Previous Next

Cutesy-wutesy, cuddly-wuddly, fluffy-wuffy, snuggly-wuggly: aaahh... dontcha just wanna chuck?!

Spellbound is all about pixies (Ralph! Hughie!) who end up looking for kittens (Europe! Herb!), who've managed to get lost beyond the gateway to Hell (now *that's* a bit more like it). Well, something like that.

In essence this is a straightforward, simple platform game in which one or two players take part in a quest through eight levels of magic, monsters and mayhem. For your protection you're armed with a variety of spells, though at first you're limited to stone throwing (don't try this at home, kids). More ambitious spells can only be cast when your magical power is increased somewhat.

Although you can leap over yawning gaps in platforms, you can't jump to those of a different height. You move between these platforms with the lifts that you find scattered around the place. You can fall a small distance without suffering, but any great height is detrimental to your health.

An interesting feature is that a fall off the bottom of the screen results in the player falling from the top (hey?). This can, at times, be your only way to progress.

Gameplay differs in one and two player modes: a one-pixie game involves a lot of running backwards and forwards because only one item can be carried at a time, so an extra pair of hands is greatly appreciated. The biggest advantage is that in a one player game there's just the one mouth to feed, so the greedy little piggy can scoff all the energy and all those magical power-ups.

A two player effort is much more fun though. Ideally, the two players should co-operate, sharing out the potions and generally helping each other out. On the other hand, when have you ever known even a cutesy game to work like that? Here, the players can always shoot each other - one accidental shot, and all hell breaks loose! The task in hand is forgotten, as the two players concentrate on killing each other, hee hee.

Backgrounds are well drawn and scroll smoothly when characters reach the edge of the screen. Sprites too are cute and colourful - as you'd expect in this type of game. In two player mode the two characters look like identical twins; the programmers are lazily duplicating the same sprite without so much as a colour change. While this may be efficient in terms of coding, it can be very confusing. All too often you get mixed up with who's who, and end up falling off platforms for your troubles.

Not much has been made in the way of sound. There's no tune, not even a bad one, and the spot effects are extremely sparse.

The blend of cuteness, arcade action and simple problem-solving make for an instantly playable, fun, appealing game. The simultaneous two player option adds to this. Not bad at all, especially if you have at least one friend.