Your Sinclair


Teladon

Author: Marcus Berkmann
Publisher: Destiny
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #29

Teladon

Destiny, as you may remember, is Francis Lee's exciting new label, he of Beyond, Starlight, Manchester City and England fame. Yeti was the label's first release, an efficient enough shoot 'em up to be sure, but nothing so addictive or innovative that we could recommend it unreservedly. Teladon is very much another kettle of kippers, combining as it does two entirely different game types, squashed into 48K. There are skilful talents at work here, but the recurring question looms - where's the game?

It's cleverly programmed, for certain. The first part sees you flying on a sort of hovering jetbike, into the screen and a rocky canyon, through which all sorts of hazards lie and all manner of nasties whizz about trying to bump into you, as nasties like to do. Your joystick manipulates your sights as well as your direction, so that if you don't zap 'em while you have the chance, you have to avoid the nasties instead. Rocks too will knock you out and so will the walls of the canyon. Irritatingly, you can often get into a sort of 'death loop', in which you can't stop yourself dying, perhaps four or five times in quick succession.

The idea, as you groove along, is to pick up a key (on your right) and then find a hole (further on, on your left) into which you then descend. The key is your insurance, in case you miss the hole - it'll let you move onto a slightly harder canyon course. If you do get down okay, you'll re-emerge in an entirely different game - a 3D isometric layout in fact, complete with sparkly Knight Lore-type death sprites. This is again a shoot 'em up, with absolutely no arcade adventure elements as far as I can see, and it's phenomenally hard to get through, as your weapon is clearly inferior to those of your many enemies. Collision detection, too, is questionable.

It's not really terribly addictive I'm afraid, much as I praise the programming skills and the general slickness of the production. How they managed to fit both perspective and isometric games, complete, into one package is brainy stuff. But as for the gameplay - well, sorry, funsters, but it doesn't really cut it.

Two games in one from Destiny - clever programming, but unexciting gameplay.

Marcus Berkmann

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