MegaZeux and ZZT Game Reviews-July 1996 By Luke Drelick of Duky Inc. E-Mail me at duky@worldnet.att.net Notes- If you want to send me your game, E-mail me at duky@worldnet.att.net. I LOVE receiving games for ZZT and MegaZeux. If you don't want me to review your game, tell me when you right the message. Also, E-mail me with your Internet address, and I'll put you on my mailing list. If you have a game you're creating, tell me, and I'll add it to the Upcoming Titles list. I give my honest opinion to all the games I review, so don't get all upset and threaten me with death if I think your game sucks. This magazine is just used to help you decide which games to download, help you find secrets to your games etc... I NEVER compare a ZZT game's graphics and music to a MZX game! I compare all ZZT games to each other, and the ones with the best graphics get the higher graphics. If a MegaZeux game gets a lower score for graphics than a ZZT game, it doesn't mean that the ZZT game's graphic quality is any better. Scale- 10-Classic! 9-Excellent 8-High-Quality 7-Very Good 6-Alright 5-Average 4-Poor Quality 3-Bad 2-Terrible! 1-DON'T PLAY THIS GAME UNLESS YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!! Table of Contents- 1.Game Reviews 2.Upcoming Titles 3.Special Hints 4.Top Five Lists 5.Next Issue Section 1-Game Reviews ZZT: Booplop Escape from Planet Red Killing the Beast Psycho Sewers Casino Magik Fred!-Space Fred Yapok-Sundria Aceland MZX: Oozey! KM's Univers! Flik-MZX Edition MZX Encyclopedia Vol. 1a ZZT: Booplop-By GuyPhillip Booplop is a game which involves you, a Nogloe, having to infiltrate the Booplop's castle, and retrieve the stolen Ruby of Krondor. On the way, you'll encounter fighting, puzzle solving, and places where you need to use your head. Graphics-Although no Coolness, the graphics were pretty good, using alot of S-T-K, although no kewl color-blending took place. Rating-7 Sound-If I hear the theme music again, I swear I'll kill myself! Rating-5 Challenge-The game has some challenge in it, but the challenge mainly involves following directions and searching *EVERY* object for items. Booplop has few rooms where you need to fight, but when it does, the board is set to "Restart if Hurt". Rating-5 Enjoyment-Due to the way this game is set up, I became fustrated. Towards the end of the game, there's one *HUGE* invisible wall maze. If you were to get up to that part, you would probably do exactly what I did-Zap. Not my idea of fun... Rating-4 Overall-If you have a zest for being fustrated, and a good CD playing in your stereo, you might want to check it out. Personally, I've seen alot better... Rating-5.25 Escape from Planet Red-By Barney9651 Starting this game, you see a spaceship looking like it came out of Code Red. Several stars head toward your ship to give the illusion you are actually soaring through space. Suddenly, the pilot of the spaceship falls asleep. The ship crashes on Planet Red, killing every passenger except you. When you step out of the airlock, the residents of Planet Red blame you for the deaths of 21 aliens. Needless to say, they are not happy, and sentence you to life in the Pit. Graphics-The original version has good graphics, using lots of Dark Red from the Super Tool Kit. Nice, but you really should download the Hyper version. The Hyper version has the characters appear differently, using Hyper ZZT by Claudio Leite. Rating-8 Sound-Had nice SFX, mimicing some internal game sounds, thanks to ZZT Sound Effects, by (who else?) Greg Janson. Other than that, it had the Mission:Impossible theme playing while you try to escape from the cell. Geez, doesn't the Mission:Impossible theme appear in 75% of all ZZT games? UGH! Rating-6 Challenge-There IS challenge here, ranging from battle sequences (a really neat one is one where you must "punch" the guard because you start off without a gun), to puzzle-solving, to a short invisible wall maze that isn't all that annoying (it's pretty short), to a battle with unique aliens, sometimes taking up more than one object. Rating-8 Enjoyment-Although real short, I enjoyed this one, and consider it one of the top 5 best ZZT games. If you're in need of a quick fix, Escape from Planet Red won't let you down. Just make sure you download the Hyper ZZT version. And if you're a psycho, there is alot of gore, ranging from gruesome descriptions of what happened to dead guys, to tons of Red Fakes (I guess you can't make blood look any more realistic with ZZT). Rating-10 Overall-This is a great one for your ZZT library! Rating-8 Killing the Beast!