Computer Gamer


I, Of The Mask

Publisher: Electric Dreams
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Computer Gamer #10

I, Of The Mask

Your hearts beats even faster as you chase down the corridors, twisting and turning this way and that until you come to the next universe. Will this one contain the part of the robot that you are looking for? Time is running out and there is only one way to find out. Quickly, you fire a laser bolt at one of the three crystals...

I, Of The Mask, the latest game from Sandy White of Ant Attack fame, places you as a participant in the Space Trials. As you might imagine from his previous games, it relies very heavily on 3D imagery and uses some very clever programming to create some stunning effects.

The idea of the game is to create a robot, various bits of which are hidden in "universes" deep within a maze. The robot has to be built in a specific order, starting with the feet and finishing with the mask. The mask is divided into 32 different universes which are all colour-coded. At the entrance to each universe is a chamber containing three crystals, one of which contains a part of the robot. You have to find a crystal containing a foot piece, stabilise the piece by shooting it three times and then go off in search of the other foot. To make things slightly easier for you, the pieces are colour-coded as well so that for example you need only search the blue universes when looking for a foot.

The other two crystals also have their uses. One of them teleports you randomly to another crystal chamber and the other teleports you somewhere within the maze itself. This tends to be a frustrating experience as you invariably end up nowhere near where you want to go. A map of the entire maze can be called up at any time. You start the game with three lives and 2,000 units of energy and you die if either figure reaches zero. You lose a life when you "shoot" a piece of robot that is not in the correct sequence whilst your energy is constantly draining away although it does increase considerably when you shoot a piece.

The success of this game lies fairly and squarely with its graphics. The 3D effects are amazing (although some of the scrolling of the crystals is a bit dodgy) and if you enjoy maze games, then you should definitely consider buying I, Of The Mask. If you're not too keen on mazes then you really ought to try it before you buy it.