Maze games come in all shapes and sizes (this section excludes Pacman style games however). Some of those included here might not even seem to fit the category, but on reflection you will see that in fact they are really maze games (at least, you might if you try hard).
ANDROIDS
Producer: Sunshine Books, 48K £5.95
Androids boasts a vast maze populated with homicidal robots and is Sunshine’s
version of ‘Frenzy/Panic’. Armed with a laser (fires in the direction you’re
pointing) and five lives, you must find the hidden exit to the next level.
Special panels replenish your force field and laser power. It’s a ‘no win’
game for points. The graphics are good, nice animation and machine code makes
for high speed movement. Good value for money and very playable.
ANDROID 1
Producer: Vortex, 16K £4.95
What we have here is a well thought out and addictive rage of the robots
‘Frenzy/Berserk’ game with five skill levels and copious screens. Android 1 is
a superior robot and he has to blast his way through the walls of the complex
towards, what? (A reactor actually, but who cares, it’s the getting there
that’s fun). His enemies are several types of unattractive mutants (attractive
graphics) including Groupies (in groups), Wanderers (luny lonies), Skaters
(slithering around and hard to hit) and Bouncers who land on your head when
you’re least expecting it. Joystick: Kempston. Recommended.
ANDROID 2
Producer: Vortex, 48K £5.95 (2)
Author: Costa Panayi
A sequel to the successful Android 1, this is a vastly improved game in both
looks and playability and was one of issue 2’s Games of the Month. Android 2
is a superior robot equipped with a head mounted laser. He must walk the maze
of death, survive the paradoz zone and overcome the dangers of the flatlands.
In so doing he must stop the advance of the Millitoids, long entipeded
creatures. Other hazards include land mines (loads of them), Hoverdroids and
indestructible Bouncers. The playing area is vast, the maze alone is bigger
than in most other comparable games, and everything is seen in a solid 3D
perspective from above. Every detail of this game has been polished — the
graphics are excellent, colourful and well animated, the sound is also good, it
has beautiful instructions, is difficult to play and addictive. Good control
keys, joystick: Kempston. Excellent value for money and highly recommended.
Overall CRASH rating 90% M/C.
BEDLAM
Producer: MC Lothlorien, 16K £5.95 (1)
A very fast shoot em up game in which the maze is not a central problem, but
the infestation of beautifully animated creatures are. It’s supposed to be an
asylum planet and you’re the only sane inmate (so you think)! Equipped with
your twin-firing photon bolt, it’s quite a task to keep the ravening monsters
at bay. They move faster and faster as they dash at you and there are also
‘saucerous guards’ nipping about, firing at your. The one drawback, perhaps, is
that the creatures take a very predictable path towards you, but it’s still all
extremely fast. Could have had more variation to heighten addictivity.
User-defined control keys, so AGF or Protek joysticks are usable, pretty good
value for money and an overall CRASH rating of 78% M/C.
BRAIN DAMAGE
Producer: Silversoft, 16K £5. 95(1)
Author: I Morrison & O Anderson
You’re in charge of a tank deep inside a bored and dangerous computer which
sees your presence as a bit of fun to enliven its dreary life of computing. Hot
on your tail are Electron Panzers, Marauders, Centurions and Rogue Programs,
each smarter than the last. The object, quite simply, is to hit one of these
and promote to the next level. But it isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s a
measure of how fast the game can be that even with only one hit to concentrate
on it remains a very difficult zap game to play. Only one blast at a time but
the laser beam ricochets (beautifully). A complex array of control keys allow
for 4-directional movement and turret rotation. Neat, smooth graphics, good
sound, joystick: Kempston, AGF or Protek. 3 control key options, 3 skill
levels, multiple screens, pretty addictive one you get the hang. Overall CRASH
rating 69% M/C.
BUBBLE TROUBLE
Producer: Arcade, 48K £5.50 (2)
Author: Bruce Rutherford
The mazes are quite simple but there are 50 of them. You must guide your
burglar around each maze stealing the odd valuables dotted around, whilst
avoiding the lovable attentions of giant bubbles which follow close on your
heels. You may select any maze to commence the game, no one is really any
harder than another but there are 3 skill levels which increase the number of
bubbles, but also slow down the game. The hero, Basil, is a hat on legs and
nicely animated and the maze graphics are varied and imaginative, but there was
a feeling that the game lacked the vital quality that made it addictive. Rated
above average. Overall CRASH rating 63% — cursor keys, joystick: AGF, Protek or
Kempston, M/C.
