C&VG


Warrior II
By Nexus
Commodore 64

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #63

Warrior II

Remember Psi Warrior, the old Beyond game of a couple of years back, and the cartoon strip based on the character in C+VG? Well, he's back. This time on a secret mission to find the secrets of the ancients which have been buried deep within a pyramid.

The secrets are protected by a complex colour coded maze, guardians which patrol the pyramid's levels, vaporising mats and mats which allow you to bounce.

The Warrior, armed with a gun which fires a net, and riding a sort of floating surfboard, slips and slides his way through the pyramid. Controlling the surfboard is very tricky at first, and your six lives disappear at an alarming rate as the Warrior kills himself on horrific collisions or touches the vaporising mats. Dexterity comes with practice.

The key to moving onto lower floors is colour. The Warrior's suit must be the same colour as the floor. Moving onto a floor without having the correct match will cost a life.

Netting the guardians which patrol the levels moves the colour switch left or right, enabling the suit colour to change.

However once you've managed to get the correct suit colour your troubles are not over. When you move onto the floor your suit flashes which means you are vulnerable to attack from the guardians. To survive you must zap the guardians, enabling you to change suit colour again. Confusing, isn’t it. It's much easier to play it than say it.

The screen layout is well designed. The top part is taken up with indicators for the colour switch, suit colour, and damage. The bottom section shows your current location within the pyramid. The rest is taken up with the playing area.

Zipping and zapping around the levels is great fun. There's a great sense of achievement as you use a bounce mat to lift you clear of a seemingly impossible obstacle - only to be frustrated at being catapulted onto a vaporising mat.

Warrior II is the most enjoyable of the Nexus games so far.