ZX Spectrum Vega game #0036
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about the sequel to the wonderful Alter Ego, where the box headed character and its mirror image continue their puzzle platforming adventures! Denis Grachev of retrosouls.net made this one also.
Showing posts with label ZX Spectrum Vega. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ZX Spectrum Vega. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Monday, 23 January 2017
1 ALTER EGO - A GREAT GAME ABOUT SWITCHING!
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0035
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this lovely puzzle platformer by Denis Grachev of retrosouls.net. I played the NES one before but now I'm trying it on the ZX Spectrum Vega.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this lovely puzzle platformer by Denis Grachev of retrosouls.net. I played the NES one before but now I'm trying it on the ZX Spectrum Vega.
Saturday, 21 January 2017
3 MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HORACE - BEAT VILLORDSUTCH'S SCORE!
Dear Readers,
Had another serious go at this game with the aim of getting the high score and beating the 10,000 #1 position on the table held by Villordsutch!
Had another serious go at this game with the aim of getting the high score and beating the 10,000 #1 position on the table held by Villordsutch!
Thursday, 19 January 2017
2 MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HORACE - BUYING TIME TO KEEP THE LEVEL LOW
Dear Readers,
I decided to have another go to see if I can get a better score... and I did! I'll talk about a strategy I used to get more points.
I decided to have another go to see if I can get a better score... and I did! I'll talk about a strategy I used to get more points.
Thursday, 29 December 2016
1 MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM HORACE - ANOTHER 2016 RETRO TREAT!
Dear Readers,
The Unofficial Zombo's Christmas Capers isn't the only ZX Spectrum release this Christmas! There's also this lovely simple arcade game from Steve Broad, which I downloaded and configured for my ZX Spectrum Vega.
The Unofficial Zombo's Christmas Capers isn't the only ZX Spectrum release this Christmas! There's also this lovely simple arcade game from Steve Broad, which I downloaded and configured for my ZX Spectrum Vega.
Monday, 26 December 2016
1 THE UNOFFICIAL ZOMBO'S CHRISTMAS CAPERS - RINGING OUT 2016 IN STYLE
Dear Readers,
Hope ye had a nice Christmas! It's been a while since I made a ZX Spectrum Vega post! I thought I'd try out this game by Malcom Kirk of Monsterbytes Software, who made it as part of the 2000AD MESSAGEBOARD ADVENT CALENDAR 2016™ project.
Hope ye had a nice Christmas! It's been a while since I made a ZX Spectrum Vega post! I thought I'd try out this game by Malcom Kirk of Monsterbytes Software, who made it as part of the 2000AD MESSAGEBOARD ADVENT CALENDAR 2016™ project.
Friday, 16 September 2016
1 ALL PRESENT AND CORRECT - CHU CHU ROCKET PUZZLE MODE TRIBUTE!
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0034
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Chu Chu Rocket puzzle mode tribute by Bob Smith, Fikee, Mister Beep, Graz and Andrew Owen from 2009.
What a lovely idea! Chu Chu Rocket survived through its puzzle mode, which appeared on Game Boy Advance and mobile phones and now here's a nice homebrew tribute to it.
The loading screen has a very pretty picture of hammers, presents and sacks, all with cartoony faces. The presents are here instead of the mice, the sacks are here instead of the spaceships and I suppose the hammers are there instead of the cats?
The title screen music has a nice beat and the tune sounds a bit like static.
There's a level editor too but I won't be trying that out for now at least.
Nice selection of levels here. There are 40 of them.
Level 01 is titled "Mind The Gap Please". Nice introduction to the controls. You hold the fire button and press the direction of the arrow you want to place and remove them if you make a mistake. I like the footstep sounds the presents make as they move along! The victory chime is a lovely buzzy celebratory chime. One arrow for each of the pressies here.
Level 02: The Chase. Now I know the hammers are there instead of the cats. Small bit of thinking with just one arrow here but it's not too difficult.
Level 03: Bolt. 5 pressies and 4 hammers here... and only two arrows to stop the hammers. They all have their own straight lanes which makes the screen look a bit like Tapper. To find out what I needed to do, I just made it play at first. The pressies run faster than the hammers but the bottom two pressies got caught by the top two hammers. So then I figured the arrows should be placed to block those hammers. It worked! :)
There's no real penalty for losing, so that makes the game experiment friendly. I love that about it :)
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Chu Chu Rocket puzzle mode tribute by Bob Smith, Fikee, Mister Beep, Graz and Andrew Owen from 2009.
What a lovely idea! Chu Chu Rocket survived through its puzzle mode, which appeared on Game Boy Advance and mobile phones and now here's a nice homebrew tribute to it.
The loading screen has a very pretty picture of hammers, presents and sacks, all with cartoony faces. The presents are here instead of the mice, the sacks are here instead of the spaceships and I suppose the hammers are there instead of the cats?
The title screen music has a nice beat and the tune sounds a bit like static.
There's a level editor too but I won't be trying that out for now at least.
Nice selection of levels here. There are 40 of them.
Level 01 is titled "Mind The Gap Please". Nice introduction to the controls. You hold the fire button and press the direction of the arrow you want to place and remove them if you make a mistake. I like the footstep sounds the presents make as they move along! The victory chime is a lovely buzzy celebratory chime. One arrow for each of the pressies here.
Level 02: The Chase. Now I know the hammers are there instead of the cats. Small bit of thinking with just one arrow here but it's not too difficult.
Level 03: Bolt. 5 pressies and 4 hammers here... and only two arrows to stop the hammers. They all have their own straight lanes which makes the screen look a bit like Tapper. To find out what I needed to do, I just made it play at first. The pressies run faster than the hammers but the bottom two pressies got caught by the top two hammers. So then I figured the arrows should be placed to block those hammers. It worked! :)
There's no real penalty for losing, so that makes the game experiment friendly. I love that about it :)
Thursday, 15 September 2016
1 ALL IN A DAY'S WORK - WANDERING WITH AGENT WAUCHOPE
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0033
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure by Jonathan Scott, Stephen Boyd and Zenobi Software from 1996. So they were still going by the time 1996 came along? That's pretty cool!
It's a detective game where I have to find evidence of a murder that happened. I also have a female sidekick whom I can give orders to by typing them in, which is an interesting angle.
I put in a few commands and wandered outside with my sidekick Agent Wauchope. We went to her car and got in and back out and wandered a bit more. I could even talk to her about something but I didn't know what to talk to her about or figure out what to do.
I might revisit this game again someday. It's pretty sophisticated with mechanics like this. It might be kind of a pain to type out Wauchope's name constantly though.
I kinda wish these games had multiple choice, like from a menu...
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure by Jonathan Scott, Stephen Boyd and Zenobi Software from 1996. So they were still going by the time 1996 came along? That's pretty cool!
It's a detective game where I have to find evidence of a murder that happened. I also have a female sidekick whom I can give orders to by typing them in, which is an interesting angle.
I put in a few commands and wandered outside with my sidekick Agent Wauchope. We went to her car and got in and back out and wandered a bit more. I could even talk to her about something but I didn't know what to talk to her about or figure out what to do.
I might revisit this game again someday. It's pretty sophisticated with mechanics like this. It might be kind of a pain to type out Wauchope's name constantly though.
I kinda wish these games had multiple choice, like from a menu...
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
1 ALIEN RESEARCH CENTRE - SPEEDY ALIEN MAGGOT
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0032
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Ian Smith, Shaun G. McClure, Tom Smith and Zenobi Software from 1990. Some nice illustrations accompany the text.
From the instructions, it sounds like this game was inspired by the Aliens movies. I have to navigate the corridors of the Alien Research Centre and face dangers on my mission.
The input text reminds me of Teletext font!
I navigated my way into some rooms and found an opening into a vent. There was some rubble here but I couldn't clear it so I went back to the corridor. I came across a Giant Maggot and it killed me! Gah!
I started again and faced the Maggot again, this time shooting at it but I missed it twice. I then tried another way.
I got a titanium scalpel from the lab and an ID card from the doctor's office.
Nowhere else to go but to the Maggot but it keeps dodging my shooting! There's a nice zappy sound effect when you do that though.
I couldn't figure out what to do next and just ended up being eaten by the Giant Maggot again.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Ian Smith, Shaun G. McClure, Tom Smith and Zenobi Software from 1990. Some nice illustrations accompany the text.
From the instructions, it sounds like this game was inspired by the Aliens movies. I have to navigate the corridors of the Alien Research Centre and face dangers on my mission.
The input text reminds me of Teletext font!
I navigated my way into some rooms and found an opening into a vent. There was some rubble here but I couldn't clear it so I went back to the corridor. I came across a Giant Maggot and it killed me! Gah!
I started again and faced the Maggot again, this time shooting at it but I missed it twice. I then tried another way.
I got a titanium scalpel from the lab and an ID card from the doctor's office.
Nowhere else to go but to the Maggot but it keeps dodging my shooting! There's a nice zappy sound effect when you do that though.
I couldn't figure out what to do next and just ended up being eaten by the Giant Maggot again.
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
1 ALIEN MAZE - SPACE INVADERS FAN FICTION SEQUEL
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0031
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this first person maze game by V. Ward from 1983, which introduces itself as a story follow up to Space Invaders! Ah, fan fiction :)
It's got a nice title screen that alternates between different colours.
The instructions are dense... but they're vital! I don't think I'll follow them for now, I'll just wander around this maze and talk about what that's like for this post.
Walking around the maze is slow and deliberate. You take one step at a time and each step is separated by the sound of someone taking steps in an old computer kind of way. So it takes ages to get anywhere and I'd say I'll have to draw down the layout of this map if I do decide to play it seriously. Just now I ended up back at the entrance after a bit of slow plodding and hearing those step sound effects being repeated over and over. It's as slow to do turns.
I think that's it for now. If I decide to continue another time, I'll try and solve the Space Invaders' maze and disarm the bomb.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this first person maze game by V. Ward from 1983, which introduces itself as a story follow up to Space Invaders! Ah, fan fiction :)
It's got a nice title screen that alternates between different colours.
The instructions are dense... but they're vital! I don't think I'll follow them for now, I'll just wander around this maze and talk about what that's like for this post.
Walking around the maze is slow and deliberate. You take one step at a time and each step is separated by the sound of someone taking steps in an old computer kind of way. So it takes ages to get anywhere and I'd say I'll have to draw down the layout of this map if I do decide to play it seriously. Just now I ended up back at the entrance after a bit of slow plodding and hearing those step sound effects being repeated over and over. It's as slow to do turns.
I think that's it for now. If I decide to continue another time, I'll try and solve the Space Invaders' maze and disarm the bomb.
Saturday, 10 September 2016
1 ALIEN INSECTS - AMAZING SOUND EFFECTS!
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0030
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this arcade single screen shooter by Nigel Stuart and Macronics Systems Ltd from 1983.
WOW what a title screen! It's insane. It rapidly flashes colours while playing zappy, screamy, noisy arcade sound effects.
You play as a guy with a jetpack and a gun in outer space, shooting all these weird insect alien things. You move faster than they do and you move all over the screen, but you can only shoot left or right and can only defeat the enemies with head shots. They eventually get faster too.
The sound effects in this game are incredible. When you shoot it's this rubbery snappy squawky sound. When you hit an enemy the whole universe freezes as the enemy explodes into a little flashing light ball accompanied by a rapid splashy sound. It's so satisfying and a great use of hitstop/sticky friction! Imagine using a catapult to shoot a flock a pigeons that just took a dump on you. That's how satisfying it is.
