Previous Next

Before offering the third part of the Snowball trilogy to the world, Level 9 have taken time out to squeeze in a "quickie". Described by Pete Austin as a slightly easier adventure than their usual style, Emerald Isle is £3 cheaper than the rest of the Level 9 range.

The action takes place in and around tree-top cities of wooden buildings, where a contest for the heir to the throne is about to take place. Presumably it is your object to win and take over from the existing king! How you set about this task is a problem in itself, since the rules and conditions don't seem to be around.

But first you must escape the parachute from which you are dangling at tree-top level, for you have bailed out of your plane somewhere over the Bermuda triangle. Once down, you find yourself confronted by a maze of branches, through which you must fight your way to enter the city.

The usual style of Level 9 text is accompanied by what is becoming the familiar look of Level 9 graphics. These are fast to draw and quite pleasant to look at without being exceptional.

There are two commands, WORDS and PICTURES, which toggle the graphics on and off. I found I needed to use these in a number of locations where the text description was longer than the space below the graphics window. Unfortunately, the words don't stop scrolling when the new message reaches the top line of the text window, so one either has to read very quickly, or type WORDS to be able to follow the descriptions.

I think Pete Austin was being modest when he described this game as easier than usual, judging by the size of the map and number of objects I had amassed compared with my score out of 1,000. All in all, another offering from Level 9 of the high standard we've come to expect.

Emerald Isle is available for BBC, C64, Spectrum, Amstrad, Atari, Memotech and MSX at £6.95 on cassette and for BBC and C64 at £8.95 on disc.