LOXLEY
(World XXI Soft, 2022)
For those of us who had to endure the godawful half a year or so that Bryan Adams was Number 1 with the wimpy theme tune to that movie, here's a terrible reminder, so thanks Ariel Ruiz! This game had better be halfway decent for forcing us to have 'Nam like flashbacks to that... There's even a stunning flying arrow scene in the intro here, which is pretty damn cool to be fair. And some lovingly recreated digitised pics of the cast, even Sean Connery who appeared in the film for all of 12 seconds.
Robin of Loxley, who mustn't have got his Hood just yet, has to regain his confiscated property, including his main squeeze Marian, and avenge his murdered dad, all due to Alan Rickman's utter bastardry. Or the Sheriff of Nottingham's to be strictly accurate. But is our own Kevin Costner up to the task? Probably not, he's too '90s by far.
Robin has an impressive map of places to explore as he tries to assemble his merry men, including Baldric and the Cat from Red Dwarf, and get his Thieves School up and running. Hey, didn't these World XXI Soft guys make that game already, and it was great? Anyway, he can fight using a stout stick or his bow, both of which require a bit of practice. And 'borrowing' people's money can help towards buying health potions and honing those combat skills further.
This game is in BASIC. Yeah right, what magical form of BASIC is this then? It just can't be - things move as they should at the right speed and everything. I'm not trying to be insulting, it's a compliment really. Football Manager is in BASIC. Race Ace is in BASIC. This... well it just can't be, any more than 1% of it anyway. But it must be, as it was entered in a compo called Bytemaniacs' Concurso Basic 2022, and obviously won. However looking at the other entries Loxley kinda resembles Ben Johnson when he won that runny event in the '80s. The other games' authors must surely have requested that Sr. Ruiz take a drugs test afterwards.
Which is all my twisted way of declaring Loxley to be a modern marvel. It's an enjoyable quest with the wide-open map a brilliant idea for offering welcome variety. You face different challenges in each area and doing them in the best order is your key mission. The combat is good fun, particularly poinging arrows all over the shop, and there's a sense of an interesting story developing all the while. It looks awesome, moves like Jagger and overall it's one of the last few years' top Speccy experiences. So don your hood and go pi$$ off the Sheriff for a bit, it's a right larf.
HALLOWED KNIGHT
(EJVG, 2021)
People seem to like Hollow Knight on PS4, but for the life of me I don't know why. I've tried playing it quite a few times now and have got virtually nowhere, finding it to be a rather dull experience. Spaniards EVJG have gone and made a Spectrum version of it though, so maybe I'll have more luck with this. They've also recently converted Little Nightmares into Tiny Nightmares on the Spec, the little tinkers. How do they get away with it? Good on them though, can I have a conversion of Cyberpunk 2077 next please?
You're a horny little knight who must discover the subterranean secrets of the world of Hallownest, which is overrun by pesky insects. Why I don't know, but it's a hobby I guess. The locals ask you to do the odd quest like finding a caterpillar's 10 lost children. Social Services must surely be notified. There's a trader guy, from whom you can buy spells. You can use your stubby little sword to whack the insects and gain currency, known as geos. You can sit on a bench which serves as a checkpoint. Thrills, spills!
But more interestingly, when you've whacked a few bugs upside of their heads, you can use their souls to restore one or more of your lives, up to the maximum of five. This is a feature the original game had too, possibly the most unique thing about it, so it's nice to see it on the Speccy version too. And you can't die as such, you just go back to whichever bench your behind last darkened.
So it's a different angle on the platform game and with more adventurey elements to keep you awake. The graphics are bijou but cute, colour is mostly blue and white but that's okay, and sound is a bit muted apart from a menu screen ditty. But this is a pretty diverting way to spend a few hours, and the idea of converting, or maybe subverting, console games is inspired. I got further in this game than its PS4 counterpart and had more fun getting there. So there you have it: the Spectrum is mightier than the Sony. I knew it.
IT'S... THE SCORES!
LOXLEY 91%
HALLOWED KNIGHT 84%
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