Game: City Patrol (1982)

They're coming! You are in command of a laser-gun equipped ship - destroy as many alien suicide ships as possible!

In the early days, computer games didn't need over-elaborate backstories. Computer means space, space means aliens, aliens means destruction - there you go. "City Patrol", released in 1982, has a simple concept, and is a very exciting game. A stunning graphics engine, and versatile controls, make it one of the best action games for the ZX81.

"City Patrol" title screen

In a side-scrolling view, your goal is to protect the city and its inhabitants from destruction by alien invaders. In order to do so, you guide your ship along the city, trying to hit an alien invader with your laser beam. If you can't get the invading ship in time, he (or whatever "it" is) will reduce part of your city to rubble. But be careful, not only will the invader harm your city's buildings, but your laser will do so, too, in case you miss.

Credits/info screen

"City Patrol" uses an interesting input scheme: Only four keys are required to steer your ship up and down, left and right, set speed low or high, and fire your laser. The trick is: Hold "left" to move left slowly, then press "right" to speed up, and vice versa. Hold "up", then press "down", or vice versa, to fire. (The actual keys are F, V, J, and N.) Additionally, any other key will trigger your laser cannon, too. (Except A, which is used to quit.) That's a bit unusual, but after some practice, becomes intuitive and turns out to work very well.

The full screen, multi layered, side-scrolling game screen...

The graphics are, of course, blocky and crude, just like pretty much all ZX81 graphics. But, as you can see in the screenshots, the ZX81's character set is well suited to simulate buildings in a nice metropolitan "skyline" view. The overall dark appearance gives is a dystopian undertone, which matches the game's idea perfectly, and - a rare occurrence among ZX81 games - even the cover artwork (see end of article) to some degree. When motion is added, the effect is quite spectacular. Programmer Don Priestley managed to create four layers of overlapping full screen parallax scrolling (!), and "City Patrol" redraws these at full frame rate.

Add to that the clever controls with possible high speed movement, big flashes on screen (*light epilepsy warning*), and challenging gameplay, and you get a surprisingly convincing, visceral experience.

...is quite stunning, esp. when in fast motion.

On first sight, "City Patrol" is simple, wild, and a bit confusing. There is a bit of a learning curve. Once you get it, it becomes frenetic and addictive, while still being difficult enough to keep you occupied for a long time. With a little suspension of disbelief, yeah, it really feels like flying along skyscrapers, hunting aliens, and saving people!

Rating: 

It's a bit low on features, but for what it is, it's massive.  

8/10

"City Patrol" (1982) cover artwork

If you'd like to try "City Patrol" yourself, here are possible sources:

http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/CityPatrol

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/28760/ZX81/City_Patrol