-By an unknown author Ok, here's the story for this one-You must kill the Beast! There, I just told you the story. Evidentally, this game lacked a plot. Graphics-A bunch of Solids and Normals create indefinite shapes across the playing field, without a hint of S-T-K (Greg Janson created this for a reason-to make ZZT's graphics look better. So, USE IT, DAMNIT!!!). Basically, boards consist of either big-empty rooms, or tight passages with no creative contours. Well, at least there's no Yellow Normal borders... Rating-2 Sound-None, whatsoever... Just the built in SFX of collecting a bunch of scrolls with no text on them. Rating-1 Challenge-There wouldn't be ANY challenge, if the author didn't screw up on the passage scheme. You don't even have to kill the Beast, just collect the Red Key, and exit the room. Here's the actual source code used for the Beast- @beast DIE DIE #shoot seek #go seek #restart Evidentally, the programming SUCKS! Rating-1 Enjoyment-What enjoyment? Rating-1 Overall-The only place you probably will be able to find this is with all the other AOL authors who serve up shitty ZZT and MZX games daily. (No offense to Greg Janson, Matt Williams, Barney 9651, and other competent authors stuck using AOHell.) I wouldn't even recommend it to an enemy of mine. Rating-1.25 Psycho Sewers-By ZZTurbo Here's a unique ZZT game-You are out walking in the park one day, and a guy from a corporation captures you. While he's taking you in his van, you jump out, into the sewer system, trying to escape from the corporation's robots. Sounds kewl, eh? The sewer system consists of 10 boards identical to each other, with new enemies in each posing the only challenge. Geez, it seems that all of ZZTurbo's games took about a day each to create! Graphics-Well, there were some S-T-K graphics, but they were ugly shades of brown on green to simulate raw sewage. Rating-5 Sound-An annoying precussion sound plays whenevwer you kill an enemy. Aside from this SFX, there is no other music in the game. Rating-3 Challenge-You just keep shooting, and walking, and shooting, and walking. ZZTurbo gives you 500 ammo to start with, making it easier to kill the baddies. By the way, the walls of the sewer are so tightly held together, that you can't move up or down for the whole game. Rating-6 Enjoyment-There was no enjoyment whatsoever. Travelling through 10 identical boards to get a terrible ending isn't the best way to spend your time. Play another of ZZTurbo's so called "hits"- Freakish Town. Or, better yet, play Coolness! Rating-2 Overall-You'd be wasting your time. I'm telling you, just wasting your time playing this sh*t! Rating-4 Casino-By Nzenik Wow! An actual Casino game for ZZT! In order to win, you need to collect 1000 Gems. You start out with 500 Gems. To win more, you can choose from the following games-Roulette, Slots, Dog Races, and betting on fights. Graphics-Poor blending and odd mixes of colors ruin this for the graphics category. I mean, you have a Dark Green Solid, and next to that, a Dark Grey Solid, and then a Dark Red Solid! Huh?! Well, I did see some S-T-K in the game. By the way, the title screen looks HORRIBLE! Rating-4 Sound-I honestly don't recall any sound on this game. Rating-1 Challenge-As you already know, there is no challenge in gambling. It's all luck... Rating-1 Enjoyment-I would've wished for more games to play, like Blackjack, Craps, and Poker. Hey, wait a minute! I heard there was gonna be a Poker sub-game in Sivion MZX! If we can only wait 'till that comes out... Rating-2 Overall-You can't play some of the games more than once. Personally, wait for Bladerunner's Casino MZX. Or, if you're impatient, just play the Casino of Gambling Without Gambling in Code Red over and over again. Rating-2 Magik-By ZZTurbo Magik starts off like most other ZZT/MZX games-you wake up. Exploring around town, you enter into another person's house without warning. Later on, the Royal Guards come and tell you to step on an energizer...They lock you up in the dungeon, where you overhear the king's wizard plotting to overthrow the kingdom of Magicia. Searching some of the dead bodies, you find a key, your ticket out of the dungeon. You inform the king about Grue's plot, and he sends you to find some plans. And so starts the Magik trilogy... Graphics-The graphics