Martian War

Break Space

Jamie

Mpk

MARTIAN WAR Fausto Pracek Free Jamie's Review Martian War is a remake of a game for an even older computer than the ZX Spectrum. Ever heard of the Wang 2200? No, neither had I until today. The Wang 2200 was first released in 1973, and is a beautifully nostalgic looking machine, green case with a crisp, integrated monochrome CRT monitor and a super high quality keyboard. The Wang was an office machine, and not really a gaming powerhouse, however a handful of games were developed for it, including the original Martian War, which was released in 1980. Martian War (2025) is a Space Invaders inspired shooter for the ZX Spectrum, tasking players with defending Earth against waves of descending Martian saucers. The game play will be familiar to most: - Move left/right along the bottom of the screen - Shoot down Martians before they shoot you, or the humans you are trying to protect. - Defeat the waves while protecting humanity and you to get to the next level The controls are responsive enough, the quirk is that once your ship is set in motion, it keeps going in that direction until you press the stop button. Presumably, the choice of keys remain true to the original: 4, 5, 6 and space. Of course this make a lot more sense on the Wang, which has a number pad, but it makes much less sense on the spectrum's more 'economic' approach to user input. Personally I found the game hard to control. Enemy movement is blocky and I assume this is in keeping with the original. Ships appear left of the screen, right of the screen, and sometimes in between with little warning. When they appear, they unleashing a torrent of lightning fast bullets that will obliterate the humans you are trying to protect, as well as your ship if you don't respond quickly. The game has 3 levels of difficulty, and I was able to make progress in easy mode. The green-on-black visuals look really nice. The Spectrum does a good job of replicating the crisp green and black CRT of the original Wang. In keeping with the original game, Martian War has simple, blocky graphical style that I really like. However, on the version I played, the game has no loading screen or sound, which is a shame. This game is a love letter to an obscure game for an obscure computer. I haven't played the original, put I imagine Martian War (2025) is a faithful recreation, and a fitting way to introduce us Speccy fans to an interesting slice of computing's rich history.

10-7 Away win? That's my pools coupon ruined.

A load of Wang