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The Ark in Space
Author	Graz
Filename	ark_in_space.Z80
Year	2008
Position	38
Format	ZX Spectrum 128K/+2
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Description	What a treat for us old series Doctor Who fans, and one of my favourite stories too. Ahh The Ark in Space, classic Tom Baker stuff, evoking memories of the much worshipped Sarah Jane Smith, and of course the well mannered Harry Sullivan. But the real stars in this game appear to be the menacing threat of the Wirrn, superbly captured into the limitations of the speccy pallette, making them appear even more frightening than on the TV version. The game features chip music on the intro screen, and high quality graphics throughout. Use the keys of your choice to navigate around the retro-futuristic Nerva Space Station whilst remaining intensely alert and ready to fend off attack in an instant. Please be careful Doctor, as the fate of the entire human race rests solely on your shoulders!
Comments	OK, this is one of those games that made me really glad I did two passes of judging in this compo! For many of the entries I more or less got it right on the first pass, but this game took a little bit longer for me to suss out. When I played it for the first time, I admit I didn't have a clue what was going on. On subsequent plays I got a bit further with it, getting all the way up to LOCATE INFRASTRUCTURE. The graphics on the space station in orbit around the planet are superb as are the those of the enemies such as the Wirrn. A decent crap game effort, featuring chip music on the intro screen. It's always a pleasure for us fans of old series Who to combine that hobby with retro gaming which doesn't happen all that often! Another amusing touch is that the Instructions are actually the backstory rather than the instructions which is possibly why I didn't immediately get it on my first attempt at playing it!

Boat of Doom, The
Author	Graz
Filename	the_boat.z80
Year	2008
Position	15
Format	ZX Spectrum 128K
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Description	You may have thought that the "bullet time" effects in The Matrix were pretty impressive, but that's nothing compared to this game. Sit agog in front of your VDU as you fire an aquatic pellet from your futuristic speedboat, forcing the game to enter it's projectile processing subroutine. Not that it's for me to comment on the cleverly programmed temporal dynamics behind these new fangled "time torpedoes". Nice idea for a crap game to totally omit any mention of the in-game keys, but to spare you the bother of working it out all over again, they are O,P,M,SPACE. You may be interested to discover that this title was written under the apparent pseudonym of "Freda Munroe".
Comments	The in-game mechanics of this one would probably give "Sqij" a run for its money in the crapness stakes. Brownie points earned for general sluggishness, no mention of the in-game keys prior to or during play. But the piece d'resistance is the suspension of the main game loop during the firing of the boat's torpedo. Excellent "riveted plates" on the left hand side of the screen almost reminiscent of high-octane action titles such as Xenon! Nicely done. A vintage crap entry for sure.