If you were gaming in the 90’s then it’s quite likely you have played or at least heard of Beneath a Steel Sky, Broken Sword, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer. The former two are cult classic point and click adventures created during the golden age of adventure games by Tony Warriner. The latter two are obviously British games that were quite famous and well-known during the 90’s which Stoo Cambridge was responsible for. The two of them, specializing in different genre’s of games have teamed up to make a game specifically for the Spectrum Next. Being indie developers under the hat Brazen Gameplay they have funded their project with a Kickstarter campaign which was fully funded in about 3-4 days after it started. The game appears to be getting a lot of attention as Tony and Stoo spend a fair bit of time travelling to retro game shows and the like every few weeks to promote their game. Some people are unimpressed with the graphics which I find to be a very unreasonable thing to say about the game. It’s on an new old platform it’s not on the PS5, if you want graphics then go play your PS5. I believe the main focus here is gameplay and the graphics aren’t that bad for the system either, in fact it’s quite similar to Cannon Fodder graphically which was a very highly rated game for the Super Nintendo and Amiga 500. When I played it back in the day I never complained about the graphics even though there were plenty of SNES game with much better graphics. Just goes to show you that you can’t please everyone and some people try to find something bad to say or whinge about no matter what you do. I’m saying this because someone made a comment about being unimpressed by the graphics and thought the game was unambitious. These are industry veterans that have created many hit games, they know what they are doing. I really don’t doubt it will be an excellent game when finished.
The game has been available to play for free in demo form for quite a while now and has already gone through many changes. As they go around to retro video/computer gaming events and promote their game they let people play it and gather feedback which they then implement into the game. So it’s being built from the ground up with a focus on player enjoyment, when it’s finished it will definitely be a winner. They have been working hard and putting their heart and soul into making something special. The game appears to take inspiration from “Zombies Ate my Neighbors” as they have the same style player selection screen with a man and woman hero to choose from. The gameplay itself also is very similar, you pickup weapons that have limited ammo supplies which can be picked up along the way. The main difference is there are no innocent people to save from the enemies, instead the goal of the characters is to explore ruins, caverns and other environments for treasures. You may have heard of “urban exploration”, a recently coined term that describes modern day exploration of abandoned and/or hidden man-made environments. The plot is that the characters you control are Peruvian urban explorers who are set on exploring a “lost city” built by Aztec, Inca’s or a similar native South American’s people have built hundreds of years ago in order to obtain valuable treasures. They know it’s not going to be easy and are prepared to confront and deal with hordes of monsters and dangerous animals that stand in the way of glory. While the storyline isn’t really original it serves the purpose of giving context to the adventure.
The game is also being released on Windows PC which will have support for 2 player co-op mode (like ZaMN). Unfortunately they say that it is unlikely that it will be 2 player co-op mode on the Spectrum Next, which must be because of technical reasons. This is very unfortunate as the Spectrum Next could have done with having a great 2 player co-op game like this one. You never know though they may find a way to overcome technical limitations and make it playable for 2 players simultaneously before the release date, which is currently estimated to be April 2026. Whilst the kickstarter campaign has officially ended [I believe] late pledges are still active with the rewards ranging from digital and physical versions of the game to PC “big box” and collector’s editions containing many extra’s. They also have special edition arcade style joystick’s made specifically for this game with accompanying artwork. Available in “Ramona” (the female hero) and “Alejandro” (male hero) art styles, the joysticks are made mainly to play the game on the Spectrum Next as they have the old school DB-9 (Atari/Sega style) connectors. An adapter is required to be able to use the joysticks on PC via USB which can also be added to the rewards if so desired. The joysticks are hand-made premium quality collectible’s by joystick manufacturer “Immortal” which is reflected by their hefty price tag (over $400 AUD). Personally I have pledged to get the “Big Box Edition” which comes in a 90’s style PC big box which will make it look very nice on the shelf. It also comes with a “secret artefact” item that is not included in the “Standard Edition” which is just the game on an SD card published in a DVD-style case. The secret artefact unlocks extra levels in the game and future titles in the series, inferring that future a Urb-X game is planned.
Relevant Links
- Urb-X Warriors kickstarter campaign page [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tonywarriner/urbx-warriors-an-original-game-for-the-spectrum-next/] Late pledges are still active at time of writing this post.
- Urb-X Warriors Blog Page [https://www.stoocambridge.com/urbx-warriors-blog-page/] from Stoo Cambridge’s website
