Sunday 25 July 2010

Into the Unknown: Podder (Spectrum) - Central Solutions


The ZX Spectrum had millions of games (at least, it felt like it) released throughout it's lifetime. Many were generic clones of famous games, and there were some that took the idea, and put a spin on it. A bit like Podder. This is your normal clone of Sabre-Wulf (sort of), but with a difference. Instead of a bloke with a sword, you control a car (that looks like a tank) which can fire at enemies and you pick up gasoline. And, instead of looking for an amulet, you're looking for 107 vehicle parts. So far, so good. It brought something new to the maze game table. It's a shame that it plays so woefully, and looks as ugly as shit.



You have the normal controls, which I won't bore you with by repeating, And you also have a fire function, which is about as much use as a one legged elephant. The car moves very slowly and is animated terribly. Plus, you just get the felling you've seen it all before (again in Sabre-Wulf....but much better and much more addictive!). It looks really awful and very simplistic, especially for 1986, when games like Mikie and Hyper Sports were released. I mean, everything looks so.........square. Even the rivers are square. And whats more, your 'car' looks more like a small tank.

The game is very limited, to be honest, and there was no replay value back then, and there isn't now. The only Central Solution should have been to NOT make the game at all. As much fun as eating broken glass and drinking vinegar.

2 comments:

  1. At least the loading screen is pretty cool.

    "JSW - playing crap Spectrum games so that you don't have to!"

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  2. I quite like the look of it, from the shot here at least, but I'll heed your advice! :P

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