150 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
150 lines
7.3 KiB
Plaintext
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ARTURA
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ARTURA is a D&D-type strategy/arcade game from Arcadia and
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Mastertronic. It offers excellent graphics, easy gameplay, a
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four-level labyrinth, lots of monsters, joystick control, and copy
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protection. The Atari ST version is the basis of this review;
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Commodore 64/128, IBM-PC, and Amiga version notes follow.
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The plot of ARTURA concerns your mentor Merdyn, who has
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mysteriously vanished, and Nimue, Merdyn's young apprentice, who has
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been kidnapped by Morgause, your evil half-sister. Morgause has
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built a maze, riddled it with traps and dead ends, and populated it
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with rats, bats, spiders, warriors, ghouls, and sorcerers. The
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object of the game is to enter the maze, solve its puzzles, defeat
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its inhabitants, and rescue Nimue. This is going to be a long-winded
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job, one that cannot be completed without the help provided by the
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Rune Stones. They've been shattered into many tiny pieces, and
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before you can use them, you'll have to gather the pieces needed to
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make them whole.
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The ST graphics display consists of separate screens of the maze.
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When you move your character to a screen-edge or through a doorway,
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a new section of the maze appears, by way of a camera-like shutter.
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Below the action screen is a snakey-looking energy bar that turns
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black when you deal poorly with the terrors of the maze. The
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platters of food scattered here and there restore lost energy; the
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game ends when all energy is gone. Below the energy bar are the
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empty slots within which the Rune Stones will be assembled.
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Runes can be used singly or in conjunction with other Runes to
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transport you to otherwise inaccessible areas of the maze. The
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manual calls this "riding the mystical wheel of Cerriddwen." (That's
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teleportation, to you and me.)
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ARTURA is controlled with the joystick. The stick moves your
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character in all directions; the button throws an axe in the
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direction you're facing. The "R" key accesses the Runes and serves
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as a pause feature. Pressing the button spins a Rune until the
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correct teleportation speed has been reached. The music can be
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toggled off.
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The ARTURA package for the ST comes with one copy-protected disk,
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an instruction manual for all versions, and an extremely large map
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of the maze.
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For the most part, ARTURA is a neat and fast-moving game that's
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easy to play. The graphics are excellent on the ST: clear,
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colorful, and detailed. Animation is fine, if predictable. The maze
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is overrun with axe-wielding warrior-guards and hungry rats. Bats,
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spiders, lethal birds, ghouls, and sorcerers appear in certain
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areas. There are traps that, once triggered, really trap you. The
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flow of your warrior's battleaxes is limited by the speed of your
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trigger finger, and the joystick's jump functions could use some
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improvement: The character's hang time rivals Michael Jordan's.
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The only thing that takes the edge off ARTURA is that it is more
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than an arcade game (although hacking, slashing, and movement form
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the bulk of the action). The Rune Stones are in many pieces; no one
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Rune is useful until it's completely assembled. Each maze level is a
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maze in itself, with many doors and sub-levels and a limited amount
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of food. A save option, perhaps made available as each Rune is
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assembled, would have been helpful: ARTURA is not a game you're
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going finish in one sitting, unless you don't have to move for the
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next few weeks. The manual gives X/Y locations of food and Rune
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pieces as they relate to maze levels, but matching them with the map
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causes colic and confusion.
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Despite these complaints, which are minor ones, ARTURA is an
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enjoyable game. It looks good on the ST and plays well. Any
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frustration you encounter won't mean the destruction of your
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joystick. ARTURA isn't GAUNTLET II (the Arcade Game of the
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Century), but it's a reasonably solid effort.
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COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES
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Although ARTURA on the Commodore 64 doesn't look as good as it does
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on the ST, it still looks decent enough, and it plays much the
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same. The creatures of the maze, as well as the details of the
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maze, are clearly visible and can be recognized. Sounds are mostly
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obliterated by the constant music, which can't be toggled off. The
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joystick works the same in both versions, up to and including the
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hang time inherent in the jump functions.
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For the most part -- I still think a save feature should have been
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included -- ARTURA is a decent game. The ST version is better, at
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least graphically, but if you only have a Commodore 64, that version
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is still worth buying.
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IBM-PC VERSION NOTES
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The IBM version of ARTURA is supplied on a single 5-1/4" diskette
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that's not copy-protected. CGA, EGA, Tandy, MCGA, and Hercules
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graphics modes are supported. Note that none of the pictures on the
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back of the box represent IBM screens. In EGA mode, graphics are
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detailed, but with a heavy accent on browns and grays, so they're
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not very colorful. There is no mention of support for sound cards.
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The game booklet includes instructions for the Atari ST, Amiga, and
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Commodore 64, but not a word about the IBM version. This was
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annoying, but ARTURA is simple enough that you don't have to be
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Merlin to figure it out. Played with either a joystick or the
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keyboard, this is your basic "walk, jump, shoot" game.
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The key to ARTURA can be found on the back of the box, which
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advises you to "Hack and slash your way to glory!" Even if you
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choose to ignore the enclosed map (as well as the page in the
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booklet listing the location of everything you need to complete your
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quest), the only strategy in ARTURA seems to consist of keeping your
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finger on the fire button and knowing which room you're in. There's
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plenty of simple action here for those who may be new to
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role-playing games, but the more experienced player will quickly
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become bored by ARTURA's lack of depth.
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AMIGA VERSION NOTES
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For some reason, I expected more from the Amiga version of ARTURA.
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Don't get me wrong: The game looks and plays just fine on the
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Amiga, and any praise the game receives is well-deserved. However, I
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found it disappointing that Arcadia didn't take better advantage of
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the Amiga's sound capabilities.
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The stereo theme music is good, but you have to turn it off to hear
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the sound effects, and although you can listen to the cry of a
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vanquished warrior or the squawk of a zapped bird, I wish the sound
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effects were just a little more profound. Of course, it would have
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been in poor taste to make them so lifelike that the game seemed
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gory. And it's understandable that with only 512K of RAM required to
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run the program, not every luxury can be accommodated.
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This may just be a petty complaint, though, because I like
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everything about the way ARTURA runs on the Amiga: The colors are
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rich, the animation smooth, and the gameplay simple enough that even
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a child should be able to get the program up and running without
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assistance. However, as with other releases in the D&D genre, the
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game can be complex; for full enjoyment, some understanding of the
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adequate (if rather brief) documentation is necessary.
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The ARTURA diskettes are copy-protected, but no manual lookups or
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other off-disk protection methods are employed.
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ARTURA is published by Arcadia and distributed by Virgin
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Mastertronic.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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