ZX Spectrum / SAM Adventures I enjoy

Recommendations by chris00

1. The Hobbit
by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler
(1983)
Average member rating: (29 ratings)

chris00 says:

The first adventure game I ever played. Game came supplied with a softback version of the novel and it was the first game that my family played 'as a family' in the living room.

2. The Beast of Torrack Moor
by Linda Wright
(1988)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)

chris00 says:

An excellent 128K adventure written using the PAW system. Excellent parser, logical puzzles and interesting story.

3. The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island
by Colin Jordan
(1990)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)

chris00 says:

Arrived first on Sam Coupe, Spectrum 48/128k, C64, Amstrad, Amiga/ST versions followed.

Fantastic adventure with excellent parser, nice graphics, good story, interesting puzzles and a good sense of adventure.

4. Valkyrie 17
by Tony Barber
(1985)
Average member rating: (3 ratings)

chris00 says:

The Red Kipper flies at midnight.

Atmospheric spy thriller. Parser is a bit slow, but it had a good atmosphere, and some decent puzzles. Not sure if the game is 'good' by IF standards, but I enjoyed trying to beat it.

5. Excalibur: Sword of Kings
by Ian Smith, Shaun G. McClure
(1987)
Average member rating: (6 ratings)

chris00 says:

A primitive mechanical IF. Not story driven in the least. Mostly object based puzzles, with primitive parser. I enjoyed that the game was small enough to be solvable and that the locations all had graphics. If you only like story driven IF, this is not for you. If you want a non-challenging puzzle based adventure, or an adventure to recommend to beginners, this might fit the bill.

The game description on ifdb suggests this is a "PAW" game. I'd be astounded if it was. The parser is fast but primitive... and there is an interesting way that the command line font is rendered so that you get two-tone colours. This seems like a custom engine to me, not PAW. (NOTE : Alien Research Centre seems to use the same engine)

6. Book of the Dead
by Mark Davies, Andrew Dean, Lee Hodgson
(1987)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)

chris00 says:

An adventure that I have memories playing. Quite hard as I recall, but really well presented.

7. Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
by Andrew Dean, Lee Hodgson, Mark Davies
(1988)
Average member rating: (1 rating)

chris00 says:

A two-part atmospheric adventure with excellent parser, lengthy room descriptions and basic (but competent) graphics. Not many locations. Very difficult.

8. The Very Big Cave Adventure
by Anonymous
(1986)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)

chris00 says:

Colossal Cave satire. Parser is fast. Humour is decent. Very difficult.

9. Rebel Planet
by Stefan Ufnowski
(1986)
Average member rating: (4 ratings)

chris00 says:

Simple parser, good graphics, engaging scenario.

I've always found games where you travel on a space ship to be ones that engage my imagination the best. I also like games that have a graphical element to them. Here, it seems that the graphics were included at the expense of the text. Basically it comes down to object based puzzles and vocabulary searching. Quite frustrating at times but still a game I remember enjoying.

10. Smuggler's Cove
by John R. Keneally
(1983)
Average member rating: (1 rating)

chris00 says:

Very early ZX Spectrum adventure game. Parser is primitive. Includes some basic vector graphics. Lots of puzzles require finding the write verb noun combo. The game a decent size, and stimulated my imagination a lot as a child.

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