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to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
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a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Dragon
Skulle
1986 Ultimate
Programmed
by ?
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the eleventh issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: February 9th, 1986). |
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DRAGONSKULLE
Ultimate,
£9.95 cass, joystick
with keys
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Despite man's incessant curiosity and the relatively
small size of the planet Earth, there are still a few
undiscovered lands tucked away in far off places. Such
as the isle of Dragonskulle, fraught with danger
and evil . . . The evil of the Skull of Souls. The Ultimate
hero, Sir Arthur Pendragon, must find this skull and
destroy it, thus ridding the world of the most terrifying
supernatural horror after the Devil itself.
Dragonskulle
is the fourth and final arcade adventure in the
Arthur Pendragon series and follows its successful predecessors
closely with its approach. The action is viewed through
a smooth scrolling window, as in previous Pendragon
adventures, and flips from one location to the next
when moving 'in' and 'out' of the screen. Above this
window there are five icons which are selected by pressing
a key and activated with the joystick fire button.
The
first is the shovel, which once found allows Arthur
to dig holes. Then there is the magical energy cloak
which makes Arthur invulnerable to a majority of the
nasties encountered in the game, but only for a limited
period. Useful, but again it must first be found and
can only be used once before requiring energy replenishment.
The third icon pauses the game when selected, while
the fourth allows Arthur to fire magical orbs which
usually dispose of a nasty if thrown accurately. Finally,
there is the jump icon which speaks for itself. If Arthur
wishes to use an object not currently in his possession
and activates the respective icon, a head appears in
its place and shakes from side to side to indicate that
the action can't be performed.
Throughout
the game there are the ubiquitous Ultimatesque problems
to be solved, such as how to get past flashing skulls.
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Thank
God this is the last in the series of Sir Arthur Pendragon
adventures. The guy isn't the hero type. When Harrison
Ford wants to leap a cavernous ravine he doesn't bunnyhop
it, does he? Bunny hopping is for wimps, as is dying,
which I found myself doing for the oddest reasons whilst
strolling around Dragonskulle.
The 3D effect just isn't -- lots of silly little mistakes
take away any sort of reality the game had. Ultimate's
pioneering work in getting as many unmatching colours
on screen at once has been used to good effect. Looks
nice with the chunkier-than-pedigree-chum sprites having
a good wibble about the screen. I think you may have
guessed by now -- I don't like Dragonskulle
and one more release like this for the 64 and I won't
like Ultimate.
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Dragonskulle
is, with a few minor exceptions, everything I
expected it to be, ie very similar to Ultimate's
previous arcade adventures, and as far as I am
concerned, hackneyed. Ultimate haven't progressed
at all since Staff
of Karnath
and surely can't expect their games to sell purely
on the strength of their name. I am wholly bored
with this style of arcade adventure and thankfully,
Dragonskulle
is the last adventure in the Arthur Pendragon
series, so perhaps we might see something more
inspiring in the near future. I do hope so. Still,
if you're not tired of the Ultimate approach yet,
you may well derive some pleasure from Dragonskulle.
I didn't, but then I have got several 'O' levels
in how to be a miseryguts.
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Presentation 65%
Adequate instructions but few options.
Graphics
76%
Good backdrops but porky, ill-defined
sprites and poor 3D effect.
Sound
35%
Dull, unimaginative music and FX
which sound far too much like previous offerings.
Hookability
54%
Nothing overly interesting to initially
inspire.
Lastability
45%
And little to maintain interest.
Value
For Money 45%
Expensive considering the poor
quality of the product.
Overall
49%
It's about time Ultimate played
the game and came up with a good one.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (23 Nov 2004)
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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