The Sentinel, ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum version of Geoff Crammond‘s classic puzzle game, The Sentinel, was ported by Software Creations (with assistance from Mr. Crammond himself) and published by Firebird Software in 1987.

It’s slower than most other versions but still plays well enough. The graphics are also a little bit messy in places, but overall they’re not too bad and they work fine in monochrome. To add some visual variety to proceedings the key game colours change from level to level. Sound is limited to a few mysterious jingles when warping or u-turning; a white noise ‘swoosh’ when absorbing something, and a simple audible beep indicating an error when you’re trying to create or absorb something that you’re not able to.

The Sentinel is a bizarre but brilliant game – a bit like crossing chess with something like I, Robot – although in my opinion it’s much more interesting than chess. The aim is to make your way across a mountainous chequerboard landscape, trying to reach the highest levels so you can get above – and therefore absorb – any sentries, or The Sentinel itself. The sentries slowly rotate on their perches and will try to absorb you if they see you, so you have to try to avoid their line of sight.

The Sentinel is a difficult game to describe, but is relatively simple to play once you get your head around what to do, and the Spectrum version is a good enough port to remain playable and absorbing (no pun intended).

All versions of The Sentinel on The King of Grabs:
BBC Micro (the original), Amiga, Atari ST, PC MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum