----- GAMES ----- DAVESAST.ZZT - Oil by Dave2 - 5 A nice moody opening screen and some simple but effective mermaid-cave decoration leads into... a Flappy Bird engine, unexpectedly, then it just stops. It's a shame that this was cut so short because I was looking forward to more of it! ERN56.ZZT - Fallout by Ern56 - 8 I was genuinely impressed by the colour-cycling of the nuclear explosion, and of the atmosphere of the bomb shelter as you begin the game. The transition to an alternative board as you turn on the power was nice, but the puzzles were a bit simple, consisting of just bumping into absolutely everything that was obviously an object and picking it up. The invisomaze was a bit wank, and I say that as someone who used to use the bastards with distressing regularity. Unfortunately you can tell the exact moment the author lost interest in the atmosphere he'd built up, but the ending sequence returned to being nicely done. SILICATE.ZZT - Silicate by My Liver Hurtz - 7 This is definitely the most technically impressive game, with the player having to spend points at the beginning to influence their abilities later on. (I wonder why you have to manually set a flag to confirm completion instead of just touching an object to confirm it, though.) Unfortunately the design of the game itself is a bit Sierra, because I'm pretty convinced that it's impossible to complete without a lot of future information - specifically having to put a certain number of points into Intelligence to clear a lock, and to get a computer to spit out a key. Elsewhere, I genuinely have no idea what the boiler room wants from me or how to navigate it legitimately. There's an interesting use of an engine putting boulders to punt the player away. I remember Dr Dos explained why this works to me once, about #put not being a cycle-ending action, but I've since forgotten the details. Unfortunately it isn't completed and ends after the corridor of doors is opened, but it's an interesting entry. SMITH24.ZZT - Virus by Mr Smith - 8 It's a shame that this one wasn't finished either! It has a great storytelling style and presentation, although Mr Smith only managed to complete the prologue before having to submit it. The virus plot isn't exactly the most original thing in the box, but it sounded like it was going somewhere interesting. Lovely fire effect on the spaceship, as well. ------------- SORT OF GAMES ------------- OOFAUT03.ZZT - Paper Wisdom by Oof - 5 I thought this was just going to be a long cinema at first, but the author found room for some gameplay as well briefly! Putting this exactly in the middle of the scale because I don't really know what to make of it. --------- NOT GAMES --------- DISASTER.ZZT - Disaster: The Stampede76 Story - 2 I had a nagging feeling I had seen that name before, and I had to laugh when I realized the take on "disaster" that this was going for :) A couple of points for that. SIDDIS.ZZT - Sid Disaster by TTTPPP - 2 A nonsensical journey as the author notes himself, but 2 points for the horse picture and mentioning Tesco. ----- SHITE ----- KEWLIEZ.ZZT - The Krushing Disaster Elite Edition by NUeKMmm - 0 ZZT was an unrivalled breeding ground for a form of artistic talent all of its own, with some creations reaching into the realms of surrealist post-modern expressionism and transcending the intentions of ZZT, making these odd experiences uniquely worth preserving for generations of game authors to come. Not really, it's a yellow-bordered little cinema that someone threw together because they thought it was funny.