Producer: Gargoyle Games
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £9.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Greg Follis & Roy Carter
Our recent preview of the new graphical adventure Tir Na Nog, which loosely translated means Land of Youth from Gargoyle Games, whose first game Ad Astra caused such a stir with its graphics, seems to have already aroused a lot of interest. Tir Na Nog is one of those games that is a review team's nightmare! There is such a lot of it to get through in a shortish space of time that it is inevitable we can only give a hint of the flavour.
Tir Na Nog is set in a mythical Celtic world peopled by the Sidhe. Once mighty, now fallen on hard times, these monkey-like creatures are the main protagonists in the adventure. They had bound the Great Enemy by creating the Seal of Calum, and thus had become a great civilisation. But the Great Enemy had managed to steal the Seal by sending a thief. In their rage the Sidhe killed the thief but the Seal was shattered into four pieces and the Great Enemy freed to wreak havoc on the Earth again. So fell the Sidhe into sub-human beasts.
When the game opens, it is a new, darker age. You play Cuchulainn, the Hound of Heaven, a mighty warrior who has been called to reunite the four pieces of the Seal of Calum and thus defeat the Great Enemy. In this respect Tir Na Nog is definitely an adventure. You are required to explore, seek useful objects such as weapons and keys (some of whose uses are immediately apparent, and some are not), and interact with the other characters who inhabit the land. But it is not a text orientated adventure - text only plays a part in telling you where you are and what objects you are carrying, although occasionally there are situations where text will appear, such as the Oracle. There are puzzles to solve (the Oracle's obscure pronouncements are such), and there are many arcade situations where quick reactions are needed to stay alive.
The screen is split roughly into two sections - a top playing area, where the land is seen, and a lower information area which tells you where you are, what you are carrying or using, and most importantly, a compass. The hero Cuchulainn moves left and right, but the scene may be viewed from four 'camera' positions which relate to the changing compass below.
Tir Na Nog comes in a large cardboard box which contains a 28 page booklet and a full colour map of the land. The booklet has playing instructions, a history of the land and playing tips contained very neatly within a supposed Sealltuinn, or 'observations' of a Bard of the Sidhe. The game may be saved at any point (to avoid constant death!) and reloaded.
COMMENTS
Control keys: corner keys for thrust, alternate bottom row for left/right, alternate second row for changing 'camera' view, alternate third row for pick up/drop
Joystick: none, but a programmable interface might prove useful here
Keyboard play: responsive - takes getting used to keys and views
Use of colour: black drawings on simple colour grounds, works well and looks fresh
Graphics: excellent animation, using many frames, large characters and smooth scrolling effects
Sound: not much, mostly warning beeps
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 1, but the game constantly returns you to the start position, with effects of last life intact
Screens: continuous scrolling
Special features: map of Tir Na Nog
What we have here is a game that desperately needs careful mapping by the player! The map provided is very useful in giving the general layout of the land, but as the booklet says, 'So many doors are there in Tir Na Nog that it has often been called the Land of Opportunity, because of the number of openings that exist.' And there are hundreds of pathways. Because of the 3D world the program creates, but which you only really see in two dimensions at any time, it can get very confusing at first! The first time player would be well advised to ensure that he or she doesn't lose a life right outside the altar cave and so drop the axe picked up just inside, because a Sidhe prowls around on that path and makes it a hard job on a next life to get the axe back. And that's an important point - as in Avalon, objects used or dropped remain where they are, you affect the land every time you play and things are not reset to 'start'. The graphics are extremely good. Cuchulainn walks and fights with tremendous vigour. It's marvellous animation. The adventure quests are numerous and this game is going to take a long time to get through, which makes it good value for money, and a must for adventurers and arcade players alike.
Tir Na Nog requires the skills of adventure, strategy and arcade. Some of the creatures you just have to fight, and what with orienting yourself and moving, it can be quite a skill. But some are in possession of things you need, and you may have something they want, so strategical thinking and forward planning comes in as well. Colour has been well used so there are no attribute problems to spoil the look of it. All the animated characters are masked on the backgrounds, so they look realistic and can be easily seen. The sidhe are very good, but a damned nuisance! I have barely scraped the surface of this marvellous looking game, but as far as I have got, it is playable, fun and (not usually the case with an adventure) very addictive.
