Some look at ZZT and see a boring old crappy DOS game with four boring old levels. However, if one takes the time to look into it, they will find an easy yet capable ASCII-based game development system! With an easy-to-use world editor and ZZT-OOP (the official programming language of ZZT world design, easy to use with elements of Basic and C), entire ''worlds'' can be created. Hex editing expands the capabilities of the ZZT system, and today obtaining colors outside the regular 7 of ZZT is just a few imported ''boards'' away.
Some look at ZZT and see a boring old crappy DOS game with four boring old levels. However, if one takes the time to look into it, they will find an easy yet capable ASCII-based game development system! With an easy-to-use world editor and ZZT-OOP (the official programming language of ZZT world design, easy to use with elements of Basic and C), entire ''worlds'' can be created. Hex editing expands the capabilities of the ZZT system, and today obtaining colors outside the regular 7 of ZZT is just a few imported ''boards'' away. ZZT has great potential, from making RPGs to making side-scrollers.
Gameplay
The included ''worlds'' are pretty boring: just walk around, pick up keys, and shoot stuff. However, anyone with a good knowledge of ZZT-OOP programming
can make his/her own fun new world. Entire web sites have been filled with excellent ZZT games (custom-built worlds) from various sources. Based off of the defaults, the gameplay would be a 3/10, but the creative potential of the game in its entirety earns it a 10/10.
Story
Well, there is none really. It's up to you, when making your own worlds, to include a story. 0/10 for story.
Audio/Video
Well, the audio is PC speaker and the graphics are entirely made of ASCII characters. However, ZZT's awesome capability extends to this field as well. Beautiful PC speaker tunes have been synthesized in the ZZT editor, and the diverse 255-character charset of ASCII allows surprisingly good graphics... for a 10 year old ASCII game. Heh. I give the audio/video in this game a 7/10, because it was great in its time.
Replay ability
This game is the KING of replay ability. Using the editor, you can create entire new worlds, or just play custom worlds made by others. Swapping worlds you have built produces strong friendships, as well. ZZT will provide you with endless fun long after you have beaten the default worlds. This game's replay ability deserves a 6.02 * 10^23/10, but the best I can give is a 10/10.
Overall, it earns a 9/10.
