The one ZX Spectrum game from 43 years ago that needs a remake – Reader’s Feature

Some games are so old they’ve almost faded from memory, but one reader suggests remaking a ZX Spectrum classic that was one of the first ever isometric video games.

First you choose: Girl or Boy (g/b)?

Press the relevant key on your keyboard and a short paragraph sets the scene:
‘After a long journey you see your destination.

The high walled city of Antescher.

As you stand at the gate you hear a call of distress, irresistible to a HERO like you.

You must answer it..

Good luck!’
Antescher seems entirely empty at first.

An eerie maze of geometric structures and blocks.

However, venture forth at your peril because in Ant Attack you’re never alone for long.

Giant ants scurry in from nowhere, homing in on you in seconds.

Any contact with the insects and you’ll be bitten.

Prolonged exposure means being eaten alive.

You might get lucky and manage to paralyse an ant by jumping onto its back, but your primary defence against the aggressive inhabitants of Antescher are grenades.

You can hurl grenades with varying amounts of effort and so determine how far the grenades go and where they land and explode.

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The goal in Ant Attack is to find and liberate helpless members of the opposite sex.

A clue to the next captive’s location is provided by the game’s scan indicator, which turns green if you’re walking towards them.

Locate a horizontal captive, free them, lead them back out of the city to safety and you score points.

After that you re-enter Antescher to search for another captive who might be lying trapped and helpless anywhere within the desolate conurbation.

And while all of the above transpires a countdown counts down.

From one thousand to zero.

When the timer reaches zero it’s game over, for you and for the existing prisoners of Antescher.

Back when it first came out I owned, played, and loved this game.

Visually and in terms of atmosphere the location of Antescher is iconic.

No other game looked like Ant Attack at the time.

And the whole concept of exploring a mysterious city while being pursued by giant ants was both scary and cool.

The brilliant cover art by David Rowe also probably sold the game to 13-year-old me before I even loaded it from its cassette tape for the first time.

I seem to remember that Ant Attack reviewed well in the press.

I avidly read game reviews in magazines back then.

To flesh out my fond but fairly ancient memories of Ant Attack I was able to find a browser emulation of the game.

Initially playing Ant Attack in 2026 proved awkward for me.

Years of being spoiled with joypads, decent game cameras, and general ease of use meant that I felt severely hampered by Ant Attack’s keyboard controls and its limited viewpoints.

The game felt a bit laggy too.

And thanks to those giant ants most of the time you’re operating in a state of panic.

Faced with the prospect of death by mandible it’s easy to turn and speed walk the wrong way or blow yourself and your liberated captive up with a poorly thrown grenade.

But then again, this game is 43 years old, and I only played an emulated version.

Regardless of its age Ant Attack probably still plays better on an actual ZX Spectrum.

This classic and interesting game deserves to be remastered.

It would be great if Sandy White’s groundbreaking creation was available on modern consoles and therefore became known and loved by gamers who aren’t yet in their fifties.

Regarding a possible remake/remaster, I don’t think Ant Attack’s graphics would need to change much, if at all.

The visuals of this coding miracle (all that good stuff generated in just 48K) are so stylish and appropriate to the game’s story and concept they are etched forever in my mind.

Being chased through a geometric city by giant killer ants is one memory that tends to stick with you.

By reader Michael Veal (@msv858)
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