Once again, David Hayward damages his tendons trying out his ninja skills
Since we looked at the original Saboteur the other week for the ZX Spectrum, we thought it was fitting to cover the game’s sequel, Avenging Angel.
Here we have a game that in itself was amazing but also followed on from one of the biggest and most notable Spectrum hits ever. So it had some rather large shoes, or rather Jika-tabi, to fill.
Following on from the previous ninja arcade adventure, Saboteur 2 saw the sister of the previous hero, who had met his unfortunate demise, don her ninja suit and take to a spot of revenge, stopping the evil dictator and destroying his command centre deep within a mountain.
This time around, you flew in via a hang-glider and had to time your leap so you landed on the side of the mountain complex instead of plummeting down to certain doom in a crumpled heap at the bottom. Once inside the complex, you had to navigate through the 7000 screens, collect pieces of Punched Tape, kill the guards and escape on a handy motorbike in the lower levels of the mountain.
There were plenty of enemies to do battle with: Androids with flame throwers, pumas roaming the various rooms and levels, and each level increased in difficulty, with the first having you simply escape on the bike, and the following requiring you to steal some papers and escape and so on. When you reached the final stage, you had to do pretty much everything and kill off the resident baddies and their pet pumas.
Although Saboteur 2 was graphically very similar to its predecessor, it did keep the fans of the original very happy for quite some time. The 700 screens were a mammoth task to map and navigate through and true credit to Clive Townsend’s programming skills.
How Townsend managed it with just 48K is mind-boggling, but the 128K version was smoother and included a great tune courtesy of the legendary Rob Hubbard.
Its History
According to legend, Clive traced the heroine of the game from an image in a ‘gentleman’s magazine’. As it happens, this was one of the first times (if not the very first) that a female was portrayed as the hero of a computer game – as opposed to needing to be rescued.
Although graphically the same, the animation of the ninja was slightly different, with a wicked flying kick added to her repertoire of moves. There were ladders, umpteen screen-filled drops to oblivion and lifts to navigate through the labyrinthine mountain complex, and all the while the guards and awaiting pumas were at hand to sap your vital energy.
It was a game that took some time to complete, working your way up through the ever increasing levels, but it was worth every second. And to finally escape through the fence on the motor bike was pure Spectrum gold.
The Good
An unbelievably huge game area considering the limited resources of the machine. Ninjas and this time a lady ninja! Levelled gameplay meant you could gradually increase your skills and master every detail of the game.
The Bad
It did run a little choppily on the 48K, but then what do you expect? We have Word documents bigger than 48K, and they’re nowhere near as much fun as Saboteur 2.
Conclusion
Another excellent game from Clive Townsend and Durrell Software. We’re looking forward to the 2015/16 remake, Clive.
Did You Know?
• The mission passcodes for each level were ninja and ancient oriental martial arts references. For example, the level 2 code, ‘jonin’, means ‘high ninja’. And level 8, ‘dim mak’, means ‘touch of death’.
• By the time you hit level 8 you’d have no time for fighting. It was just a case of running and collecting the tape.
• There was a secret room under the armoury with a crate that contained invincibility.