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| Welcome
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
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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The
Caverns of Eriban
1985 Firebird
Programmed
by Lee Braine
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the seventeenth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: July 21st, 1986). |
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CAVERNS OF ERIBAN
Firebird,
£1.99 cass, joystick only
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Eric the space delivery man is in a bit of a fix, last
week he spilt some scalding hot tea over his box and
although the gaffer seemed to take it quite well at
the time, Eric now finds himself given some very nasty
jobs to carry out. And nastiest of all, Eric been told
that next is a supply job on the planet Eriban, a near
hollow ball packed with all number of dangerous things.
Eric hops in his rig and, after a quick break in Greasy
Joe's Vegan Cafe, arrives at Eriban to find that the
inhabitants have gone on holiday leaving the automatic
defence systems on. Eric realises that it'd be more
than his job's worth to go back to the boss with his
task unfinished and with a wife plus six kids to support.
So with severe flak pouring out of the anti-invada(tm)
zip guns, Eric steels himself to distribute various
goods throughout Eriban.
There
are five crates of cargo to deliver, each to be picked
up from the planet's surface and then taken to their
respective delivery places within the planet. Guiding
the space lorry in ye olde traditional left, right,
up and down manner, Eric's rig sits plonk dead centre
of the screen while Eriban scrolls about him. The first
thing to look out for is everything, touch with even
the smallest pixel of rock, bullet, or any kind of object
causes the lorry to explode into sparkling fragments.
The only places that can be touched are the landing
pads on the cargo dispensers and the depots in the planet,
everything else is deadly. There are even robots that
home in on Eric's ship so it's lucky that he equipped
his truck with a handy-dandy blastmotron gun (kills
99% of all known droids).
Once
all the goods are delivered, not an easy job at all,
then Eric can nip home for a cup of Bovril, but till
then it's fun, fun, fun as he has to avoid death being
dealt from near infinite portals.
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What
a horrid game, why Firebird sent us a review copy
I'll never know. It's a blast from the past that
really should have stayed there, and if you see
it on a software shelf I advise you to let it
stay there. Even at the El Cheapo end of Firebird's
product range, Caverns of Eriban presents
lousy value for money. Just keep away from Caverns
because I doubt you'll like what you find there.
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Presentation
43%
Nothing to impress.
Graphics
32%
The caverns wobble as you trundle
about and on the whole the graphics are bland
and uninspiring.
Sound
68%
A version of Jupiter from
Holst's planet
suite prattles along, but spot effects are weak.
Hookability
24%
Once you see what a mammoth task
is ahead...
Lastability
22%
...you won't want to play it again.
Now if it were anything like good it might be
different.
Value
For Money 30%
Cheap, but not cheap enough.
Overall
25%
Caverns of Eriban? We wish
it would go and get lost there.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (27 Oct 2007)
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