FORWARD TO THE PAST

Authors:

David and Nathan Sloan (father and son)

Publisher: Sloanysoft

Memory: 48K

Released: August 2021

Price: Free

Do not meddle with time; think about it — if you go back to the past and have built your ship to metric specifications, how do you fit through an imperially measured door? That alone should be enough to stop you from tinkering with the mechanics of space & time. This is not the case with David and his son — vintage computer nostalgia inspired them to make a craft to go back and seek out the halcyon era of gaming. It has gone horribly wrong for them, and they find themselves trapped in a time vortex, and the only way to repair the rift is to collect Maguffinanium crystals (what?).

The player controls the bubble time machine and must navigate the vortex to find these elusive crystals. Each screen is almost like a level in its own right and presents the player with a treacherous labyrinth filled with protectors of time: Daleks,

butterflies (see what you did there), clocks and alien overlords. They are all hellbent on preventing you from tampering with time. Of course, the crystals are always placed in the most hard-to-reach places, and your energy will be depleted on collision with the creatures or with static hazards when you reach those areas. Luckily, the craft comes with its blaster, but not all of your foes can be destroyed by it. So, ironically, timing is a big part of the game.

CRITICISM

• My immediate impression of FttP was that it has an early period Spectrum vibe to it. It made me think of The Pyramid/Doomsday Castle meets Mutant

Monty, and this isn’t a bad thing. It’s simple, innocent fun and harks back to the very nostalgia the game’s authors are trying to travel to in their time machine. The level design is pretty fair, and each screen ramps up its difficulty in a linear fashion, so the player can get to grips with the game before it gets too difficult.

Overall, it’s pretty but basic looking, but it does entertain well enough and gives some decent waves of sentimentality. We need to send David back in time again, though — so he can restudy the periodic table in chemistry; Maguffinanium...

Gordon King

CRITICISM

• I really like Forward To The Past; it makes me come over all nostalgic for the types of games I used to play as a teenager — The Pyramid being one of them and a firm favourite of mine.

The game is colourful, charming, and all too familiar in the play mechanic, so what is not to like?

My only criticism is that a nice tune and more spot effects would have been welcome. I’m off to have a word with my son.

Chris Wilkins