Dungeons of Doom

Big K

Overall 1/3

Richard Cook 1/3

DUNGEON EXPUNGIN' MAKER: Temptation MACHINE: Spectrum 48K FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £5.95 Labyrinths full of beasts are all too familiar fare in adventure games, and Temptation's shot at this D&D development offers no fresh view on a rapidly tiring format. The most basic of graphics plot a colourless course through two choices of mare. both the the usual quota of basilisks, hobgoblins, etc. Nothing so exciting as seeing these creatures onscreen, of course - a presence in words only, with a choice of attacking (and you nearly always win) or retreating. All you have to do is find a way out and collect treasure en route. Small sections of the floorplan are revealed to you as you go. Not especially simple. I guess, but there's no thrill of escape, no tease in tracking out the solution. Sound is at a premium with the cursor keys offering a bare bleep for movement. When there's a games like Dragonslayer or Atic Atac around, nobody's going to be much bothered with such a bloodless quest.

Crash

Producer: Temptation, 48K £5.95 This is meant to contain two games - either you enter and progress down through the dungeons, or you start at the bottom and try to get out. I thought that it was generally the case with any adventure. It's meant to be a graphic adventure, but the graphics are restricted to black on green squares representing the room you are in and the ones near to it. Monsters appear in text only and seem dispiritingly easy to kill off. Slow responses and few thrills make this a beginners-only introduction game.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Crash

Producer: Temptation, 48K £5.95 This is meant to contain two games - either you enter and progress down through the dungeons, or you start at the bottom and try to get out. I thought that it was generally the case with any adventure. It's meant to be a graphic adventure, but the graphics are restricted to black on green squares representing the room you are in and the ones near to it. Monsters appear in text only and seem dispiritingly easy to kill off. Slow responses and few thrills make this a beginners-only introduction game.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 3/10

Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Dungeons Of Doom also includes the game Escape from the Underworld. The first involves the player descending through a maze to find treasure; the second involves climbing upwards to escape the dungeons. In each game a section of the maze is shown on the screen. Players who were attracted to the game by its bright, prismatic cover will be disappointed by its graphics. The maze comprises squares and rectangles and the monsters which inhabit it are not displayed, or even described, but merely named - the effect is of a ZX-81 game converted quickly for a Spectrum. Maze generation in the program is faulty and it is possible to materialise in a section from which there is no exit. If that section is small the flaw soon becomes obvious but on a bigger scale a player could move pointlessly for some time without realising escape was impossible. The game is slow-moving; despite the poor graphics the picture appears slowly and the player is required to press ENTER after every move. The speed is explained by the game being written in Basic but the need to press ENTER and the sloppy maze-generation are programming flaws. Dungeons of Doom is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Temptation Software Ltd, [redacted].

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Producer: Temptation, 48K £5.95 This is meant to contain two games - either you enter and progress down through the dungeons, or you start at the bottom and try to get out. I thought that it was generally the case with any adventure. It's meant to be a graphic adventure, but the graphics are restricted to black on green squares representing the room you are in and the ones near to it. Monsters appear in text only and seem dispiritingly easy to kill off. Slow responses and few thrills make this a beginners-only introduction game.