Plot
If you’re a Ghostbuster, you don’t cross the streams; if you own a Gremlin, you don’t feed it after midnight and if you are a Robocop, you protect the innocent, serve the public trust and uphold the law. Similarly, if you are a witch chosen to guard the treasure of Kalela Kingdom you don’t start messing about with it, and definitely don’t knock your magic wand against your twin sister’s causing a tornado to scatter the diamonds all over the kingdom or you’ll be in a right old pickle.
As anyone who is the lead character in an 80’s movie knows, breaking the rules has consequences and so twin witches Candel and Alice must go on a clean-up mission to gather the gems and right the wrong otherwise they’ll be in big trouble.
Gameplay
One of these days I’ll play a single screen arcade romp without mentally comparing it to a game with certain bubble blowing dinosaurs…but today is not that day. Black and White plays like a cross between Bomb Jack and Bubble Bobble with some puzzle elements thrown in for good measure. It’s no coincidence that both of those games originated in the arcades as this game seems to have been plucked straight out of a mid-80s coin op and that is a very good thing indeed.
Black & White sees you tackling 64 screens, split across 6 diverse and colourful “Worlds”. The aim of the game is deceptively simple: collect all the gems & avoid the baddies, but there are some really clever gameplay twists thrown in. Your wand has 3 “strikes” of magic which when depleted need to be charged up. Each time you charge your wand up, it alternates between black & white magic, and you can only destroy orbs of the correlating colour.
Initially the inability to jump seems counterintuitive, but once you get used to it you realise it really adds to the puzzle element of the game, as you have to carefully plan out your route to clear each screen with patience and timing, especially when jumping platforms appear in later levels.
In this game you’ve always got to be aware of what’s on the other side of the screen, as it can get a little frustrating when you exit the left-hand side & immediately get killed by something on the right-hand side, you can probably tell that this was the fate of your hapless reviewer on many an occasion!
Once you get into the zone though, you realise that careful planning and timing are the keys to success, and it becomes incredibly addictive trying to see what the next screen holds. It is the archetypal “one more go” game, as a quick five-minute session becomes an hour long. Thankfully there is a Password option between each of the worlds, so if you make real progress, you won’t have to redo absolutely everything from scratch each time.
Graphics and Sound
The whole game has a really professional arcade feel to it, starting with the beautiful loading screen, which looks like it could be an illustration straight out of a Terry Pratchett novel (followed by an arcade style RAM/ROM check, which is a fun touch). When you start each game, you are treated to a colourful world map à la Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, the levels are varied and colourful and the main sprite is utterly adorable.
The sound is absolutely top notch too, with a jolly interpretation of Michael Jackson’s Black or White on the title screen and suitably bouncy AY tunes throughout, which serve to enhance that professional sheen I was talking about.
Verdict
When you see the Pat Morita team logo on a Speccy homebrew it is a real stamp of quality, and this game is no exception. The presentation is as slick as slick Jack McSlick from Slicksville. The gameplay is fun central, it’s addictive, clever and is like an amalgamation of all my favourite aspects of all my favourite Speccy games, which doesn’t always work, but in this case it hits a bullseye.
If you are after a polished, addictive arcade experience on the humble Speccy, you need look no further. Go and get it, you won’t regret it.
Info
Release Date: May 2020
Original Publisher: Pat Morita Team
Machine Type: ZX Spectrum 128K
Price: €1.99
Available from: https://patmorita.itch.io/black-and-white
Wow, 2 in 2 days! Impressive.
Great game, great dev team. One I havent played in a while but really should go back to. My issue is I have too many damn things to play so I end up lacking in some areas but given my love for the Spectrum I really should take it up again! SOON!
I am not sure you can guarantee a good game, as much as you can a Pat game. Always solid gameplay, always fun.
Yeah, there’s so much good stuff out there to play it’s impossible to get round everything!
I’m hoping I can shine a light on some of the great Speccy homebrew I’ve played over the last few years on here, so there’s quite a few more reviews in the pipeline, never mind the games that are still being released every single week!