Games Computing


Archipelago

Publisher: Talent
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Games Computing #11

Archipelago (Talent)

The scenario of the game is set by displaying a stunning, visual representation of an airship wrecked survivor stranded on one of a group of remote Pacific islands. The survivor is shown to be entering a cave and the game begins.

The screen then displays a randomly drawn maze with your character (a small man) in the top left of the maze. Movements left, right, up and down are controlled by joystick. The object is to reach the bottom right hand corner of the maze once having acquired the five jewels found strewn along the passages.

The maze is also inhabited by dangerous spiders who move intelligently towards the survivor, causing death upon contact. Jewels are collected by passing over them and attacking any spiders that stray too close.

Firing, uses energy which is indicated by the level of the red bar as it falls and rises (when recharged). There are three levels of increasing difficulty, with five screens in each. The first level gives allows a time limit of three minutes (shown at the bottom of the screen) but at higher levels this is gradually reduced.

Overall, I found this to be a very addictive game as getting past the first screen proved to be more difficult than it seemed.