CORRIDORS OF GENON
Producer: New Generation, 48K £5.95 (1)
A 3D Maze game which demands ‘Master Code’ skills and numeric sequence
recognition from the player. Deceptive in that it seems very ordinary at first
but rapidly becomes unstoppable. Basically you must thread your way through the
concentric circular maze to find the central control room for the evil computer
of Genon and destroy it. Doors cut the corridors into segments and connect
between adjacent corridors. These are opened and shut by the computer and you
can open them by punching in the correct code (each set of doors has its own
numeric sequence). With your ESP at high level the screen displays the next
door’s code, but there’s a nasty monster called Bogul chasing you. Each time
he bogulises you, your ESP goes down and more doors have blanks which you must
work out before the door opens or shuts for you. The ingenious touch lies in
the excellent sound track of Bogul’s thudding footsteps as he chases up behind
you — turn around and you’ll see him. Neat, solid graphics and unusually
playable. Cursor keys for movement in conjunction with 9 keys (used with an
overlay) for code breaking. Joystick: Kempston, AGF or Protek. Overall CRASH
rating 72%, excellent value for money if you enjoy a bit of figuring, M/C.
CRAZY BALLOONS
Producer: A&F, 16K £5.75
A simple maze made up from crosses is only just big enough to let your waggling
balloon through in places. Elsewhere you must use precision and timing to
squeeze through without touching the sides. Extra points for using the
narrowest passages. Perhaps too simplistic for most, but still not as easy as
it first looks. There is a time limit.
CYBERTANKS
Producer: Star Dreams, 16K £5.95 (1)
Here the maze actually represents the streets and buildings of a city. You’re
in command of a tank, surrounded by the cybertanks which you must shoot out of
existence before they get you. You can blast your way through the maze walls to
get at your enemy. If you clear the first screen the second sheet has mines
littered around which destroy anything that touches them. All in all it becomes
very repetitive and our reviewers thought it reasonable but only average fun to
play. The graphics are quite small, although nicely designed and move smoothly
enough — the title card is brilliant. Two sets of control keys, well placed,
joystick: Kempston. Overall CRASH rating 58% M/C.
DO DO
Producer: Blaby, 48K £5.50
Not at first sight a maze game, but this is one where you make your own maze
for protection from the dreaded Snow Bees which infest the Arctic ice wastes
where you, the last living Do Do, find yourself stranded (beat that for a
scenario!) The first Spectrum version of ‘Pengy’, it has charming graphics and
good sound. Basically you must shunt the ice blocks around to escape the bees
or crush them. If you’re clever you can electrocute them against the walls.
Joystick: Kempston. Recommended.
EMBASSY ASSAULT
Producer: ICL/Sinclair, 16K £4.95
As the nation’s top secret agent your mission is to acquire top secret codes
from the code room of a foreign embassy. Actually all you have to do in this
dreary game is wend your way through a 3D maze, up and down stairs and find the
room, then get out, all timed against the clock. No thrills no spills and very
few frills. Each move means waiting interminably for the corridors to slowly
build up. Nine levels with the simplest taking seconds.
ESCAPE
Producer: New Generation, 16K £4.95
Perhaps the most beautiful looking game yet for the Spectrum. Escape pits you
against a 3D maze seen from slightly above so the horizontal pathways are
obscured by the hedges. Somewhere in there is the key to the exit. As you enter
a monster shoots in and homes in on you inexorably. Get the key and he speeds
up. Get out and you’re back with a maze and two monsters. Five levels and a ‘no
win’ situation. It’s depressing! One of the most panicky games we’ve seen.
Joystick: Kempsoft II. Recommended.
ESCAPE-MCP
Producer: Rabbit, 16K 5.99
The Z80 processor bites back. Yes your Spectrum has gone berserk and you have
been de-atomised. You must escape through nine levels while the MCP homes in
on you and tries to destroy you. Escape-MCP features a series of simple but (as
becomes clear when you play) fiendishly laid out mazes, representing the logic
paths of the processor. You start top left and must first reach a key and then
an exit to the next level. Slowly and inexorably the MCP sight homes in on you
and the trick is to move along the paths in such a way that you leave yourself
enough time to make the key and exit. Not at all easy. Cursor keys and
user-defined, so almost any joystick can be used. An addictively infuriating
game and excellent value.
