Rex For The Spectrum 48k


Grebn

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Rex(Erbe).jpg


Rex is a smashing, fairly unknown platform shooter that was released for Amstrad, Commodore and Spectrum by the generally hit-and-miss Martech in 1988. The CPC version is so-so, unfortunately suffering from the MODE 0 swamp-speed blockiness that afflicted so many titles for that machine. I've not yet played the Commodore version, having only just discovered there is one by looking for screenshots this morning!

The Spectrum version however is sublime. The rather flimsy plot (but then, who needs any more?) sees you take Rex, a battle-armoured walking rhino, through an underground human installation. I assume some sort of oppression is taking place, as its your job to kill as many of the humans as you can while you make your way to the heart of their operations.

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The first thing that will strike you about the game is the colour - full use of the Spectrum's limited palette has been put to use, with mottled red and purple caves, splattered with clumps of green vegetation. This contrasts with the white and cyan industrial machinery and railway lines. The second thing to hit you is the sheer detail in all the characters - your range of enemies is pretty comprehensive - and the animation is wonderful.

The best example of this is when you shoot a human soldier - they fall back under the weight of your gunfire, being peppered backwards until you stop, then they explode. Add this to rotating gun turrets, freight trains that you can immobilise by taking out the driver, armoured skull machines and some bizarre organic concoctions later on in the game, and you've got a nicely varied killfest!

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Rex has many other strengths though - the map through the human installation has several different routes, indicated by arrows at the side of each screen. I've found five different paths thus far, but my favourite remains the railway line route. The game is also split into two parts, originally stored on opposite sides of the cassette. I don't know how much of the game I've yet to see, but I imagine it's a biggie. A password revealed at the end of Part 1 will allow you access to the rest of the game.

When you start the game, you are armed with a basic blaster, which is effective, but slow going for the better armoured enemies. You also have three smart bombs, which can be used to clear an entire screen. As you progress you'll come across brightly coloured rocket ships (you'll see one on the second screen) - enter these and you'll recieve additional weapons. However, you can't use these without collecting enough energy bubbles, which are dropped by enemies when you kill them. Pick up enough and you'll be able to access your arsenal, but keep your levels topped up before you decrease back down to the blaster. It's a strange system but it certainly keeps you busy.

You are also armed with a force field, which you can activate at any time. When this is in effect, it drains your shield's power at a fairly steady pace, but if you should collide with anything, it'll drop that much quicker. You can recharge your shield by standing on the flat green pads you'll come across through the game.

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Also worth mentioning (although they don't seem so relevant in these days of state saving!) are the gateways you'll come across. You teleport in on one, and whenever you see another, you can stand in it for a few seconds to record your position. Should you die, you'll rematerialise at the last point you recorded. Make sure you stand in it for a good couple of seconds (and be sure the little knobs on the gates are spinning, otherwise you're not doing it right).

So, straining under all these weapons, features and utilities, how does a game written for a computer with a keyboard stand up on the GP32? Actually very well - with the Kempston joystick selected from the menu (and on the FZX32 emulator don't forget to map the joystick to Sinclair 1 on the Systems Option menu), the controls are as follows:

UP - Jump
LEFT and RIGHT - movement
DOWN - Activate / deactivate shield
A - Fire
B - Smart Bomb

As far as I've progressed, that's certainly all I've needed.

If I was going to raise any criticisms with the game, then I suppose the sound is a little lacklustre (although perfectly serviceable). The jumping is also a little too pixel-perfect at times for my liking. The 'mystery bonus' question marks you can pick up don't seem to be much help either, having a 50% chance of being something negative.

Since its original release in 1988, fan remakes have been made available for Windows and also Gameboy Advance - unfortunately the PC version doesn't run on Windows XP, so I've not been able to try it, and the GP32 GBA emulator won't run the latter.

In conclusion then, a very stylish platformer that combines the wow-factor of Turrican with the eye for detail of Myth, with all the silky smooth playability you could hope for.

Here's an ad:

Rex.jpg
 
Wow, excellent review. I'll be checking this game out for sure.
 
Hi there,

Thanks for the kind comments! I reckon I might well do a Dizzy review - maybe review the whole lot or something - my brother would like that - he's a HUGE Dizzy fan!

I take it you already know about www.yolkfolk.com

Paul
 
nice review!
will try thr c64 version out on the gp2x.

Dizzy games are the best.
spellbound and prince of the yolkfolk being my fav's.
 
i used to own REX on the spectrum (in the +2 days!)
and it was truly great.

i would tell people about it, and they;d usually never ever heard of it, and thought it was talking about some Godzilla game because of the name...

but it'll be nice to play this game again, it was definitely in my top 5 spectrum games when i had a spectrum!

i used to like how when u blasted the humans they stumbled backwards before dying...

anyways, i recommend this game, definitely try it out!

neosalad
 
The best example of this is when you shoot a human soldier - they fall back under the weight of your gunfire, being peppered backwards until you stop, then they explode.

I just wanted to point out that there would not be enough force on impact to push someone backwards. If there were then the same force would push back on you (Newtons laws of motion: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction)

Also people don't tend to explode when they die, but due to quantum and stuff, it could happen! I guess...
 
Just gave this a try -- I think it's a lot of fun, especially for the Spectrum.

While the Speccy has a lot of multi screen sidescrolly-type games, this one in particular stands out. The UI is very intuitive for a game of this age, and the depth and detail in the background is remarkable (I'm talking about the train here, primarily).

I wonder what happened to the developers?
 
Yeah, Rex is a really awesome game on the Spectrum. I never had the full game, but I remeber I played a demo of it on my humble Speccy. Thx for the review! And btw do you have a link to the PC demo?

Aninhumer: Quite right you are, have you been watching Mythbusters perhaps? :D
 
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