''Tranz Am'' is an

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

video game developed and published by

Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex- arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games fo ...

that was released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

in July 1983. The game is set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

version of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and centres around a racing car driver on his quest to obtain the Eight Great Cups of Ultimate, which are scattered throughout the country. The game was written by Chris Stamper and graphics were designed by Tim Stamper. ''Tranz Am'' was one of the very few Spectrum games also available in

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

format for use with the Interface 2, allowing instant loading of the game (the normal method of cassette loading could take several minutes). The game received mostly positive reviews upon release: praise was given to the game's graphics and simple controls, while criticism was directed at its confusing interface.

Gameplay

The game is set in a

in the year 3472. Eight Great Cups of Ultimate are dispersed around America, and the player's mission is to obtain all of them. Petrol is in short supply and the only way to re-fuel vehicles is to find petrol pumps, scattered across the country. The game is presented in a

top-down perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

and involves driving around America to collect the eight trophies whilst avoiding natural hazards and

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...

cars, which attempt to crash into the player. The player has a limited supply of petrol and must collect fuel at regular intervals by driving over petrol pumps. Obstacles include trees, boulders and destroyed buildings. The

overworld An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...

has an invisible border which causes the player's car to reverse automatically to ensure that they do not cross the game's boundaries. The interface displays a list of comprehensive data: a map showing a list of key cities in the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawai ...

, petrol gauge, speedometer, remaining lives, number of cups collected, short-range radar and engine temperature. Every key city in the game contains at least one petrol station. If the player drives too fast for too long, their car will overheat and slow down. To save an overheating car the player must drive below a certain speed or stop entirely to allow the engine to cool.

Development

''Tranz Am'' is one of the few Spectrum games also available in

format for use with the Interface 2, allowing "instantaneous" loading of the game when the normal method of cassette loading could take several minutes. The game uses the common technique of placing planar sprites with

image sprite An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

s atop another, which often creates graphical errors and overlapped colours on the console. The game can also run on the 16K version of the Spectrum.

Reception

The game received a mostly positive reception upon release. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' praised the game's controls and accessibility, stating that they were "easy to get into" upon the first try. A reviewer writing for ''Home Computing Weekly'' found the game to be "compulsive" overall, but noted that the game did not live up to the promises made by the description on the packaging. Simon Lane of ''

Popular Computing Weekly ''Popular Computing Weekly'' was a computer magazine in the UK published from 1982 to 1990. It was sometimes referred to as ''PCW'' (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with ''Personal Computer World'' magazine). Overview T ...

'' praised the game's graphics, sound and presentation, stating that they were of "a very high quality" and that ''Tranz Am'' was an "original game" in comparison with the other games released by Ultimate. Lane criticised the game's interface, however, stating that he found it difficult to "concentrate on everything all at once". Lane also added that the game did not reward the player enough for collecting all of the cups, displaying just a short congratulation message before inviting him or her to begin again. A reviewer writing for '' Your Computer'' magazine heralded the game as a program of "outstanding achievement", considering that the game's playing area was calculated at "600 times more than the actual screen area". ''Tranz Am'' reached number one on the ZX Spectrum charts compiled by

WHSmith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...

replacing Ultimate's first game ''

Jet Pac ''Jetpac'' is a shooter video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game and released for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20 in 1983 and the BBC Micro in 1984. It is the first game to be released by Ultimate Play the Game, the company which ...

''.

References

External links

*
''Tranz Am''
at Ultimate Wurlde {{Good article 1983 video games Fiction set in the 4th millennium Action video games Post-apocalyptic video games Rare (company) games Video games set in the 4th millennium Video games set in the United States ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games Video games developed in the United Kingdom