''Zip Zap'' is an action game developed by Ian Weatherburn for

Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polishe ...

and released for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

in 1983.

Gameplay

The player controls a robot sent to an unexplored planet called Hallucinor with the job of investigating it ahead of human colonisation. When it arrives, however, it is attacked by

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, a lifeform with ext ...

and must manoeuvre its way through the planet, avoiding or killing the aliens, gathering

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

s to remain powered, and escaping through teleportals to move on to the next

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

. The robot's circuitry has been damaged, however, so it cannot stop moving and has only limited braking power.

Reception

While ''Home Computing Weekly'' said that the game had "professional packaging, amazing graphics, thoughtful facilities and aswell priced" and ''

Sinclair User The ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

'' said that it was an "excellent arcade-quality game," '' Crash'' noted that it was below Imagine's usual standards and Simon Lane, reviewing for ''Popular Computing Weekly'', criticised the game's difficulty, saying that it was "consequently frustrating to play".

References

External links

*{{WoS game, id=0005856, name=Zip Zap 1983 video games Imagine Software games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games