Zub

Copyright : Mastertronic | Reviewed by : Scooby1970

I remember buying this game back in 1987, I had had my CPC 464 since the beginning and would buy a game every week with my earnings, so, with so many games I was quite happily shocked with this game.

I loaded up the tape and the first thing to attract my attention was the weird way in which all the sound and movement of the text on the screen grabs your attention, this game was something different... something zany and totally original (in story and presentation anyways).

Graphics

The graphics were quite sparce, but highly detailed and fitted the theme very well. Some of the colour schemes used are abit garish, but it just adds to the quirky qualities of the game. The aliens, just like Zub himself, are well drawn, as are the platforms. A nice feature is the three dimensional multi-paralax scrolling of the star-fields, which at the time was an impressive feature of any game!

Sound

The game kicked in and Wow! The first thing that knocks you out is the tune that plays during the game. The Zub theme is possibly one of the greatest in-game scores ever written! A stunning bass-line and an unbelievably catchy melody... I was impressed, and this was just the music.

Gameplay

In it?s simplest form, this is just a platform game with moving platforms, an unusual character and a few baddies attacking you. However, it is increadibly addictive and I played the game for hours and weeks on end trying to finish it. However, it was quite frustrating when you fell off the top platforms, or when you got to the top to be sent back a level!

More recently I have played this game again on an emulator, after my trusty CPC finally died after almost 20 years. I still get the same tingly feeling when the music plays and I finally got to level 10, only to be told... well, I?ll let you discover what!

One of the greatest under-appreciated Amstrad games ever. The Spectrum version comes close on playability, however the C64 version is quite dire and has not got the same feel as the other 8-bit versions.