TCQ (2022) - The Spectrum Game Review

 Where is a good place to start when setting out on the endeavor to review all the games on my new The Spectrum? Alphabetically? Chronologically? All orders have their benefits, but me and my kid (Ed, 12 yo) decided to just go with whatever game we felt like playing.

So first out is TCQ (Triangle, Circle, Square), released in 2022 by Portuguese developer Amaweks. But hang on a minute, 2022? Isn't this supposed to be a ZX Spectrum game? Yeah, apparently a lot of older systems still have thriving indie-developer scenes, where modern games are still being released for systems that are several decades old. And I love that. While I am definitely not in the know of these indie-scenes, I think the idea of these systems still being kept alive through sheer passion (since I really doubt there is any big money in it), is human creativity and love for a craft at its best.

So TCQ is maybe an odd game to start out on when reviewing games for a system that is older than myself (ZX Spectrum was originally released in 1982). But maybe all those decades have allowed game developers to really see new and interesting ways of utilizing what makes the Spectrum so unique. I think TCQ definitely proves this to be true - the creative mind behind the game, Paulo A.M Villalva, didn't actually know about the ZX Spectrum until quite recently. Learning more about it he came to embrace one of the quirks that makes the Spectrum memorable - the color clash. Back in the day this was considered a big short coming of the computer, and something developers tried to hide as much as possible, hence the rather unique graphical style of the ZX Spectrum.

I don't really understand the technical aspect of color clashing (you can read more about it here) but I realize that just like Amaweks it's something I never considered to be a bad thing, but rather something that appealed to my eye. Paulo took it one step further and realized he could utilize this quirk and incorporate it so that it became the focal point of a game, and TCQ was born.

TCQ was inspired by paintings from artists like Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and maybe Joan Miró, artists whom I myself happen to quite enjoy the works of.

The game itself is simple enough, you control one of three shapes through different stages and need to solve some simple platforming to make it to the end. You can only be one shape at the time, but different shapes can get you through different obstacles. The shapes can be acquired in different areas, meaning you have to backtrack certain parts to be able to reach new parts, in what could be called a very simple form of Metroidvania. The circle allows you to jump, the triangle can shoot through objects and the square allows you to remove certain blocks. The stages are varied and fun, the music is absolutely great (unfortunately I couldn't find a single good video of it on Youtube). The controls are simple since all you need to do is move left-right and jump/shoot occasionally. I tried this both with the keyboard and the gamepad and both worked fine.

The game is very short though, and after five stages that you can clear quite easily once you know what you're doing, you're done. The big star of the game is without a doubt the graphics, which you might have to see in action to truly appreciate. Images might make you think it is headache inducing, hard to navigate or just aesthetically horrible. But seeing the little shapes move around in this world, and see how they visually interact with the shapes around them is just... interesting. It is like a living work of art.

It's definitely a game worth checking out and fun to play while it lasts. I would've loved to see more from this! 

Ed's commentary: 

I think the music was great but found the graphics a bit difficult to navigate. It can be hard to see what makes out the background and foreground when you are going to make a jump or moving around, so there is some trial and error involved in that. The gameplay is fun and easy to learn though. I enjoyed it and have already replayed it a few times.

The Spectrum - ZX Spectrum Retro Game Remake

 I am an 80's kid, but didn't really have video games when I was young. I grew up with a little bit of SNES and mostly N64. The very first console I owned myself was an N64 and I always had a hard time with anything older than that. SNES and NES games were just too difficult, too unforgiving, too confusing. Don't even get me started on games for consoles I had only heard about like the Commodore 64 and the Ataris. What about the consoles I had barely even heard about, like the Spectrums, the Vic-20, the TurboGrafx-16 and the Odyssey? Why would I ever care about that?

Somehow I managed to have an interest for all these old things even though I had to accept that I was probably never going to be able to play the games successfully. Reading about old consoles and old games, and especially reading stories about the way these things came to be (and came to crash down in many cases) still fascinates me, even though I never got to live and play with these consoles when they were the coolest thing around.

But I can't really explain why it's the ZX Spectrum specifically that really got its hooks into me. I can't remember when I first heard about it or when I first started to become more curious about it, but it happened somewhere, and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Retro Games have done the world a favor and released remake-versions of a lot of old home computers, like the mini-commodore 64 or the mini vic-20, but I would just register and move on. But not so with the Spectrum. With this one I stopped and my brain went, "hey... I need this".

Then my brain went "but hey... why though? I've never played a single ZX Spectrum game, I know basically nothing about this console. What is it that draws me in?".

Yeah, like I said I can't explain it. Is it the unique graphics? Maybe. It is true there is something about them that have always drawn my eye. But that is a poor reason to spend 100 euro on a console. Yet here I am, proud owner of a "The Spectrum". Don't think I did this on a whim. I first heard about the remake Spectrum about half a year ago or so. I immediately wanted it but decided it was a stupid thing to buy. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. So after a few months of not being able to let it go I just ended up buying it. 

It's beautiful, and the box it comes with just oozes attention to detail and love. I've read and been told by actual ZX Spectrum owners that is a spot on replica of the original one. The first thing my daughter said when I opened it was "oh it smells lovely". And it does, it smells just like opening a new board game. This one comes with the possibility to run 64 bit and 128 bit. You can either run it in the "Games Carousel"-mode or in the "Classic"-mode, which is how the original ZX Spectrum booted and which allows you to do some BASIC programming if you know anything about that. The Spectrum itself is a keyboard, but also supports joystick-controller, D-Pad and other options I haven't explored. The Spectrum is plugged into the TV with an HDMI cable (one is provided in the box) and powered with a simple v5 adapter, same as any mobile phone uses. The box comes with a cable, but not the adapter. Not a problem, as 99% of people will already own a handful of those.

The instruction manual in the box only covers the very basic stuff, like how to start the console. To get to the good stuff, there is a QR-code to online manuals, both a more in-depth one (66 pages) for the console itself and for each and every game as well. These will be necessary as it can be quite tricky to figure out the control schemes on your own, though I found that once you'd tried a few games you at least had an idea of where to start guessing. For someone used to the modern way of mapping keys, the layout doesn't really make sense to start with. Hitting M to start a game? Ok. Most of the games will have similar keyboard layouts but far from the same, so you need to learn differently for different games. Some features I haven't been able to access in the games because I just can't figure out the key for it, even with the help of the manual. Maybe this will work better with the D-Pad that I haven't been able to test yet. But other than that, the Games Carousel mode works just like you'd expect and looks great.

Each game allows for four save slots and rewind gameplay if you mess up (which you definitely will). If the preloaded games aren't enough, the console can read games from a USB as well. There are more options and features that I haven't explored/understood fully yet and I might get back to them in the future as and if I figure them out.

So what better way to celebrate me joining the ZX Spectrum family than to review the 48 games that the console comes with? Completely nostalgia free? Well, that is the intent anyway, we'll see how long-lived this ZX Spectrum fascination is once I actually try to deep-dive and properly play the games. Because I know myself I intend to enlist the help of my 12 yo son who is already a better, and especially a more patient, gamer than me. To be continued...