ETX
Producer: Abbex, 16/48K £5.95
In 48K ETX speaks, though mostly what he says after the loquacious intro is
‘Ouch!’ ET is stranded on Earth searching for odd bits with which to construct
a phone home. The bits are hidden in numerous wells. He’s pursued by a mad
professor and a nasty from MI5 (or 6 or something). Only ‘young’ Ernie is nice.
The game is charming to look at but a little puzzling to play since it seems
impossible to escape the wretched professor. Program contained on both sides of
the cassette. Joystick: Kempston.
FREEZ’BEES
Producer: Silversoft, 48K £5.95 (2)
This is another version of ‘Pengy’, the object of which is to walk your penguin
round the ice flows avoiding the nasty Snow Bees. You can burn away the square
ice blocks or sand them flying in the hope of crushing a snow bee to death.
This version features illumination of ice blocks from which snow bees will
hatch for a flash (which gives you the chance to destroy a snow bee before it
gets dangerous), and the fence which may be electrified when the penguin
touches it, stunning any snow bee in contact with it. The graphics are nice,
quite large, responsive and fast, but not over-colourful, and the sound is good
too. The main drawback is that the game is very hard to play well and the snow
bees are difficult to shake off, a fact which lowers the game’s playability
quickly. Good control keys, joystick: Kempston. 10 skill levels (speeds),
reasonable value. Overall CRASH rating 61% M/C.
FRENZY
Producer: Quicksilva, 16K £4.95
Almost every software house has its version of the arcade favourite, ‘Berserk’,
which pits you against evil robots in a complex of simple mazes, representing
the different rooms of some alien HQ. Life in these places must be hell because
all the walls are electrified, killing you and the poor old robots.
Quicksilva’s version is very good of its type, with simple but smooth graphics.
You lose a life if you collide with wall, robot or exploding missile. Avoiding
the missiles can be done by leaping through an exit into another room, but as
you do hordes more robots appear. The keyboard positions are rather odd,
direction and fire being controlled by keys 6-0 which makes it difficult to use
a joystick. Moderately addictive but not bad for the price.
LAST SUNSET FOR LATTICA
Producer: Arcade, 48K £5.50
Arcade seem to specialise in obscure titles. Lattica is a complex maze with
over 100 locations and three levels populated with androids. The walls are
electrified so you must avoid them or lose one of your four lives. The aim is
to discover the location of a bomb which will destroy the entire planet when it
explodes, and defuse it, murdering the androids on your way. The graphics are
very good and richly coloured (you’re a sort of ‘Horace’-like creature).
Joystick: Kempston/AGF or Protek and cursor keys. Eight directional movement.
Good value.
LORD HARRY & LADY HARRIET
Producer: Lotus-Soft, 16K £5.50 (1)
Author: Derek Jones
The title indicates that if you want a lady hero you can load side 2 instead of
side 1 for Lord Harry. The inebriated Lord is lost in his friend’s ornate
garden the morning after the night before. He must wander round, eating
mushrooms to keep alive, whilst trying to find the secret exit. There are four
interlinked gardens all full of puddles and trees in addition to mushrooms. The
trees bar his way, the puddles lose a life — and to make matters worse there
are two guard dogs chasing around after him. In one of the gardens there is a
poisonous mushroom which, if Lord Harry eats it, is the end of him unless he
finds the exit within 99 seconds. Reasonably well laid out control keys,
progressive levels, attractive use of colour, but perhaps more aimed at the
younger player rather than the arcade freak. Joystick: Kempston/Datel, Sinclair
2, Protek and AGF. Good value for money, overall CRASH rating 63% M/C.
THE HOUSE OF THE LIVING DEAD
Producer: Phipps Associates, 48K £5.95 (2)
This verges on being a ‘Pac Man’ variant, but not quite. The idea is that you
are spending the night in a strange house full of unpleasant monsters.
Fortunately you are wise to the lore and know that if you can get the four
sections of a cross from the four corners of the floor to the central room you
will destroy the power of the monsters. Each screen is the same maze with a
square in the middle and four ‘L’ shaped pieces which you must collect one at a
time and take to the centre. When the cross is formed the monsters die and you
progress to the next, more difficult level with more nasties. The game offers
reasonable graphics and is simple to play. Not very addictive, not even very
serious but it may appeal to younger players and is certainly fun between
alien-zapping. Poor keys (cursors), joystick: Kempston, average, CRASH overall
rating 59% M/C.
