The Sinclair Spectrum was the first home computer I owned, a snazzy – at the time – 128K +2 model with a built-in tape deck, and while it didn’t influence my future the way my Amiga did, it certainly saw me along the right road.

Therefore, anything Speccy-related today is looked at through rose-tinted glasses, because everything from our childhood is always better than the things we have today, right?  The release of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection Vol.1 is a case in point.  Being able to play Harrier Attack and Turbo Esprit again after all this time is a lip-trembling proposition, but would they be as entertaining as they were back then, or ancient relics that it would be foolish to revisit.

The Elite Collection Vol.1 contains six games in total; Saboteur, Chuckie Egg, Frank Bruno’s Boxing, Buggy Boy and the two mentioned above.  None of the games have been altered in any way, so sonically and visually, these are exactly as they were in the 80s.  Opening the app immediately takes you back, as you’re greeted by the *beeeeep bip!* sound that started every tape load, except now there isn’t a three or four minute wait afterwards before you get to play!

Along the base of the screen you’ll find a settings page, where you can choose to activate the landscape mode and assign either a 128K or 48k look to the keyboard, a news section, an about page and a foreword from Elite’s Director Steve Wilcox.  The final button takes you to the game page where you can choose which of the six to play.

Of the six, four could be considered classics of their time.  Saboteur sees you play a ninja who must infiltrate a building and find a disk before the time runs out, then escape from the building by helicopter.  Chuckie Egg is a platform game where you must collect all the eggs and avoid the chickens, Harrier Attack is a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up and Turbo Esprit is a driving game in which you must stop a drug deal taking place.

As for the other two, Buggy Boy is an arcade conversion that is good but no classic, and Frank Bruno’s Boxing is graphically impressive for its time, but the gameplay is rarely anything other than button-mashing.

Turbo Esprit was the real draw for me, but Chuckie Egg was the surprise.  Who would have thought that the most basic platform game could still be as addictive today?  Harrier Attack still delivers too, but Saboteur remains ever so slightly dull, no matter how much others rate it.  They’re all damn hard in comparison to many modern games, from tracking down the baddies in Turbo Esprit, to timing the dropping of a bomb correctly in Harrier Attack.

Each game is played in either portrait or landscape mode, with the controls over the screen in the latter, and you’re provided with the right amount of buttons for each game, for example Frank Bruno’s Boxing has left and right punches, duck and knock out keys as well as the directional pad.

It’s here that the Elite Collection stumbles.  It’s not its fault really, as there is no other way to control these games.  For example, it’s all too easy to miss a virtual button as you’re watching the on-screen action and die because of it, or be unable to complete flying leaps in Chuckie Egg due to the tiny diagonal arrow or the jump button not recognizing your press.  Without a joystick, anything reliant on timing and precision becomes frustratingly difficult.

Despite this, I feel myself being quite forgiving, as that was what one did back when these games were the latest things out.  Color-clash, dodgy collision detection and irritating bugs were surprisingly common, but the games were so playable that you forgave them.  Am I going to let some control issues stop me running over pedestrians in Turbo Esprit?  No, and neither should you.

This said, if you didn’t grow up with a Spectrum or C64, then you will find these games terribly dated, but if like me the Spectrum was your introduction to home computers and computer games, this is one trip down memory lane you’ll want to take.

Overall: 3.5/5

Additional: ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection is good value at $0.99/£0.59, plus there is the promise of many new titles in the future both for free and as in-app purchases.