When you finish a level you get a whooshing and crashing computery sound effect and it sounds so awesome!
I got my first game over with a score of 730. The high score table is blank and has a flickery film strip effect going on.
Got a nice bit of a backstory here too. Actually it's no backstory. Just describing how you're a guy who got a job shooting aliens in space using only a jetpack and a laser and a spacesuit. Lots of lovely colours flashing here but you can switch them off.
On my second try I got a score of 1,974. I came across this other enemy. This crazy homing flashing thing at the top that instantly kills you if you're to the right of it when it starts moving. During this time the universe freezes and it's too late if you haven't moved out of the way already. When it passes by you get an amazing sense of relief and satisfaction that you've outsmarted it too!
A couple of tries later I scored 1,954. That flashing thing sometimes hangs around near the left side of the screen, so that makes life very tricky with such limited safe space. I wish I could face it from the get go though. You know with Game & Watch games, where there's a Game B that starts a little more difficult straight away? I kinda wish that option was here, but no worries.
So my highest score is still 1,974. This is such an awesome and playable arcade game!
One strategy you could use is fire constantly, which makes the action slow down a little bit.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this arcade single screen shooter by Nigel Stuart and Macronics Systems Ltd from 1983.
WOW what a title screen! It's insane. It rapidly flashes colours while playing zappy, screamy, noisy arcade sound effects.
You play as a guy with a jetpack and a gun in outer space, shooting all these weird insect alien things. You move faster than they do and you move all over the screen, but you can only shoot left or right and can only defeat the enemies with head shots. They eventually get faster too.
The sound effects in this game are incredible. When you shoot it's this rubbery snappy squawky sound. When you hit an enemy the whole universe freezes as the enemy explodes into a little flashing light ball accompanied by a rapid splashy sound. It's so satisfying and a great use of hitstop/sticky friction! Imagine using a catapult to shoot a flock a pigeons that just took a dump on you. That's how satisfying it is.
When you finish a level you get a whooshing and crashing computery sound effect and it sounds so awesome!
I got my first game over with a score of 730. The high score table is blank and has a flickery film strip effect going on.
Got a nice bit of a backstory here too. Actually it's no backstory. Just describing how you're a guy who got a job shooting aliens in space using only a jetpack and a laser and a spacesuit. Lots of lovely colours flashing here but you can switch them off.
On my second try I got a score of 1,974. I came across this other enemy. This crazy homing flashing thing at the top that instantly kills you if you're to the right of it when it starts moving. During this time the universe freezes and it's too late if you haven't moved out of the way already. When it passes by you get an amazing sense of relief and satisfaction that you've outsmarted it too!
A couple of tries later I scored 1,954. That flashing thing sometimes hangs around near the left side of the screen, so that makes life very tricky with such limited safe space. I wish I could face it from the get go though. You know with Game & Watch games, where there's a Game B that starts a little more difficult straight away? I kinda wish that option was here, but no worries.
So my highest score is still 1,974. This is such an awesome and playable arcade game!
One strategy you could use is fire constantly, which makes the action slow down a little bit.
Friday, 9 September 2016
1 ALIEN EVOLUTION - ISOMETRIC POST APOCALYPSE
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0029
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this isometric action game by Marco Paulo Carrasco, Rui Manuel Tito and Gremlin from 1987. I had a look for this game on World Of Spectrum as I found it to be a bit feature heavy with all its weapons. I didn't get that much information on them but I found a bit of lore and some nice cassette inlay artwork.
You control some kind of hovercraft the humans have sent from underground to get rid of aliens on the surface. The aliens are described as highly sexed and have bred all over the place. The humans are described as nice and kind.
There are two distinctive cassette inlays for this game. One of them has your hovercraft shooting at dinosaur like creatures and their eggs on a barren landscape with a yellow sky. The other has a green xenomorph-like creature with blood dripping from its teeth and claws. I'm a little more fired up to play the game now :)
I just played a session where I kind of hid away in a corner to try and suss out the controls. Isometric controls always take a bit of getting used to for me, even though I played loads of Monster Max on the Game Boy as a kid. The aliens in the meantime multiplied like crazy! I didn't last long and got a game over with 100 points.
The high score table has names of the game makers but no high scores, so I got the top spot anyway. It has some nice music though, and then the title screen had more nice music with its own version of Mozart Symphony #40. (I had to look up old Nokia ringtones to help identify that one!)
After a couple of more sessions, and being no more confident in any way about isometric navigation, I got to defeat a few more aliens with the help of those mines that look like computer chips that you can pick up again. My score that time was 1,410, which is my highest yet. The only new thing I learned was how to use those umbrella like transporters.
I might come back to this game, but it'll take lots of practice to get any good at it, especially with the aliens zipping around the place so quickly.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this isometric action game by Marco Paulo Carrasco, Rui Manuel Tito and Gremlin from 1987. I had a look for this game on World Of Spectrum as I found it to be a bit feature heavy with all its weapons. I didn't get that much information on them but I found a bit of lore and some nice cassette inlay artwork.
You control some kind of hovercraft the humans have sent from underground to get rid of aliens on the surface. The aliens are described as highly sexed and have bred all over the place. The humans are described as nice and kind.
There are two distinctive cassette inlays for this game. One of them has your hovercraft shooting at dinosaur like creatures and their eggs on a barren landscape with a yellow sky. The other has a green xenomorph-like creature with blood dripping from its teeth and claws. I'm a little more fired up to play the game now :)
I just played a session where I kind of hid away in a corner to try and suss out the controls. Isometric controls always take a bit of getting used to for me, even though I played loads of Monster Max on the Game Boy as a kid. The aliens in the meantime multiplied like crazy! I didn't last long and got a game over with 100 points.
The high score table has names of the game makers but no high scores, so I got the top spot anyway. It has some nice music though, and then the title screen had more nice music with its own version of Mozart Symphony #40. (I had to look up old Nokia ringtones to help identify that one!)
After a couple of more sessions, and being no more confident in any way about isometric navigation, I got to defeat a few more aliens with the help of those mines that look like computer chips that you can pick up again. My score that time was 1,410, which is my highest yet. The only new thing I learned was how to use those umbrella like transporters.
I might come back to this game, but it'll take lots of practice to get any good at it, especially with the aliens zipping around the place so quickly.
Thursday, 8 September 2016
1 ALIEN DESTROYER - FLICKERY GALAXIAN
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0028
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Galaxian-like game by P. Dormand and Kuma Computers Ltd from 1984. It's quite flickery!
I'm welcomed by an option screen that's made up of white text on a green background. The Spectrum's green is so bright that it isn't the best combination of colours. Graphic designers make weird legibility choices all the time nowadays but there were examples of it back in the old days.
The title screen thankfully is a black background with white text. Some nice animations of the enemies are here too. During gameplay the enemies have good colours against the starry background, but they flicker a lot, especially at the start of a screen when it's full of them. The score display is a strange magenta text on blue background.
The gameplay is very Galaxian like with enemies moving side to side with the occasional one diving down at you. Action is flickery and laggy at the start but quickens and smoothens the fewer enemies are there so it's appropriate enough that it would get more challenging this way. Your laser is a straight flashing line. Sound effects are standard ticks and boops.
Playing for this blog entry, I got to the seventh stage with a score of 7,420(after squinting to see it with the colours), which is my highest so far. I find the best strategy is to stay still and shoot at one group when there's nothing coming down. If you hit one, you're likely to hit a few of their neighbours as well this way.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Galaxian-like game by P. Dormand and Kuma Computers Ltd from 1984. It's quite flickery!
I'm welcomed by an option screen that's made up of white text on a green background. The Spectrum's green is so bright that it isn't the best combination of colours. Graphic designers make weird legibility choices all the time nowadays but there were examples of it back in the old days.
The title screen thankfully is a black background with white text. Some nice animations of the enemies are here too. During gameplay the enemies have good colours against the starry background, but they flicker a lot, especially at the start of a screen when it's full of them. The score display is a strange magenta text on blue background.
The gameplay is very Galaxian like with enemies moving side to side with the occasional one diving down at you. Action is flickery and laggy at the start but quickens and smoothens the fewer enemies are there so it's appropriate enough that it would get more challenging this way. Your laser is a straight flashing line. Sound effects are standard ticks and boops.
Playing for this blog entry, I got to the seventh stage with a score of 7,420(after squinting to see it with the colours), which is my highest so far. I find the best strategy is to stay still and shoot at one group when there's nothing coming down. If you hit one, you're likely to hit a few of their neighbours as well this way.
Wednesday, 7 September 2016
1 ALBATROSSITY - SUPERB CRAZY GOLFING!
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0027
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this brilliant 2D single screen, side view, crazy golfing game by Jonathan Cauldwell and music by Matthew Westcott from 2008. There's a url for cronosoft.co.uk here too.
Wow the music! The title screen welcomes you with this lovely bouncy music that's somewhat similar to the Vega menu but becomes its own lovely thing when you keep listening to it after a while. The font reminds me of the title font for The Goodies which is lovely too.
I have no idea what the toilet in this game is for...
I've played a few sessions of this and I looked up a map on World Of Spectrum. 38 levels or holes so that's a nice amount of content!
Hole 01 has some basic obstacles like walls and grassy platforms you can shoot up through. The music is a nice happy jaunty tune, the kind of music a first level should have!
The score card (or game over) screen has a slow sentimental tune. I got this screen fairly soon and still get it very often!
Hole 02 has a magenta water hazard with a fast ripply surface. It really goes with the tune, which is quick paced and jazzy and gives you the feeling... or at least gives me the feeling that I'm making some kind of progress and I'm looking forward to seeing what challenges are coming up.
Hole 03 has a nice echoey tune, like I'm continuing my round of golf through a dark cave. The obstacles coming out of the ground... they're the stalagmites, according to my imagination :)
Hole 04 repeats the first hole's music and I think the music loops from here on out. I'm not sure. Anyway this level introduces cyan barriers that can be sliced through with the steel ball. The steel ball's pretty good when you don't want too much bounce too. For this session I used the sticky ball to stick to the wall so that it wouldn't bounce back down. Very cool the way it sticks to walls and ceilings and it comes in very handy!
Hole 05 plays the fast paced jazzy tune and has a lovely blue background to mix things up. I thought at first there were pitfalls but no, there's no danger here. The jazzy tune feels good here because so much progress has already been made and it makes me feel good and like I'm kicking butt... and here's more butt to kick.
Hole 06 plays the echoey cave like tune and it's back to the black background. Another cyan barrier and water hazard here too. In this session I played, I was down to my very last ball, a rubber one. I didn't think I was gonna make it so I went for broke at full power and... WOO! I got it in and went to the next hole!
Hole 07 plays the jaunty tune. It played at the first hole and it feels appropriate here. This stage is all snowy and icy and the music makes it feel like a new beginning or a new season, or in video game terms, like you're going on to the next world. There's a nice snowman here and white and cyan stalactites as hazards. Not even the steel ball can withstand them.
This was as far as I got. Hole 06 with 45 shots was my score on the card. There's a nifty sounding hole edit feature available but I didn't try that.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this brilliant 2D single screen, side view, crazy golfing game by Jonathan Cauldwell and music by Matthew Westcott from 2008. There's a url for cronosoft.co.uk here too.
