Microsphere - Sky Ranger (ZX Spectrum)

This was maybe the first game I bought with pocket money! Before this, if I wanted something I had to ask my parents to get it for me.

The basic idea is to fly over the city searching for enemies ("watchers") and shooting them.

In spite of the impressive 3D effect, the graphics are disappointing overall. Firing your gun flashes the border colour but otherwise has no visible effect. The watchers are just small black blobs.

Worst of all, after each crash your view becomes more obscured by cracks in the windscreen. This is intensely annoying and adds nothing to the sense of realism.

Taken as a game this is dire, but as a programming curio I think it is worth seeing. It is a rare example of hidden line removal in line vectors. If anyone can work out the exact method then let me know.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• sky
• ranger
• sinclair
• zx
• spectrum

[psj3809]

I remember this back in the day, was a decent looking game and impressive for the Speccy

[SPINNYFUCK]

This game looked great years ago and still looks pretty good nowadays. It just fails to deliver on the gameplay front. It could have been good. What a missed opportunity!

[kevsam1070]

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