Review by Pob on 08 Feb 2014 (Rating: 4)
I think this was the first or second game I bought after getting bored with the 6 pack that came with my 48K Spectrum. The other was Voyage into the Unknown, oops.
So this game and Horace Goes Skiing got played an awful lot, and you know, Spectipede isn't bad when it comes down to it. It's 16k so it loads fast, the only keys that make sense are the cursor keys, so I became a dab hand at using them, and can still use them instinctively today.
Once you get the controls sorted, and through the first few slower paced levels, things really pick up and you can just zone out and chase extra lives by picking off the scorpion, and getting in the correct position to take out the 'pedes from head to tail without moving as they are about to move down a row. That way you get all head pieces for better scoring and no mushrooms produced.
Sound is nice squelchy, drippy effects. Red screen flash when you die is a very simple effect but works well.
If you get into it, it's basically the crack cocaine of 16k Spectrum gaming. I don't find the arcade original nearly as addictive.
My top score was somewhere in excess of 400,000
