Your Sinclair


Nemesis The Warlock
By Martech
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #19

Nemesis The Warlock

Yet more superheroes! This time it's 2000AD's Nemesis The Warlock who's work you get to do. You have to kill Torquemada, the Grand Master of Termight. Sounds easy, doesn't it? The catch, as you might expect, is that Torquey baby has other ideas, so he sends out wave upon wave of demented Terminators to do you in. Each screen has a set number of Terminators to be terminated before your exit from the screen is possible.

The game is a platformer, with the action taking place on the main screen. Underneath that are some smaller screens displaying complex goings on related to the game. One gives you the number of Terminators you have to kill to finish off a given level, another is the number of bullets in your gun - though bullets run out, and once they do it's back to hand to hand (well, sword, actually) fighting until you find some more. Then there are two other panels,one of which shows a mass of dots which eventually become the face of Torquemada, and the other shows Torquemada's hand gently squeezing your heart! Each time you're hit, the hand squeezes tighter. When it completes the action, you be dead, my boy, and off to heaven you do go!

As you hack your way through the Terminators they fall down and die as you'd expect them to. However, as Torquemada's influence grows, the bodies have an unsettling habit of leaping up. Torquemada turns them into deathly zombies when he gets stronger, and they're armed with swinging scythes, so not only do you have to fight with your sword and gun, but you have to beware the zombies who are intent on parting your feet from the rest of your body.

It's hack and slay all the way, though when you find the bullets you can fire on the baddies from a distance - very useful in my case 'cos my swordplay leaves a lot to be desired. Watch how many bullets you pick up though, 'cos you can only hold so many, and if you collect them all, you can't hang onto 'em and they run out all the quicker.

The graphics are of the large 'n' chunky variety, which means you get to see the action in grizzly close up. It's a great game that's nice and easy to get into, but which takes a while to get to grips (har har!) with. I thought it was great, but then I'm a great fan of the hack 'em to death style of game.

John O'Shea

Other Spectrum 48K/128K Game Reviews By John O'Shea


  • Spy Vs Spy 2: The Island Caper Front Cover
    Spy Vs Spy 2: The Island Caper
  • Koronis Rift Front Cover
    Koronis Rift
  • Psi-5 Trading Company Front Cover
    Psi-5 Trading Company
  • Chronos Front Cover
    Chronos