Previous Next

The first Ultimate blockbuster on the Amstrad has hopefully set the pattern off things to come in being better than the Spectrum version and rivalling anything on the C64. Brilliant 3D graphics and animation coupled with unique gameplay should put this in anybody's top three games.

The action takes place in a 128-room castle where you take control of Sabreman as he tries to rid himself of a curse that changes his body into that of a werewolf. You have to find certain objects placed around the castle and its grounds and drop them into a wizard's cauldron in the right order until you are rid of the curse.

Each room is a different screen depicted in marvellous, colourful 3D. Many of them are booby-trapped, or have devious puzzles which must be solved before you can get through or collect an object. Solving the puzzles involves manipulating the rooms' contents in a way no other game (except this one's successor Alien 8) has managed. For example if there's a ledge you can't quite jump up to, there may be a table in the room that you can push into position to shorten the jump. Alternatively you could drop one of the objects you're carrying and stand on that. There are of course lots of dangers like spiky mats and balls, guards, ghosts, portcullises, bouncing balls, fire balls and sinking paving stones. There is also the problem that you have a 40-day time limit. Each night you change into a werewolf, and although you can still play the game in this form, some of the enemies are much harder to avoid.