I didn't get to see the preview copy of Tir Na Nog earlier but I had heard about it, and was looking forward to seeing it. Then I saw The Legend of Avalon and wondered whether Tir Na Nog wasn't going to be very similar. Well they are not at all alike, visually or in the playing, beyond the fact that in both games you do have to be able to think and move very quickly at times in what is a vast playing area. I like the idea in Tir Na Nog that access to the many major 'above' and 'below' ground places is done by way of caves which lead you from one place to the other. This game is also one of those that requires a lot of exploring and familiarising before you have a hope of getting onto the quests. Fortunately, the exploring itself is fun and there is a lot to see. I just wonder whether there isn't too much walking about to do? I feel sure that Tir Na Nog is going to appeal widely because of the different things in it, and it's going to take a long time to get right through it and destroy the Great Enemy.
Gargoyle Games' first release was the very well received Ad Astra, a 3D 'shoot 'em up' space game. But Tir Na Nog could hardly be more different. It's an adventure that combines the 'what you see is what's there' graphic style of Valhalla with simple no-text keyboard controls. (That comparison is rather unfair though because the graphics in Tir Na Nog reflect all the advances in programming techniques that have occured since Valhalla appeared!)
The hero of the game Cuchulainn (Cucuc for short) is represented by a fully-animated graphic almost one third of the screen high. He scours the Land of Youth (Tir Na Nog) for the four pieces of the seal of Calum in an effort to re-unite them to defeat the great enemy.
Cucuc's only mode of transport is to walk. You control the hero using simple 'walk left' and 'walk right' keys. Two more keys are used to pick up and drop the many objects and weapons littered around the paths.
Weapons are very important items for Cucuc as he's not alone in Tir Na Nog - there's also a violent race of monkeys called Sidhe; they can be defeated by 'thrusting' at them with some kind of weapon. If Cucuc loses a fight, he doesn't die (in fact he's dead already!) but all his possessions are dropped and he goes back to the starting position - so it's useful to save the game straight away when you start, if you don't want all the bits and pieces littered all over the shop!
Tir Na Nog is a mammoth undertaking which will take a very long time to complete and, as such, offers excellent value for money for 'mad mappers'. Add to that the superb graphics and you have a game which deserves to go down as a classic!
CELTIC QUEST OF CUCHULAINN
Memory: 48K
Price: £9.95
Other programmers will find it difficult competing with Tir Na Nog from Gargoyle. Until you have loaded up you may think that the booklet's boast of a 'computer movie' is pushing it a bit. Not so - this animated graphics adventure is bound to become a classic of Spectrum programming and portrays the travels and adventures of the hero Cuchulainn through the Celtic afterworld, Tir Na Nog.
Cuchulainn strides tall, clear and purposeful along the paths of his world. Fore-, middle- and backgrounds scroll independently behind him, giving a convincing likeness of real movement. The camera angle can be altered so that he can be seen from four viewpoints and the scenery changes accordingly. The clouds roll, smoke billows, birds flutter.
Other characters are shown in equal detail and live their own lives whilst Cuchulainn obeys you in his search for the fragments of the Seal of Calum.
Not that you have to pursue the quest. You may choose to wander the roads and explore the intricacies of the world or follow secondary objectives that may well need to be completed before the major aim can be accomplished. Other characters may lay tasks on you too and events may force you in a certain direction at times.
Beware of the Sidhe, those powerful, dangerous and magical beings who also use the pathways. Combat may occur if all else fails and Cuchulainn can thrust with any weapon he may have found. To progress and survive you will need persistence, lateral thinking and good luck - though of course you cannot be killed, merely returned to the beginning.
The game is not designed as a text adventure and uses the keyboard for movement and initiating various actions. Do not be misled by this into thinking that it is an arcade game - the program scope is vast and the world it depicts is alive and full of atmosphere. This is a full adventure and, with no single or simple solution, may keep you occupied for a long, long time. Highly original and stunningly presented.
Label: Rebound
Author: Gargoyle
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins
Hold on to your space helmet (or broadsword) - Gargoyle's games are back, they're cheap, and they're still brilliant.
The Gargoyle animated arcade adventure trilogy - Tir Na Nog, Dun Darach and Marsport - first appeared in 1984/5. Two things left the reviewers dumbfounded; first, the unpronounceable Gaelic titles, second, the wonderful animation and depth of gameplay, which were so impressive that all three games won high praise and several awards.
Now the trilogy is re-released at budget price on the Rebound label, Hewson's new showcase of blasts from the past. Dash out and buy all three at once, or you must need a new brain.
Based loosely on the Gaelic myths of the hero Cuchulainn (that's pronounced Cahullan, folks), all three adventures, two of the past and one of the future, share a revolutionary use of giant sprite animation which has not been bettered to this day.
Programmers Greg Follis and Roy Carter based the frames of animation on sequential pictures of authentic walking; hence the realism of the animation. The main characters, Cuchulainn and Commander John Marsh, share a loping stride which is so watchable that just running the demo is more enjoyable than playing many of the latest games. Like the other games, Tir Na Nog has a scrolling graphics section in the middle third of the screen. The hero stays in the centre of the screen while the background scrolls past him.