MAGIC MEANIES
Producer: CDS, 16K £5.95 (2)
Despite the inlay blurb of times past and wizardry renewed, this is no
adventure game, in fact a good version of the ‘Dig Dug’ type of mining game,
where your man creates his own tunnels in search of valuables and thus his own
maze, and gets chased by meanies. You’re in control of Meltec (a wizard) who is
seeking lumps of lead. There is also a wandering cherry on each screen which he
must collect to progress to the next screen. The meanies set chasing him up his
self-created pathways — to get rid of them he can undermine the red apples and
drop them on the meanies, or at least block off a pathway before dashing onto
the next blue lump of lead. The graphics are quite small, one character size
and they move jerkily, but the game’s attraction lies in the skill and quick
thinking required to outwit the meanies. Sensible control keys, joystick:
Kempston, 9 skill levels in speed and progressive difficulty, above average.
Overall CRASH rating 58% M/C.
MAZE DEATH RACE
Producer: PSS, 48K £4.95
You’re in your car, lost in this endless maze, avoiding the hazards like rock
falls, ice, oil slicks and the maniacs in their evil cars. Collect the flags
for points and watch out for fuel dumps — the thirsty car needs them
frequently. Control is fast and positive, good graphics and scrolling from
screen to screen is effective. A good, fast game. Unfortunately you can’t
alter between the three skill levels once selected, and the instructions don’t
tell you that it’s the cursor keys which operate. No Joystick option but it
will work with AGF or Protek. Machine code, moderately addictive.
MAZIACS
Producer: DK Tronics, 48K £5.95 (1)
Author: Don Priestley
This pure find-your-way-through-a-maze-and-escape game is among the best ever
from DK. Simple in concept, its playability lies in the lovely graphics and its
speed of play. The aim is to enter the maze and discover the gold, which will
be at least 200 moves away. Embedded in the walls are many useful items like
food and swords. Keep your strength up by eating and use the swords against the
dreaded Maziacs. There are prisoners also embedded in the maze walls and they
will tell you the shortest route to the gold by marking the path in yellow.
This only lasts for a few seconds however. The swords only last for one attack,
and without one an awful Maziac will surely kill you off. Once you’ve found the
gold your problems really start as you can’t carry both gold and a sword, so it
makes sense to kill of as many Maziacs as you can on the way in. Excellent
graphics and animation with plenty of detail. User-defined control keys,
joystick: Kempston and cursor joysticks via user-define. 4 skill levels,
randomly generated maze each game. CRASH rating: highly recommended, overall
82% M/C.
PLUGGIT
Producer: Blaby, 48K £5.50
Author: Rob Jones
The hero, Percy, is a little IC chip who has become unplugged from his socket.
You must guide him through the maze of circuitry inside ‘Uncle Clive’s’
computer and plug him in again. There are two keys to find which, when used in
the correct door, will unlock them, but they must be done in the right order.
The maze is full of resistors, diodes and capacitors which are chasing Percy,
and his energy, which starts at 1200 units, runs down very quickly. To add to
his problems, the walls of the maze are electrified. The only weapon is an
energy beam which fires in the direction of movement. Only a small part of the
total playing area is visible on screen. Good graphics and smooth compiled
movement. Auto start and cursor control keys are a slight drawback. CRASH
rating: a worthy maze game if not quite up to Blaby’s addictive standards.
Overall 63% compiled M/C.
QUETZALCOATL
Producer: Virgin Games, 48K £5.95 (1)
Author: Gareth Briggs
Quetz is one of four Aztec Gods you’ll meet in this 3D maze which represents
the interior of an Aztec temple with four floors. Quetz is the nicest and
provides glass beads for you to collect and gives you a map of the floors when
you bump into him. The map disintegrates with use, so use it sparingly. The
other gods all present different problems to overcome on their particular
floors. The floors are connected by shafts, mostly black and a few blue ones.
If you use a black shaft, it destroys the beads you have collected. The longer
you take to find a blue shaft the more black ones will appear. Should you find
the exit safely, then the beads you have found can be used to barter with the
natives for your life. It is a playable game, with quite good 3D graphics and 6
skill levels, but not much sense of real danger. Average, CRASH rating 56%
M/C.
