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CRYSTAL
CASTLES
Thundervision
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Crystal
Castles appeared in British arcades last Easter
and gathered quite a cult following. It's rather like
a 3D Pacman with lots of extra features. You
take the role of Bentley Bear, who has to run round
the many weird constructions of Berthilda the Witch
and collect the gems littering the floor by running
over them.
The
constructions themselves fill a whole screen and are
true 3D with ramps and lifts connecting the different
levels. You can run about everywhere and some screens
contain hidden passages, walls you can run round and
doorways which lead to hidden stairways which sometimes
provide a quick route to a higher floor of the building.
Wandering
around these buildings are Berthilda's evil minions.
On just about every screen appear the Gem Gobblers who
go round eating the gems. You can destroy these by running
through them when they're in the process of digesting
a gem. There are also spheroids and trees which track
you at extremely high speeds and follow your every move.
Acting as a timer are the bees. If you take too long
on a screen, they will form a swarm, drop from above
and chase you.
The
longer you take the more frequent their visits and the
faster and more vicious they become. You can give yourself
more time to finish the screen by collecting the honey
pot, which will keep them away. There is also a magic
hat which you can wear, which makes you invincible for
a few seconds and allows you to run through everything.
In
this absolutely faultless conversion there are all the
features of the arcade game. The screens and graphics
are identical to its big brother and if you are any
good at the arcade game, then you'll be able to use
all your tactics and patterns down to the last manoeuvre.
All three secret warps are included and the game allows
you to pick up from the level on which you just died.
I'm
not sure when this will be released in Britain, but
this is simply THE finest arcade conversion for the
64 yet.
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