Cuchulainn's aim is to reunite the fragments of the shattered Seal of Calum. Tir Na Nog - the Land of Youth - is inhabited by many hostile forces, principally the Sidhe. But since Cuchulainn is already dead, he cannot be killed, just dissipated by repeated attacks, at which point he returns to the gate of Tir Na Nog, loses all the objects he was carrying and has to start again. Likewise, none of Cuchalainn's enemies can be killed, only dissipated for a short time, so don't hang around after a fight!
Above the main display appears a compass and the clues which you will need to locate the fragments of the Seal. Below, inventories of the objects and weapons Cuchulainn has found. He can carry up to four objects, and can thrust with any one to use it as a weapon.
The world can be viewed from any of four directions by changing the, "camera angle" You can also move in any of these directions, following the paths, so mapping is essential. There are also many doorways to caves and tunnels, so you will need to find keys to use these shortcuts. As always, though, the hardest bit is not finding objects, but persuading their owners to give them up...
LOOK WEST, YOUNG MAN
MAKER:
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £x.95
Know, O prince, that when the land was grey with pagan ways and cursed with pungent sanitation there evolved a race of wily manthings who became known as the Sidhe. It was they, who with monstrous wit (and the holy Seal of Calum) captured the Great Enemy, the Master Worm, and cast him into a grim and icy abyss, thus bringing about the dawn of a bright new age (credit where credit's due). The Master Worm was naturally piqued at this development and vowed to destroy the Seal of Calum and stomp the godly Sidhe into the ground! As is the way of legend the Worm wasn't just whistling Dixie. There followed a terrible battle that climaxed with evil walking the Earth once more and both Sidhe and Seal being cast down into the underworld of Tir Na Nog. Know also, O prince, that somewhile later the great hero, Cuchulainn (also known as Sedanta, Culan's hound or just plain Cucu) travelled to Tir Na Nog (via the keyboard) in search of the shattered Seal. His quest being to bring the fragments and reunite them, thereby lightening the burdens of the world and ensuring his own everlasting glory (which seems a fair enough reason to me).
Thus begins this unquestionably impressive new episode in the controversial annals of the animated adventure. Combining both full-scale animation and mammoth play area with a (recognisable) random/vaguely intelligent cast, Gargoyle Games' Tir Na Nog actually delivers everything that Valhalla promised. I mean, you don't have to peer painfully at a load of undistinguishable black blots here. The central character of Cucu stands a full 56 pixels tall and comes complete with grimace and matted hair! The screen display offers you four different camera angles allowing full examination of he land of Nog - as well as displaying both a compass and inventory list . The animation of all the characters is quite superb.
Cucu shambles about with a realistically smooth gait, hair blowing dramatically in the wind and Nog's drooling denizens are a delight to behold. However, don't expect to complete it in a week. My version was only a pre-production model, smaller in size and less baffling than the final program, with prize items (keys for locked doors and fragments of the Seal) readily available yet even in this simplified form, it presented a number of headaches; how to avoid the shambling Sidhe (now reduced to simian appearance following the loss of the Seal) for example? 'Twas enough make a grown man weep. Needless to say I'm hooked. A full blown Cuchulainn should be shambling past your way soon. Don't fail to check him out.
MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: Gargoyle, £9.95
Any game with a hero called Cuchulainn has got to be different, and Tir Na Nog is certainly that. It's a 'vast interactive adventure, set in the magical landscapes of Celtic mythology' and the only games I can think of that even faintly resemble it are The Lords of Midnight and Valhalla.
Where Tir Na Nog is superior to both of these is in the animation. Cuchulainn is the most smoothly animated figure I've ever seen on a micro. He looks a bit like an old-time hippy as he bounces along, bare-chested with his long hair waving behind him.
But what's he up to? Well, Tir Na Nog is the Celtic Other World, into which Cuchu descends after his own demise in order to find and reassemble the fragments of the Seal of Calum. This is partly because the Seal is needed to prevent great evil etc, etc, and partly because Cuchu wants to make up for the slight mistake he made when he killed his son.
Cuchu has to travel through a huge and impressively created landscape, which scrolls past him at different speeds in the middle-distance and the background. The player watches Cuchu through a camera which can be pointed in any of four directions. Although the hero can only move left or right on screen, changing the view enables him to move in other directions.