Wow the music! The title screen welcomes you with this lovely bouncy music that's somewhat similar to the Vega menu but becomes its own lovely thing when you keep listening to it after a while. The font reminds me of the title font for The Goodies which is lovely too.
I have no idea what the toilet in this game is for...
I've played a few sessions of this and I looked up a map on World Of Spectrum. 38 levels or holes so that's a nice amount of content!
Hole 01 has some basic obstacles like walls and grassy platforms you can shoot up through. The music is a nice happy jaunty tune, the kind of music a first level should have!
The score card (or game over) screen has a slow sentimental tune. I got this screen fairly soon and still get it very often!
Hole 02 has a magenta water hazard with a fast ripply surface. It really goes with the tune, which is quick paced and jazzy and gives you the feeling... or at least gives me the feeling that I'm making some kind of progress and I'm looking forward to seeing what challenges are coming up.
Hole 03 has a nice echoey tune, like I'm continuing my round of golf through a dark cave. The obstacles coming out of the ground... they're the stalagmites, according to my imagination :)
Hole 04 repeats the first hole's music and I think the music loops from here on out. I'm not sure. Anyway this level introduces cyan barriers that can be sliced through with the steel ball. The steel ball's pretty good when you don't want too much bounce too. For this session I used the sticky ball to stick to the wall so that it wouldn't bounce back down. Very cool the way it sticks to walls and ceilings and it comes in very handy!
Hole 05 plays the fast paced jazzy tune and has a lovely blue background to mix things up. I thought at first there were pitfalls but no, there's no danger here. The jazzy tune feels good here because so much progress has already been made and it makes me feel good and like I'm kicking butt... and here's more butt to kick.
Hole 06 plays the echoey cave like tune and it's back to the black background. Another cyan barrier and water hazard here too. In this session I played, I was down to my very last ball, a rubber one. I didn't think I was gonna make it so I went for broke at full power and... WOO! I got it in and went to the next hole!
Hole 07 plays the jaunty tune. It played at the first hole and it feels appropriate here. This stage is all snowy and icy and the music makes it feel like a new beginning or a new season, or in video game terms, like you're going on to the next world. There's a nice snowman here and white and cyan stalactites as hazards. Not even the steel ball can withstand them.
This was as far as I got. Hole 06 with 45 shots was my score on the card. There's a nifty sounding hole edit feature available but I didn't try that.
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
1 ALADDIN'S CAVE - MANIC PLATFORMING AND WEIRD NAVIGATION
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0026
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this platformer by Keith Purkiss, D.J. Burt, M.A. Trace and Artic Computing Ltd from 1985. It's a single screen exploring platformer, kind of like Jet Set Willy.
The loading screen is a nice yellow sand Arabian setting with camels and stuff. The title screen is a nice minimalist setting with a dark sky, a couple of palm trees and a sandy hill and blue landscape.
The very first screen of the game I found almost impossible to beat! Mostly due to that bird thing that kept getting in the way. That huge spider may be more intimidating to look at but that bird is far more troublesome. Then after many tries I found that it's an exploring single screen platformer, kind of like Jet Set Willy. You can even walk through blue brick walls and many other walls too, just not the cave ones.
I managed to get on to the precipice to the right which is just a sheer cliff, so I went down into the cellar. Big scary ol' skull here. To the right is the passageway. This screen has faster movement than the other screens, due to not having so many moving objects here. That jump you think you can make is impassible though. Come on! It's only a tiny step! I had to turn back.
Past the cellar and through the top left into the chandler's. A place with a ship and flying sails and falling anchors. I got a game over here and got a few more game overs trying to get back. Those platforms in the first screen are tricky enough to suss!
I eventually got back to the chandler's and picked up all the fish. Then I went left to the menagerie. There was a flying bird, dangerous looking snake and a jumpy monkey here. The monkey was easy enough to suss, as he just jumps between two platforms. The bird is still as tricky as ever though and I don't think I can make it past the snake. I got a game over from trying anyway.
Back to the first screen and several more game overs. That gap between the big red floating platform and the one to the right of it gets me every time! At one stage I even fell down through the central blue stalagmite. Another time, I managed to collect all the diamond shaped things on the screen. I didn't know what they did though and they reset when you leave the screen and come back if you don't collect them all, so I didn't bother going out of my way to collect then again.
I started again and headed left to the technocave, which is less painful than dealing with the first screen's platforms. Those weird yellow bouncy things always catch me and keep me bouncing in one place until that weird bad guy robot catches up with me. It's tricky then trying to catch those flashing platforms above it. I eventually made it past. I kind of like this screen from a lore point of view. It's weird and anachronistic.
On the left side of the technocave there are two ways to the left. The upper path goes to the lower part of the menagerie, which makes no sense as I fell to the cellar earlier, which connects to the upper part of the menagerie. The lower part then takes me to the lower part of the chandler's! Maybe it's some kind of curse that the screens don't connect logically? Anyway, I'd say I won't get anywhere new if I don't collect all the thingies.
Another thing weird about this game is that the loss of life sound is the same as the screen transition sound, so you don't know immediately if you've gone to the next screen or got killed by a bird or something.
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this platformer by Keith Purkiss, D.J. Burt, M.A. Trace and Artic Computing Ltd from 1985. It's a single screen exploring platformer, kind of like Jet Set Willy.
The loading screen is a nice yellow sand Arabian setting with camels and stuff. The title screen is a nice minimalist setting with a dark sky, a couple of palm trees and a sandy hill and blue landscape.
The very first screen of the game I found almost impossible to beat! Mostly due to that bird thing that kept getting in the way. That huge spider may be more intimidating to look at but that bird is far more troublesome. Then after many tries I found that it's an exploring single screen platformer, kind of like Jet Set Willy. You can even walk through blue brick walls and many other walls too, just not the cave ones.
