C&VG


Terror Daktil

Publisher: Melbourne House
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #24

Terror Daktil

The perfect arcade game is a combination of superb graphics and a challenging game. Terror Daktil from Melbourne House, the people who brought you The Hobbit, is half perfect. The graphics are among the best that I have ever seen on a micro, but the game itself is fairly ordinary, if not boring.

In a place forgotten by time, says the blurb, the beating of wings heralds an incarnation too horrible to believe... the dreaded monsters swoop down intent on your destruction.

The idea in this game is to destroy the terror-daktils which inhabit the strange land onto which your plane has just crashed. A pilot's eye view of the crash is displayed before the game actually begins, although this can be skipped if you wish. The crash portrayed is almost too realistic and in superb 3D. I found myself looking under the seat for the paper bag (It wasn't there!).

Terror Daktil

After the emergency you find yourself alone on a plateau somewhere in the South American jungle. In the distance you suddenly see some strange creatures grouping together. Is it a Space Invader? Is it a Pac-Person? No, it's the Terror-Daktils.

Your only hope of survival in this situation is to drag out an old cannon which you find and use it to fire at the gathering terror-daktils. You can move the cannon in four directions although it does not physically move up and down, vertical movement being shown by a digital degree indicator instead.

Occasionally a single terror-daktil breaks away from the group and sweeps towards you. Again the graphics are superb. The beast itself is beautifully drawn and comes towards you in 3D, growing larger as it approaches. If its claws touch you then you lose one of your three lives.

As for the game itself, there's little move to it than that. If you survive for six days and six nights then a rescue plane will come to your aid. The game cycles through day and night by changing the screen colour - so that's what the fourth dimension is.

If you want to show off your Spectrum's graphics to your friends then this is the game for you. If you want a game which you'll keep coming back to play, then you can probably find something else to spend your £6.95 on.