Emerging from the Altar Room at the Entrance to Tir Na Nog, Cuchu is faced by three doors. Often, before he can even get his mitts on a handle, he is confronted by a Sidhe. These are malevolent creatures which pop up all over the place. They too are beautifully animated and are somewhat daunting in appearance - hairy, ape-like things. Although they can be killed, the wisest course seems to be to run away from them.
Cuchu's main goal involves him in many subsidiary quests, such as getting information out of stubborn creatures. Scattered throughout the land are various objects, certain combinations of which will do the trick in certain situations. Only trial and error will reveal to the player which ones are successful.
The immediate difficulty in playing Tir Na Nog is the size and complexity of the game. Mapping is essential or you could end up wandering for hours through the Plain of Lies, with only the odd Sidhe for company.
Tir Na Nog's originality and complexity are sure to make it popular with players who like a lengthy intellectual challenge. If you just like a quick zap, stay away.
Quite a game, this. I found the animation pretty mind-blowing and reckon that there's material here to keep me playing for many a long, dark winter's night.
I found it difficult to get my bearings to start with - the different 'camera angles' are rather confusing when you first play. This was a particular disadvantage when I was being chased by a Sidhe and come to a road-junction all too often I got 'killed' while trying to turn in a different direction.
It's certainly not a simple game to get the most out of. Perhaps it almost too complex - making a map is essential, of course, but the instructions also mention something about visiting my local library to gather important information. I'm not sure how many days of the week would see me willingly put that sort of effort into a game, but perhaps others will feel differently.
Despite these reservations, this is definitely a game I shall keep coming back to.
STEVE COOKE
Definitely the best animation on the Spectrum and the complexity and playability have not been sacrificed to achieve it.
The way you lumber around on travels is tremendous and the adventure element is there in full as you explore in search of objects and your goal.
Gargoyle hove also managed to capture the atmosphere that the plot and setting of the game demand, but I wish I knew the language.
This is perhaps the first TRUE adventure movie which will doubtless spawn many similar games.
BOB WADE
THE HOUND OF ERIN
MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £9.95
SUPPLIER: Gargoyle Games
Julie Lewis enters the world of Celtic mythology and explores the land of Tir Na Nog.
The booklet which accompanies this tape tells newcomers to the land of Tir Na Nog that "a complete solution may take months, perhaps years...". This is well within the bounds of possibility - so far I do not seem to have progressed very far at all.
Tir Na Nog is described by the publishers, Gargoyle Games, as "a vast interactive Adventure", based on Celtic mythology. It concerns the exploits of the great Hero, Cuchulainn, who, according to the manual, was formerly known as Sedanta, familiarly called Cucuc, also known as the Hound of Heaven, Culan's Hound or Hound, alias YOU.
The game is designed to operate like a film, with the main character and his adversaries all moving and acting independently on the screen. What you see in front of you is what you would see through the camera lens, and you can choose between four different viewpoints or directions - north, south, east and west. You can walk left or right, and can carry up to four objects any one of these can be nominated for use in combat.
The game operates entirely with the use of function keys, and anyone who doesn't already possess a keyboard overlay is advised (by me) to buy a pack along with the game. It is very easy to forget which key to press, especially when facing a nasty - you may have time to pick up the axe lying nearby and quickly nominate it, but if by mistake you drop your feldspar there probably won't be time to defend yourself.
The problem is that each line of keys is used for a particular function. For example, the keys on the third row up alternate between picking up and dropping objects. In my opinion it would have made play much easier if one side of the keyboard had been used for one function, and the other side for the other.
The locations in the game have suitably weird and wonderful names, such as Lava Flats, Dubh Sgorr and Glasmarsh, and the graphic interpretations are faultless. The Plain of Lies includes a maze of sorts, although you won't realised it's a maze until it occurs to you that you keep returning to the same place over and over again.
There are, apparently, hundreds of objects scattered around the Land of Youth, although personally I've only encountered a handful. The objects are to be found in a variety of places - buried underground, hidden in caves, guarded by a formidable beast, or just lying by the wayside. You can use any object in combat, but some, a honeycomb for instance, are not likely to offer much protection.
Each object possesses certain attributes - some may seem valueless but turn out to be essential. For example, I can think of no apparent purpose for a pile of old bones, except maybe to make soup, but I daresay it forms an essential part of the solution. The disembodied face that keeps throwing stones at me (with what, I ask myself?) certainly seems to think it worth protecting. Then again, he could be trying to stop me running off with the crown that's with it. It is possible to get away with both the crown and the bones, but not easily (it took me several attempts and I don't really know how I did it). Many players would no doubt grab the crown and run, thinking it to be the most valuable object of the two, but it wouldn't surprise me one little bit if it was really the bones...
