LGR - Lightforce - ZX Spectrum Game Review

A quick review of the game Light Force by Fast Than Light in 1986, played on a 48k Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. One of the more technically impressive games I've come across for the Speccy, and a pretty fun little vertically scrolling shooter as well.

Now in "high definition", ooooh. Though I don't really see the point, 480p 16:9 videos seem to be only nominally lower quality.

[LGR]

@alanw3000 I'm thinking about keeping the old intro, due to the "retro" look of it. Then again, if I get better lighting, I may just go ahead and re-shoot it. This is only the start of things to come, after all, and I've only just started using an HD digital camera :)

[LGR]

@SmexyWells Thank you, I'm quite happy with it. I'd been looking for one like that for a while, and finally found it for $2 at a local Goodwill. My Speccy collection keeps growing, so the storage must as well!

[LGR]

@MrStewToobe That it is! A BBC Model B, to be precise. Lovely machine. I've got an Electron too, which I hope to review either next week or the week following.

[LGR]

@UKRetroGames Yes the headline act is in the works for sure, but first up is the Baby Oak Negative Electric Charge-carrying Subatomic Particle!

[LGR]

@Polaventris Yes, it's the Rob Hubbard SID chip tune for Light Force at the beginning of the vid.

[LGR]

@UKRetroGames Awesome, I will have to check that one out for sure. Mmm, more Speccy games, please!

[LGR]

@WakkoXtreme You mean at 0:58? That's because that's an 80's tape recorder and that's how it loads software, hehe. The computer itself is shown at 3:12

[LGR]

@HighTreason610 The stick shown in the video actually has a turbo function, but it didn't work very well and I had a much better experience pounding on the button. That may have been due to how fast it was trying to fire automatically, I'm not sure.

[LGR]

@DogOnBoard That depends on how data was stored and how much tape you have. A 30 minute cassette can hold quite a bit of space! I can fit something like the equivalent of a few hundred kb (I think) on C64 30-minute tapes. Though usually, a retail game cassette like the one shown here is going to be limited by the amount of memory the system can handle, and therefore not hold as much data since it will use less tape. Again, that depends on the way the data is stored, compression and such.

[LGR]

@ImperialProductions Wow, that does sound very similar! Good ear!

I wonder... the tune in this video was by Rob Hubbard for the C64 version of Lightforce. The tune on the Micro Live show was also on the C64. Rob Hubbard worked on C64 music for Firebird from time to time, starting in '85 at the latest. Hmm... coincidence or not? I'm betting on not.

[koalacircuitjams]

My favourite game of all time. My parents had to tape up the the cassette box to stop me playing it!?! Was good game training for my axelay and r-type addictions later on!

[LGR]

@UKRetroGames Between you and me, you *may* have seen a certain machine that hails from a certain part of Cambridge and backed by a very influential public broadcaster... and was indeed a holding up a monitor which was used to display the Spectrum's video signal, the inhumanity of it all!

[LGR]

@RetroGamerVX I have watched it multiple times now, brilliant flick. It's probably the best movie of that type that I've seen, very well-done and entertaining even besides the fact that it's about retro hardware. It's like it takes me back in time to a place and era I never knew, very cool feel about it.

[LGR]

@scapegoat42 3D Deathchase is my most-wanted Speccy game to own at this point. It's not that easy to find it seems, so I've yet to come across one on eBay or elsewhere. It was one of the bigger reasons I wanted a Spectrum in the first place!

[LGR]

@c0ldb33r I haven't read of any and I'm not aware of any, and sadly I don't have one to try it out to make sure.

[LGR]

@tombert256 I haven't, I only have plain ol' Dizzy. I will have to check it out for sure.

[LGR]

@WakkoXtreme I've not noticed anything like that, no. It's actually pretty rock-solid for me so far. I reviewed it in detail a while back, you may want to check it out if you have any curious interest in the thing:

watch?v=tqnIa4rXK_c

[iantellam]

I'd forgotten what this game was called. I got it on a Crash cover tape (I think) and remember being impressed by the graphics. It's pretty slick for a Spectrum game.

[schneil]

Best thing to do on these games is an autofire kempston compatible joystick. I used to use on on uridium, made the game much more playable.

[gowildmouse]

Hey clint, watched almost all your videos now (yay for free time!) and today it just ocurred to me that this game was developed by Faster than light, the indie videogame FTL (Faster than light), that game has a ship that resembles the main ship in Lightforce. This ship would be the engi cruiser, COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT! (que x files music)