Brick Rick: Graveyard Shift
This is a game targeting the ZX Spectrum 128K.
Rick loves doing the night shift at the working site every now and then because it is quiet and, to be honest, he can slack a bit. Well, not on the night of Halloween!
Looks like a group of monsters have popped in Rick’s job, and that’s something Rick’s boss is not going to like (specially after a recent alien invasion on the Amstrad CPC).
Help our hero to get rid of this bunch, brick in hand, by completing 50 stages in this single screen arcade game.
How to Play
Stun the enemies, so they can’t hurt you, and then kick them (by just touching them). You can stun them by using your bricks or by hitting them with other enemies, causing a chain reaction.
Once all the enemies have been disposed of, the elevator to the next level will open. But be careful, because on some stages, more enemies could get out of that same elevator.
Some enemies will drop an item that will increase your score (coffee), give you more time (sand clock), or stun all the enemies on the screen (dynamite).
Every 10,000 points you will get an extra life, up to 9.
A stage must be cleared in 60 seconds, or the Reaper will appear and chase Rick until he loses a life (or the stage is cleared).
After completing a stage you will get a password that can be entered in the menu to continue the game by starting from that stage.
There are 50 stages in total.
Controls
The game can be controlled with the keyboard or a joystick (Kempston and Sinclair are supported). The keys can be redefined.
| Action | Joystick | Keyboard (default keys) |
|---|---|---|
| Move left | ← | O |
| Move right | → | P |
| Jump | ↑ | Q |
| Throw a brick | Fire | Space |
Press ‘h’ to pause/resume the game.
Press ‘g’ to end the game and go back to the menu.
The Monsters
- Pumpkin Head: the most common monster, with no remarkable skills, although they run fast!
- Skeleton: your average undead, walking around throwing you bones (if you are wondering why it doesn’t fall apart, well: magic).
- Wolfman: what a coincidence that is not only Halloween night but also full moon. The wolfman can smell you and will try to catch you if you are in an platform above it.
- Vampire: flying giant bat thirsty for blood. They are hard to hit with your bricks.
- Frank: built from dead body parts, and brought back to live by the Dr. Frank is very resilient and won’t stay dizzy for long after you hit it with a brick.
- Magician: enigmatic character, wearing a tuxedo and a top hat, the magician can use magic to teletransport to platforms that are below him.
- Dr Evil: a total unstable genius, Dr Evil will leave bombs behind. The bombs will go off after a while, be careful and don’t touch them or be anywhere close when that happens.
- Alien: fresh out of Area 52, the alien is angry (for obvious reasons, what were they thinking?), and has a blaster.
- Reaper: if the time runs out, the Reaper will appear and chase Rick until he dies or completes the sage. It can’t be killed, so you better hurry up!
Graveyard Shift on Cassette
The game is available on the tfw8b 499 range.
Downloads
This game is powered by Arkos 2 Player by Targhan.
Like Rick, I love coffee!
Version 1.0.3 (2021-03-25)
graveyard-shift.zip (TAP and manual inside)
graveyard-shift-plus3.zip (DSK and manual inside, contributed by @retrovm)
Thanks to Antxiko for his help testing the game.
If you don’t have the hardware, you can still play it in an emulator.