Tir Na Nog contains many doors. Theese are to be found in various forms - within hedges, brick walls and so on. These doors, some of which are locked of course, lead to varying locales - caves and tunnels, other parts of the Land, or just to the other side!
There are, I understand, some invisible doors, but so far I haven't seen any of those. Actually passing through a door is no easy task - it is necessary to position the 'camera' in such a way that the doorway is immediately to your left or right, and this can sometimes prove very difficult, particularly when you are being hotly pursued by an angry foe, or trying to avoid the dreaded Oleweed.
One interesting factor about the game is that, each time it is loaded, objects will not necessarily appear in the same place as they appeared the previous time it was played. This is a definite plus - games which involve going through exactly the same process time and time again soon become monotonous. This is not to say that Tir Na Nog is without its irritations - I can see myself becoming bored with it unless I can do more than just roam the land picking up and dropping objects and having the occasional disagreement with baddies.
The actual purpose of the game is to locate and re-unite the four fragments of the Seal of Calum which, as a result of the usual battle between good and evil, were scattered randomly throughout the land. The baddy in this tale is the Great Enemy, and the goodies were the Sidhe - I say were because they have since presumably turned into baddies, seeing as how they seem intent on attacking me at every given moment.
Cuchulainn cannot actually be killed, for the simple reason that he is already dead - like any hero worthy of the title he deliberately let himself be disposed of in order to enter the Afterworld, and from there enter Tir Na Nog, thereby being able to embark on his quest. Nevertheless, although Culan's Hound cannot die in the strictest sense of the word, his shade can be dissipated if he goes too far, and it will then reform at the Gateway to the afterlife, which is where the game commences.
Any objects he is carrying when this occurs will be automatically dropped at the point he departs, and will remain there until he passes that way again - other characters do not seem to pick objects up or tamper with them in any way. Whether this rule also applies to the quest objects I do not know, as so far I have not encountered any. The same rule applies to other characters in the game they cannot be killed, only deterred...
However, if you should inadvertently find yourself in a position from which there seems no escape, such as getting stuck in the catacombs of An Lin (the Net), there is no way you can return to the start of the game except by being killed or completely reloading - not a very useful function. For this reason, I think it is a good idea to save the starting conditions of the game before commencing play.
During play, the lower part of the screen is the 'status area'. This contains a compass, general details concerning the present location, your nominated weapon and current possessions, and any information volunteered by other creatures in the game (so far I haven't received any of the latter).
The game can be 'frozen' by pressing shift 5, and shift 4 will put the game into auto-mode - you can then watch your shade dissipate continually while you eat your lunch. The only problem is, that when the game is auto-running the main character will only follow a straight path, he will take no side turnings, and as a result he often ends up going backwards and forwards along the same path.
It took me a little while to work out how to take the pathways to the north or south when I could only go left or right, but once I managed this (with the aid of the compass) I was soon on my way. I cannot say I am too pleased with my appearance, however - I seem to have greasy, straggling hair and a permanent stoop. However, the characters move better than they do in Valhalla.
Tir Na Nog is not really a true adventure, nor is it an arcade game - it is not even somewhere between the two. It has the usual ingredients of an adventure objects, a quest and so on, but there is no 'communication' with the computer, everything is done via function keys rather than typing in commands. I personally prefer the latter kind of game, mainly because I have never found any other kind which compares favourably, except for Beyond's Lords of Midnight.
PRICE: £9.95
GAME TYPE: Adventure
Great were the heroes of Celtic lore, and greatest of all was the hero, Cuchulainn. When he was but a boy the druid Cathbhadh prophesied that any who took arms on a certain day would do great deeds, and be renowned for ever, but would be fated to be short-lived. Cuchulainn took arms that day, his deeds were great, but his fate came upon him swiftly. Now, in Tir Na Nog, the land of youth, Cuchulainn faces his greatest challenge. He must find and unite the four sections of the Seal ofCalum.
Great too are the programmers of Gargoyle games, and great is the animation they have wrought. Through the four views mortal watchers have of the land of Tir Na Nog can be seen the hero Cuchulainn, a character of the epic height of 56 pixels. As he walks the labyrinthine paths of the land, mortals can change both his direction, and their view.
In the records we read of the fabled characters animated in Valhalla and Oracle's Cave but, verily, the animation of this game doth surpass all those of which we know. Those who are privileged to see the hero's hair blowing in the wind, to meet the other denizens of this strange land and see the range and variety of the smoothly scrolling landscape will agree that here is the animated adventure in its most complete form.