in Magik are some of ZZTurbo's finest, using some kewl color-combinations and shading techniques. Rating-8 Sound-There is no music, only SFX, a problem found in all of ZZTurbo's games. Rating-4 Challenge-Alot of fighting, and not enough interaction, will eventually bore you out. Rating-4 Enjoyment-I had a little fun with this one, but it was over MUCH too quickly. Rating-6 Overall-Magik will entertain you for about 20 minutes, before it just ends abruptly. You should download the complete trilogy, but I can't seem to find Magik 3 anywhere. Rating-5.5 Fred 1-By Adam Parrish Fred involves you, a boy named Fred, waking up, heading to breakfast, only to find out that aliens have taken over the earth! They've changed your parents into aliens, and only you can stop them! Sneaking in your sister, Fredetta's, room, you find a super-powered laser gun (I forget the exact name) that you will need. Graphics-Well detailed, but there is alot of flashing, which tends to give me a headache. Rating-7 Sound-Nice music and SFX are littered randomly around the game. Rating-9 Challenge-There's alot of fighting in the game, and you don't get enough health to face the enemies. An object like a first aid kit would be nice. Rating-6 Enjoyment-You'll have fun with this one, for sure. Add a point if you like to kill stuff! Rating-6 Overall-This is one to look out for! It's a shame that Fred 2 takes up soooo much memory, that I can't use it on my computer :(. Rating-7 Yapok Sundria-By Yapok Jr. Yapok Sundria is a very weird game. So weird, in fact, that it makes the hit Weirdness game look normal. Well, that's what the author tried to achieve. The game starts with an alarm waking you up, and you're searching for a plot. Climbing a huge Rubbish Heap, you talk to the great god, Bee Fly Ptarmigan. He tells you to give him all of your knickerbockers. Off you are, to the center of the earth, searching for the knickerbockers. Graphics-Great! The actual ANSI drawings are good, especially when you think that he only used char °, ±, and ² to create his work. Rating-9 Sound-Some sound effects, and some full-score music. I would've liked to see more, but, that's the way it goes... Rating-7 Challenge-One of the nicest parts of the game is that you don't have to shoot, only explore and solve puzzles. This was a risky, but very wise move by the author. Rating-9 Enjoyment-I liked this game, since you really need to wander and explore the world of Yapok Sundria. You probably won't get most of the jokes until you play Castle of the Aardvarks for MZX. Rating-8 Overall-This is one you'll *DEFINITELY* want to have in your ZZT library. And while you're at it, play Castle of the Aardvarks. It's one of the best MZX games I have ever played. Rating-8.25 Aceland-By Prakish Padole I don't recall the story of this game, probably because there is none. This game seems amateurish, with annoying text like "ZZT was here!" strewn across the playfield. I think the game involves you just walking around your homeland, doing stuff. Graphics-NO S-T-K! At least there were no yellow borders. Rating-4 Sound-Built-in SFX. Rating-2 Challenge-Alot of shooting, and some Slider puzzles. Basically, it's standard stuff. Rating-5 Enjoyment-I spent some time on this game. Not much, but it was SOME time, after all. Rating-5 Overall-It's not the best ZZT game in the world. Personally, I think the Experience Point idea was kewl, and innovative. Rating-4 Oozey-By MAJJSoft Oozey is about an exploding cat who gets kidnapped by a bomb squad, or something. The game DID get nominated for "Game with no point", according to Scott Hammack. Graphics-I've seen better on ZZT! Rating-3 Sound-Music from The Caverns of Zeux! Aren't people sick of hearing CV_MAGIC.MOD yet? Anyways, there are some that the author composed himself. That's good, 'cuz those damn MODs are hard to make. Rating-5 Challenge-There isn't any. You shoot some secretary, that's all. Rating-2 Enjoyment-You might want to play this one for laughs, and if you're a pyromaniac, then you'll definitely want to check out the kewl explosions! Rating-4 Overall-If I time myself, I could probably beat this game in 1.26 minutes. It's good for a laugh, but nothing else. Rating-3.5 KM's Univers!