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2017 was a prolific year for Andy Johns as he was involved in no fewer than four of the best ZX Spectrum releases of last year. With two fantastic Monty Mole games, Foggy's Quest and Ooze under his belt, hopes were high for Nixy: The Glade Sprite, and he certainly didn't let us down. The game once again makes wonderful use of the Arcade Game Designer software to bring us one of the most enjoyable Spectrum platforming adventures to date.

The game centers around Nixy the Glade Sprite (a wingless fairy or pixie character) who has been tasked with cleansing the 'Gaia' stone by dipping it in a pool of water. The stone has become corrupted and is causing the plants to become carnivorous. It's like The Little Shop of Horrors has been given an Aliens-style sequel where there are now hundreds of the pixie devouring venus fly traps taking over the world. Only Nixy can restore order to the glade but the task will not be an easy one.

From the very second the game loaded I absolutely loved everything about it. The menu music is outstanding and I was smiling from ear to ear before I even started the game. What I saw next blew me away. Pictures cannot capture what happens as you start to play. The music again captures the atmosphere perfectly and transports you to the Glade. The colours and design are excellent but it's the animation which blew me away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as each landing caused a little splash on the ground under Nixy's feet. The level of detail is second to none on the Spectrum. Even the colour clash is done artistically and watching the game unfold is nothing short of a delight. The controls are the basic 'Q,A,O,P' setup, but joystick options and the ability to redefine the keys are present, which is a must for modern 'Speccy' games hoping to capture new audiences. The platforming is immediately familiar although slightly less floaty than Jet Set Willy, the same pixel perfect jumping and timing is necessary to progress. Like in the Willy games, avoidance is the key. There is no jumping on heads or attacking with projectiles or swords, this is simply a game of careful planning and skill and is all the better for it.

The game has a solid learning curve with every screen becoming progressively more difficult while teaching you the skills needed to survive the next. The level design is outstanding and leads to a few 'Eureka!' moments as you finally figure out how to succeed. This sense of achievement and the constant improvement in your progress ensures that you keep coming back for more. You won't hit a dead end and give up but the game is extremely challenging and may take several hours or even days to master.

If you persevere you will quickly find the Moon Pool and drop the Gaia stone there. You are then tasked with finding the ten Blooms which are hidden in ever more difficult to reach places throughout the Glade. This again requires some considerable skill. Upon collecting them all you return them to the pool where they combine with the water and the Gaia stone to purify it and cleanse it of evil. Job done right?... Wrong! Now you have to return the Gaia stone to where you found it to restore the Glade.

Health Warning: dying in this section can cause severe distress and keyboard bashing tendencies! When the stone is finally returned safely the ending starts where we are promised the return of Nixy in the form of Nixy 2: The Seeds Of Doom. When given a teaser like this, one can only hope there's not a 'Back to the Future' style wait for it! Once you have finished the game and become more skilled it can be finished in around 20 minutes but I still find myself putting it on just to play through it again like I do with all the best Speccy games which in itself is high praise indeed.

The music is outstanding. The platforming is precise and enjoyable. You want to finish it and even then come back for more. The game is incredibly charming and oozes personality. I was immediately impressed with this title, seeing the amazing use of colours and professional level of artwork both on the loading and menu screens as well as in game. It has a high quality finish to it which would make any software publisher proud. The games design does not disappoint either, the control of the character and collision detection with hazards feels very accurate and fair. This, coupled with the extremely well designed layout of the maze being challenging enough to make you feel like you need to think about where you are going without seeming to be overwhelmingly difficult.

It works in the way a good platformer should, which is to let you make progress as long as you concentrate on what you are doing and not get too overconfident about the hazards. As long as you take your time and think about what you are doing you can get through it. Even the more subtle parts of this game like the background music and sound effects are so well put together it only serves to improve the enjoyment of the game and continue its polished feel.

It takes some time to figure out what you can jump through and what you will collide with which causes some cheap deaths at first. Honestly though, I couldn't find a single thing I didn't like about this game. At first it felt like there were not really enough variety of obstacles, but my opinion of this soon changed the further I got into the game. There were six methods of exit from this existence for Nixy that I could count, the five hazards mentioned and falling too far being the sixth. When put this way, it doesn't seem like much, but when you realise the myriad of combinations these hazards have been laid out in, it's clear, they are hazardous enough!

Nixy: The Glade Sprite is a perfect example of a modern Spectrum game done right. A fantastic Spectrum game with a well balanced challenge. There's enough elements of classic Spectrum gaming to satisfy the nostalgia junkies combined with an ample amount of creative and original touches making this feel like something completely fresh and new. I will be playing Nixy for months to come and can't wait for Nixy 2. Considering the polish and fantastic gameplay of this game I can only imagine how good it is going to be. Nixy has to be amongst the best 8-Bit games released in 2018, (possibly up with the best Spectrum games ever) a year which has been an outstanding year for the Spectrum in general.