Pity the poor seeker after truth who must chart the wanderings of the paths through the regions of Badheim, of Tir Clechan and Stormbase. The seeker who must show the undercover ways, the customs of the characters and the uses and positions of the many objects. The seeker who must make sense of the ramblings of the Bard of Sidhe, who must face the cave wights and the Sidhe, pass by the olcweed and uncover the mysteries of the standing stones of Stormbase. Such seekers must be pitied, but also envied, for it is they who will see the rich life of Tir Na Nog and they who will finally help Cuchulainn to the Seal.
Those eager searchers after truth who wish to visit Tir Na Nog will find it produced by Gargoyle Games, 74 King Street, Dudley, West Midlands.
Spectrum 48K
Arcade Adventure
Gargoyle Games
£9.95
Some old hippies might try and persuade you that Tir Na Nog is an Irish folkband that gained prominence along with Planxty and other unpronounceable names. These people will of course know that the phrase is Gaelic for land of youth. So here we have it, a computer game set in the Celtic Other World. There probably are Irish computer jokes but naturally you won't find ant of that sort of thing in Your Computer.
Based on the great Irish mythological hero Cuchulainn, the game is billed as a "computer movie". Things being what they are today, it is very difficult for a self-respecting computer game to get into the shops without (a) being based on a movie, or (b) going the whole hog and actually pretending to be a movie in its own right.
Tir Na Nog has taken the latter course - the action is presented as through a camera pointing at Cuchulainn, whom we are assured was known as Cacuc to his friends and intimates. Personally, I would not try calling the shambling knee-jerker at the centre of the screen anything other than Sir unless I had bought him at least three pints of Guinness. If he could play the bass guitar he would certainly give Motorhead's Lemmy a lot to worry about.
He stands 56 pixels tall - that's pixels, not pixies - and is controlled from the keyboard. The animation of the character is very impressive.
As he slouches disconsolately through Tir Na Nog, the detailed scenery in the fore and middle grounds scrolls past him. Birds of ill-omen hover around the castle of King Dhomnuil, flapping their wings continuously in the distance. Cuchulainn can carry up to four objects - though you have to check with the status area at the bottom of the screen to see what he is actually carrying.
Since everyone in the Celtic Other World is actually dead all you can hope to do is daunt them a little bit, and should anyone harm Cuchulainn seriously he just rematerialises at the entrance to Tir Na Nog - sans objects.
The purpose of the game is to locate and reunite the fragments of the Seal of Calum. Due to a breakdown in security, the seal was smashed into four bits by a servant of the Great Enemy now being free to carry on business as usual, snuffing out galaxies, vesting pain and misery on mankind in the customary way.
Having located the pieces you have to persuade the owners to give them up.
ARCADE ADVENTURES
Chris Jenkins looks at some of the more adventurous examples of the marriage of Arcade and Adventure.
The software of the future combines the best aspects of adventure games strategy, the requirement for mental agility and complexity of plot - with the best of arcade games - brilliant graphics, sophisticated programming techniques and exciting action.
These arcade adventures, or Aardvarks as I insist on calling them to the disgust of my colleagues, are in my opinion a genre which will come to dominate the market, as pure adventurers become bored with repetitive text-only programs, and arcade players come to demand something more sophisticated than mindless shoot-'em-ups.
So how do you go about conquering the world of Aardvarks? First, go out and buy a joystick. I know, the very thought will fill some of you with disgust, but grit your teeth and get a bog-standard stick (no need for optional laser sighting attachment and self-locking neutrino ranging circuits) plus the interface necessary for your Spectrum, BBC or whatever.
Next, check out the market carefully. Not everything described as an "arcade adventure" turns out to fulfill the requirements I've outlined. Manic Miner, for instance, could be described as an arcade adventure, but in fact requires no more than infinite patience and precise reactions to play. The best games require more strategic thought, and reading the blurb on the pack should give you some idea of the content. For some reason true Aardvarks usually seem to come in mega-packages with 150-page full-colour leaflets, badges, a club magazine, a scarf, three posters and a plastic goldfish. I exaggerate of course.
For Spectrum owners, an excellent starter is SabreWulf from Ultimate.
Like many adventures, SabreWulf is supplied with the minimum of instructions. All you know is that you mug collect four amulets and combine them to be able to pass through a mystic portal. The play area is a jungle maze of enormous complexity. Several games magazines have published SabreWulf maps, which are very helpful.
As in an adventure game, you'll find on your journey through the maze that you pass potentially useful objects such as treasure, food, weapons and potions. Your character will automatically pick these up on passing over them, but there are also dangers such as various monsters, poisonous orchids and the eponymous Wulf, which you must avoid.
For a game requiring more in the way of pure strategy, you should look at KnightLore, again from Ultimate for the Spectrum. This one features an intrepid explorer afflicted by lycanthropy. You have forty days and nights to find the secret of the Wizard's magic potion before you become a werewulf forever...
