Last month, Retro Game Network brought you the news of a brand new Odyssey2 game from a company called Revival Studios. We just received word today that they are up to their tricks again, and releasing not one, but TWO new titles for another obscurity of a system. (If you could even call the Timex Sinclair computer a system. More on that in a moment.) This weekend, two new titles for the ZX81 will be released, that have been in the works for a little while. The titles? Avalanche and Mayhem. More to follow…

Avalanche has been in development since 2011, and is being told that it is a game that people can just “pick up and play”. The player will have to shoot the various gems that are falling down from the top of the screen, and they have to match up with the symbols with the players ship. Shoot correctly and get combos of 4 gems together to earn more points and to decrease the speed of the falling gems. In a way, it looks like this is some type of a combination of Klax and Columns, and if you are a fan of either of those two games, I think that Avalanche could be quite enjoyable!

Mayhem has also been in the works since 2011, and is the story of Clive Junior, who’s latest invention has gone terribly wrong. It completely exploded and all of the parts are flying all over the room! All you have to do with this one is avoid the debris while running around and picking up the out of control parts to gain points. In a way, this one looks like it could be a possible clone of, believe it or not, China Syndrome (that I reviewed a little bit ago right here on Retro Game Network). This might just be another great one to add to your collection of Timex Sinclair goodness!

Both of these new titles will have a few extra features, including Internet high score collecting, online rewards, support with AY-Sound Boards, and use the joystick expansion interface. (Any of you that have used a Sinclair knows that the keyboard is membrane, and not very reliable for any kind of typing, let alone game playing.) So these are all excellent features to have on such an obscure computer system. You really have to give the guys at Revival credit for these two.

The titles are going to be released over the weekend at two separate events. On September 8th and 9th, the games will make their official debut at Spectrum 30 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. A simultaneous event on September 9th will be occurring at Retrofair in Deurne, Netherlands. Both games will be available on cassette tape format (the standard for the system), or as a digital download for emulation use. The cost of the cassette will be 7,99 Euros ($9.99 US) while the digital download will only cost 3,99 Euros ($4.99 US). If you plan on using the games on physical hardware, the 16K Memory Expander will be required. (The original system was only a 1K machine, so most people will have the expander.)

Great way to keep the old computers new again! We look forward to the next projects in the works!

Avalanche: http://www.revival-studios.com/?page=129

Mayhem: http://www.revival-studios.com/?page=132