Thalamus didn't have a great success on the Speccy, especially if you compare to their Commodore output. C64 Armalyte has been classed as one of the best examples of SEUs for the machine (Zzap!64 gave it a 97% score and testimonials on Lemon64 back this up). As the previous C64 to Spectrum conversion, Sanxion, wasn't that great, I certainly wasn't expecting great things with ZX Armalyte.

Similarly with Atomic Robo-Kid, Your Sinclair presented a demo of the game on its' cover tape, which I duly played. I was quite lucky, owning a +2A as for some reason, the demo was only compatible with +2A's or +3's and not just all 128K machines.

As a whole, it's not bad. Some parts are actually great; the animation of the enemy sprites as a whole follow this precept, though your ship sprite itself is a bit bland. The sound effects, even in this demo, seem to be of a high quality, befitting the 128K AY chip, however the constant high-pitched metallic shriek that your weapons fire produces does annoy me.

As a SEU, Armalyte provides refinements to the genre, though nothing new. For example, you have a pod attachment which will follow you around, a la R-Type. The refinement in Armalyte is that the pod will not only improve its' weapons capabilities in the same way that your craft does, but with a swift press of the Enter key, you can lock the pod into a specific part of the screen. This does have its' uses.

From what I have been able to play, ZX Armalyte has a decent difficulty curve and your craft handles well. Collision detection has given me no reason to complain. I have no reason to complain about any part of the game, however perhaps having never played the original, I never got excited by Armalyte either.

Had the game been completed and released, I fully expected it to have received overall scores in the 80% or higher ranges, based on the level I have played. It's a technically very competent game with a highly regarded heritage. I'm not so certain it would have received such a pedestal-placing on the Speccy. I would love to be proven wrong!