Written by Derek Johnston and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1985, Zone X is a scrolling maze game where you play a radiation suit-wearing scientist collecting plutonium samples and dumping them into containers.

You have a limited amount of time to find and deposit the plutonium*, so must make multiple trips back and forth to fetch all of it. The maze is filled with many hazards, including deadly robots, and laser doors that open and close (you don’t want to get caught in one as it closes).

*= The timer only begins counting down once you have picked up a piece of plutonium, and it doesn’t re-set when you drop it into a container, it just pauses, so you only have a short amount of time to get all the pieces and you have to time your collections carefully. You can find and collect clocks to increase the amount of time you have, but even then the margins are slim.

You can disrupt the robots’ movement by dropping mats onto the floor, but must collect each mat from a pile before dropping one (they are also limited in number). Once a mat is dropped, though, it will also block you, so you need to be careful using them. There are other useful items to be found, including keys for locked doors, and a shovel which will allow you to dig through a crumbling wall.

To complete a level you must collect and deposit all the plutonium into a container and then find the exit door.

Zone X looks a bit like a Gauntlet clone, but it doesn’t play like Gauntlet – other than it features a scrolling maze made of brick walls. It’s a playable game, but the timer, the silly mat-dropping system, and later: the doors that slam shut behind you, are extremely frustrating and needlessly restrictive. Which makes Zone X a bittersweet experience overall.

More: Zone X on Wikipedia
More: Zone X on atarimania.com