I managed to get on to the precipice to the right which is just a sheer cliff, so I went down into the cellar. Big scary ol' skull here. To the right is the passageway. This screen has faster movement than the other screens, due to not having so many moving objects here. That jump you think you can make is impassible though. Come on! It's only a tiny step! I had to turn back.
Past the cellar and through the top left into the chandler's. A place with a ship and flying sails and falling anchors. I got a game over here and got a few more game overs trying to get back. Those platforms in the first screen are tricky enough to suss!
I eventually got back to the chandler's and picked up all the fish. Then I went left to the menagerie. There was a flying bird, dangerous looking snake and a jumpy monkey here. The monkey was easy enough to suss, as he just jumps between two platforms. The bird is still as tricky as ever though and I don't think I can make it past the snake. I got a game over from trying anyway.
Back to the first screen and several more game overs. That gap between the big red floating platform and the one to the right of it gets me every time! At one stage I even fell down through the central blue stalagmite. Another time, I managed to collect all the diamond shaped things on the screen. I didn't know what they did though and they reset when you leave the screen and come back if you don't collect them all, so I didn't bother going out of my way to collect then again.
I started again and headed left to the technocave, which is less painful than dealing with the first screen's platforms. Those weird yellow bouncy things always catch me and keep me bouncing in one place until that weird bad guy robot catches up with me. It's tricky then trying to catch those flashing platforms above it. I eventually made it past. I kind of like this screen from a lore point of view. It's weird and anachronistic.
On the left side of the technocave there are two ways to the left. The upper path goes to the lower part of the menagerie, which makes no sense as I fell to the cellar earlier, which connects to the upper part of the menagerie. The lower part then takes me to the lower part of the chandler's! Maybe it's some kind of curse that the screens don't connect logically? Anyway, I'd say I won't get anywhere new if I don't collect all the thingies.
Another thing weird about this game is that the loss of life sound is the same as the screen transition sound, so you don't know immediately if you've gone to the next screen or got killed by a bird or something.
Monday, 5 September 2016
1 AHHH!! - SPEEDY INVADERS
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0025
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Space Invaders like game by Adam, Jay Derrett and CRL Group PLC.
First of all I have to say it's very fast! There's a variety of enemies on each screen and they each have their own attack pattern. They whizz around really quickly! They often go through the top and appear up from the bottom as well so the game keeps you on your toes.
You've got shooting but you also have a shield button. Shooting has disabling cooldown though if you shoot too much at once and the shield drains fuel so you have to keep an eye on the gauges at the sides of the screen. After a few levels there's a docking sequence like in Lunar Rescue and that refuels your ship.
The game over screen is nice with its rainbow colours but it's unskippable and I wish I could skip its mocking chirping after seeing it so many times in a row! The title screen text bipping sounds lovely though.
My highest score in this game so far is 9,380 after going through enough enemy screens to see two docking sequences. I haven't beaten the 11,840 default high score yet!
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Space Invaders like game by Adam, Jay Derrett and CRL Group PLC.
First of all I have to say it's very fast! There's a variety of enemies on each screen and they each have their own attack pattern. They whizz around really quickly! They often go through the top and appear up from the bottom as well so the game keeps you on your toes.
You've got shooting but you also have a shield button. Shooting has disabling cooldown though if you shoot too much at once and the shield drains fuel so you have to keep an eye on the gauges at the sides of the screen. After a few levels there's a docking sequence like in Lunar Rescue and that refuels your ship.
The game over screen is nice with its rainbow colours but it's unskippable and I wish I could skip its mocking chirping after seeing it so many times in a row! The title screen text bipping sounds lovely though.
My highest score in this game so far is 9,380 after going through enough enemy screens to see two docking sequences. I haven't beaten the 11,840 default high score yet!
Friday, 2 September 2016
1 AGATHA'S FOLLY - EXPLORING BLUEBELL COTTAGE
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0024
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this adventure game by Linda Wright, Marlin Games, John Wilson and Zenobi Software from 1989. The title screen welcomes me with a strange landscape. It has old country stone walls, path but in the distance there's a faint, mysterious structure on a hill against a red sky and blue moon. Looks very strange and mysterious!
This game is split into two parts on the Vega's menu, but I'll count them as the one game. The Vega game list counts them both as one game anyway.
I'm playing as the new owner of a cottage, whose previous owner mysteriously disappeared and I'm spending my first night here. Sounds like a spooky set up! The game is presented with white text on black background.
I explored the cottage for a while and the game commented on how the place needed care in many ways with walls peeling and cobwebs everywhere. I wonder why I moved in here before doing it up? Going into the pantry, I found an almost hidden door that wouldn't open without a key. Why wouldn't I have the key? Isn't this my house? Anyway, I looked around a bit more.
I found the study, which sounds very cosy with its fireplace and desk and nice view from the window. After wandering through the house a bit more, I heard a knock on the door. It was a young lad delivering groceries. He said he didn't understand why I'd want to live here and that he'd be afraid of Agatha, the previous owner's ghost haunting the place after she went missing. He said "They say that her folly is lit up on a moonlit night", which sounds very mysterious but at least I have something that relates to the title of the game! He then left.
I picked up the box of groceries and bread and then explored upstairs. My bedroom was in ok shape at least! I picked up a sponge in the bathroom and a needlework sampler in the nursery.
I explored outside and in my car a little bit. Found other doors that were locked too.
Eventually I ran out of ideas to explore so I stopped playing. I couldn't eat the bread either sadly. I tried the part 2 portion of the game and that asks you for three words that you would've gotten at the end of the first part.
So yeah. Decent enough game. Very mysterious and it was fun exploring the old cottage. Nice and moody title screen too!
