Games 1

The Good
It is quite challenging for developers for the ZX8x to make sure their programs fit into 1K, so that they can cater for those people who don’t even have expansion packs. Sinclair themselves threw down the gauntlet and created six games, three on each side of a C12 tape. These games contain only one word in the title, and they are “Golf”, ”Meteor”, “Wolfpack”, “Life”, “Sniper”, and “Orbit”. The inlays contain detailed descriptions of the games, explaining what the object is and the controls for that game. They also tell you how long it takes for each game to load (about 15-20 seconds).

I enjoyed “Wolfpack” more than the others, mainly because it is a more challenging version of Destroyer (Atari, 1977). You have to time your shots right so that you hit the conning tower. Anywhere else will cause your depth charge to go straight through them. Another challenging one is “Orbit”, where you chase a cargo around a star. I also liked giving “Meteors” a go, in which you need to dodge meteorites for as long as you can. For games such as “Golf” and “Sniper”, I found it easy to visualize boxes holding a number, and then typing that number in.

The Bad
“Life” wouldn’t run due to errors in its program code. I am not a programmer, so I can’t fix the offending line myself.

The Bottom Line
ZX8x users without an expansion pack should find this series of games by Sinclair entertaining. Some of them are easy to get used to, while others are quite challenging. The instructions are excellent, with detailed descriptions of each game, control configurations, and wait times. If you have just bought a ZX80 or ZX81 and can’t afford an expansion pack to run bigger games, then you should hunt this down.