Acorn User


Palace Of Magic

Author: Robert Miller
Publisher: Superior/Acornsoft
Machine: Acorn Electron

 
Published in Acorn User #064

Palace Is Magic

Palace Of Magic

To be perfectly honest, Superior should have subtitled this game Citadel 2. The similarity between this and the original Citadel is uncanny! There is even an evil wizard. Nothing wrong with that, of course, except his name is Caldeti!

In Palace Of Magic, you must search for a transporter to escape to freedom. An assortment of creatures inhabit the palace and its surrounding land, including spacemen, white rabbits and a vicar. Some will help you in your quest, while others try their hardest to shorten your life-span.

For those of you who never saw the original game, locations - the palace for example - consist of several levels, connected with ropes and ladders. Colour-coded doors block the corridors at places throughout the game. In order to progress, the relevant key has to be found. Other barriers can block your path; the most annoying of which is when a wall is just that little bit too high to jump. You can see a passage off to the left just waiting to be explored, but you can't reach it!

The game is in Mode 2 with creative use of colours to give shades and textures. There are some nice graphic touches with flickering candles and 'sparkling' magic top hats. The sound isn't much cop, with the odd ping or blip as you jump about. To be fair, there isn't really much scope for sound effects in games like this. For those of you who prefer to explore in perfect silence, there are sound on/off keys.

Having enjoyed Citadel the chance to relive my days of exploring and questing is very welcome. The usual Superior price of £9.95 is a small amount to pay for such a great game. I really enjoyed playing Palace Of Magic and will keep playing until I complete it.

Robert Miller

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