Personal Computer News


Zorgon's Kingdom

Author: Pete Gerrard
Publisher: Romik
Machine: Commodore Vic 20

 
Published in Personal Computer News #048

Zeal For Zorgon

Zeal for Zorgon

Zorgon's Kingdom is described by Romik as a 'real-time graphical adventure' and, while that may be stretching things a little bit, this is nonetheless an original and absorbing game.

Objectives

For reasons best known to Romik, you find yourself in an interesting and unusual kingdom populated with a strange mixture of aliens and alien devices. You have to manoeuvre yourself around the five screens by using a variety of keys (since the joystick option didn't work on my Vic 20) in order to defeat the evil Zorgon minions and, who knows, maybe even the master Zorgon himself.

Zorgon's Kingdom

En route you have to pass through a weird assortment of obstacles that put your reflexes to the text, and lead to an acute case of 'arcade finger'.

Your progress is timed throughout the game, and the ultimate objective is to defeat Mr. Zorgon in the shortest time possible.

In Play

Zorgon's Kingdom

The first stage of the game takes a while to load, and the Play key on the tape deck must be left down for subsequent stages.

Although it gives you a little breathing space in between levels, it can become a major one when, having lost all your lives, you find that you have to start from level one again and re-load everything.

Level one is a pretty mundane affair; you have to run up ladders and avoid holes and various bombs. You have to do the whole thing again when you've reached the top for the first time.

Zorgon's Kingdom

On to level two, where the pace hots up a bit. Here you begin by jumping onto moving lifts, then you have to avoid a swarm of falling aliens that look like bats but are referred to as 'Gorgoids' (shades of Kenny Everett), swing along onto a boat and off it again, chase a few octopi and catch them when they mutate, and finally escape.

Level three is even more ridiculous. Among other things, you have to avoid organ pipes and electric wires in your attempts to progress further.

Here your reviewer's progress ground to a halt.

Verdict

If you have the required memory expansion this is well worth investigating. A shame about the lack of a joystick on my version, but the game certainly manages to pack a lot into a little computer.

Pete Gerrard

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