I just looked up the game on Worldofspectrum and it had this pdf of original instructions that came with the game. On the second page it has this really cool looking comic building up the atmosphere of the game! Awesome companion piece! It was drawn by Kez Gray. I'll have to look up more Spectrum games on this site as I play them. The Vega doesn't include cool stuff like comics!
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this adventure game by Linda Wright, Marlin Games, John Wilson and Zenobi Software from 1989. The title screen welcomes me with a strange landscape. It has old country stone walls, path but in the distance there's a faint, mysterious structure on a hill against a red sky and blue moon. Looks very strange and mysterious!
This game is split into two parts on the Vega's menu, but I'll count them as the one game. The Vega game list counts them both as one game anyway.
I'm playing as the new owner of a cottage, whose previous owner mysteriously disappeared and I'm spending my first night here. Sounds like a spooky set up! The game is presented with white text on black background.
I explored the cottage for a while and the game commented on how the place needed care in many ways with walls peeling and cobwebs everywhere. I wonder why I moved in here before doing it up? Going into the pantry, I found an almost hidden door that wouldn't open without a key. Why wouldn't I have the key? Isn't this my house? Anyway, I looked around a bit more.
I found the study, which sounds very cosy with its fireplace and desk and nice view from the window. After wandering through the house a bit more, I heard a knock on the door. It was a young lad delivering groceries. He said he didn't understand why I'd want to live here and that he'd be afraid of Agatha, the previous owner's ghost haunting the place after she went missing. He said "They say that her folly is lit up on a moonlit night", which sounds very mysterious but at least I have something that relates to the title of the game! He then left.
I picked up the box of groceries and bread and then explored upstairs. My bedroom was in ok shape at least! I picked up a sponge in the bathroom and a needlework sampler in the nursery.
I explored outside and in my car a little bit. Found other doors that were locked too.
Eventually I ran out of ideas to explore so I stopped playing. I couldn't eat the bread either sadly. I tried the part 2 portion of the game and that asks you for three words that you would've gotten at the end of the first part.
So yeah. Decent enough game. Very mysterious and it was fun exploring the old cottage. Nice and moody title screen too!
I just looked up the game on Worldofspectrum and it had this pdf of original instructions that came with the game. On the second page it has this really cool looking comic building up the atmosphere of the game! Awesome companion piece! It was drawn by Kez Gray. I'll have to look up more Spectrum games on this site as I play them. The Vega doesn't include cool stuff like comics!
Thursday, 1 September 2016
1 AFTEROIDS - MADE IN SPAIN
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0023
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Asteroids-like game by Carlos Granados Martinez and Zigurat Software. The menu is in Spanish but it's easy to start thanks to the Vega's own instructions for the game. The title theme has a nice cheerful tune!
It's quite a nice tribute to Asteroids! The play area takes place on a space station of some kind and you must fly around and search out asteroids and other enemies to shoot out. The radar helps nicely too.
So far I've only played the first two levels but it looks like there are dozens more. On the second level there are star shaped enemies that home in on you so they're quite dangerous and scary.
I don't really like moving quickly because my ship ends up flying way off and right into an enemy! What happens then of course is I run out of time which is a bummer and happens too often. Unlike plain Asteroids, this game has scrolling and you only have so much play area view at any one time. It's a different dimension of difficulty.
The high score table is something I can't get into just yet with the lowest score being 50,000 points. My highest is 39,520 so far.
One thing I love is the MADE IN SPAIN signs on the walls of the second level! Very nice touch!
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this Asteroids-like game by Carlos Granados Martinez and Zigurat Software. The menu is in Spanish but it's easy to start thanks to the Vega's own instructions for the game. The title theme has a nice cheerful tune!
It's quite a nice tribute to Asteroids! The play area takes place on a space station of some kind and you must fly around and search out asteroids and other enemies to shoot out. The radar helps nicely too.
So far I've only played the first two levels but it looks like there are dozens more. On the second level there are star shaped enemies that home in on you so they're quite dangerous and scary.
I don't really like moving quickly because my ship ends up flying way off and right into an enemy! What happens then of course is I run out of time which is a bummer and happens too often. Unlike plain Asteroids, this game has scrolling and you only have so much play area view at any one time. It's a different dimension of difficulty.
The high score table is something I can't get into just yet with the lowest score being 50,000 points. My highest is 39,520 so far.
One thing I love is the MADE IN SPAIN signs on the walls of the second level! Very nice touch!
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
1 ADVENTURES OF A COMMON FROG - LABYRINTHINE GROTTOS, FRIENDLY ROBIN AND EVIL PIRANHA
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0022
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Terry Braverman and Automata in 1985. I was looking forward to it from the sound of the title! It has a nice title screen which flies by briefly on the Vega. The game is presented with white text on a blue background.
I started out as a lonely frog looking for adventure. I took the lantern and went down to the cavern, which drew out this cool looking cave :) I quite like this!
I went further and the screen went black with white text. I was in the dark now and couldn't see! This was kind of clever too. I couldn't use the lantern for some reason and I couldn't escape, so a piranha came along and ate me! Nooo!
I started again and took a different direction. This time I found a pair of silk men's trousers which was kind of strange. I continued and another cool looking cave was drawn but in different colours this time. This might get tiresome because I can't skip the graphics being drawn.
I continued where an old sunken ship was drawn and it was cool to see the variety. Thankfully, the game doesn't seem to spend time drawing the same graphics again when you re enter an area.
Now... the grottos! There are several of them of different colour, and several of the same colour! When I enter a new one, it draws the cave graphic again but slightly different... I managed to escape the labyrinth of grottos after a while thankfully, but I'm gonna have to write my route down if I decide to explore there again.
I headed back home to my pond and went in a different direction. Going North just pulls me back because of the current. Nice drawing of the water though. It looks a bit like a mountain range too but it's water. Just my imagination going :)
East isn't good either so I headed west. Nice drawing of a sunny slab here and I met a friendly robin that pointed out an exit to the north. Yay, friendly company!
