Alessandro Grussu


Binary Land

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Alessandro Grussu
Publisher: Joflof
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Al's Spectrum Annual 2021

Binary Land

Binary Land, originally released on the MSX in 1984, is a game which goal is simply to score as many points as possible throughout its 100 screens. In each screen, structured like a labyrinth, the player moves a male penguin, Gurin, and a female one, Malof, simultaneously. Depending on which of the two the player chooses to control at the beginning, the other will move in the opposite direction. Each level begins with the two cute protagonists placed at the bottom of the screen, and to proceed to the next you must take them to opposite sides of the exit, located at the top.

As it could be expected, levels are populated by enemies with a lethal touch; initially it will be spiders, which you can kill with an insecticide spray that also allows you to get rid of the cobwebs, where each of the two penguins risks getting stuck if the other does not intervene to save him or her. Later you will face wandering flames appear and an annoying bird able to fly over the walls that make up the labyrinth and swap Gurin and Malof between them if he comes into contact with one of them. As if that were not enough, the exit must be reached within a time limit, or you will lose a life.

From time to time some icons will appear on the screen. Most of them give bonus points; one bearing the image of a whale makes Gurin and Malof faster and more invulnerable for a short time. Besides, if the two characters cross each other 17 times in a row they give birth to a little penguin (!), invincible and able to defeat all the baddies.

Like many titles from the early 1980s, Binary Land is very simple but fun and with some unusual touches, such as the need to control two characters at the same time. On the other hand, there is not so much variety: after the first thirty screens you will have seen more or less everything the game has to offer. Despite this, it is pleasant and immediate to play.

Finally, it should be noted that the author created a "miniature" version of Binary Land for the 16K Spectrum!

Alessandro Grussu

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