''Zip Zap'' is an action game developed by Ian Weatherburn for

Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, ...

and released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

in 1983.

Gameplay

The player controls a robot sent to an unexplored planet called Hallucinor with the job of investigating it ahead of human colonisation. When it arrives, however, it is attacked by

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

and must manoeuvre its way through the planet, avoiding or killing the aliens, gathering

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

s to remain powered, and escaping through teleportals to move on to the next

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

. The robot's circuitry has been damaged, however, so it cannot stop moving and has only limited braking power.

Reception

While ''Home Computing Weekly'' said that the game had "professional packaging, amazing graphics, thoughtful facilities and aswell priced" and ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' said that it was an "excellent arcade-quality game," ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' noted that it was below Imagine's usual standards and Simon Lane, reviewing for ''Popular Computing Weekly'', criticised the game's difficulty, saying that it was "consequently frustrating to play".

References

External links

*{{WoS game, id=0005856, name=Zip Zap 1983 video games ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games Video games developed in the United Kingdom