Invasion ZZT Revision

So yeah, ultimately I think the gem mechanic is well intentioned but flawed. Once the player is given the list, the expectation is that they'll have missed some of the more hidden gems like the one in the pond, and play through the game a second time to see this dungeon.

Overall this game is definitely good enough that I could see interest in playing the game a second time, but since it's so story heavy, I can't imagine wanting to do so immediately after finishing the game. It's the kind of thing you'd want to wait a few months on before returning to it, and by then you'd need to find that list of gems again.

Again, this is the revised edition which just includes the list in the text file so that's not really a concern. Still though, if you've enjoyed Invasion ZZT enough to return to the game in the future, you'd probably rather just see the bonus dungeon right now and get that last bit of content right away.

We saw something similar with the third file of November Eve expecting the player to (mostly) play through the game a second time and it was a pain to imagine doing so there as well. Both games focus more on story than gameplay making for a very similar experience on subsequent playthroughs.

Ironically, the bonus dungeon is actually far more heavy on traditional ZZT gameplay than the rest of the game. This is the part that would be the most fun to do again on a second playthrough. You can tell by the stream of bullets and a key up top.

The cave opens up to this wider area with a weird structure and a lot of exits.

Alena definitely nails the feel of secret RPG content. It certainly feels like you're in a strange place you aren't meant to be with the tone of this dialog compared to the rest of the game.

The excitement is a bit short lived as my first challenge for these keys is just an invisible wall maze.

This is where playing with my Solid HUD ZZT modification pays off, as I have a cheat to reveal invisible walls.

As far as invisible mazes go, this one isn't too mean. There are plenty of wide paths to travel down instead of nearly every single step resulting in hitting more wall.

Things gets weird in the western part of the cave. There are some people named Slim and Tom stealing the treasure for a "Furguson". They immediately begin attacking Sam with a hefty barrage of bullets.

This board makes great use of space and the enemies work to make crossing the path a fun challenge.

Sure enough the treasure chests here have been emptied, but all Sam's really after is that green key.

Wait a minute, suddenly it all makes sense. All these names have showed up before, with the weird memorials throughout the game. Daniel and Dollar were the ones who defeated the monster Mr. Furguson, and his accomplices, Slider, Tom, Slim, and Jim.

Well, this would have all landed better if it wasn't so so long ago that the player was told about these people. I only made the connection when writing this article.

It's also worth noting that when defeated they teleport in the same manner as the aliens, but have distinctly human names.

There's one final key to collect by turning back towards the start, and then it's off to meet with Furguson.

The actual final boss lies just beyond this board. One last supply chest "blesses" the player with health and ammo.

Ten health... and ten ammo. That is not much of a blessing.

Nice.

Furguson here is yet another giant boss, but the illusion that he's coming forward out from the darkness does a lot to make him look more intimidating that drawing an entire body on the screen.

So this dude is the ultimate evil I guess. Sam please get your dog a leash after this.

It plays pretty much exactly the same as fighting MysteryX. Sam again has to push a bomb from the bottom of the screen to the top, but this time instead of dealing with bullets there are some spinning guns throwing stars instead.

The claws on Furguson's hand manage to block them a bit and the firing rate is low enough that you can kind of wait out the stars (though it's a lot of waiting since they fade out naturally rather than having an object forcibly erase them).

It feels better though. MysteryX had a flashy opening, but this guy feels far more threatening even if you're more likely to be defeated fighting the former.

I love Sam's threat to make this demonic entity cry.

True to form, Sam manages to begin Furguson's rehabilitation by giving him a present. MysteryX was just completely eradicated. Well, maybe. I have no idea what happened with the time rewinding thing. It's kind of sad that none of the other renegades contacted Sam and Anne afterwards.

Speaking of sad, after Sam says his goodbye here the passage just jumps right back to a copy of the board where doggy runs off and the ending plays out as it would if you didn't get all the gems. The only change is that the cave isn't drawn at all. The bonus dungeon is kind of fun, and I would've appreciated if some of its challenges showed up in the game's other sort of "dungeons", which I guess is really just the old mill.

That this bonus dungeon doesn't change anything in the ending is a disappointment really. Between this and the fisherman mentioning how lots of people were coming out of the woods, I was really hoping all this would result in the return of Sam's long lost brother. I'm really surprised that there was no mention of him outside of Sam's breakdown in the shed, and if Alena was willing to bring Andrew back from the dead, having this brother have been captured by the aliens or something and rescued with the destruction of the comet or the defeat of Furguson would've been a nice touch.