Producer: DK Tronics
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: E. Hickman

Zig Zag is one of those games that provides you with some pretty sophisticated equipment, namely a Vectrakker DKT Mk II prototype fitted out with the latest in Navtraq series MD12 guidance system, electron pulse interrogator, residual plasma drive monitor, sector entry code display and junction indicators. Junction indicators?

The screen shows the control console of your Vectrakker with the sector entry code in a panel to the lower left, energy drain in a similar panel to the right, score bonus in between and the junction indicators and sector map in a long panel at the top. In between is the view through the windscreen.

The object of the game is to traverse the mazelike corridors of each of six sectors, pursue the inhabitants called Scarabaqs until you trap them in a dead end. When the Interrogator is fired at them, they give up part of a code for entry to the next sector. A second burst will kill them, which saves you chasing the same Scarabaq again, but drains energy. The sector is very simple, merely a square of corridors with a long dead end. On either side there are short dead ends along every corridor. It takes one Scarabaq to get the code to enter sector two.

Sector two is far more complex, and each subsequent sector after that gets more complicated. In sector two you must interrogate two Scarabaqs, in sector three, three and so on. As you progress through a sector, turning this way and that, a map builds up on the screen above, with a cursor dot showing your position. The SED panel flashes red when a Scarabaq is near, and is reported verbally if you are using the Currah microspeech. Once spotted, the Scarabaq runs away from you turning corners and then waiting. The idea is to learn the sector layout and disrupt the Scarabaq's normal retreat method to finally trap it in a short dead end when it may be 'interrogated'. Should you select the incorrect dead end, the beast will escape and have to be chased all over again.

While this is going on, be on the watch out for hoverdroids, which flash out from a junction and fire at you, draining energy. They can be destroyed by firing the interrogator at them.

The view of the corridors of the maze is in striking three dimensions. Bonus scores for each sector drop with movement/time, but much more quickly while stationary.

COMMENTS

Control keys: A=forward, Z=fire O/P left-right turn, or Sinclair keys, 6/7 left/right, 9=forward and 0 to fire
Joystick: Sinclair ZX 2, Kempston, DK Tronics interface
Keyboard play: highly responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent 3D effect, generally of a high standard
Sound: excellent
Skill levels: each sector is harder
Lives: depends on bonus or energy drain
Screens: continuously scrolling
Features: Currah Microspeech compatible

In my opinion, Zig Zag has been worked on more for its 3D graphics (and good they are!) than its game playability. I did enjoy moving around after the victims and zapping them for interrogating them), but they seemed rather scarce. The graphics are very impressive, with fast, smooth scrolling 3D corridors, but I found the striped verticals tended to make my eyes work overtime. Generally, the game was reasonable with fast movement and good graphics. I thought they could have made it a little more exciting though.

Zig Zag is an unusual game. The quality of the graphics is very high which helps to make it fun to play. The corridors are described as a series of vertical black stripes ending in perspective cut off which accurately forms walls, corridor floor and the suggestion of corridors leading off to the left and right. When you turn a corner, everything scrolls round giving a very real impression of turning a corner. The Scarabaqs are also excellently done, with large 3D graphics, pounding feet, armoured backs, squealing around tight comers, and almost irresistible when cornered, with their large saucer eyes and gaping, chattering mouths. Seems a shame to shoot them! I wouldn't say that this is a difficult game, rather more an involved and long one. It's also a tiring one, but in a satisfying way. Highly playable, quite addictive, although I don't know how long its attraction will really last, and in my opinion among the finest games DK Tronics have produced.

The 3D effect in this game is quite fantastic, it all moves very smoothly. Chasing a Scarabaq can become extremely tiring due to the fact that the maze is made up of stripes, I don't think this detracts from the game though. One of the most useful features is the map which is drawn as you explore a new sector, so you can retrace your footsteps. Monsters scurry very quickly through the maze trying to avoid you and take ages to catch - they are very well drawn. Other than chasing the Scarabaqs, there isn't a lot else going on in the game but still, it remains really quite addictive to play. Sound and colour are well used and the Currah microspeech enhances the sound considerably. By the time you finish this game you feel physically as though you have run right through the maze...

A maze game with 30 screens in which you must track down androids and interrogate them for the special code that will allow you to progress to the next level.

Ian: The speed is much faster than with other maze games, with drawing of the next position taking place almost instantaneously. This is really just a common-or-garden maze game, but it's still appealing and holds your attention for some time. 5/10

Simon: Well executed sprite movement, playable speed and a pleasant colour selection all go to make this game fun and interesting to play. 5/10

Jon: This game includes excellent 3D effects which are both smooth and welldefined. And the choice of colours is effective — they nicely complement one another. 6/10

Use of Computer: 85%
Graphics: 88%
Playability: 85%
Getting Started: 83%
Addictive Qualities: 83%
Value for Money: 84%
Overall: 85%

Zig Zag has been DK'Tronics' biggest hit so far but they've got some more games in the pipeline. The object of the game is to wander around the maze hunting for these poor innocent little creatures called Scarabaqs (I know it's a stupid name but I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for it). Once you've found one of these little thingies then you've got to trap it in a corner and interrogate them to get part of a code to proceed to higher levels in the game. If you are near a Scarabaq then an indicator flashes or if you've got a Currah Microspeech attached you are told verbally. On later levels Hoverdroids pop out of alley ways and shoot at you which drains your energy but you can destroy them just by shooting an interrogator at them.

