Cassette 4

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 7/10

GOLDEN OLDIES For the benefit of new ZX-81 owners we look retrospectively at some chart-toppers of the past. 3D Monster Maze Memory: 16K Price: £4.95 Cassette One Memory: 1K Price: £3.80 Cassette Four Memory: 16K Price: £6 Defenda Memory: 16K Price: £3.95 It is unfortunate but true that the ZX-81 seems to have slipped from the minds of software authors who look at it with embarrassment and wish it would go away. If anyone were to suggest that more software should be written for the black-and-white, low-resolution machine the instigators would be regarded as mad and informed quietly that the ZX-81 is no longer commercially viable. That is to forget, however, that there are still thousands of users who want to be satisfied in terms of software and that their ranks are increasing every day. It is for those people who still hold the ZX-81 in esteem that we look back at products which are still on the market and about which new owners may not know. The most prolific software house for the ZX-81 which is still manufacturing for the market is New Generation. It has great pride in its products because it produced the first 3D game, 3D Monster Maze. The game puts you into a three-dimensional maze, using conventional ZX-81 graphics speeded with machine code. The effect is incredible and the program could be for a black-and-white Spectrum. It gives the effect of high-resolution graphics. You are not alone in the maze, as you will find when you discover the footsteps which are plodding slowly towards you. If you are lucky you will lose the owner of those big feet, or he will lose you. If you are not so fortunate you will see Tyrannosaurus Rex moving towards you along the corridor. At that point it might be a good idea to run or you will be eaten. Contrary to popular belief there is a way out of the labyrinth and when you find it you will be shown a pretty graphics display along with a 'you got out of this one' message. The game can be made more difficult but the initial playing level is sufficient for beginners. The only criticism of 3D Monster Maze is the long wait, in FAST mode, while the maze is set up. That is a time of seemingly unending boredom but it is soon forgotten when play begins. 3D Monster Maze is essential for all owners of the 16K ZX-81. Another famous name in the ZX-81 market is Orwin Software. Michael Orwin, the compiler of a number of games tapes, appears to take a less active role in the company now but his ZX-81 software is still selling well. There are five cassettes in all but only the first takes the 1K ZX-81 into account. It includes 11 programs, seven of which are in machine code. The good thing about the software is that the same games are recorded on both sides but not in the same order. That means you can always reach a particular program quickly, so long as both sides will load. The games include several old arcade favourites, such as Invaders, Planet Lander and Maze of Death. They are all fast in action although, even with the ZX-81 keyboard, they are easy to play. The other programs on the cassette are also very inventive and include I Ching, a Chinese prediction program, Codebreak, which is self-explanatory, and an unusual program, Bouncing Letters. Cassette One costs £3.80 and is worth every penny. The rest of the ZX-81 cassettes from Orwin are for the 16K machine. One of the best is Cassette Four which contains eight games. All of them should be familiar as either arcade or traditional games but each is well-thought-out and the graphics are good for a ZX-81. Gunfight is the best game on Cassette Four so far as graphics are concerned. It pits you against a gunfighter you must kill in a shoot-out. The other obstacles in the duel to the death are two cacti and a wagon which moves continually up and down the screen. The computer is fast on the draw and you will need precision timing to survive. ZX Scramble is another good arcade game in the package. It includes three stages in which you have to fight your way through the passages of alien subterranean caverns. You gain points for destroying the aliens which fly at you and also for bombing the aliens which are on the floor of the cavern. You must, however, beware of the ceiling which will dip to meet you as you travel from left to right on the screen. Because of the speed at which your spacecraft travels you are likely to be destroyed more by low-flying ceilings than by aliens. Other games on the cassette include a 3D version of Noughts and Crosses, two invader-type programs, a version of Conway's Game of Life and Snakebite, in which you have to avoid a poisonous reptile which wants to cut short your life. Cassette Four again provides value for money and costs £6. Another company which was to the fore of the ZX-81 software boom was Quicksilva. It produced a remarkably good version of Defender which is still around, called Defenda. Unlike space invader games, your craft moves across a landscape from left to right on the screen, destroying all in its path or being destroyed by the aliens which drop bombs or crash kamikaze-style into your battleship. Adjustments can be made to the program if your television set cannot keep pace with such a fast game and you will usually have to make some kind of adjustment to get rid of a screen display which might bend or flash. The game is fast, furious and almost impossible to play. It should cater for all arcade addicts who still hanker for new versions of original arcade games. Defenda from Quicksilva costs £3.95.

