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Ocean have done rather well at taking British arcade machine games and translating them (officially) to the smaller screen. Cavelon is another 'official' version for the Spectrum and Commodore 64. The Spectrum version has been done by Chris Urquhart (Transversion and Hunchback) and sports an excellent title screen designed by D. Thorpe. Basically it is a large maze game, one screen high and several in width, scrolling as your man moves across.

Medieval themes are uncommon on the computer. Here you play the part of a gallant knight out to rescue Guinivere who has been imprisoned on the top floor of a tower. There are six levels to ascend and the only way to get from floor to floor is to collect all the pieces of the door which have been dotted around the maze. Knights and archers will try to stop you. They march around randomly all over the place. Your only defence is the sword Excalibur which renders you immune for a short time, and arrows. Where possible, Excaliburs should be saved up for later levels where they are really needed!

At the start you see your knight ride up to the castle, squeal to a halt and dismount from his steed and enter the castle. Between each level there is a screen showing your knight mounting the tower stairs to the next level. The playing screen is a square with a status panel to its right showing score, hi-score, bonus points (achieved by collecting objects other than door pieces on the way), a red graphic of the door itself which fills in white with each piece collected, your lives, and Excaliburs available to you.

Control keys: S/X up/down, N/M left/right, A fire arrow, SYM SHIFT for Excalibur zap button
Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2 Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: good positions and very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good, smooth and well animated
Sound: effects with continuous medieval theme tune
Skill levels: each screen progressively harder
Lives: 3
Screens: 6 playing screens, 2 inter-game screens
Originality: very good

'Cavelon is a difficult game to form an opinion on. I feel that it is one that you will either like or dislike (with no indifference). I enjoyed it and thought it was very good. The graphics are good, as is the sound (only a handful of Spectrum games have a tune running throughout, as this one does). On the whole, very good, but not quite in the Spectrum super league.'

'This must be one of the new generation of maze type games - it's a very simple idea but with plenty of playing appeal, content and action. The game is so simple an idea it just leads to compulsive playing. The whole structure of the game is most enjoyable. The graphics are quite colourful, they move quickly and smoothly. Sound is continuous with no on/off switch - this could drive you crazy. A game and well worth vying even if it's only to see what's on the top floor!'

'I saw Cavelon first on the C64, by about a few days, and was impressed. So it was a pleasure to see it on the Spec - from, and an even bigger pleasure to find that this is one game which actually looks better on the Spectrum as well as playing better. The Spectrum version is a much tougher game and so more addictive. Although you are armed with arrows, I like the way archers when hit turn to knights and only a second arrow hit will get rid of them. A good looking game and an addictive one.'