Previous Next

This is a budget maze game that makes up for a lack of sophistication by being both extensive and very difficult to master. Spread over 256 rooms, the labyrinth contains nine parts of a scroll which must be collected to reveal the way to the exit. The maze is divided into five sectors and your character, a clockwork mouse complete with a huge key inserted in his back, must first pick up four objects (maps, compasses, water bottles and hourglasses) which must be delivered one at a time to that sector's drop point. Only then will the 'sector key' materialise somewhere in the sector. Once that object has been located, you are free to wander throughout the maze.

Sounds complicated? Well, it is rather, and of course no maze is complete without its resident villains, in this case rats, frogs and others who like nothing better than homing in on you to deplete your energy. Although their effect can be neutralised by collecting certain objects, they are a determined bunch of adversaries even on level 1. I dread to think what they get up to when you reach level 5! And bear in mind that you have only got one life to play with at the beginning. You are not entirely defenceless in that weapons are available but in each room there is not a lot of space to manoeuvre in so they can be tricky to deploy.

The rooms themselves are realised using bright and attractive graphics from an overhead viewpoint. Although there is no scrolling, the transition from room to room is very fast so it doesn't interrupt the action significantly. Labyrinthion is a tough maze game which, at the price, represents excellent value.