1983 · Ian Weatherburn · Arcade · Shooter

Zip Zap

The player controls a robot sent to an unexplored planet called Hallucinor with the job of investigating it ahead of human colonisation. When it arrives, however, it is attacked by aliens and must manoeuvre its way through the planet, avoiding or killing the aliens, gathering fuel cells to remain powered, and escaping through teleportals to move on to the next level. The robot's circuitry has been damaged, however, so it cannot stop moving and has only limited braking power.

Released: 1983
Platforms: ZX Spectrum
Genres: Arcade Shooter
Developers: Ian Weatherburn
Publishers: Imagine Software
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: United Kingdom
Languages: English

About

Zip Zap is an action game developed by Ian Weatherburn for Imagine Software and released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983.

›Story

The planet Hallucinor in the Spectralia Star Systemis to be colonized and your job as a robotic guardian is to protect the Tele-portals from the natives. The objective is to survive as many levels as possible, by picking up fuel cells and use them to power the Tele-portal of the level and enter it to go to the next level.

The droid's circuits have been damaged, so it plods on continuously and you can rotate to alter the direction of movement as well as slow down and fire. When you pick up a fuel cell it attaches automatically to the Tele-portal, once all four are in place the portal is active.

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Keywords

robots
space

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Reception

While Home Computing Weekly said that the game had "professional packaging, amazing graphics, thoughtful facilities and [was] well priced" and Sinclair User said that it was an "excellent arcade-quality game," Crash noted that it was below Imagine's usual standards and Simon Lane, reviewing for Popular Computing Weekly, criticised the game's difficulty, saying that it was "consequently frustrating to play".