Specventure, ZX Spectrum, Mastertronic – IS0080
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7/10
Summary
The plot line is very well thought out for Specventure, fixing the rogue parts of each circuit. It was well worth the £1.99 price tag and would recommend playing this to anyone. It does have that one more go factor, to progress further onto the next screen. The gameplay, however, is rather too slow-moving but the playability is good, despite some slightly off collision detection at times. Specventure is an enjoyable arcade style action adventure, so go on, give it a whirl!
User Review
( votes)When you read the inlay instructions of Specventure, you could be forgiven for needing to know something about the internal workings of a ZX Spectrum! Specventure consists of 30 screens where you work your way through the Spectrum’s circuit board. You control a robot that must collect the rogue bytes (flashing squares) whilst avoiding the systems bugs and high voltage electrical discharges. Once the rogue bytes have all been collected, you’ll then need to plan a route to the exit within 10 seconds to progress.
An Exclusive Game for the Computer
As the games name suggests, Specventure is a game based on adventuring around a ZX Spectrum. There was going to be a sequel called Microventure but unfortunately, that never came to be. My thought here is that could have meant, perhaps, other 8-bit machines too, which would have been nice to have seen.
Let the SpecVenture Begin!
You begin the game with 4 lives and with each one, your robot has a depleting battery.
The aim is to navigate your robot and collect the rogue bytes whilst avoiding the bugs. Once you’ve collected all the rogue bytes, head for the red flashing square near the I/OU. Touching that red box that then starts a ten second countdown above the exit door. You’ll then need to reach the exit door before time runs out but do plan what is the best route out beforehand.
You can fire at the enemies, and should you successfully hit one, it will disappear for a short while and then respawn. This gives you an opportunity to pass through where they were and is necessary to obtain some of the rogue bytes.
A Quick Tip
If you time your shot right and the enemy happens to be over the top of a rogue byte, it counts like you’ve collected it. This’ll save you time having to walk over and getting it,
Predictability and Shock Surprises Too!
Each of the enemies move in a predictable pattern, but there is a slight twist. Every so often, high voltage electrical discharges suddenly appear for a few moments and then disappear. These occur in the same places on that specific level, so you need to remember where these are (or get lucky!) If they reappear where you are, you’ll be zapped and turned into a mound of dust, thus losing a life. Some levels have a diagonal moving ball which are harder to navigate around. You can’t move or fire diagonally as you can only move horizontally or vertically.
Passwords and Screen Previews
One very nice feature is that after completing each level, you get given a password. You can then use that password to go back to that specific level. The password appears in red when the main circuit board is drawn and gives you a short description of what is going on in the next level. This is a great feature as playing Specventure isn’t very quick. It would be very frustrating to play otherwise if you got near the end and had to restart all over again!
From the main menu, you can also watch a preview of 8 of the 30 screens (it starts on the first one then shows you seven others, not all in the game playing order).
There’s a Comedy Factor
There is humour on the Game Over screen! You’ll see a toilet on the left-hand side of the screen, yourself in the middle (getting zapped!) and a shovel that moves across from right to left. When it reaches your robot, you turn into a rotating tombstone and tipped down the toilet as dust!
Colourful Graphics with Attention to Detail
From the loading screen, you get a nice perspective of looking over a computer circuit board and as if you were secretly in there at the corner. It gives the right feel for the game to come.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Specventure is that it has some attractive graphics and has made very good use of colour throughout. The screens are well drawn out, with nice circuits, chips and resistors. The sprites tend to move smoothly (sometimes too slow though), but my favourite one being the command keys on a rubber keyboard moving around!
If an enemy moves over a rogue byte, this does cause some flickery attribute colour clash. This happens only for a couple of few seconds and although noticeable, doesn’t take anything away from the game.
Music Features a Lot Throughout
As this is a 48K game, the music and sound effects are done by the computer beeper. Each note lasts for only a fraction of a second so it constantly sounds like its playing on and off (but you can easily tell what tune is playing). Eight out of nine soundtracks are classical music but there is one very famous movie soundtrack from the 70’s (track 3). I won’t name it here for copyright reasons but clearly programmers could get away with that back then!
From the main menu, you can select to read instructions and there is a list of the tunes, years and the composer are shown). The music can be changed during gameplay by pressing 1-9 at any time giving it a nice variety factor (or can be switched off all together by pressing 0).
There is a deliberate screeching sound (which lasts for approximately six seconds) between each level. This is like a loading screen drawing the circuit board of the ZX Spectrum.
A Noticeable Error
One thing I did notice is down the right side after the drawing of the circuit board is that it shows ©1984. Elsewhere though, the game is ©1985, both on the well-drawn packaging instructions and on the menu screen.
On A Final Note
I enjoyed it and do recall spending plenty of hours playing this many years ago. Specventure is a very well-thought out, enjoyable and structured game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t set any land-speed records, which is really its only downfall. The collision detection isn’t 100% perfect, but by no means does it make you feel that you want to throw your joystick away in frustration.
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