Driller was the very first Freescape game. A very important game for its time. It first came out in 1987.
It was one of the first ever games that allowed you to explore a full 3D environment, and Freescape was the engine that made it possible.
Driller was the very first Freescape game. A very important game for its time. It first came out in 1987.
It was one of the first ever games that allowed you to explore a full 3D environment, and Freescape was the engine that made it possible.
There were a number of decent Batman games on the ZX Spectrum, but this one from Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond was particularly memorable. For having a pudgy Batman and an isometric viewpoint…
Batman was released by Ocean Software in 1986 and was Ritman and Drummond‘s first isometric game together.
First released by Ocean Software in 1986, Parallax is a wild overhead shooter from legendary UK gamedev company Sensible Software.
Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.
Arguably game designer Steve Crow‘s finest hour, Starquake is a brilliant platform action game first released through Bubble Bus Software in 1985.
Sequel to Mike Singleton‘s classic fantasy war game Lords of Midnight, Doomdark’s Revenge is much bigger and more complex than its predecessor, although essentially it still follows the same style of play as the original – with unique, turn-based movement and tactical combat.
The late Mike Singleton‘s classic Lords of Midnight is a pioneering fantasy war game with strategy and RPG overtones. It was first released in 1984 on the ZX Spectrum by Beyond Software and immediately became a cult hit.
By 1986 the ZX Spectrum was awash with isometric action/adventures games. After the success of Ultimate Play The Game‘s Knight Lore, everyone was trying to make and release them.
Looking back now I would have to say that many of the so-called “clones” were actually very good, although few were outstanding.
Piranha‘s Nosferatu the Vampyre was one of the few outstanding ones, it having been created by Spectrum veteran game design team Design Design, and it also being an interesting take on the classic tale of vampirism written by Bram Stoker (actually this game being based on the 1979 film starring Klaus Kinski).
The sequel to Realtime Software‘s brilliant Starstrike 3D, Starstrike II is another excellent and groundbreaking first-person space shooter, only this time with impressive “filled” polygons, instead of the simpler wireframe graphics of the original.
More than just a clone of Atari‘s arcade classic Star Wars, Starstrike 3D (or 3D Starstrike, whatever you prefer) is a wireframe, shooter masterpiece on the humble ZX Spectrum that really set the gaming world alight, back in the early Eighties.