Previous Next

Usually games converted from the C64 to our beloved Speccy don't fare too well. However, having played the C64 version of Cauldron (against my will, you understand!) I actually think the Spectrum version is better!

Of course, the attribute problems are there as always, but I found that controlling the figure of the Hag, as she flies around on her broomstick, was much easier on the Spectrum than on the C64.

You have eight hags available, and must fly them over a scrolling landscape of forests, mountains, seas and cemeteries, from which appropriate nasties issue forth in order to drain your magical reserves. Hidden within the landscape are four keys which provide access to the underground depths through which you must wander to find the Pumpking's Lair.

Personally, I found flying the Hag on her broomstick the most enjoyable part of the game. She is well animated and really pretty nippy on her broomstick, and she can also fire bolts at the ghosts, bats, etc, which attack her. Unfortunately, once you get underground the game becomes a sort of Jet Set Hag clone. Normally, that wouldn't bother me, but I actually found some of these screens irritating since there's no real indication of where you should be going. So, often, when you have bounced your way across a screen, there is no way of knowing how to get onto the next screen and you simply have to leap blindly in the hope that you may land on something in an adjacent screen.

So far though I have virtually always failed to cross between screens safely and this rather haphazard way of doing things becomes irritating as you lose all your Hags in a matter of seconds through no fault of your own.

Cauldron is quite enjoyable on the whole, but I do wish that it had been designed a little more carefully. Mind you, the flipside of the tape has a free Spectrum version of Palace's Evil Dead on it, which is a nice bonus and makes Cauldron good value for money.