The transformation scenes, in which you involuntarily change shape, are brilliantly handled, as are the animated monsters and obstacles. Each of the 128 3-D screens is packed with details; moving stone blocks, treasures, potions, portcullises and the like. The trick here is to approach the mysteries of each chamber imaginatively - for instance, if you can't reach a desired object KnightLore by jumping, can you stand on one of the other objects to reach it, or move it to a new position? Split second timing is vital, as is attention to the clock. Should you transform into a werewulf in the middle of a difficult routine you'll meet a sticky end, either from guardian monsters or from automatic traps.
At the risk of making it sound as if only Ultimate produces good Aardvarks for the Spectrum, another goodie is Underwurlde. This has nearly 600 screens on a grid 52 deep by 16 wide, representing a selection of furnished rooms and mysterious caverns.
To win you must find four randomly-placed weapons and destroy the guardians of Underwurlde. You can run and jump around the caverns and ledges, but must beware of various monsters and natural hazards. Blue gems will make you invulnerable for a limited time. Underwurlde doesn't feature as many strategic elements as Knight Lore, and is perhaps more of a joystick basher.
For a little variation, let's look at the CBM64. Virgin's Sorcerer is a fast-moving Aardvark which features a flying wizard, who has to collect various magic objects in order to reach a confrontation with the evil Necromancer without falling victim to ghosts and goblins. The game looked very impressive when it appeared, but the Commodore version pales into insignificance besides the magnificent Amstrad CPC 464 version. This implementation of Sorcerer features stunningly sharp, colourful graphics, and a truly infuriating and fascinating plot.
Six good wizards are trapped in the game's forty screens. Your wizard must fly around the castles and dungeons of the magic land, picking up useful objects by passing over them, and fighting off the baddies to liberate the six captives. Only then can you progress to the show-down.
The objects scattered around the screens each have a specific task. Swords and clubs are for killing land-based enemies. Shooting stars and spells kill the airborne Demons, and Sorcerer's Moons, Scrolls and Bottles open various doors. Any contact with the enemy depletes your energy, though you can refuel by landing on a cauldron. But beware! If you try to refuel while carrying certain objects, you will lose energy.
The game starts randomly from one of five locations, and it's essential to make a map and keep notes of which objects open which doors. Altogether this is certainly the best game yet for the Amstrad, and possibly the greatest arcade adventure I've seen.
In many ways it's similar to Hewson's Avalon for the Spectrum, which again features a flying mage. This time you are armed with a selection of spells, selected using the joystick controls, which allow you to move around the 200-room Kingdom of Avalon in your quest to destroy the Lord of Chaos. Some doors are locked until you find a key, some are invisible until you cast the right spell. Sprites can be enslaved using a SERVANT spell, and made to work for you. Avalon is so complex that like many adventures it has a SAVE facility. It's one of the most Aardvark-like of Aardvarks, combining adventure and arcade features remarkably well.
For the BBC, you could do worse than investigate MicroPower's Castle Quest. The scenario is similar to that of many an adventure - finding the wizard's treasure which is hidden somewhere inside the castle. To do this you must determine the correct use of the many objects found on the platforms and corridors of the castle.
To give you some idea of the adventure-like nature of the problems you're set, if you are captured by the guards at one stage you are thrown into jail. To escape you must pick up a stool, leap into the air and throw the stool at a torch, pick up the stool and place it near the door, pick up the torch and use it to set fire to the bed, leap onto the stool then onto a ledge over the door, wait for the guard to rush in and leap down behind him, then through the door! It makes getting out of the goblin's dungeon look like a piece of cake.
Back to the CBM 64 for Impossible Mission, a disc game from CBS. Again this takes a good deal of co-ordination as you control the brilliantly-animated figure of a secret agent, leaping from level to level in a complex of underground rooms. The object is to examine the items of furniture and computer equipment in the complex in order to discover hidden computer codes. These let you log onto security terminals so that you can disable the lethal guard robots or reset the elevators in each screen. The password for the final control room is in several pieces, which have to be assembled correctly to gain access. You have a pocket computer to help you, and can also call up your HQ computer at the cost of a time penalty.
Impossible Mission features bloodcurdling software-generated speech and excellent sound effects. It's perhaps more of a logic puzzle than a strategy game, but should interest many adventure fans with a quick trigger finger.
Finally it's worth looking at some more Spectrum games, since the Spectrum is still the first machine many Aardvarks are designed for.
