of a time.

The attention to detail made this game stand out above most other games , working indicators , speedometers , fully operational (and useful ) maps , it was the game miami vice (a dreadful game) would have liked to have been.

Graphically it was superb, as most of Durrells games were . And like a genuine sandbox game , if you didn't want to follow the main plot of the game , you could just go have a mess !

Great fun and playing it again today i realise the golden age of gaming and innovation was the 80's !

Alongside Bomb Jack and Commando , i would rate this as the best that the spectrum has to offer in terms of arcade conversions.

I remember playing this (and nodes of yesod) day in , day out for weeks in the summer of 85 !

Swimming , Skeet shooting , Horse Vaulting , Archery , Triple Jump and the agonising weightlifting events , are all really well done , my favourite being the archery !

Extremely addictive , graphically perfect and it still plays great today.

I always thought that Arkanoid felt dated , i remember the first time i played it and i was perplexed how such a simple game was doing the rounds almost ten years after breakout on the atari and a good five years after the free game on horizons - thru the wall.

It is of course far better than either of those titles , with far superior graphics , power ups , different levels and a daft storyline to boot !

The only problem was that it was squashed (no pun intended) by the vastly superior Batty which was given away around the same time as a free gift on the cover of Your Sinclair.

Overall - totally unoriginal , but a decent version of the classic breakout.

I think Ocean just got obsessed with converting any arcade machine they could to home computers.

And i also think crash got it spot on !

Scrambling to get down to the local game shop (wildings) we joined our funds together and browsed the shelves - two games hit us - manic miner by bug byte and kong by ocean. We'd already played manic miner on a mates speccy and knew how good it was , so we plumped for the game we'd known from the arcades - DONKEY KONG !

Taking forever to load , with the basic ocean loading screen not helping to pass anytime , we eagerly awaited to play the amazing arcade game at home.

Hmmm - the main sprites a bit flickery , he doesn't look quite right , oh well , on we pressed. The levels were still very similar , but the barrels seem enormous compared to your poor man and the collision detection seemed very harsh , to the point of frustration.

Again and again we tried and eventually clearing the first screen things got slightly better , we didn't give up though as £6.90 back in 1983 was a small fortune and kept us from pulling the plug.

We had a full day on it and then we turned and admitted to each other that it was a poor effort , driving us crazy with frustration.

As an early arcade conversion of a great arcade game , ocean ultimately failed , they would try again 3 years later with an official version - which did do a far better job.

Kevin Toms - master of the simple computer strategy game - unfortunately for this game - he made it way too simple .

The object is to run your software house and reach for the stars , creating a profitable business and maintaining chart position to attain the status of software star !

Its based on decisions made during the month , such as how much advertising , how long to leave a game in production , were to aim your support (NSEW) and basically thats it , the chart comes in , your games position is shown , the profit and loss sheets shown for the month , then its back to the launch / develop game screen again .

Its a pity as this would be a brilliant game , if there was just a bit more to do !

A super little early spectrum shoot em up , fast , requires good reactions , the game has some extra features if you get further down the river , airplanes that drop mines , extra lives gained by parking between a very tight dock etc , overall a high energy fun shooter that has that one more go element.

Its a generally known classic game , has the honour of being the 1st isometric scrolling adventure game , but although being a clever game , in my eyes it plays pretty badly , the controls are awful , the ants annoying , the rescue system isn't great , i played this a lot in the 80s and revisiting it this week for a few games really brought to life how poor it really is , i still give it 3/5 as it has some charming qualities , but as an actual " game " , its below par.

Playing this again for the first time in years , i was expecting it to be dated and not as much fun as i remembered , how i was wrong , help trashman clean up the world , travel from country to country starting in europe and ending up in far away continents , its a series of mini games in each city , earn money , move on , get as far as you can and get the best score , great fun , neat touches like the passport application and hilarious reasons for your demise ! a fun game , it was never gonna be the best game of all time , but has great sound , fun gameplay and i like it - a lot .