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Year 1281. Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, emperor of China and founder of the Yüan dynasty, began a persecution against the local Taoist religion, in favour of Buddhism, imported from India a few centuries earlier. Taoist writings are burned, and monks are forced to convert to Buddhism on pain of death. On the Wudang Mountains, the Temple of the Purple Cloud is turned into a Buddhist temple; only one of the monks refuses the forced conversion and for this he is incarcerated in the dungeons of the complex, awaiting execution. His friend Qi Wen Wei, a skilled swordsman, forgoes an escape to safe lands to free him.

This is the premise of Wudang, the latest work by Ariel Ruiz, author of such masterpieces as Escuela De Ladrones, Carlos Michelis and Redshift. The player, in the role of Qi Wen Wei, must run through the temple complex, facing the numerous guards, also armed with swords, patrolling the place. In combat, Qi Wen Wei can parry and attack: learning the coordination between attack and defence is essential, if you do not want to see your qi - vital energy, according to Taoist doctrine - drop to zero, which causes the game to end. By defeating guards and Wu wizards, capable of firing magic balls, either your qi returns to its maximum value, or you get a key (there are six in all) to open the doors of its corresponding colour.

The maximum qi value at the beginning is 9; you can increase it by two every time you complete one of the two sub-games in Wudang. The first is a sort of Breakout played with two bamboo sticks instead of the usual bat: you must eliminate all the coloured bricks, taking care not to hit the "demons" (two red bricks) as this makes a bar at the bottom of the screen decrease, and when the bar is completely gone, you have to start over. The second is a visual puzzle, in which you must push three mice along some platforms, until they reach a container, bearing in mind that each of them starts from a box of a certain colour, and when a mouse touches an obstacle of that colour, it disappears.

Wudang is entirely programmed in BASIC, but the speed and smoothness of the sprite movements are amazing; it's a little programming miracle. As a game itself, it is pretty straightforward, and once you learn how to defend and counterattack, taking down enemies will become almost automatic, even on the highest difficulty level (there are three). Besides, the sub-games add a nice diversion. The graphic aspect is a bit simple but overall pleasant, while sound is limited to a beeper tune and a few short blips. In a nutshell, Wudang is a good action/exploration title, not particularly original maybe, but fun and crafted with care.