♦ Livestream of the following 4 ZZT worlds ♦
• "UFOs: Invasion USA (v3.0)" by Transon (1995) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/invasion30/]
• (30:02) "The Game" by AlanSo (1997) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/thegame1/]
• (41:24) "Alien Extinction" by T-800 [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/alienex/]
• (57:21) Ad-Break Ends
• (59:48) "Aliens II" by DCM, Jed [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/alien2/]
Originally streamed December 11th, 2022.
Four alien adventures that are all over the place.
"UFOs: Invasion USA" is a game that shows promise. Players fly out to areas where UFOs have landed, find them, and take out the commander inside. This is done by just running around on some big open fields/deserts with built-in creatures while the interiors do a little more with spinning guns and other obstacles. The structure is a solid one, and once the missions begin taking place in the dark, the "incorrect" paths to the UFO work out a little better as players won't know for sure until they cover most of the board. Plenty of room for improvement here, but a good start that left me wanting to see what else author Transon might have created. (Alas, this is the only known game by them.)
"The Game" is based on the 1997 and also features Mulder and Scully from the X-Files. Don't get too excited for what that combination might mean, as what's here is just a few boards of an incomplete game that heavily leans into random humor and not having the time to deliver on the many weird ideas it introduces in the opening scroll. It does feature a house with a good number of objects to interact with including a great art board dedicated to the contents of the protagonist's fridge. Were this finished, it might have been entertaining in how unexpected everything is. Instead it just kind of stops quickly.
"Alien Extinction" is your classic tale of crash landing on a hostile alien world and having to fight your way to safety. A significant portion of the game consists of boards flood-filled with ZZT's creatures that have at least been renamed to types of aliens for theming. The few boards that dare to draw some backgrounds are minimalist, but look nice. A miss overall that's improved just by being able to just run past the rooms filled with enemies.
Lastly, "Aliens II" drops us in the middle of a series whose first part is currently lost. The author even refuses to do a plot recap, but it seems like the president is an alien and we're now on the run from more aliens. Shoot tigers. Don't shoot the super duper laser phaser. Then, kill a child to take all the credit for saving the day. The end.
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