Going further I found some grass and a sharp stone and a mirror. I lit the match and then decided to go back to that dark cave. I found the piranha and mortally wounded it with the dagger(I assume). I then ran out of new things to do so I picked up the pants and shoes along the way and put them on. I didn't feel like navigating the grotto labyrinth so I called it quits for now.
My final score was 15%, taking 95 turns. I quite enjoyed this game for the most part! It was pretty interesting and it was nice to meet the robin and to defeat the piranha. All those graphics were pretty cool too. I quite like this little froggy adventure!
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Terry Braverman and Automata in 1985. I was looking forward to it from the sound of the title! It has a nice title screen which flies by briefly on the Vega. The game is presented with white text on a blue background.
I started out as a lonely frog looking for adventure. I took the lantern and went down to the cavern, which drew out this cool looking cave :) I quite like this!
I went further and the screen went black with white text. I was in the dark now and couldn't see! This was kind of clever too. I couldn't use the lantern for some reason and I couldn't escape, so a piranha came along and ate me! Nooo!
I started again and took a different direction. This time I found a pair of silk men's trousers which was kind of strange. I continued and another cool looking cave was drawn but in different colours this time. This might get tiresome because I can't skip the graphics being drawn.
I continued where an old sunken ship was drawn and it was cool to see the variety. Thankfully, the game doesn't seem to spend time drawing the same graphics again when you re enter an area.
Now... the grottos! There are several of them of different colour, and several of the same colour! When I enter a new one, it draws the cave graphic again but slightly different... I managed to escape the labyrinth of grottos after a while thankfully, but I'm gonna have to write my route down if I decide to explore there again.
I headed back home to my pond and went in a different direction. Going North just pulls me back because of the current. Nice drawing of the water though. It looks a bit like a mountain range too but it's water. Just my imagination going :)
East isn't good either so I headed west. Nice drawing of a sunny slab here and I met a friendly robin that pointed out an exit to the north. Yay, friendly company!
Going further I found some grass and a sharp stone and a mirror. I lit the match and then decided to go back to that dark cave. I found the piranha and mortally wounded it with the dagger(I assume). I then ran out of new things to do so I picked up the pants and shoes along the way and put them on. I didn't feel like navigating the grotto labyrinth so I called it quits for now.
My final score was 15%, taking 95 turns. I quite enjoyed this game for the most part! It was pretty interesting and it was nice to meet the robin and to defeat the piranha. All those graphics were pretty cool too. I quite like this little froggy adventure!
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
1 ADVENTURE IN BRISTOL - STREETS AND ROUNDABOUTS
ZX Spectrum Vega game #0021
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Garry Lancaster. It's black text on a white screen and it gives thorough instructions on startup. Quite unusual! It also uses two word commands for most of its actions so that's very nice. Every keystroke beeps so that's another thing that's kinda unusual. I can't delete keystrokes in this game though, so it can get frustrating when I make a mistake and have to type stuff out again.
I started out near a ship called the SS Great Britain, where a woman was selling admission for £1.00. I had £1.40, so I paid and went on board. I didn't find anything there apart from a bell, which I can't ring or take, so I left the ship to explore elsewhere.
After exploring a maze of roads and roundabouts I came across a statue in the docks of King Neptune. When I asked to examine the statue it said it didn't know the word "statue". So I left.
After exploring more through areas described only by what their street names are, I came across the door of a school house. I tried to open the door and it responded by saying it didn't know the word "door". So I left.
I explored a bit more. By the way, I hope Bristol is more interesting than this game is making it out to be. It only tells me place names so I can't really get an idea of how it's described other than having streets and roundabouts.
I came across a broken drain. Thank goodness the game knew the word "drain"! When I examined it there wasn't any clue, so I left.
Things got interesting when I went into the museum and found the Bristol Mummy in the Egyptian exhibit. There was a clue beside it but I couldn't make out what it meant. Something about ringing in my ears? Does it have something to do with the bell from the ship?
While typing this post up, I didn't have the game paused so the limited time I had ran out and it played a ringing chime, which meant it was game over. It was surprising but it wasn't too startling. Maybe that's what the clue meant about ringing in my ear?
Dear Readers,
Today I'll talk about this text adventure game by Garry Lancaster. It's black text on a white screen and it gives thorough instructions on startup. Quite unusual! It also uses two word commands for most of its actions so that's very nice. Every keystroke beeps so that's another thing that's kinda unusual. I can't delete keystrokes in this game though, so it can get frustrating when I make a mistake and have to type stuff out again.
I started out near a ship called the SS Great Britain, where a woman was selling admission for £1.00. I had £1.40, so I paid and went on board. I didn't find anything there apart from a bell, which I can't ring or take, so I left the ship to explore elsewhere.
After exploring a maze of roads and roundabouts I came across a statue in the docks of King Neptune. When I asked to examine the statue it said it didn't know the word "statue". So I left.
After exploring more through areas described only by what their street names are, I came across the door of a school house. I tried to open the door and it responded by saying it didn't know the word "door". So I left.
I explored a bit more. By the way, I hope Bristol is more interesting than this game is making it out to be. It only tells me place names so I can't really get an idea of how it's described other than having streets and roundabouts.
I came across a broken drain. Thank goodness the game knew the word "drain"! When I examined it there wasn't any clue, so I left.
Things got interesting when I went into the museum and found the Bristol Mummy in the Egyptian exhibit. There was a clue beside it but I couldn't make out what it meant. Something about ringing in my ears? Does it have something to do with the bell from the ship?
While typing this post up, I didn't have the game paused so the limited time I had ran out and it played a ringing chime, which meant it was game over. It was surprising but it wasn't too startling. Maybe that's what the clue meant about ringing in my ear?
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