Previous Next

Micro Power has had its share of arcade/adventure games. First there was Castle Quest, followed some time later by the disastrous Dr. Who. Now the company returns with a vengeance - its latest release, Imogen, is an absolute stunner.

This is an arcade/adventure game constructed from 16 separate sections which are stored on cassette or disc and loaded up as required. Using such a technique overcomes all memory limitations, allowing the programmer to create a game of limitless size.

Each section consists of four linked screens which contain a number of puzzles, designed to stop you reaching the spell that is hidden on each level.

There is a password for each section and Micro Power has kindly supplied four in the instructions to help eliminate the problem of becoming stuck on a early level.

There is a save game option which will save the game to the current filing system - all partially solved puzzles are saved as they are, for your future torment.

Imogen is a wizard who lost a few of his marbles while battling a dragon. For his own safety, and that of the local community, he was incarcerated in a dungeon by the great wizard. He must earn his freedom by solving the dungeon's many puzzles and collect the 16 pieces of the Spell of Release.

One of Imogen's party pieces is transformation: He can change from wizard, to monkey, to cat at will. Each form has a different ability - the wizard can use objects, the monkey can climb and the cat can jump long distances.

You control Imogen's transformation using a set of icons at the top of the screen.

The remaining icons will give you the password for that level, allow you to enter a password, change the screen colours, switch the sound on and off, and save the game.

Each character is beautifully animated using Mode 4 graphics, so the cat, for example, trots briskly across the screen waving its tail, The burning torches which illuminate the rooms are masterpieces of flaming animation.

Level one is entitled Balloonery for reasons which soon become apparent as you try to make your way from the first screen. To your right is a brick wall that is just too high to be jumped. Floating high above you is a small table, suspended in mid-air by a balloon.

Donning monkey guise I scrambled up a nearby rope and attempted a feline leap on to the table hoping to weight it down. Unfortunately it is just a claw's length out of reach, and I fell to the floor. (One good thing about the game is the way that you can fall from any height without injury!)

The room to the left contains two long ropes dangling from the ceiling, and two short lengths of rope fastened to balloons and floating on the ceiling. The trick here is to climb a long rope, then jump off and grab one of the short pieces. As you float gently earthwards you perform a mid-air leap and clear the high wall to your left.

In this new chamber is a bow, and following more rope climbing you return to your starting point and burst the balloon. Your archery skills are called upon again when some little creep won't let you get to the spell.

Once you have collected the spell, you are transported to level two. High above you can see the spell, but your way is barred by an enormous bulldog, lazily chomping on a dish of Kennomeat. Using all the lateral thinking you can muster, you do a little gardening, collect some of a mysterious liquid, and drug the dog - this is not as easy as it sounds.

As my copy of the game was a pre-release demo version, I did not see as many screens as I would have liked. But if the rest are as good as these I will be out there with everybody else, queueing up to buy a copy of Imogen.

An excellent arcade/adventure game is a rare thing - they are usually lacking in either the puzzle or the graphics departments. Imogen is lacking in neither, the puzzles are clever and the graphics are a delight.

Carol Barrow