Blast from the past

We continue our look back at classic ZX-81 programs

IF YOU own a new ZX-81 and are wondering what you can do with it, Carnell Software might have the answer, a ZX Compendium of games ranging from the traditional to the completely alien. The two-cassette package contains six programs, two of which are adventures. The first, Alien Intruder, displays graphically the advance of the spaceman-eating life-form through the various levels of your starship as you load supplies frantically on to the shuttle craft which is your only means of escape.

In Wumpus Adventure you track the fearsome and smelly Wumpus through a maze of caverns, swamps and pits. The game can be played by one to four players.

The other programs on the cassettes are Numerology, Movie Mogul, Hieroglyphics and the ubiquitous Hangman. Of those, Hieroglyphics is the most interesting, a word game depicting a hieroglyphic message which must be deciphered before the intrepid explorer, Wullie Makeit, is buried alive.

Another version of Hangman, gruesomely titled Lynchmob, is produced by Bridge Software and provides a graphic animated hanging sequence. The game can be played by up to six people while the computer acts as referee. Bridge Software still produces a number of 16K and 1K cassettes and one of the most popular is Ephemeris, an astrology program which provides comprehensive information on the sun, moon and planets, including local sidereal times, rising and setting times, distances from Earth and much more. There is a COPY option for the ZX printer, a necessity for astrologers. Bridge Software can be contacted at Stockport, Cheshire.

CCS has quietly been producing excellent strategy games for some time. Two of the earlier ones for the 16K ZX-81 are Airline and Autochef. In the former the aim is to take over British Airways - if the Government has not sold it in the meantime - while coping with a series of hazards such as staff disputes and PLO hijackings.

Autochef simulates the business of managing a chain of fast food outlets and in the limited time available you must increase your £1 million pound capital to £25 million, overcoming setbacks and dealing with annual inflation.

The distinctions between adventure, strategy and simulation games are often vague and open to publishers' interpretations. Occasionally software falls into all three categories. That is true of both Pioneer Trail and Ocean Trader from Quicksilva, though both are advertised as adventure games.

In Pioneer Trail you set out with your family to conquer the untamed west in a covered wagon drawn by two decrepit horses, and with only $700 with which to buy supplies. The program combines adventure and arcade graphics and the hazards to be faced range from patchy fog to Apache indians.

Contemporary with that is Ocean Trader, set on the high seas in the 19th century and featuring pirates, sea mists and freak storms.

An interesting development in software is that of computer-moderated board games and it is surprising that few publishers have recognised the potential in that market. Martech has produced Galaxy Conflict for the 16K ZX-81, which comprises game board, counters, markers and program. The two players build and maintain battle fleets of Eon-cruisers and fight for the supremacy of the galaxy.

Galaxy Conflict can be obtained from Martech Games, Sussex. Another war strategy game, Conflict, is also available.

Underground movements

NEW ZX-81 software is difficult to obtain nowadays but Software Farm has released the first in its high-res range of games for the ZX-81. The graphics in the game, entitled Forty Niner, are impressive, depicting a tunnelling miner as he digs in search of golden nuggets, avoiding the giant rats which burrow towards him.

Knocking over the pit-props delays the rats by causing a cave-in but to destroy them you need to release the snakes from their nests. If you succeed in locating all the nuggets you pass to the next, more dangerous, stage by passing through the cave entrance in the bottom right of the screen.

As if all that frantic subterranean activity was not sufficient, above ground a misshapen one-legged gremlin is hopping around and chomping through your waste earth pile, seeking the entrance to the mineshaft to cut off your only means of escape. You can prevent that only by sending the miner back to the surface periodically to replenish the mound of earth.

An attractive and addictive game, Forty Niner is one of the best graphic arcade adventures for the expanded ZX-81. It is available from Software Farm, Bristol.

Sinclair User
May 1984