Crash


Quetzalcoatl
By Virgin Games
Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Crash #1

Quetzalcoatl

Ouetzalcoatl was one of the most important Aztec gods. The inlay tells us he was the God of Life and Art. However he's neither at the beginning nor the end of this 3D maze game, so one presumes he was chosen for the title because his name is better known than the other three who appear with him.

As the story goes, you've been searching for the mysterious Temple of Quetzalcoatl for three months, when your party is set upon by a group of bandits, who foully murder your compatriots. For you, there is something worse in store - you're to be cast from the Holy Place, and you wonder whether they can mean the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. Well you guess right, and the next second there you are, alone in the passageways of the first level.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO There are four levels to the temple and you have to descend through them by finding a blue shaft. There aren't all too many of these around, but there are plenty of black shafts. Actually black shafts are okay too, but they damage the beads you're carrying. Beads? Yes, beads. It seems kindly Quetz litters them around the place in neat piles and you can collect them by walking over them. They're useful in case you find the exit - you can trade them with the native who will kill you if you haven't enough.

Quetzalcoatl

Each level has a godly guardian. On the first it's Huitzilopochtll (fortunately you don't have to type these names in) who is the Wayfarers' God. If you meet him he will give you a map.

Level two is the abode of Tlaloc, the Rain God who wanders about with four pitchers of water. You've got to pick the right one, otherwise he'll kill you - all in all he's not a pretty pitcher! The third level belongs to good old Quetz (he of the beads) and he'll give you a flute and teach you a short tune. This is just as well because on the final level is Tezcaflipoca the Sun God who will kill you unless you can play a short tune on a flute. After that it's a question of how many beads have survived the black shafts. There's always less beads as you progress from level to level.

The map is a mixed blessing too. Every time you use it, it disintegrates a bit more until it's finally all eaten away. When you get to a new level it is renewed and promptly starts vanishing again.

GENERAL There are six skill levels with an increase in difficulty between one and four. Level five has no map to help and level six has no compass either. The compass is collected by walking into Huitzilthingie along with the map.

Comments

Keyboard positions 1/2/3 = left/ahead/right
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good 3D effect
Sound: average, with entry beeps
Skill levels: six
Lives: one
Screens: four

'The 3D is quite good, with positive movement from the three directional keys. There's enough movement to give a feeling of progressing down a corridor. The maze is nicely complex too. 1 never came across a blue shaft, so it was -shattered beads all the way. The more you walk around, the more black shafts appear everywhere, and when you have gone down a level, they remember to make the black holes appear at the right places in the ceiling too. That said, the game doesn't really offer any violent sense of excitement, and plodding through blue and purple corridors, collecting beads gets to be boring.'

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