Zig Zag was one of those games that has very nice 3D graphics but wasn't terribly playable or addictive. After a few games I'd just about completed it and I was becoming increasingly bored with the whole thing. The constant drone of the Vectrakker (the backpack that houses all of your interrogating and navigation equipment) got right up my nose and on top of that I only saw one Hoverdroid.
BS

Zig Zag was a very playable game though there wasn't much going on. The graphics were great with the 3D maze scrolling wonderfully and the little Scarabaqs were so cute, I especially liked the way their eyes popped out when you zapped them for a second time. The idea of the game is so simple that you can get into it on your first go without much bother, though I think it wouldn't take long for an average games player to complete it or very nearly complete it. Sound and colour are both used well and overall I think I still like it. Zig Zag is a very good game for people who aren't too good at games in general or for beginners who want start off with something that isn't too complex. Overall I think I Zig Zag is a great game and could keep you up until the early hours of the morning chasing those lively Scarabaqs.
RC

(Ben) I would change most of the ratings. 'Use of computer' down 12% to 73, 'Graphics' down 10% because there is no variation in them, it's always the same view. Both the 'Playability' and 'Addictive qualities' would suffer because I lost interest in a very short time and I found it a bit boring just chasing Scarabaqs all the while.

(Rob) I don't think I would change many of the ratings because I think it's one of the best 3D maze games around. The 'Graphics' would go down by say about 5% but the 'Playability' would go up by about the same. All the other ratings still stand.

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

As Pamela Stephenson once warbled on Not the Nine O'Clock News: "Nice video, shame about the song". Zig-Zag from dk'Tronics is a beautifully-presented game with excellent graphics and smooth, fast action, but it suffers from a repetitive and not specially original concept.

You have to patrol your sector seeking the Scarabaqs, beetle-like nasties with pointed teeth. Each sector is a network of corridors portrayed on the screen in 3D-style graphics. The Scarabaqs supposedly hold the data necessary to enter the next sector and as you progress through the game you have to capture more Scarabaqs at each level.

The screen display is cockpit-style and apart from the view of the corridors you have status indicators and a direction indicator.

The graphics are very fine. The cockpit view changes swiftly and smoothly and the Scarabaqs look suitably bug-eyed and vicious when cornered. It would have been pleasant to see more variety in the game rather than a mere increase in difficulty with each new level.

YOU SAY TOMAYTO

MAKER: DK'Tronics
MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £6.95

I haven't seen a short young dude in weeks. But keep right on looking. There's nothing else to do. Then suddenly I spot one! The little critter starts at the sound of my armoured Vecktrakker and legs it into the maze. I cram on the gas. The mug scuttles away - only to find itself cornered in a dead end. It's bulbous eyes spin like hubcaps and it rasps in defiance. With a grin I punch the Electron Interrogator...

Visually at least this SF maze chase is pretty impressive. Each maze, or sector, to use the vernacular, contains a family of Scarabags which, when confronted, are revealed to be nothing more than lolling, bug-eyed tomatoes. Your task is to fry these fruits and then move on to a new sector.

Unfortunately, despite the sharp visuals the gameplay is a trifle monotonous. Still, those fancying a short bout of tomato trashing will not be disappointed.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: DK'Tronics, £6.95

Yet another 3D maze game, but this one has some very nice touches.

You must patrol the corridors hunting down defenceless Scarabags, whose only hope of escape from your Electron Pulse Interrogator is to keep one step ahead of you.

Sooner or later, however, the poor creatures end up in a dead-end, at which point you give it to them between the eyes while they stand there with their teeth chattering.

Fire once and they will give you essential information on how to enter the next sector of the maze. Fire twice and you send the poor things to wherever Scarabags go to at the end of their brief and tragic lives.

The program is compatible with the Currah speech unit, with amusing results. As you wander round the maze it offers taunting remarks ('Coward') and if you corner a Scarabag it calls - understandably - for help.

However the real point of the game is to map out the entire maze in the limited time available. As you cover new ground, the program draws a diagram of the maze in the upper half of the screen. You can use this diagram to navigate more efficiently and as a help in hunting down Scarabags.

You have a limited amount of energy available, and this is drained by killing Scarabags, by moving around too much, and by being attacked by the Hoverdroids who also patrol the maze.

Zig-Zag is attractively presented and very playable, though how long it will hold your interest depends more on your patience than on the challenge of the game.

Spectrum 48K
Novelty
£6.95
DK'Tronics

You must chase Scarabags in your Vectrakker DKT Mk II prototype and, once you've cornered one, interrogate it to find out how to enter the next sector. Then kill it. Occasionally, Hoverdroids appear and you must destroy these too. A 3D maze effect and speech module capability make this an unusual game. The Scarabags, quaking in a corner, made me feel sorry for them - I didn't exterminate many.