Future Shocks

Imagine a world that still produces new Spectrum software, even in 2004. Well, that world is called Earth. Hop aboard Specchums, there's new games ahoy!

Dan Whitehead Martyn Carroll Shaun Bebbington Doctum/Carlogical Halo. Granizando de Espana, esta produccion de la plataforma requiere algunos movimientos ingeniosos en el progreso de la orden. Es semejante en muchas maneras al Rick Dangerous, aunque consideremos que somos el juego mucho mas duro golpear. Yes, that's right. We've gone all Mediterranean here to celebrate this nifty looking platformer.     Hailing from Spain, this new game requires some well-timed movements in order to progress. It's similar in many ways to the Rick Dangerous titles, although we reckon that it's a much tougher game to beat. You find yourself in the midst of a great house, armed with a shot gun and able to attack with a superheavy-weight-power-kick (okay, it's not that powerful). Your task is to skillfully navigate the static screens whilst collecting objects and avoiding the hazards that lie ahead. Movements consist of left and right, jump, fall and climb. Take care, as falling too far will cause you to lose a life, and use your bullets wisely...      SonicZX/Anestis Koutsoudis Slow down there little blue hedgehog, what's the rush? Oh, you're steaming ahead to the binary world of the ZX Spectrum, are you? Great, well we know a little short cut. Full speed ahead then.     Yes, that's right Speccy fans, an unofficial version of the mad fast platformer is currently in development for the humble ZX. The man behind it is the Greek programming guru and Spectrum-supremo Anestis-Koutsoudis.     For those of you not familiar with this game (welcome to planet Earth), your task is to rescue your fellow critters from the evil Eggman whilst also putting some fat, slow moustached Italian plumber to shame, because you're more interested in gold rings than sewerage systems.      Worms Armageddon/Team 17 Arm yourself to the teeth (erm... do worms have teeth? - Ed) because the classic multi-player-strategy-blow-your-enemies-to-bits game is heading to the Speccy. That's right, Team 17 itself is handling this port, which, according to Martyn Brown, has cost in excess of £50 to produce so far. Martyn said recently: "Modern development is full of big words and fancy phrases that to be honest with you, I simply don't like. The Speccy version of Worms Armageddon has given the chance for us to move away from all that crap and allowed us to do some really pretty 16 colour graphics and one channel sound."     Actually, this story is based on a press release from Team 17 which turned out to be nothing more than a sick hoax intended to promote the game on other platforms. Bah! Look at that lovely screenshot though. Of course the mighty Speccy can easily handle such a game, so come on YS devotees, why not write, email, phone and fax them expressing your interest in the project? Maybe this joke will then turn into a real game? You could even turn up en-masse at Team 17's HQ. Personally, armageddon down to the HQ to start off the demonstration of support for the game (Me too! Ed).      The Abbey of Crime/Opera Soft La Abadia del Crimen es otro juego Espanol (Monteese consigo en ingles - o su despedido! - Ed). Ahem... Shall we start again? As we were saying, Opera Soft's The Abbey of Crime is another brilliant Spanish game which is being painstakingly translated by World of Spectrum frequenter Eddie Duffy and Co. The game itself is based on the book In the Name of the Rose, which was actually turned into a blockbuster movie in 1986 starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.     The game is a 3D-RPG type affair in which you have to wander around the abbey, solving crimes of a murderous nature. Anyway, it's great, honest! Expect to see the fully translated title soon. Until then, drool over the screenshots.      Sensitive/Peter Gordon Sensitive is yet another puzzler for your entertainment or frustration, depending on how you feel about the whole genre. The object of the game is to move the smiley face over the preset board, in doing so removing the green squares and ending up at the exit (There must be a catch. Ed). But, it's not that simple, as there's a catch (I thought so. Ed). As you remove the squares, your options for movement become limited... One wrong move and you plummet to your death (not literally, of course). It looks like it's gonna be a good 'un, so keep an eye on YS as we're hoping to get an exclusive on this beauty. If you want to give Peter some encouragement with this project, why not send an electo-mail to this address: sensi@petergordon.org.uk      Reaxion/Cronosoft Commode 64 users have been enjoying this brain game for a while now, but thankfully the Cronosoft boys have seen sense and are busy porting it to Uncle Clive's wonder machine.     The object of the game is simple - the Wenley Moor Nuclear Power Plant has suddenly reached a point were it's in danger of total meltdown. This would mean a complete disaster for the local residents, but luckily there's a way to prevent it from blowing. Each of the 99 rods need to be reset, and they can be accessed via a Speccy thanks to a custombuilt interface and a small program. The problem is that as you reset each bit, the surrounding bits are affected. Thought and patience are required to succeed, and it's definitely going to be one for the brainy kids out there (Including me then, as my IQ is nearly 200! Ed). Many thanks to the YS94 crew and Imagine Publishing for providing tons of original material!

Published in the 2004 Special issue of Your Sinclair

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