Games Computing


Killer Caverns

Author: Simon Rockman
Publisher: Virgin Games
Machine: Oric 16K

 
Published in Games Computing #1

Killer Caverns (Virgin Games)

This is an adventure game in which "poor helpless Harold" has to venture through a system of caverns avoiding the deadly perils within to find a number of dispersed pieces of a ladder. With these, he can eventually reach the treasure hidden at the bottom of a well...

Written in BASIC, the program uses a colourful - although slow! - moving display, and makes appropriate sounds as you venture through the game. The low-resolution graphics made up from redefined lower case letters are adequate but not very exciting. The program is completely devoid of REM statements, but for anyone interested is straightforward to LIST; there being no devices to protect it from intruding eyes.

In fact, this was just as well because I had extreme difficulty in loading it; each time I tried I got Syntax Errors in a variety of places. Eventually I decided this was due to a low recording level on the tape and had to work through the listing correcting errors before I could get it to run. Let's hope Virgin Games get this right before production.

The program is simple to use, requiring only left and right cursor keys and the instructions are adequate. Value for money was considered somewhat less than average as for me the game quickly lost my interest.

Simon Rockman