Dragonfire

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 0/5 MISS

Roger Willis 1/5 MISS

Ross Holman 0/5 MISS

JOYSTICK JURY What's on your software shopping list for Christmas? Let Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls and Roger Willis help you make your mind up! This month, our motley crew of Joystick Jurors include Dave Nicholls, a self-confessed adventure fanatic and seasoned hacker; Ross Holman, ace games player and winner of the Jet Set Willy prize; and, last but by no means least, Roger Willis, a relative newcomer to the Spectrum scene. Dave and Ross you'll already know from our monthly major games reviews. Roger Willis, on the other hand, is probably more at home in the saddle of a massive motorbike... but that was before he discovered the thrills and spills of the Spectrum. Check out what they thought of the latest in games software... DRAGONFIRE Cheetahsoft £7.95 Roger: Prefaced with barking hokum about militant rebels and their house-trained dragons depriving young Prince William of his treasure, this program is enough to put even you off royalty for life. Our regal hero begins his attempt at regaining his birthright on the first screen depicting the castle gates and drawbridge. All the young lad has to do is nip across quick, dodging the odd gob of lethal dragon fire, to gain entry to the treasure. So far, so good, and on to the second screen, which has even cruder graphics. The noble prince can be shuffled round safely out of dragon-range and the relevant goodies scooped up into His Highness's Post Office account or wherever yer Royals keep their negotiables. Prince and player should then be trembling at the dire warning about how hard life gets after the second level... Although there's a voluntary choice of four difficulty levels, the game automatically gets more serious with success - but the grandiose let-down is that there isn't anything past the second level. That's your lot, mate! It's back to the first screen... it just gets harder. What we're actually looking at is a stunning lack of program content and detail. Boredom grows faster than skill rating and, quite frankly. Dragonfire has got about as much future as the feudal system.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

ZX Computing

Instructions 80%

Presentation 65%

Addictability 65%

Value 60%

ZXC Factor 5/10

David Harwood 5/10

You are Young Prince William, whose laborious chore is to recover the nation's treasure from the castle, guarded of course by an evil dragon. As the treasure is in the castle, the Prince needs to get into the main room of the castle via the drawbridge. So the Gallant Prince sets off along the drawbridge dodging fast-moving fireballs. Quite an unfair task for such a young fellow. The controls are fairly simple, using the cursor keys to move left and right, 6 to duck under the fireballs and 0 to jump over. The game is joystick compatible with the Cheetah R.A.T., Kempston or Interface 2. Once inside the castle, the cursor keys will move young Willy in the desired direction in order to pick up the stolen treasure. Once this screen is completed, the game goes back to the first screen where the level of play is automatically increased and the Prince has to get into the castle dodging the fireballs again. Inside the castle, as promised, I expected to find a dragon, but instead it looked more like a crocodile. This dragon moves along the end wall breathing out fireballs. Occasionally, when struck by a fireball, the body of the Prince was not erased and the game continued with a new William. This is a small bug, but as playing progressed a far larger one occurred. If the Prince stayed alongside two of the walls or in two of the corners, the fireballs just went straight through him and nothing happened at all. Let's hope that this is cleared up in the final version. These bugs are quite surprising as with only two screens and 48K of RAM I would have thought they could have been extensively checked. The graphics are alright and clear but nothing special, but on the whole I found it a no-go game.

Big K

Graphics 1/3

Playability 1/3

Addictiveness 1/3

Overall 1/3

John Conquest 1/3

MAKER: Imagic (Cheetah) FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £7.95 Prince Williams has to retrieve the royal treasury from inside the castle which is guarded by a dragon. On the first screen you have to get him across the drawbridge, leaping, ducking or running back to avoid the fireballs being spat out from the gateway. On the second screen you have to scoop up the goodies while the dragon... you got it. Then it's back to the beginning and start over, slightly harder, though there are four skill levels if you want to raise the stakes right away. Billy's animation, especially his jumping is terrible and the game just doesn't offer enough of anything. If you want to test your reflexes in dodging and weaving, fine. But it takes a lot more than two screens to get me going.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 5/10

Richard Price 5/10

FIREATER FLOPS Memory: 48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Cheetah RAT, Kempston, Interface 2. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! Coming at you every which way too in Dragonfire as, in the persona of Prince William, you attempt to cross the drawbridge, enter your castle and rescue the valuables in the Treasury. The fortress is guarded by a powerful dragon who has clearly dined too well on chicken vindaloo and the fireballs fly thick and fast. Young Willy can be made to jump, duck and run towards the gate and, if he makes it, enters the second screen. That depicts the strongroom where the flatulent reptile lurks. Willy must then collect items of value and escape once again avoiding incineration. If successful he returns to the drawbridge and begins all over again, only this time the action is faster and yet more dangerous. There are four levels like that, each apparently using the same screens. The game is fast, challenging, with good strong graphics and clear displays. It is pure arcade and the storyline is minimal. All you need are fast reactions and the urge to play again and again. To begin with the program is exciting and difficult but with only two screens, the thrill soon wears off. That is a serious limitation on what is basically a well-designed game and is bound to reduce its permanent appeal.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online