donw@pinot (Don White) (05/23/87)
I just played a new game called Faery Tale on a friends Amiga!
Faery Tale is an action graphics adventure game with a real strong
three-dee feeling. Your character walks through buildings, tombs, and
(best of all) country side! He fights realistic( ;-) ) monsters and
finds all sorts of magic items and riches. If you have ever played an
arcade game called Guantlet, you have a good idea of what the action
looks like. I strongly recommend it based on the FEEL of playing it alone!
The scenery scrolls smoothly and quickly in ANY direction. You can
start walking off the screen to the left or right (or up/down but we
can see that in just ANY amiga program!) and the background and scenery
smoothly scroll to keep up!! The virtual screen (so to speak) is about
144 screens wide by (help me on this one?) 120 screens high!!!
The game features music which changes from happy music (OK OK, But that
how I think of it) to ominous music when monsters are coming after you.
You will find potions weapons keys orbs and sometimes the bones of less
successful relatives.
I realize this review is woefully inadequate in one aspect. I am sorry
I haven't gotten to play it enough to tell you much about the strategy
of the play. Faery Tale appears to be more action oriented than ( for
instance Bards Tale) but I don't think I can give it a fair appraisal
concerning strategy until I've spent a few hours at it.
I'll be happy to review it's finer points if I can FIND A COPY FOR
SALE SOMEWHERE!!!! It's sold out already at the software place I've
been going to. Anyway, when I get my own copy, I expect to play it
through many midnights!!!!
Bards Tale - This is My Favorite Game on the Amiga.
This is NOT an action game in the same way as Faery Tale. But it IS
visual. When your group of up to six characters goes roaming the
streets or delving into dungeons, you SEE buildings or walls swinging
by you. The graphics are good, but they only play a supporting role,
not the main part of the game. When you walk through the town of
Bards Tale you will notice that the buildings move past you in an odd
way. When you look down the line of a row of buildings, it is best to
think of your self IN FRONT of the building or space you see AHEAD of
you.
The town (called Skara Brae) is a very small part of the game.
It's the dungeons that will command most of your attention in this game.
The graphics in the dungeons are completely understandable and intuitive.
The most important aspect to Bards Tale is to MAP the places you
explore. This can be difficult. Creatures will try to kill you and magic
will sometimes baffle you (for a while. I'd SWEAR I just came through a
door in that wall!! Where IS it?!?!?). Get yourself a pad of graph paper
and draw the walls of dungeon along the lines of the paper. This is
the only way I can see to win. There are a total of seventeen levels, adding
up those of all the dungeons and towers. That means a lot of exploration
and fighting before you can beat up Mangar the evil wizard!! If you have
ever played a fantasy adventure game with a group of friends (i.e. using all
the crazy shaped dice and action ranks, hitpoints, luck, constitution, etc)
This is the closest game I've seen to that kind of play!!
A very good game!
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I am in no way involved with either of these games except as a user.
( currently a user of Bards Tale, soon a user of Faery Tale )
Don White
Box 271177
Concord CA
94527-1177
zehntel!donw