Sinclair User

EPISODE 4 BY MICHAEL ORWIN Michael Orwin has built a reputation for value-for-money software and his Cassette 4 offers quantity as well as quality. There are eight games on the cassette, seven of which are in machine code and six of them are arcade-type games. Guns is a marvellous moving graphics version of the Gunshooter game, for one or two players. Bullet speed and skill level can be entered and each gunslinger has six shots per round. In the one-player game, the computer would give Clint Eastwood a run for his money. ZX-Scramble is another arcade game; you try to manoeuvre your ship through a cave while bombing the enemy and shooting their defending fighters. Ever-popular Invaders and Galaxy Invaders are on the cassette, along with Life, 3D-Tic-Tac-Toe, Fungaloids - a moving graphics bombing game - and Snakebite, an original graphics chase game which can be tailored by the player. Cassette 4 costs £5 from Michael Orwin, [redacted].

ZX Computing

James Walsh

Michael Orwin seems to have got into the habit of selling cassettes of eight games all of which could have been sold separately for six pounds a piece, whilst he sells all eight on one high quality cassette for £5. The only way I can do true justice to these programs is by looking at one on it's own as if it was a different cassette. (i) ZX-Scramble; has been written and marketed by other people, but this is by far the best version I have seen for the ZX81. The graphics are excellent and the speed is incredible even for a machine-code program. (ii) Gunfight. This is one of the arcade type games which I definitely have not seen before on the ZX81. Although the name is misleading the idea is that you are one of two cowboys on the screen and whilst not hitting the stage coach which moves steadily up the screen, or one of the many cacti, you must try to shoot your opponent. The graphics are excellent, and this is definitely the best one-or-two player graphics games that I have seen for the ZX81 to date. (iii) INVADER; Yes, I know, another invaders game and you've seen them all before, haven't you!! But this one is actually is better than any other I have seen on the ZX81. The graphics are far better as you have three characters for each invader. The only thing that I found difficult was that the game did not stop and restart when you are hit. (iv) GALAXY INVADERS; this is a very good machine code version of the Galaxians game, with very 'pretty' sweeping aliens. (v) SNAKEBITE; This is not quite as graphically mind blowing as the last four, but with the ability to build walls, lay anthills and vary the speed it becomes a very addictive game. Oh I nearly forgot, the idea of the game is to eat the snake's tail first before it eats you. (vi) LIFE; A cleverly written version of the well-known game with good graphics. (vii) 3D TIC-TAC-TOE. This is the only BASIC game on the tape, which means it is slower. But it is an advanced and addictive version of the game. (viii) FUNGALOIDS. Last but definitely not least we come to the most original game, Fungaloids, which is easily as addictive as invaders. Although the game is original there was no need to make the game so obscure! it has vague similarities to missile command, as the idea is to bomb the fungus as it grows, shedding spores. A weird but definitely wonderful game. CONCLUSION If each game was on a separate tape and selling for £5 each I would still recommend them. But all on one for £5! This sort of value for money just has not been seen before for any personal computer. It is interesting to note that out of the many software companies in this country, Michael Orwin is one of the few which has managed to continue to grow even after the Spectrum was announced. Without sounding pushy I would like to conclude this review by saying - if you have a ZX81 and like games, then you should buy Michael Orwin's Cassette 4. Available by mail order only from: MICHAEL ORWIN, [redacted].