Prospector (ZX Spectrum)
by Aleisha Cuff

Prospector is an action platformer created using AGDx. Not only can you jump around the levels but you can shoot your foes too. It has 30 screens to explore which contain all manner of obstacles and creatures.

In the frozen wilds of British Columbia, you're searching for your lost work crew. You should have believed the townsfolk when they told you that abandoned mine was cursed… That's right folks, like every good B-movie horror you didn't heed the warnings and now you are in deep doo-doo. But you do do have a gun.

At the start a simple menu appears giving options for Keyboard, Kempston and Sinclair.
The keys are climb/jump (Q), descend (A), Left (O), right (P) and fire (Space). Your gun ammo is limited to 6 shots. Touching one of the guns scattered around the game’s levels will refill the ammo. There's one in the house at the very beginning of the game
 

Being able to shoot foes is particularly useful when there are two of them in close proximity to each other because this makes it twice as difficult to jump them. knocking one of them out makes things a lot easier. Some foes need more than one hit to kill, so you must be careful to shoot only one of them or you'll end up possibly killing neither of them. Foes respawn each time you leave the screen.
 
The movement of some foes seems to be random, which makes them less predictable, whilst others are from the back and forth Manic Miner school of movement that even the worst weather forecaster could predict. I think this mixes up the game quite well.
 

There are yetis (4 hits to kill), ghosts, bats, which are attracted to you and steal your ammo, super fast runaway mine carts and trees that throw green balls at you. There are other creatures too but I'd rather keep those secret for you to discover.

 
Your prospector jumps around rather spritely. There's no jerkyness or stodgy feeling to the movement and the levels have an interesting enough design. There's no 'I've seen this all before' feeling. Screens connect together logically and there are multiple paths through many of them with plenty of secrets to discover.
 
There's no score. You just need to rescue your lost work crew from whatevers down them there mines, ‘pardner. There are extra lives, in the form of the Prospectors head, which can be collected.
 

The games graphics are of a pretty high standard which is more than can be said for the games audio. There's no music and not even a loading screen. The developer decided to use up all the space for the main games action and graphics. However, she is looking at creating a 128k version of the game which has proper in game music.

I like the level design. It's fun to explore and gives a good sense of discovery. The graphics fit the concept of the game well. Slightly menacing with cute overtones. The game is a lot of fun to play as you pit your wits against the hazards and foes in the mines. The limited ammo gun mechanic works well when combined with the platforming aspects of the game. The graphics are smooth, cute and menacing. The no frills approach to stuff exterior to the game, like the main game menu, is something I admire when I realise the precious space saved is going to benefit the actual game itself.

The audio is rather lacking. There's no in game music. Invisible platforms. I think they're a bit unfair, especially if there's no clues as to where they are.

I really enjoyed playing this game. It's a typical platformer with a nice limited ammo gun mechanic which feels like part of the grand design rather than an afterthought. It's well balanced in terms of difficulty and never feels unfair, well, besides those annoying invisible platforms. They are totally not fair. This is almost a 90% game if you disregard the lack of audio. So, it’s still highly recommended.