Sinclair Spectrum (1982)

Sinclair Spectrum (1982)

Sinclair Spectrum (1982)

Certain games have helped to define a particular brand of home computer, but perhaps none more so than Horace Goes Skiing on the Spectrum.

The premise is quite simple - make your way across an incredibly busy carriageway whilst vehicles drive to the tune of a Highway Code written in Klingon, arrive at a ski cabin, purchase your skis, run back across the road and then hop on to the slopes to negotiate your way to the finish line without slamming into a tree.

From the outset you'll see that the game appears incredibly sparse, so much so that you can almost taste the code that went into it. The entire production looks and feels like it came from the imagination of a brick and, if you've never played it before, you'll wonder what the fuss is all about. There are Spectrum games that are markedly visually superior, however, Horace Goes Skiing's iconic status is undoubtedly a testament to its grab factor rather than its aesthetics.

If you've never seen Horace before, you'll notice that he looks a little... off-piste! We could spend an eternity arguing who or what he is, or where he came from but, as this is like asking about the meaning of life, it's probably best to leave it up to your imagination.

Attempting to cash in on the then recent success of Frogger, no doubt, Horace Goes Skiing's first level involves you trying to dodge the traffic as you bravely risk life and limb to purchase some skis at the hut across the road. You start out with forty dollars to do this, but once you become a casualty of the rush-hour chaos then you're taken away by an ambulance and charged ten dollars for the privilege.

Once on the slopes, it's time to navigate downhill through a set of slalom-style poles, where you'll earn or lose points depending on whether you pass through them or miss them altogether, respectively. However, Horace's only real cause for concern are the sporadically planted alpine trees that threaten menacingly in a stationary fashion as you weave your way carelessly towards them.

The game elements are, not to put a finer word on it, lacking, and feature just two levels that are replayed until Horace runs out of cash. You'll be forgiven for wondering how a game rated so low could still be loved by many. Maybe it was because it was one of the very first games released for the Spectrum, and players enjoyed the perilous concept of either death by skis or wheels. However, it's a game that heralds a sense of pure nostalgia that takes you back to when people coded whole games in their living rooms so that people like us would one day be celebrating them many years later.