Zzoom - don't shoot the people.
Dear reader , I have to caution you, if you are a delicate soul and easily offended by acts of mindless violence, you may wish to turn back now. Let it also be noted that my father will deny all acts of said mindless violence that shall follow....but I remember those days in 1983 when Imagine Software brought us a game called Zzoom.
This involved flying a plane, so I already knew the fight to get control of the joystick between myself and my father would be epic (but very careful, as by now, thanks to Daley Thompson said joystick was held together with electrical insulation tape.) The game loaded to reveal the ever beautiful ZX Spectrum green grass and blue skies. Even when mass destruction is about to take place , the Spectrum still gives you weather that makes you want to head for the beach and eat ice creams. Which is perhaps where the poor unfortunate people we will meet next should have gone. The aim of this game is to shoot the enemy planes and missiles and to protect the little people on the horizon. Let me just repeat that , shoot the planes and not the people.
This is a really good little arcade shooter game, with nice and easy controls. The enemy planes come in thick and fast and you just blast away, the levels get more hectic and the refugees (those little people along the horizon) walk along and stop and wave and then walk off again. Perfectly reasonable behaviour for in the middle of an epic air battle of course.
The first few goes were played in the manner the games designers would have expected it to be. Planes were shot, refugees were saved , sound capabilities of the Spectrum were boosted via very large speakers once more. This is another game that does tend to make unfortunate noises should it's sound capabilities be amplified.
The first few goes were played in the manner the games designers would have expected it to be. Planes were shot, refugees were saved , sound capabilities of the Spectrum were boosted via very large speakers once more. This is another game that does tend to make unfortunate noises should it's sound capabilities be amplified.
It was then my father asked the unfortunate question ....'What happens if you shoot the refugees?' ....Now my father is a lovely man, he was a life guard and a first aider for many years , he is a gardener and a gentle soul. But the ZX Spectrum did tend to bring out the worst in him. Give the man a joystick and chaos would follow. He soon found that running your gun along the horizon produced a rather interesting red effect and lots of leaping little bodies. I did warn you at the start of this review about this.
My father had invented a whole new game, shoot the planes, missiles and people. Fortunately for the refugees getting your plane that close to the ground was an art form and usually resulted in a crashed plane. But this seemed to add an element to the game that perhaps was lacking previously. He certainly found it relieved his stress after working in a factory all day !
My father had invented a whole new game, shoot the planes, missiles and people. Fortunately for the refugees getting your plane that close to the ground was an art form and usually resulted in a crashed plane. But this seemed to add an element to the game that perhaps was lacking previously. He certainly found it relieved his stress after working in a factory all day !
Now normally I like to end these blogs with a happy little coda , a little bit of a moral tale that leaves the reader with a warm fuzzy hug of nostalgia. But I can't really say we learnt anything from Zzoom , there was no hidden lesson, no pearls of wisdom encased in black plastic.
Or was there?
Perhaps sometimes in life we just need to play a game that allows our mind to switch into neutral , a game that doesn't involve puzzle solving or hundreds of screens.
You will always have some days when only a shoot 'em up will do.
Or was there?
Perhaps sometimes in life we just need to play a game that allows our mind to switch into neutral , a game that doesn't involve puzzle solving or hundreds of screens.
You will always have some days when only a shoot 'em up will do.