Previous Next

This review is really difficult to write. How do you describe software which is so good that it makes Jet Set Willy look feeble?

Ultimate Play the Game are to programming what the Beatles were to pop music, They can't put a foot wrong. Every release is destined for number one in the software chart before a byte is coded. Every set of computer awards features Ultimate as the winners of something. They do not seek publicity but they get it.

Knight Lore is the sequel to the program Sabre Wulf. This did not appear on the Amstrad but took the form of a 2D maze game where the player had to hack his way through a jungle and destroy a monster by finding four segments of an amulet. One of the monsters in this game was the 'Wulf', In Sabre mans' quest for the amulet he gets bitten and in Knight Lore he gets turned into a werewolf every night. In Knight Lore you take the role of Sabre man, your task is to roam around the Wizards Castle and find the ingredients necessary to cure yourself of this dreadful spell.

Somewhere in the castle is the wizard and his magic cauldron. This needs the items found in the castle in a particular order. The item the cauldron wants is shown amongst a mass of flashing stars. If you are not carrying it (and you can only carry three things at a time) you had better leave the room quick since the stars will attack you. To rid yourself of the Wulf's curse it is necessary for you to put all the right objects in the cauldron. This means that you will need to find, and obtain the objects. The castle is no small place and getting to the object can be very tricky.

What I have so far omitted to say is that each room is shown in stunning 3D. As you will see from the photographs this is no simple ladder and platform game. There are platforms which rise and fall, move left and right, but they also move back and forth.

When you walk around a room you actually walk around it. Every object is beautifully drawn. There are brick walls, stone pillars and forest walls. The monsters take a variety of guises, from ghostlet blobs on the floor to sentry guards and nasty rolling balls. Some places have moving platforms which are the only way you can get across a room, some are filled with spiked balls. Controlling Sabre man to the nearest pixel is an essential skill. One important trick to learn is how to drop and stand on an object so that you can jump over a wall and then, whilst jumping, pick up the object so that it is not left behind. The game is full of tricks to learn. You constantly change from Sabre man to werewolf and some hazards are easier in one or other guise. At £9.95 this software is a bargain.

Even if the fear of werewolves has never kept you awake at night this game will hook you until you rid yourself of the curse.