Hello there! Thank you for stopping by!! My name is Nick and welcome to this Blog type thing. I run and maintain Youtube Gaming Channel njenkin. A friendly forum for like minded crazy people. It's all about kicking back. having fun, sharing memories and destressing!
It seems a ridiculous figure, but we are there. The Channel has now covered over 450 ZX Spectrum games!
The ZX Spectrum was the first computer I owned as a child. It's always great fun looking back at these games and also coming across ones I never knew existed. The good and the bad. The ZX Spectrum back catalogue is an 8 Bit historic treasure trove with new games still being written for it over 30 years later. The popularity of the machine never seems to diminish.
Below is a recap vid of the last 50 games covered. You can access all the others on all systems covered via theReviewed Games Playlist.
The next stop will be 500 and we're already well on the way. If you haven't already seen the Channel, then drop by and say hello. It's all about having fun, de-stressing and sharing gaming memories.
What would Outrun feel like if instead you were in a big unattractive truck?
Well... it would probably feel a lot like this game really. SuperTrux or Super Trux or Elite Supertrux. Why was it known under slightly different names? I haven't a clue. It sometimes happened.
'Supertrux', we will call it, is an 8 bit game on the ZX Spectrum 48K published by Elite Systems in 1988.
I reviewed this racer (if we can call it that) on the ZX Spectrum 48K. The system is attempting a lot here with the memory available and unfortunately sound had to be sacrificed. So what we have is a racing game with no sound. That's a huge problem. A quiet racing game? Admittedly the game was also released on the 128K spectrum and this probably did have it. I only owned a humble 48K machine however, so for nostalgia reasons, that's the system I generally review games on.
SuperTrux essentially attempts to offer the gameplay of Outrun, but with trucks. Against the clock you must race across Europe, go through checkpoints and get to the end of the game before the time runs out. Then the game starts over from the beginning again.
Quite frustrating to play this. The frame rate isn't brilliant, which I can forgive, but overtaking other vehicles is awkward. It seems you have to leave quite a big gap around them otherwise you're sent skidding and losing valuable time.
I gameplay reviewed this with a POKE on for infinite time to see if the game offered anything more later down the line. Unfortunately it didn't. A mix of race stages against other trucks on the road and obstacles stages involving roadworks and oils spills.
In conclusion, SuperTrux was interesting to look at for historic purposes, but is not one I'd hurry back to. Annoying gameplay and underwhelming. Below is my full review!!
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That's very often a wise strategy. Well... in gaming terms anyway. I won't be held responsible if you do it in real life and are then impounded by some strange Federation of the day.
And so we come to Bedlam. A word that means a scene of uproar or confusion.
In this case, Bedlam isa vertical scrolling shoot 'em up on the ZX Spectrum. Published by Go! in 1988. Yes, so we're into classic 8 bit territory here and there is certainly an amount of uproar and confusion about the place.
Normally I would only gameplay review games from the 48K spectrum, but this particular one was only produced for the 128K. It works like that sometimes. What can we say about Bedlam then?
It's fast. It's slick. It's uncomplicated to get into. It's incredibly incredibly difficult. Ultra difficult. In order to get any length to the video, I eventually had to play it with a POKE for increased Lives. Without assistance, the review would have lasted less than about 3 minutes.
Graphically the game is brilliant for the era. Clever coding avoids colour bleed which often happened with many games around this time and before. Sounds are also fantastic. See the video below for my full gameplay review.
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Ah the Nostalgia. Times were much simpler back then!
Retro Spectrum gaming from the early eighties. Got a good buzz off this one. Erm, yes.
You can't beat the oldies. It's easy for me to say this though as nostalgia is always a very strong force. You're always going to have stronger feelings for the sort of games you played growing up. Why? Because they're not just games. They're also memories. A warming link to the past.
So what can we say about this 8 Bit game from 1983? Well, it's a game you certainly couldn't get away with releasing nowadays. But despite it's simplicity and minor flaws, I kind of like it.
You control Boris the Bee from Birkenhead. It's your job to collect nectar from a row of delicious looking flowers then bring it back to the hive. At the end of the day, it's all about the honey. The more nectar Boris carries, the slower he flies making the task that bit trickier. Of course, on route there are a number of nasties trying to stop good old Boris. Birds, insects, unfriendly caterpillars, they're all strongly against the process of honey manufacture it seems. Maybe a bug spray would have been good. The farmer of this place really hasn't thought this through. Bit of colour bleed in this game when Boris flies over other objects or a Bug Byte advertising plane flies across clouds or the sun. Overall though, a nice piece of gaming history.
Above is my full gameplay review type thing onnjenkin. As usual, it's all about fun and sharing the memories. With retrogaming, I find it's always a greater experience once shared. If you have any thoughts or views about this game or similar then feel free to comment below or on the Youtube video if you have an account. The Birds and the Bees published by Bug Byte in 1983. Nick :o)
