| Table Of Contents | |
| Introduction | |
| Gameplay | |
| Reviews | |
| Trivia | |
| Extras |
Introduction
EastEnders (for those of you that dont know) is a British soap opera set
in a fictional part of East London known as Walford, focusing on the lives
of the residents of Albert Square, a community within Walford.
The show has been on TV since 1985 and currently has well over 6,000
episodes, winning countless awards and nominations along the way. At
its peak averaging 21 million viewers per episode (according to
wikipedia).
Due to this success Eastenders has been no stranger to spin offs and
merchandise over the last 36 years from books (both fiction & non
fiction) to slot machines.
With that in mind it may or may not surprise you that, in 1987 someone
came up with the idea to create a video game based on the series.
It was developed and published by Macsen Software with assistance from
Towers Associates and released solely for the ZX Spectrum.
Gameplay
You play as an unnamed character whose sole aim is to help the residents
of Albert Square complete their daily chores, from de-weeding the
communities allotment to helping out in the infamous Queen Vic pub. And a
range of other tasks loosely based on the characters / locations of
eastenders (in 1987).
At the start of the game the player is placed in the middle of Albert
Square, surrounded by the six locations from the series. Each of the
locations are located roughly where they are in the series and feature
their own minigame, which you will be rewarded with points for
completing.
Your total score is displayed at the top of the screen alongside six
icons. each represents a different location on the square such as a sock
icon for the laundrette.
These icons will slowly begin to change colour over time indicating which
task needs your attention. Green means there is no work to be done at the
location, amber means there is some work and red means there is an
overflow of work.
If three of the six icons turn red this means the player has failed to
keep the Albert Square residents happy and the game will end.
The Launderette
In the launderette your task is to take the dirty clothes from baskets,
place them in one of the available washing machines, wait and then place
the clothes in a dryer. Scoring points for each basket of laundry you wash
and dry.
The Queen Victoria
At the Queen Victoria you have to prepare and serve drinks to customers,
ensuring they get the correct beverage.
The Fowler’s House
Over at the fowler’s house you are tasked with looking after their baby,
scoring points by rocking him to sleep and feeding him milk when it's
ready.
The Allotment
The allotment is experiencing a weed problem and it is your job to ensure
they are cut down before they can reach the top of the screen.
The Fruit Stall
Occasionally you will have to visit the fruit stall to ensure it is
filled with delicious fruit. If some fruits are low in stock you will have
to go to the phone box and order more from the suppliers.
Ozcabs
From time to time you will hear a phone ring. When you do head over to
Ozcabs where you will need to help guide one of the cab drivers from point
A to point B, scoring points based on your time.
Reviews
Eastenders is considered by many to be the worst ZX spectrum game ever
released due to the uninteresting gameplay and poor graphics. This isn't
just a modern day opinion either as even at the time the game was poorly
received.
In his review for the march 1987 issue of Sinclair user magazine, Jim
Douglas called the game too awful for words and claimed it doesn't have a
single redeeming feature. A direct quote from the article can be seen
below.
“The graphics are simply atrocious. They're littered with attribute problems and poorly defined. The sound is terrible and the gameplay is slow and quite pathetic.”
He gave the game an overall score of 1 out of 5 stars. If you want to read
the full article checkout the extras section at the bottom of this
post.
Other Platforms release
Bizarrely, some of the marketing material for the game advertised it as being
released for the commodore 64 as well as a handful of other platforms. In an article from the January 1987 issue of Your Commodore magazine it
is also mentioned that the game will be released on the Commodore 64. (see
below)
Macsen Software closure and Planned Sequel
In an article from the June 1987 issue of Sinclair user, It is mentioned
that the disastrous release of EastEnders led to Macsen Software going
into voluntary liquidation just a couple of months after its release. The
article also mentioned that the company was so ashamed of the game that
they publicly denied the game's existence even after it was
released.
Macsen Software must have had high hopes for the game as it was also
reported the company planned on releasing a part two later that same year.
This explains why the game's title on the box art is “EastEnders The
Arcade Game Part 1”. The full article can be viewed in the extras section
below.
Here are some PDF files containing some interesting extras such as the
games manual and advertising materials. (All links go to google
drive)
