Villordsutch reviews Z-Exemplar on the Steam…
Back in 1987 Irem released a side-scrolling shooter called R-Type upon the arcade houses across the world, and this caused Gaming Waves that are still being felt today. It was a glorious game, with swarms of enemies, bosses so huge and grotesque that they were in fact morbidly beautiful at the same time and you were left physically drained at the end of every level. This game was huge, and when it came to the home computers it shouldn’t have worked, but it did- especially on the ZX Spectrum.
It was Bob Pape that brought R-Type over to the ZX Spectrum under the publishing house Electric Dreams Software, and not to besmirch Bob here but his back catalogue of games on the Spectrum beforehand had nearly all been Educational Software for younger children. Yet Bob made a game that even today is still outstanding. The release and praise of Bob’s R-Type on the ZX Spectrum even spawned a book called It’s Behind You: the making of a computer game, which is available to download for free.
Now here in 2016 we have Z-Exemplar on Steam – a game which wears its love for the classic R-Type (mainly Bob Pape’s R-Type) on its sleeve so well that fans of the 1988 ZX Spectrum release may possibly believe this is the natural sequel to the game.
Personally I’ve been watching Z-Exemplar grow for what – to me – seems like years now, as Suminell Studios have teased out images and YouTube posts showing us what to expect. Then in mid-November word arrived that it was landing and I began to get my shooting finger ready.
It’s safe to say I wasn’t disappointed. Z-Exemplar responds like a classic side-scrolling shooter, the enemies swarm on thick and fast, it’s colourful, there’s a good choice of upgrades to cause maximum devastation and there are numerous alien worlds to conquer. Here however in Z-Exemplar you make the choices on how you wish to proceed via planets hostility and what weapons you want to take into battle. The latter option is generally vital to success as I discovered on a few levels, this really brings in the difference, instead learning the path to success it’s the strategy to achieving the goal.
Other bonuses including Zeds (currency), medals, the occasional story advancing piece of mail delivered in-game, all of which add to the evolution of Z-Exemplar. You come to realise that this isn’t actually a reboxed R-Type as you progress, this is another game; which still loves R-Type and sings back to the glory days, whilst introducing new and interesting additions.
There are a minor cluster of negatives that I would like to see perhaps approached later in a future update. I couldn’t seem to return to conquered planets to try out my new weaponry and/or boost my Zeds, I know they’re “conquered” but perhaps the option to return for a ‘clean up’ would be nice. For the life of me when I had the probes/satellites attached to me I couldn’t detach them and also, what no Steam cards or Steam achievements!?
For any side-scrolling, shooting fans Z-Exemplar needs to be added to your Steam Library, it’s a must for Retrogamers to load up and test you aging reflexes and for new gamers to enjoy a solid classic feeling game.
Z-Exemplar is available now on Steam here.
Rating: 8/10
Reviewed on PC (Steam)
Originally published December 10, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
