First, Monsterbytes Software brought you the game of
Zombo, featuring the eponymous semi-undead flesh-gnawing anti-hero, (actually quite nice once you get to know him)...
Then, Santa went mental, (and started puking up Christmas trees or something), in
Zombo's Christmas Capers...
Now, from the pages of 2000 AD comes a new game for the ZX Spectrum featuring Mega-City One's most famous lawman battling interdimensional entities in a future-shocked world!
You are
The Law.
You are
Judge Dredd.
This is
Dredd Over Eels...
PLOT
Cockney gangster
Jimmy The Spug has decided to get into a more respectable line of work and has opened a chain of eateries providing '
authentic London cuisine' to the citizens of
Mega-City One. Unfortunately, the food is not quite as authentic as advertised. Jimmy has cut corners and saved money by 'acquiring' illegal
dimension-jump technology. Instead of importing sea-food from the shores of
Brit-Cit, he's been obtaining stock directly from
parallel universes. But these
interdimensional eels are
sentient and aren't too pleased to find themselves grabbed from their oceanic worlds to sate the appetites of greedy bipeds. Now the eels and a host of other displaced creatures have escaped and overrun the city, causing mayhem wherever they roam and/or slither.
OBJECTIVE
Judge Dredd is tasked with exploring the city and tracking down
The Eel King, before shooting it dead. It shouldn't be too difficult - it's just a collection of eels. However, on his way he'll encounter the other beasts transported across the aether because of Jimmy The Spug's restauranteurial ambitions. Some are harmless and may prove useful, others mean no harm but are dangerous due to their intense curiosity, some will block Dredd's path, and others are from a
dark eel dimension where all marine-life is a crime.
Also be on the lookout for
Justice Department's new
Mechanismo Mini units. These malfunctioning machines have become violently unstable due to eels getting up inside them, and must now be destroyed. Dredd will also encounter friendlier robots that can transport him to areas otherwise impossible to reach.
Go carefully. For the purposes of gritty realism, Dredd has
only one life, (and the 3D Game Maker program I used didn't give me the option of adding more).
What the Drokk is that?
CONTROLS
Up - Move forward
Left + Right - Rotate
Down - Fire
Fire - Jump
A - Quit game
ALT and F4 - Exit bundled emulator
Zip file includes the instructions and mock inlay shown above, tzx, tap, z80 and sna files, PLUS a version you can run straight away without setting anything up! Just extract the files, click on "Dredd Over Eels.bat", (or "Dredd.exe" in the 'PC' folder), and you'll be up and running. You can even use your favourite control pad by selecting 'Kempston' from the options.
Dredd Over Eels is a completely unofficial, not-for-profit fan-game by Malcolm Kirk.
Judge Dredd™ Rebellion A/S, © Rebellion A/S.