RAIDER OF THE CURSED MINE
Producer: Arcade, 48K £5.50
This is only a maze game in a very general sense. The game has 30 levels to
play through. Each level shows a cross section through a mine with several
floors visible and three lifts. Your miner (nice animation) must walk through
the mine, using the lifts, and collect all the diamonds littered about whilst
avoiding the spiders, ghost and boulder-throwing troll. When all the gems have
been collected a lamp appears at bottom left which must be collected before
progressing to the next level. Not a fast game, and at first it doesn’t seem
addictive either, but the ease with which you progress is matched by the ease
with which you seem to lose lives. Getting to the 30th level rewards you with
a picture of the surface. Nice graphics and sound, the clever player lines up
all his lifts first.
ROBBER
Producer: Virgin Games, 48K £5.95 (1)
Author: Keith Mitchell
This is a 3-part game. In the first section you must cross a room to 2
cupboards and collect a doorkey and a stethoscope. A guard moves about with a
torch and you are caught if you appear in his beam. There is also a safe key
hidden in the room. Getting through this dumps you onto a collapsing bridge
with spikes beneath. The third part is a maze where you must swim under water,
avoiding fish and get out before your oxygen runs out, then cross an invisible
maze avoiding man-eating birds, get through narrow passages avoiding the
bouncing balls, and lastly a maze which disappears as soon as you’ve seen it.
Sounds exciting but it isn’t. This is a good sketch for a much better game.
The inlay instructions are incorrect and the game has a tendency to freeze
terminally at odd times. Primitive graphics and unresponsive control don’t
help. Poor. CRASH rating overall 48%. Compiled M/C.
ROBON
Producer: Softex, 16K £5.95
Author: Andrew Beale
This ‘Frenzy/Berserk’ game, unlike most of Softek’s other programs, is not very
good. At the slowest of the nine skill levels it’s a bit boring, and at the
fastest it’s quite meaningless. The usual format is followed; electrified
walls, robots, unkillable ‘Raboks’ which leave exploding mines behind. Four
directional movement with unanimated characters. 100% machine code, three
lives, hi-score, no joystick option. Oddly the control keys are cursor with
nine to fire, so you could use AGF or Protek joysticks for the movement but not
for firing.
ROBOTICS
Producer: Ocean, 16K £5.90
The name was changed from ‘Frenzy’ to avoid confusion with Quicksilva’s game of
the same name. As usual the walls are electrified. But the graphics are much
better than anyone else’s version, bigger and better animated. Only the
robots’ heads are vulnerable, and their floating leader is invulnerable. You
can only escape him by jumping into another sector. The game speeds up as you
clear sectors, and more robot patrols appear. Move and fire in eight
directions. Joystick: Kempston. Good value.
SPLAT
Producer: Incentive, 48K £5.50 (1)
Author: Ian Andrew & Ian Morgan
Put simply, Splat is dangerously addictive! The hero, called Zippy, must move
round a large maze, eating clumps of grass, invisible grass, and plums, whilst
avoiding the spikes, water and the edges of the maze. This would be child’s
play if it weren’t for the fact that the maze scrolls all by itself, in any
direction it fancies. If Zippy gets trapped between a wall of the maze and the
wall surrounding the edge, then it’s SPLAT! Escape is on level 7 but with each
level cleared the next becomes more difficult and the maze scrolls faster. Panic
sets in at a moment’s notice. When you get through a screen the computer yells
out ‘Yippee!’ Simple, effective graphics, smooth movement, user-defined control
keys, joystick: Kempston, AGF and Protek. Highly recommended, overall CRASH
rating 82% M/C.
STYX
Producer: Bug-Byte, 16K £5.95
You must move your man through three horizontal areas; top, a simple maze
infested with spiders to get to a door into the middle section, which is the
river full of piranhas, and then to the beach, to pass through the lower area
where the dead spirits lurk. If you make it through, the exit is guarded by a
shrouded figure whose touch is death. It’s a simple set up and would not be
interesting if it weren’t for the fact that it’s not easy. The screens are
always the same but with more denizens as you go along. Keyboard positions are
good, the graphics neat eight directional movement. No joystick option.
TOBOR
Producer: Add-on, 48K £7.95
The title frame promises excitement, but the game doesn’t deliver. Poor
graphics and movement make you wonder why it needed 48K in the first place.
Basically you must take on some robots in a simple outline maze. Keyboard
positions are irritating and there’s a poor response. No joystick option. Not
really worth the very high price.
3D MONSTER CHASE
Producer: Romik, 16K £6.99
Author: Dave Noonan
This is a 3D ‘corridor’ type game. The maze is on three floors and your
mission is to find the missing keys and return them to the start position.
Then you must find a bomb and defuse it before it detonates (against the
clock). To make the task harder there are monsters moving about the maze that
can be killed by one of your limited supply of grenades. To help you the
monsters can be seen on a radar screen. The 3D graphic representation is very
good and easy to visualise. The keyboard positions are well thought out and a
joystick may be used. The monsters appear very suddenly in front of you for a
second before you lose your life — like a scene from Alien! Five skill levels
and an absorbing game. Good value for money.
3D MAZE OF GOLD
Producer: Gilsoft, 16K £5.95
Author: T Gilberts
This is a maze without monsters or robots. The maze is seen from eye level in
3D blocks, so it’s a game of orientation and geography. The aim is to wander
the maze, collecting gold bars which lie on the floor and get to the level’s
exit quickly before the value of gold you are carrying falls to zero! This is
no easy task, a pencil and pad would help. There are ten levels of play from 0
(impossible) down to 9 (village idiots). For levels 4-9 you can select an
overhead plan view whenever you want which shows you your position and heading,
the exit and positions of all gold bars left to collect. It doesn’t show you
the walls of the maze — that would be too easy. When you return to the maze
itself a display tells you the value of the gold you have collected (falling
all the while of course), moves made so far, level of play and a compass with a
moving north. For the contemplative, an excellent game with loads of
playability. Cursor keys, joystick: AGF or Protek.
TUTANKHAMUN
Producer: Micromania, 48K £5.95 (1)
Author: Dominic Wood
Tut was an Egyptian despot who stored his worldly goods in a large tomb. Your
job as archaeologist or grave robber, is to wander the five tombs and collect
as much treasure as you can. You may start at tomb 1 or at a later stage if you
wish. The maze scrolls left and right and vertical tunnels wrap around top to
bottom. What makes this game difficult is the ferocious speed of the beasts
that inhabit the tombs. Monsters include mummies, cobras, spiders and skulls.
You are provided with a continuous firing laser, but it only works
horizontally, which makes you vulnerable in the vertical tunnels. There is also
a smart bomb to be used once per tomb or life, but its effects are very
short-lived indeed. At the top is a map of the entire complex. Doors block the
tombs from each other. Lively graphics, speed and good key positions all
combine to make this very playable and addictive. Overall CRASH rating 72% M/C
— a maze/zap game with a different feel.
VOLCANIC PLANET
Producer: Thorn EMI, 16K £6.95 (1)
Author: Nick Burroughs
It is your task to destroy the evil race of Zerans, who live on a volcanic
planet. To do this you must make your way through an underground complex to the
depths of the city and place a bomb on the volcanic plug and then make your
escape before it goes off. 5 skill levels provide a city with between 3 and 15
floors. The screen only shows a tiny part of the whole with a small map of the
entire floor you are on. Floors are connected by lifts which only travel
between 2 floors. The Zerans are equipped with blasters and huge crushing
slaves. Dotted about are tool repair kits and spare oxygen bottles, but the
Zerans will take them first if you’re not quick. Your armour and life support
is eroded by Zeran attack. The graphics are very good, especially the wonderful
blaster effect, and all in all this is an excellent maze game with plenty of
potential. Lots of control keys, joystick Sinclair and Kempston. One drawback —
poor sound. Apart from that, a very good game, overall CRASH rating 69%
M/C.
THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN
Producer: Puffin Books, 48K £6.95 (1)
Author: N Mottershead & S Brattel
Put together by Crystal for Puffin, this is a simpler and more playable version
of Hall of the Things, and adapted from a successful book. You must enter the
labyrinth beneath the crags of Firetop Mountain to get the Warlock’s treasure.
This is guarded by Orcs, Spiders, Slime Mould and other horrors. Your weapons
are a sword and a bow. To get to the treasure you must collect 15 keys. Most
doors open and shut at command and the maze scrolls smoothly as you move. As
in HOTT there are a lot of control keys — 18 in all, and practice is essential
to stay alive. Good looking monsters, which home in on you as soon as they spot
you, loads of speed in the fights, and for the price you get a copy of the book
as well. Puffin have a winner with this one. Overall CRASH rating 73%
M/C.
THE WIZARD’S WARRIORS
Producer: Abersoft, 48K £4.95
This is a robot/maze game, but a considerable improvement on the ‘Berserk’
type. The complex is haunted by robots which fire away blindly at anything, and
which you must destroy. The earlier ones are pretty dumb, but later additions
get harder to hit and are better at hitting you; some are even invisible (use
the radar to spot them). Machine code. Joystick: Kempston. Addictive and good
value.