Blight Sword ZZT

Every now and then, you come across a game that throws the majority of ZZT fundamentals out the window, but offers glimpses into something slightly more. This could aptly describe Blight Sword. Released in 2001, shortly after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center of 9/11, this game hastily bolted a Bin Laden reference on a basic "one man army against terrorists who control most of the galaxy" storyline. That's right, Ultima, the head of those galactic conquerors, is the descendant of none other than Osama Bin Laden!

However, actually playing this game is about as much fun as getting waterboarded in Guantanamo Bay. Starting off, the game looks like it has a bit more effort put into it than the true bottom-of-the-barrel ZZT releases. There's a menu where you can learn about the various enemies, the storyline (summarized above), and the items (which are basically repurposed ZZT defaults). Starting the game drops you into the Barracks, where you can stock up on weapons, ammunition, and batteries (torches), with your commander pointing you vaguely "to the north". Outside the barracks, and the rot sets in. The game initially sets up some sort of sci-fi future vibe, thanks to its storyline and detailed repurposing of default ZZT enemies and items. But to an outsider, it's just a lot of open space segregated by rectangular walls and populated by enemies that you can easily walk past. The art design is garish, with liberal use of blinking walls, however there is some slight STK usage. Most of the game is about fighting default enemies (it seems to enjoy using Centipedes a bit more than your average ZZT game), battling bosses (which I will get to in a bit), shooting static smileys that disappear when shot at, finding keys, and backtracking to use the keys. That last point, however, doesn't really work as well as planned. Many of the boards are missing their connections back to the previous board, rendering you unable to return to the locked door you saw earlier. When I played, I faced this many a time, and had to edit the game to correctly establish the connections between the boards. This game is unwinnable if you play as intended, without cheats or modifying the game world.

The bosses are basically a blessing and a curse. They are the one element in the game that looks like an effort was made. Bosses tend to be a single object, or a giant static graphic with a few "weak points" and objects that will fire back at you. The object-based bosses have a "life bar" shown as a text scroll, steadily decreasing as you whittle away their health. The actual design of these bosses doesn't change much, and usually buckles down to barraging them with ammo spam. One boss changes things up, and requires you to physically "punch" him, while avoiding bullets and the most throwstars I think I've ever seen in a ZZT game. Thankfully, the game gives you more than enough ammunition and health to brute-force every single encounter. But the question is, do you even want to?

After trudging through the game, and defeating the leader of the terrorists, you are rewarded with nothing more than a credit roll and a giant "THE END" graphic. No further story development, no cutscenes, nothing. Maybe this foreshadows the futility of the War on Terror, where soldiers decked out with more military equipment and ammunition than one can possibly conceive waged a long and drudging war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, with a futile outcome and a lot of time/effort wasted.

THE GOOD: Some slight effort was made with the bosses, an interesting time capsule from the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

THE BAD: Bugs galore make the game unwinnable, barely any plot development, empty areas with few distinguishing features, no incentive to defeat any enemies except bosses.

OVERALL: Post-9/11 gaming that is about as much fun as getting waterboarded in Gitmo.

Combine a lot of flashing colours, an overuse of everything, a mundane nationalist(USA) plot, and a healthy dose of stars, and you get Blight Sword ZZT!

actually no, you do not get Blight Sword ZZT, cause it's terrible.