Previous Next

If there's one genre of games on the C64 that we *don't* need any more of, it's platform games. Over the years we've had so many inflicted on us, most of them unbelievably dire, that any new release that even looks like it might be a platform game is immediately met with cynicism. So why, oh why, have Mirrorsoft decided to release Dark Castle, an unadulterated levels 'n ladders game? Maybe because the Amiga version (which appeared six months ago) wasn't actually too bad at all, and received good reviews (mainly because at the time there weren't many Amiga platform games about).

After a lot of guesswork (the inlay doesn't give much away) I worked out that the storyline goes something like this: The Dark Castle is inhabited by an evil Knight who enjoys causing grief and distress to the nearby villagers. To put an end to all this misery, the villagers get together and nominate a mug, to enter the castle and show the Knight where to get off.

When the game begins your hero is shown as a large sprite from behind as he stands in the main hall of the castle, confronted by four doors, and by pressing the appropriate number key, your hero enters that quarter of the castle. After some more loading, the first platformy castle interior is displayed, not surprisingly roamed by creatures and denizens of every description, including guards and rat-like animals, all of whom are deadly to the touch. So is falling from a great height - but everyone knows that. By going through the standard motions for exploring a room in a platform game (running up and down stairs, climbing ladders and jumping over holes) you must find the two objects that can be used to bump off the Knight - fireballs and a shield, the latter being used to turn you invisible (very useful for avoiding the castle minions). As soon as you have collected both items, you can progress to the third area, where ol' Knight himself hangs out.

Dark Castle came as a substantial disappointment to me, in every respect. While the backdrops are halfway decent, the sprites are so minute and poorly defined, that it's almost as if the game is intended to be a joke. Sound is none too good either, comprising of only a feeble sample version of Bach's Toccata and Fugue (I know my classics!) and weedy sound effects. The gameplay is virtually non-existent, mainly due to the pathetic graphics, with tiresome rock-throwing and nasty-dodging (and rather suspect sprite-collision detection). The final nail in the coffin is the aggravating multi-load that's none too easy to use on the disk version I was playing, so heaven knows what the cassette version will turn out to be like!

So there we have it. A rather poor and simplistic game with graphics and sound to match. Certainly not worth your hard-earned pennies. Mirrorsoft can do better than this. D Minus, could do much better.