Microgen's Wally series veers towards the arcade rather than the adventure side, but is good nonetheless. Automania, Pyjamarama and the forthcoming Life of Wally are described as "graphical adventures", in which the usual arcade jumping-and-ducking idea takes on a new depth. Automania is almost entirely an arcade game, Pyjamarama has more of a quest element in the saga of the sleeping Wally searching his house for an alarm clock to wake him from his nightmare, and Life of Wally reputedly features several characters any of which can be controlled at any time like a more conventional adventure such as Lords of Midnight.
Ocean's Gift From The Gods also features a combination of animated graphics and a quest element, following the ordeal of Orestes in the labyrinth of Mycenae. Hidden in the chambers are sixteen geometric shapes which, when placed in the right order in the Guardian's chamber, reveal the exit. Various creatures sap your strength, which can be replenished with streams of water. Orestes' sister Electra will help him to choose the correct objects if she's around, but the evil Clytaemnestra will confuse the issue.
Gargoyle's Tir Na Nog winds up this brief look at the wonderful world of Aardvarks. Described as a "computer movie", it features convincing animation set in a world of Celtic myth. The design of the scrolling backgrounds is very rich and detailed. The hero Cuchulainn must traverse a series of interlinked paths. As is traditional, the quest involves finding and assembling the parts of a broken artefact, in this case a seal, while fighting off the baddies which include the ape-like Sidhe. There are some 150 objects which can be picked up and used.
This concludes our brief look at the private life of the Aardvark. Die-hard adventurers will I'm sure curl their lips with, contempt at the idea of it all, but try to be a little flexible. The most sophisticated programs now being produced fall into this category, and you'll soon be finding that skill with a joystick has become as indispensable to the adventure games player as a working knowledge of Elvish.
PRICE: £9.95
PUBLISHER: Gargoyle Games, 021-236 2593
The development of cartoon adventures,, where you control a figure moving around a landscape, still has some way to go. But only a year ago you'd have said that what Gargoyle Games has achieved here was impossible. The company has managed an astonishing degree of realism in the animation of the hero, Cuchulainn, and the characters which populate the world of Tir na Nag and has come up with a worthy successor to Legend's Valhalla.
Tir na Nog is Celtic for Land of Youth, or our land of the dead. Cuchulainn's task is to collect and activate the four fragments of the Seal of Calum to lighten the burdens of the world; the seal has the power to imprison the Great Enemy - Evil Incarnate. The 20 page booklet called Sealltuinn that comes with the game is worth ploughing through, for there are many tips and hints.
The screen is split into three horizontal panels. At the top is the background, which shows one of the four backdrops - the limits of the kingdom. The castle Dhum Dhonuil with its fluttering Badbha (Battle Ravens) lies to the North, to the South is the volcanic Ceardach while to East and West are the rocky outcrops of Snathad - the Needle and Dudh Sgorr, beneath which lie the catacombs called An Lin, The Net.
If you find it hard to orient yourself, there's always the compass at bottom left which alters as you alter the viewpoint. Also in this lower panel are the location's name (so keep the map handy), your inventory and any messages.
The central panel is what really makes the visual aspect of the game - Cuchulainn stands almost one third of the screen high, and the animation is superb. He strides along with a lilt to his gait, hair flowing behind, arms swinging. You can make him thrust with whatever items he's carrying, which you pick from the inventory list by means of an asterisk.
The view can be chosen from any of the compass points. You'll need to use this to help Cuchulainn take the many roads and doors of Tir na Nog in his quest. For an epic like this there are save, restore, freeze and quit to restart options.
Press a key and you're looking at our lad from the back; another and you're to his right or left; another and you're face to face, all in the blinking of an eye. Cuchulainn's a bit hard to direct at first, especially in this labyrinth of interesting paths and doors to who knows where.
A good deal of my first few hours were spent just wandering around, picking up various potentially useful bits and pieces. It was quite a shock when the representative of Sidhe appeared. The Sidhe are the remnants of the last guard, the ones who originally imprisoned the Great Enemy, but whose carelessness led to the fragmentation of Calum's seal and Evil's escape. Whoever they are, it's bad news to cross them, so make young Cucuc leg it if they come on the scene.
I found it easiest to think in terms of 'to the left', 'to the right' etc, but each to his or her own. As Cuchulainn strides about, he remains central to the screen and the background immediately behind him scrolls smoothly by. However, the upper panel stays put - a bit disturbing at first.
The graphics, apart from the animation aren't brilliant, but then there's so much to the land of Tir na Nog that there can't be much RAM left, it's interesting that both Valhalla and this game take ancient myths for their settings, but perhaps they betray some important human truths. In Tir na Nag you'll find action and adventure, and you might even have to pop into your local library if you really want to solve it. If you want state-of the-art software, Cuchulainn's your man.
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