-By Kristofer Munsterhjelm You are Ole Peterson. After a mission concerning some astro-bears, you think you have saved the world. Not yet! There's an asteroid heading towards Earth that you must stop! You need to get in your car, and go to MSA, where the Boss can teleport you up to the asteroid. Graphics-The graphics are good, with some palettes, alot of chars, and an end guy made up of more than one character! Rating-8 Sound-Tons of MODules, including two of my all-time favorite MODs- 2-3, and the 3D maze. A SAMple for shooting comes bundled with the game. Spectacular sound! Rating-9 Challenge-At the beginning, the game is mostly exploration, but towards the end, there is just the right mix of shooting to make the game interesting. Rating-8 Enjoyment-Even though some bugs are present, I really liked this game, but, after the cliffhanger ending, I have grown extremely impatient wating for KM 2. Rating-9 Overall-Check it out! This is one of the better MZX games! Rating-8.5 Flik! MZX Edition-By Helios This is the sequel to Flik, the ZZT game I reviewed last issue, and bombed. The premise is the same, except that this is a sidescroller. You need to solve puzzles, and jump, to save your friends, or something to that matter. Graphics-Not the best, not the worst. A nice palette was included, though. Rating-6 Sound-In a poor choice by the author, there are no MODs to download for Flik! The enjoyment of the game would be greatly improved if there were. Rating-3 Challenge-There is an obvious bug in the Flik! engine, making the game seem easier, and there are some obnoxious puzzles at the end of the game that test your knowledge of Greek mythology. Rating-5 Enjoyment-MUCH better than the original, but it's still not that good. Well, it was Helios's second MZX game... Rating-5 Overall-If you're still dying in anticipation for Slimed, check Flik! out. If sidescrollers are not your thing, forget about it. Rating-4.75 MZX Encyclopedia Volume 1a-By Software Visions The Encyclopedia is a unique collection of kewl stuff you can do with MegaZeux, if you know enough about Robotic. There are 3-D Mazes, Side- Scrollers, Player Lasers, and other stuff included. Unfortunately, alot of stuff still needs to be added, like a sword. If you want to separate your game from the rest of the games, check out the Encyclopedia for snazzy tricks. If not, just play the Encyclopedia to see what you thought couldn't be done in MZX. Section 2-Upcoming Titles Duky Inc. Engine-Available now Final Fantasy Engine-Available now Overflow-Available now Luke's Bowling Extravaganza-Available Mid-Summer The Saga of Dan-Available Mid-Summer Zelda-Available Mid-Summer Seiken Densetsu 4-Available End of Summer 800bc Fixed Up-? Phoenix Tech World of Darkness-Available now Zelda-Available Mid-Summer Dragon Slayer-Available Mid-Summer Software Visions MZX Encyclopedia-Available now MegaZeux Version 2.5-? Weirdness, Chapter 2-? MAJJSoft King's Castle 2-? Funky Chunky Monkey-Available Mid-Summer StarSoft Zelda (with me and Alex)-Available Mid-Summer The Orion Galaxy-Available 2000ad Destiny Software Honor Quest-Available now Damaged-? Majik Ode to ZZT-Available now Sivion-? Bladerunner Casino-? Powerquest-Available End of Summer Yapok Ware Bee Fly Ptarmigan's Picross-Available End of Summer Section 3-Special Hints In MegaZeux, you can give yourself a quick boost by making a Robot like this- end :touch set maxhealth 9999 fillhealth give 10000 ammos give 10000 hibombs give 10000 lobombs swap to world "world.mzx" You will start out on the world of your choice, with increased power! Section 4-Top Five Lists Top 5 Best ZZT games 1.Code Red-By Gregory Janson 2.Sivion-By Clint Nielson 3.Robots of Gemrule-By Gregory Janson 4.Merbotia-By Sonic256 5.Escape From Planet Red-By Barney9651 Top 5 Best MegaZeux Games 1.Weirdness-By Gregory Janson 2.KM's Univers!-By KM 3.Honor Quest-By Destiny Software 4.Slimed-By Evan Furchgott 5.Castle of the Aardvarks-By Yapok Jr. Top 5 Best MOD Files 1.Killing Floor-By Chorus and Sid 2.Enter Sandman-Author Unknown 3.Badlands-Author Unknown 4.Sundance-By Purple Motion 5.Cotton Eye Joe-By Rednex Section 5-Next Issue of the MegaZeux and ZZT Mag.-July '96 Reviews of the following games- ZZT: Coolness Merbotia ZapZak The Lost Monkeys Bobo! Turmoil Yoshi's Adventure MZX: P.D.S. (Planetary Defense Station) Castle of the Aardvarks Aah! BUGS! Ed Venture Honor Quest King's Castle part 1 Top 5 MOD files replaced with Top 5 S3M files, due to the fact that MZX Version 2.5 will be out soon! And a description of all Syndromes, thanks to Barjesse's ZZT Syndrome. Note-Reviews may be subject to change! SEE YOU NEXT ISSUE!!! -Luke Drelick