BreakSpace Magazine

@breakspace.bsky.social

161 Followers 124 Following

Modern ZX Spectrum game reviews, interviews, features, POKES and general good times. Free PDF https://breakspace.itch.io/

The cover of BreakSpace Issue 6, which features Lionel Messi of Argentina and Lamine Yamal of Spain delaying kick-off of the World Cup Final because they are playing ZX Spectrum games, using Competition Pro joysticks, as was the fashion in the 80s. The ZX Spectrum was a big deal in Spain, but we're not sure whether it had much presence in Argentina. Let us know!
Part of Phil South's review of Wacky Robot from Break Space Issue 6 Ever have one of those jobs where it’s all go? No sooner do you jump up a few levels in the building to collect some electricity, you suddenly have to hover or fling yourself down an elevator shaft to escape a marauding robot. I mean, we’ve all been there. Such is life in the world of Wacky Robot. Now lookit, it’s pretty rare I see something I’ve never seen before. It’s obvious really. When you’ve seen as many damn games as I have, kid, they all start to blur together. But every once in a while someone does something unexpected and remarkable, something which looks like a classic instantly. It’s like they finished the game and painted a thick coat of patina of age all over it. It looks like it’s always been here, part of the woodwork. So it is with Wacky Robot. It looks like something produced by a leading boutique game developer of the late 80s, part of a franchise perhaps, with the polish and panache of a game with a fair amount of clout behind it. This is a game which has gotten a lot of love for every aspect. No stone has been left wanting for a turning. Technically smooth, creatively detailed and the playability is off the map at a 45° angle leaving a smoking hole in the ceiling.
Page 30 of BreakSpace Issue 5, starting a feature about Cronosoft, a company that publishes new games for the Speccy, and other, less funky, computers. I'm not going to type the whole thing in here, and you can get the Issue for free and the text is now selectable and hopefully accessible. Anyway, you can win some Spectrum games on actual physical tapes, like in the olden days. You can even rewind or fast forward them with a pencil, if you're feeling whimsical.
A basically blank page with the Break Space magazine logo and some place-holder headlines. Hilarious.
The Across clues from our Crossword. I'm not going to type them all in here. You can get the whole lot, AND the Down clues, AND the grid, AND the answers to last month's crossword, in the free pdf at the link. Tidy.
The covers of the first 4 Break Space magazines from 2025. They are seasonally themed. Three of them are really good.
A square satellite dish with the Cambridge logo, being displayed by the late Sir Clive Sinclair, boffin extraordinaire.
A cartoon basketball player with terrifying bulging eyes dunks the ball for 2 precious points, from the printable cover for BASIC Ball, a type-in listing presented in Break Space Issue 4. The actual game is more like shooting free throws or Horse or something, with no dunking involved, but there's a long tradition of game illustrations having little to no relation to the game, and who are we to resist the trend?
A cool wizard blasts an off-page foe with his rainbow magic! It's the cover of BreakSpace issue 4, for all you Spectrum game review needs.
A screenshot from a Spectrum game menu screen with text that reads "Review copy for Break-Space Magazine"
Cartoony illustration for a game called Shriek Space, featuring a nervous guy sweating as a frankly terrifying ghost looms over his shoulder. Well spooky, innit?
Should I put all the games in the alt text? Seems wild, but what the heck. Here's the alphabetical list of 58 games reviewed in BreakSpace Issue 3 : Alien Another Golf Asymmetry Attack! Bombas Boni 2 - Return to Bat Hell Boni in Bat Hell BrainTeaser Bubbleback Castle Capers 2 Chuckie Mail Cindy Block Crabby Returns Cubix Delta Charge DS. Bodyguard Ecclesia Escape From The Twilight Castle Fate of the Pirate Frostland Galacic Nexus Generals Gunman Messiah Hammer Knight Hit the Fan Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Kubanoid La cripta de Elmion La Piramide De Xaltocan Little John Can't Jump Magenta Sky Maisie Day is not okay Maze Mission Odessa Oh no more Monkeys! Racetrack Riches Rebearded Fantasy REDM : New Orleans Return to Freakonia Room 310: Face To Face Runaway Nose Sam's Ashes Nightmare Sanxion : the Spectrum Remix Scrapyard Skedaddle Sib City Soko1000 Stamina Svellas The Farmer The Lost One The Rubber-Keyed Wonder - The Vinyl Chapter Tower of Mystery Travel Unlimited Trilogia Urkiola Welcome to Willy's Fun Park Zak McDrucken Saves The Chickens ZX Life ZXnake 2
A detail of the BreakSpace issue 2 cover, featuring the Gorf mothership partially hidden behind a cloud. Please don't ruin Frogger's day, Gorfians. He's worked hard for that ice-cream.
A screenshot from itch.io from poet laureate ( I assume ) r-lyeh stating "If this is not actually your favourite ZX magazine idk wth you're doing with your life" Which is about as good a review as we could have hoped for. Succinct and forceful.
A Muppet holding up a t-shirt with the words 'Kermit the GORF' printed on it.
Big chunky sprites and bold colours in this screenshot of Plyuk on the ZX Spectrum. Our hero pauses on a ledge while two flying weirdoes approach overhead.
Quadrax on the ZX Spectrum. A side on view of the inside of a tomb carved into a mountain top. The shot is taken just as our 2 heroes have united and are about to pop into the teleport to end the level. It took me ages to get here, it's a tricky level.
A screenshot of Skill Team on the ZX Spectrum. An overhead tile-based view of a room with boxes to push, holes to fall down and coloured powers to take advantage of.
Master Piece on the ZX Spectrum. Pieces are laid out on a 4x4 chess board. Doesn't look like much, if we're honest, but it'll melt your brain.
A screenshot of Throbbin' Headache DX on the ZX spectrum. It's a platformer, with our baseball cap wearing hero Robbie in green with deadly robots all around. There are also a surely fatal dose of 14 headache tablets scattered about, which Robbie must collect. Don't try this one at home, kids. Always read the label.
MoonRn on the ZX Spectrum. Our 8-pixel-tall hero gives a jolly wave from a pier before setting off to jump across the moonbeams shimmering on the lake ahead. A giant moon shines out from behind the treeline.
Crazy Burger on the ZX Spectrum in play. A tiny chef stands next to a row of cooktops, with burgers a-sizzlin'. Most of the screen is dominated by oversized order tickets, while 3 customers wait impatiently at the top of the screen for their orders. There are just 57 seconds remaining on the clock. No pressure.