From a time outside history, before the language of the English was ever written down, there came to us stories and legends of heroes and valiant folk. One such story was that of Robin, son of Aleric, keeper of the silver arrow. That was until it fell into the possession of the Sheriff of Nottingham, who treacherously killed Aleric in the process. The arrow means nothing to the Normans, but to the Saxons -- it is the sacred symbol of freedom.

Many years passed, in which time Robin of the Wood caused much havoc by robbing the rich and giving to the poor. The Sheriff, wishing to ensnare said fellow of the wood, decided to offer the silver arrow as a prize to the archer who could shoot the straightest. Knowing full well that Robin would not be able to resist the challenge, the Sheriff sent his Norman knights out into the wood to hunt for him.

You play the part of Robin and it is your mission to recover the silver arrow for the Saxons by winning it in the competition. But before you can compete you must first complete -- several other tasks. Ent, the old and wise, has in his keeping your bow, sword and three magical arrows. These arrows will safeguard you against recognition by the Sheriff. However, once the last magical arrow has been fired you can be recognised, and must therefore escape before you get caught by the Normans. To relieve Ent of your possessions he must be given three bags of gold (for each weapon). Unfortunately the gold is in the company of the Bishop of Peterborough. Who is in turn in the company of several nasty Norman soldiers. So, some nifty sword play is required . . . Thankfully these can be conveniently found lying about the wood.

The Normans aren't the only inhabitants of the wood. While travelling to the castle, you are more than likely to encounter an extremely attractive Witch. She sends you straight to the castle dungeon unless you give her the correct amount of flowers. Should you become injured then a visit to local hermit doctor pays dividends. He isn't too friendly where weapons are concerned, though. If you are unfortunate enough to run into the Sheriff of Nottingham on your travels, you may well find yourself inspecting his dungeons at rather close quarters!

At the bottom of the screen there is an indication of Robin's energy status in the form of a row of hearts. If, and when, Robin runs into anything he shouldn't, the bar depletes until it reaches zero and a life is lost. Below this are displayed any objects carried. There are quite a variety of things to be found about the wood and they are taken by simply moving over them. Only when you have collected all of the necessary weapons, and gained access to the castle, are you given the chance to win the silver arrow.

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Robin of the Wood contains some of the most detailed and colourful graphics I've seen on the 64. The backdrops are amazing (especially those of the woods) as are the characters who are all excellently defined and animated -- especially the cute little hedgehogs.
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The game isn't just pretty to look at either, as it contains some excellent features. Robin is pretty similar to Sabre Wulf in its approach, but it has far better and more varied gameplay.
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There are lots of sub-tasks to complete before you can actually enter the archery competition, making Robin far superior to an average 'collect em up' style maze game.
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The music is great too -- it sounds just like an old mediaeval tune and gives the game even more of an atmosphere. If Odin should keep on producing such quality software as this and Nodes of Yesod, they could well become one of Britain's leading software houses during 1986. Robin of the Wood is a real classic and a game which should keep the most hardened arcade adventurers puzzling over Christmas.
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Htmlized by Dimitris Kiminas (30 Apr 2004)

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