Treasure Island Dizzy
Now for those not in the Know Treasure Island Dizzy is the second game in a series of games featuring a hero called Dizzy and often his friends and family who are referd to as the Yolkfolk. The main series consists of Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy, Fantasy World Dizzy, Magicland Dizzy, Spellbound Dizzy, Dizzy, Prince of the YolkFolk, Crystal Kingdom Dizzy with several spin off games as well including Fast Food, Kwik Snax and Dizzy Down the Rapids. As a Spectrum owner you got so used to seeing Dizzy and playing Dizzy games that he kind of felt like a mascot, he might have started out on the spectrum though but he was also ported to the Amstrad, Commodore 64, NES, Amiga, Atari ST and other platforms.
The story for the game is pretty brief Dizzy is on an island and has to find a way to get back home, its as simple as that, but the Island is a large and fantastic place for a spectrum game, and Dizzy himself just feels like a brilliant character to be playing with. Yes he is simple but he is kind of simple and iconic in the same way a character like Mario is, there might not be much to him but what there is is instantly appealing and recognisable. The game is pretty much a puzzle platformer sort of adventure game, basically you go around from screen to screen as Dizzy you have no energy bar and only one life so you need to avoid anything that might kill you but you also have to pick up items you see laying around and then take them to other places to use them to solve a puzzle that will let you progress. Yes it is harsh when you die as everything you have done is lost and you have to start again but you just know that with each time you play it the knowledge you have gained will see you get just that little bit further.
I think that if you want to take on the best the Spectrum has to offer then you need to look at the Dizzy series, now some may find my choice of series entry an issue as its an early and a hard one in relation to the others but I also find it incredably rewarding, stick with it and just jump right in to the world of Dizzy and get your grey cells working figuring out what to use where and trust me when you start to get things right you will feel like your on top of the world
Ghost Busters
Who You Gonna Call? Ok I know its a movie license but its a movie license I enjoyed so very much, you see to me the perfect movie licensed game should make you feel like your in the universe thats presented in the film, this doesnt mean every single thing that happens in the film needs to be turned into a level in the game no it just needs to understand the universe of the film and represent this. Ghost Busters on the spectrum starts in a wonderful way it tells you what the ghostbusters are and then tells you that if youd like to start a franchise you have to input your name, from there you get a bank loan which you use to buy a car and relevent ghost busting gear. You drive to diffrent locations, and use your proton beams to push ghosts where you need them to be and then you activate the trap and try to catch them. Yes the graphics are basic with people pretty much being stick men and ghosts being little floating blobs but the music although being a simple loop and the general presentation really pull you in. I spent absolutly hours and hours playing this as a kid it hooked me in and in honesty it worked as the perfect game license, id watch the film and want to play the game and then play the game and want to watch the film the two fed my need for the franchise in general. I also think that this game goes to show what the spectrum had going for it overall and thats the fact that with a little bit of effort despite all of the machines limitations and lack of power you could still get a cracking good experiance out of it.
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