Written by Paul W. Reynolds (the same guy who wrote the classic Krakatoa) and published by Abbex Electronics in 1984, All Or Nothing is an isometric action game where you parachute into an enemy camp on a mission to find and steal their secret plans.

The plans are located randomly around the camp and are guarded by patrolling enemy soldiers and dogs, so you have to use your initiative to get your hands on them.

The manual for All Or Nothing says: “use items – found or stolen – to help you in your perilous mission. Bribe, blast, bluff, bomb, out run, gas, and shoot your way past the deadly guards!”

The first thing you’re tasked with doing after landing is find your watch, which was lost during your descent. By using the watch you can see how much time you have left to complete your mission. You’re given ten minutes to begin with, but you can use a transmitter to request more time if you need it (and you will).

After finding the watch you then need to break into The Office and crack the four-digit code on the safe to get your first key to the warehouses. It’s then a case of going from building to building, to find more keys, until you eventually find the secret plans. The warehouses, as you manage to access them, also have other useful items, like gas bombs, guns and ammunition.

When you manage to get hold of a gun you can then shoot guards and search their bodies, and take any useful items they’re carrying – like ID cards, which will give you temporary immunity from hostility.

As you move around, if you walk behind a building or a fence that obscures you, the camera will automatically switch view. Arrows on the info panel at the bottom of the screen show which view is currently being used, but it can still be confusing to keep track of your orientation. It’s something you have to get used to because you can’t change the view manually (which would have been better IMHO).

All the buildings have letters (or a symbol) on them to help identify them, and the useful demo mode also explains what they are, so that’s worth watching before playing your first game.

Playing All Or Nothing now is still fun to some degree. It’s an interesting little sandbox of a game that is quite short, but is well-presented and playable.

All Or Nothing is also Currah Microspeech compatible, which provides synthesised speech during play, but like all speech generated by this unit: it’s barely intelligible and doesn’t add much to the game itself.

More: All Or Nothing on Wikipedia
More: All Or Nothing on World of Spectrum