ZX Computing


Futurezoo

Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Clwyd Adventure Software
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in ZX Computing #29

Futurezoo

Intergalactic peace depends on the recovery of The Great Seal of Senissa (an artefact, not an animal) before anyone notices it's missing. Unfortunately it is lost in the zoo of the future, which is made up of strange alien beasts from man's many planetary colonies. Guess who has to find it?

Futurezoo is Quilled, text-only and covers two sides of the tape. Some of the description is good, but it's enormously variable and in places is terribly dull. Vocabulary is very restricted: no EXAMINE, SEARCH, WAIT, LOOK or HELP amongst many others which should nowadays be standard. The program allows you to do very little: most of the time is spent just wandering around. You seem only able to do what is absolutely necessary for the solution: a simple example is that you cannot SWIM in any of the numerous pools and rivers in the game (the word is not understood). The problems are infrequent, uninspired and difficult due to the impossible vocabulary. The movement system is incoherent and unrealistic. Presentation is poor.

Futurezoo would only make a passable budget game with these faults: but its price is a death blow. The higher than usual packaging quality for a small company probably accounts for the ridiculous cost: at *eight pounds* this is actually more expensive than some Level 9 games, as well as other far better products, and is hopelessly out of its league.

I liked the plot but otherwise disappointing.

Other Reviews Of Futurezoo For The Spectrum 48K/128K


Futurezoo (Clywd Adventure Software)
A review by Derek Brewster (Crash)

Futurezoo (Clwyd Adventure Software)
A review by Mike Gerrard (Your Sinclair)

Futurezoo (Clwyd Adventure Software )
A review