Villordsutch reviews In the Walls of Eryx on the ZX Spectrum…
In today’s Homebrew Reviews we take a look at a new ZX Spectrum game inspired by a short story from by H.P. Lovecraft and Kenneth J Sterling. With Venusian Lizardmen, Farnoth Flies and an invisible Labyrinth you already can feel this is entering the world of a twisted fantasy.
In the Walls of Eryx has just landed on the 128K ZX Spectrum – created by Kevin McGrorty – with a rather colourful cassette inlay, and upon loading it up we find not only a splendid loading screen but some rather grand animation from our hero Private Stansfield who is stood in front of his burning, downed spacecraft, in the Erycinian Highlands of Venus, tapping his foot. This looks like a game for me.
The goal of the game is to guide Pvt. Stansfield through the jungles of Venus looking for six power crystals. However the Venusian wildlife aren’t overly fond of this gem-snatcher and seek to end his life; to top it all off Stansfield’s oxygen is rapidly running out. You need to get the power crystals, keep your oxygen topped up and survive.
I’m instantly reminded of Rex or Myth with the character animation. To be met with our hero tapping his foot is rather splendid straight away and the game already gets a thumbs up for tiny details. It quickly becomes apparent after a couple of playthroughs that wasting valuable resources, like the limited weaponry and oxygen, shouldn’t be done and you become aware that you need to rapidly learn the pathing of the game’s enemies to succeed in progressing through each level.
The levels can on occasion look the same; it’s clear what Kevin is doing, and those of us that grew up with ZX Spectrum’s can easily push this to the back of our heads in a flash. The only real bug-bear that I have with In the Walls of Eryx is the lack of music, we have “plops” and “deeps” when it comes to sound effects but we have no music for this 128K game! This would have really boosted it up – it’s crying out for a cool tune to run along with it.
However, I found In the Walls of Eryx an enjoyable game even with the lack of some 128K tunes. It’s easy to pick up, it looks rather good too and it is easy to move Stansfield around the screen, perhaps best of all it’s totally free! Another great new title to add to the ever-expanding list of ZX Spectrum games. Not bad for a machine that’s just about to turn thirty-five years old.
You can download In the Walls of Eryx here at the World of Spectrum, also if you don’t have a ZX Spectrum to play it on there are numerous emulators available including Spectaculator.
Rating:- 8/10
Originally published December 16, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
