TRANZ AM By Ultimate Play The Game On ZX Spectrum
Ever since I saw the film Smokey and the Bandit I loved the Pontiac Trans Am, when I saw a game of the same name it seemed to be calling to me. Unfortunately in 1983 when Ultimate released Tranz Am I was too busy with life and school exams to get it. I vaguely remember playing a friends copy but nothing that really stuck in my mind from the time though.
Present day and reading a well known Retro magazine reminds me of this game, so I try it out on an emulator. The first thing that hits you when you get to the game (after the great loading screen and selecting joystick) is that it is a huge open map to explore. Sadly that is also the downfall of the game, the map is huge and open with very little around to tell you where to go, or even to hit. You can basically roam around lost for a long time in a yellow desert with just the odd fuel pump to refuel, or tree, flower or cactus to run into and lose a life.
To be fair there are some other challenges, which include keeping an eye on your fuel which goes down quicker when you go faster, and also the temperature gauge of your racecar which goes up quicker when you go faster. Additionally there are your competitors in the race who seek you out with the intention of running you off the road err track, err well just running into you to make you lose a life. Sound was pretty poor, graphics are fairly big and no better than good, so having spent a few minutes and a few lives running around the yellow American shaped desert running into hard as nails flowers while the speaker made a strange clicking noise which I’m guessing was supposed to be an engine sound, I had lost interest, and that is all I have to say about that.
4/10
