The Fast and the Furious

Fast 'n' Furious was published under the Go! label in 1987 and programmed by the Dutch brothers Ruud and Ernest Peske. Despite a title that now suggests cars, what you steer is a flying carpet — this is an oriental-themed action game in which you weave between pillars and buildings and fight whatever comes at you.

The most interesting part is the firing system, because the game offers two modes and lets you switch between them at any time with the ENTER key. In single mode, marked with an S, you only throw forwards. In multi mode, marked M, you hold the fire button and use a direction to decide where the throw goes — up, down or forward. The manual honestly adds that single mode makes the game easier while multi mode is there to raise your score. That is an unusually candid way of explaining the difference between comfort and performance.

There is also a magic mode: hold fire and push left and you become invulnerable for a few seconds. It costs ten per cent of your stamina, so it is a genuine emergency brake rather than a strategy.

Enemies are colour-graded — the brighter an opposing carpet, the more dangerous it is. That simple visual language helps a lot, because the screen fills up quickly.

Fast 'n' Furious holds a ZXDB user score of nearly eight out of ten across dozens of votes, which is very good for a lesser-known title. Players clearly remembered it. The weaknesses are its brevity and the fact that the environment does not vary much. As a brisk half hour, though, it still works.