Gaming the Pandemic - Day 15: Rebelstar (ZX Spectrum)

I'm playing one randomly selected title from my 631 game backlog for every day that the UK is in lockdown. Todays game is...

Rebelstar on ZX Spectrum

"This is no ordinary game! There is no fancy story or scenario, just you against the computer. It is a fight to the death!"

So states the instruction manual for Rebelstar, 2nd of a four game series that started with Rebelstar Raiders in 1984 and ended with Rebelstar: Tactical command on the Game Boy Advance in 2005. There were 2 years between each of the first three games and 17 between the third and fourth. They were all created by the master of turn based strategy; Julian Gollop, who to this day is still polishing the genre to a fine sheen with the XCom series.

Rebelstar was the first time the series had a single player mode, although 'mode' isn't quite accurate as it and the two player game are entirely separate programs stored on different sides of the cassette. As an aside to this, there's another great line on the inlay where it bluntly states that: 'Because of memory restrictions, at the end of the game you will have to RE-LOAD before playing again'. Simpler times.

I started my journey with the series with Rebelstar II when it appeared on a cover tape back in about 1990. I played it a lot but I'm pretty sure I never completed it. Loading up Rebelstar the first thing that hits me is how similar it is - the Aliens 'inspired' characters and designs are absent, but the familar yellow, blue, and green palette is here and it plays very similarly indeed.

It's recognisable turn-based strategy stuff. Movement points, action points, stamina, morale... they're all here and presented for each individual unit and enemy. It even has a version of 'overwatch' - although here it is called 'Opportunity Fire'. In fact there is so much here that is completely familiar that it's difficult not to speculate that this game may have been be the genesis of the whole genre. I'm no games historian, I have no idea if that's true, but it's very rare to pick up a game 34 years after it was released and be immediately au fait (control interface aside) with most of it's ideas and structure.

Obviously there are frustrations that come with the age of the software too. There is no map, for example, making a search of the surprisingly large play area a laborious task. There are also a few details of which you have to rely on the manual to convey - not unusual for games of this vintage, but definitely worthy of note for anyone thinking of giving it a look today. 

This is a series for which I have a lot of nostalgia and a develop for whom I have a massive amount of respect, it isn't easy to put those things aside when appraising the game - but there is no doubt that I loved going back and seeing the early days of this genre again. It's a historically fascinating game that's still a lot of fun to play.

Rebelstar - Essential for turn based stategy fans and good fun for everyone else

Gaming the Pandemic - Day 13: Jungle Trouble (ZX Spectrum)

The latest in my attack on (at least) one title from my 631 game backlog every day that the UK is in 'lock-down'.

I'm not planning on completing them, just playing them for long enough to know: A) What they're all about and B) If they're good enough to continue playing ASAP

Back to the vintage days again as the randomiser chose...

Jungle Trouble on the ZX Spectrum

Mike Richardson is a name that means the same to me that Shigeru Miyamoto might mean to you.

As half of Durrell Software (interestingly wrongly credited as 'Elite' on the covertape I'm playing from) Mr Richardson was responsible for Turbo Esprit. A game I first played in 1987 and one I have loved ever since. It's easily in my top five games of all time. It turns out, 3 years before Turbo Esprit Mr Richardson was working with even less ram (16k) on a little game called Jungle Trouble - and it is delightful.

The entirety of Jungle Trouble is just a single screen divided into 4 'events' over 3 levels. First you have to hopscotch over the crocodile invested river, then you have to fell four trees, then rope swing over a pit of fire. Finally. You have to jump a chasm that opens in the ground just when you think you're 'Home'. There are also three monkeys who interfere with whatever you're up to.

This is it. This is the whole game. There are entirely two sound effects. Walking and dying, and there are 6 colours - including black and white. As video games go it doesn't get more basic than this, and that, usually, is a really bad sign.

I'm not really a fan of nostalgia. I'm not immune to it and I understand it's a powerful thing but too often I see it's rosy hue creep into peoples opinions - often without them noticing. Very old games are an area where I've seen this the most, so let me break this to everyone gently. The vast, VAST, majority of games from the early eighties and before are absolute rubbish. The majority of the Atari VCS library: Awful. 16k Spectrum games: Unplayable.

And yet there are always exceptions.

Jungle Trouble has it's idiosyncrasies... Without reading the instructions you would never find the axe required to chop down the trees. It takes trial and error just to realise that you have to release 'run' before you can jump. The keys are 5=Left, 6=Down, 7=Up, & 8=right - these were the cursor keys for the Spectrum and I've never seen them used before... Nevertheless, it kind of works. Still.

To get any longevity from the game you'd have to be obsessed with beating your high score on each of the speed settings (Charmingly, it literally just increases the speed that everything in game runs out) and I'm not pretending anyone is going to spend time doing that in 2020. But as an example of a properly vintage game that is actually playable - and enjoyable - nearly 40 years after it was made, Jungle Trouble is a lovely thing.

Jungle Trouble (ZX Spectrum) - Don't listen to me, play it yourself

Previously...

Day One was the excellent Luminees II on PSP

Day Two was the fun-but-probably-better-in-co-op Sanctum 2 on PC

Day Three was the pretty ropey but maybe worth a second chance on PS2 Dead to Rights 2 on Xbox

Day Four was the utterly stunning Pyre on PC

Day Five was the horribly aged but undeniably addictive skate it on the Wii

Day Six was the endearing and surprisingly competent Enduro Racer for the Sega Master System

Day Seven was the fun for a (very) quick burst Space Pirate Trainer in VR

Day Eight was the disappointingly awkward Draconus on ZX Spectrum

Day Nine was the idiosyncratic Ring of Red on PS2

Day Ten I lost half my text while trying to explain how Assassin's Creed Syndicate on PC was a pleasant, is simplistic, surprise.


Day Eleven was the utterly broken Perfect Dark on GBC


Day Twelve was the fun Rescue Raiders knock-off Glory Days on the GBA