Rating: 5/5
Spectrealm was the first 'rule-a-country' game written for the Spectrum and one of the first in its genre aimed for a market beyond college computer clubs. By today's Era Of Empire standards it is very basic but without it, who knows, Era Of Empire and its ilk may never have happened. Starting with 1000 inhabitants, enough corn to feed them and 5000 gold, you had 100 years to 'prove' yourself a good ruler. Farms and mines produced goods according to variable weather conditions and natural disasters. To compound the stress, your country was surrounded by others, who occasionally chose to attack you. Winning those battles was profitable; losing them wasn't. And if that wasn't enough to contend with, every 4 years your population went to the polls - and yes, you could get voted out. End of Game, would you like to Play Again? The gameplay was textual with keyboard inputs only. Report sheets kept the player abreast of conditions. War and Voting reports arrived as nail-biting telegrams.
You also need an emulator to run this game. To grab one quickly, please check out our ZX Spectrum Z80 emulators section.