Game Reviews

Reviews of ZX Spectrum games old and new — from the golden-era classics of the 1980s to the thriving modern homebrew scene.

Jet Set Willy

AI

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Software Projects, 1984 · Matthew Smith

PlatformerClassic

Miner Willy's mansion is even more perilous than his mine: sixty-plus surreal rooms to explore before his housekeeper will finally let him go to bed.

████████▌░ 8.5/10

Elite

AI

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Firebird Software, 1985 · David Braben & Ian Bell

Space simTradingClassic

A galaxy of open-ended trading, combat and exploration rendered in real-time wireframe 3D — barely conceivable on an 8-bit machine, yet here it is.

█████████░ 9/10

Knight Lore

AI

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Ultimate Play the Game, 1984 · Tim & Chris Stamper

IsometricArcade adventureClassic

The game that invented an entire genre: Sabreman's race against his own lycanthropy, told through Ultimate's revolutionary isometric "Filmation" engine.

█████████░ 9/10

Atic Atac

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Ultimate Play the Game, 1983 · Tim & Chris Stamper

Action-adventureMazeClassic

Escape a five-story haunted castle armed with a ranged weapon and a roast chicken for a health bar. Ultimate at their finest.

█████████░ 9/10

Green Beret

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Imagine Software, 1986 · Jonathan "Joffa" Smith

Arcade conversionActionClassic

One man, one knife, four levels of Cold War mayhem. One of the finest arcade conversions the Spectrum ever received.

█████████░ 4.5 / 5

Manic Miner

Reviewed 16 August 2026

Bug-Byte, 1983 · Matthew Smith

PlatformerClassic

Matthew Smith's 48KB masterpiece: twenty caverns of pixel-perfect peril and the Spectrum's first continuous in-game music.

████████▌░ 8.5/10

← PREV PAGE 2 OF 2