THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



ZUB



PUBLISHER

M.A.D. (Mastertronic Added Dimension)



AUTHOR

Binary Design [see James Bond-like opening sequence for other

credits]



YEAR

1986



DESCRIPTION

A simple game with a rather strange story and interface - jumping

up a screen using large platforms quickly palls.



CONTROLS

Q: jump, A: crouch, O: left, P: right, SYMBOL SHIFT: fire

Kempston, Sinclair and cursor joysticks supported.

0: toggle scanner/health, 1: pause, BREAK: quit

Movement keys redefinable.



INSTRUCTIONS

There are ten planets in the Zub system, each of which is

connected to some others by a system of teleports. You start on

planet 1 and must get to planet 10 and back. There are platforms

on each screen; when you stand on one you can move it by

crouching and pushing left or right. Use the platforms to get up

to the three teleports at the top, your destination depending on

which you choose.  There is always one alien on screen at any one

time, which descends from the top and attempts to knock you off

the platforms.



INLAY CARD TEXT

[back cover]

Take agent Zub through the perils of ten nasty worlds to retrieve

the eyeball of Zub for his King, Zub. If Zub fails Zub one will

lose the war to Zub ten and his commander, Zub will probably Zub

him.



Confused? You won't be once you've played this amazing all action

game.  It's got more alien types than you'll probably ever see.

100 frames for animation, parallax like you wouldn't believe and

most of all - playable.

 

DESIGNED AND PROGRAMMED BY BINARY DESIGN



[inside]

THE GAME



Zub, Private Third Class in the second glorious army of ZUBI, was

not the happiest being in the ZUB system. In fact, he was

terrified. He sat alone outside the office of his commanding

officer. Sergeant ZUB. His knees began to shake, a single

involuntary tear dripped from his left eye-stalk. If he had had

a brow it would doubtless have been furrowed, but he hadn't, so

it wasn't.



Many thoughts swam around his tiny confused brain. "What have I

done?" "Why was I sent for?" "Will I be sent into action?" "Why

has he kept me waiting so long?" At this point he gave up, his

brain wasn't really designed for thinking. ZUB was a

precision-built, genetically-engineered fighting machine, his

sole purpose in life was combat. He was also frightened of dying

and had spent the last 478 years avoiding active service. ZUB was

a coward. He had a feeling that this period of his life was

coming to an end. He was right.



The office door opened silently. "Right, Sergeant ZUB, I'll see

you now!"  ZUB staggered to his feet, still shaking and entered

the office.



"Actually, it's Private ZUB, Sir" ZUB stammered, "Private Third

Class 8AB 4788 ...Sir."



"Ah yes ...we'll see about that. I suppose you're wondering why

I sent for you?"



"Er ..."



"This morning" the Sergeant interrupted, "an envelope was handed

to me by General ZUB, this very envelope in fact!" The Sergeant

waved a large golden envelope under where ZUB's nose would have

been if he'd had one. "It doesn't come from the General," the

Sergeant continued. "Oh, no. It comes from the top, from our

beloved leader, King ZUB himself!" ZUB shook his eye stalks and

groaned to himself. "Would you like me to read it to you?" the

Sergeant asked as though he wasn't going to read it anyway.



"Well ..."



The Sergeant opened the envelope and removed a single sheet of

golden paper.



"It's addressed to the War Office and it's written in the King's

own handwriting. It says...



Right you lot, stop playing games and cop this. I've got a real

job for you.  Someone's nicked one of my crown jewels, the green

eyeball of ZUB, and I want it back! Prime Minister ZUB tells me

it's been traced to the planet ZUB Ten. Apparently my brother

who's the King of the outfit wanted to add it to his little

collection. He sent one agent, a junior officer in his second 

army, to steal it. I want you to send a similar ranking officer

from our second glorious army to get it back. If he fails,

believe me, you'll be sorry.



                Yours, The King



P.S. Keep this to yourselves, we don't want this sort of thing

to get out.



"Well ZUB, do you accept the mission?"



"B ...but I'm not an officer, Sir".



"Oh don't worry about that, as from today you are promoted to

Sergeant Fourth class ...and if that's your only objection you

can prepare to leave right away. As it's a top secret operation

you'll have to use the old teleport network which has been closed

since the war began. Good Luck Sergeant ZUB".



YOUR MISSION

Your mission is simple, make your way to the Planet Zub 10, steal

the green eyeball of Zub and return to Zub 1. In order to travel

undetected you must use the Zub Teleport Network which is no

longer used due to the continuing Zub Wars.



Each planet has three teleport units which are in orbit, a mile

or so above the planet surface. To reach them you must negotiate

a series of floating platforms which can be moved left or right

under your control. Each of the three units will transport you

to a different planet within the Zub system.  It is advisable to

make a map of the teleport network.



Each planet is protected by its own fleet of security robots.

Some of these are relatively harmless and will merely attempt to

push you off the platforms. Others, however, are armed - these

should be approached with extreme care. It is rumoured that

before the war, at least one of the planets had perfected a

prototype "ZIRK BOMB". If you encounter anything which looks

remotely "ZIRKISH" then avoid it at all costs. The effects of

activating such a device could be disastrous. The mysterious Zub

Zone awaits!



HINTS

You're not getting any! Zub is a game of discovery. We've told

you how to control it and that is quite enough. The programmers

wanted it sent out with blank paper for instructions, so think

yourself lucky that you got this much!

 

Oh by the way, watch out for powerpills! They have a dramatic

library of uses.  Some good, some great, some very un-zub! Shoot

to use.



CONTROLS

Keyboard controls are definable and several joystick types are

catered for.  Follow the on screen instructions.



 KEY                            FUNCTION

 FIRE BUTTON                    PLASMA BOLT

 UP                             JUMP

 DOWN                           CROUCH/CONTROL PLATFORM

 LEFT                           WALK LEFT/MOVE PLATFORM

 RIGHT                          WALK RIGHT/MOVE PLATFORM

 FIRE STARTS THE GAME.



To move a platform crouch and push in the direction you wish to

go.



CLEVER BITS

Parallax like you've never seen it   100 frames of animation

Hi-res attributes    Five skill levels     More alien types than

you'd believe     Constant execution speed



 LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

 SPECTRUM 48K/+         : LOAD""

 SPECTRUM 128K/+2       : USE TAPE LOADER OPTION



CHEATS

Press 2, 4, 6 and 8 simultaneously while playing to make the

aliens harmless, that is, they can no longer knock you off the

platforms or reduce your energy, though the barriers at the sides

of the screen still harm you. This removes any challenge the game

might have had.



There is allegedly another game hidden in Zub, a scrolling

shoot-em-up called Lightfarce, "a project to see if the

programmers of Zub could write a game in a day" (Your Sinclair,

issue 18, July 1987, p. 35). This is accessed by holding down 1,

3, 5 and 7. Unfortunately 1 is the pause key and cannot be

redefined.



Teleports:

From            Left  Centre  Right

  1               2      3      2

  2               1      1      3

  3               1      2      4

  4               6      5      3

  5               4      6      4

  6               7      4      5

  7               8      9      6

  8               7      9      7

  9               7     10      8

 10               9      9      9



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

None.



SCORES RECEIVED

Your Sinclair (issue 14, February 1987, page 76): 7/10

"ZUB is everything a budget game should be - unpretentious, great

fun to play and worth the dosh!"



URLs

ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/z/zub.zip



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES

