Realm of the Undead

Crash

Use of Computer 50%

Graphics 52%

Playability 53%

Getting Started 48%

Addictive Qualities 45%

Value For Money 53%

Overall 50%

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Producer: Lothlorien Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.50 Language: BASIC and Machine code Stake 'n chips, 'Fangs for the Memory', and other assorted funnies come to mind as you take a trip into the Realm of the Undead. Haunted by tarantulas, bats and the Dark Lord himself, your task is to clear three screens and rescue trapped villagers. Screen one is a simple maze patrolled by tarantulas, whose bite is death unless you have collected sufficient quantities of garlic cloves. Contact with a member of the undead will result in the loss of a clove of garlic. Once the garlic is harvested it's safe to go and press the lever which is somewhere at the top of the screen. This causes a secret exit to appear, which must be reached before it vanishes again. Getting onto the second screen, you must free the trapped villagers. This is done by entering a long maze, avoiding the bats and tarantulas, getting to the lever at the bottom and then returning up through the maze to the top level where pressing the lever has opened the castle door. This also releases the villagers which must be 'run over' to rescue them. The castle door only stays open for a short while and closes anyway if you run into a bat. Running into a spider will lose you more garlic. Entering the castle door takes you to the third screen. Here the Dark Lord will leave his coffin in the centre and chase along with a bunch of zombies. Three bites from Drac and you're dead. A lever beside the coffin opens the door to a store room at the top right where you can collect a stake. Another lever at the top left causes a hammer to appear for a short while. This too must be collected before either Dracula gets it, or it disappears. Having collected stake and hammer you can entice Drac back into his coffin, shut the lid and drive a stake into his heart. Van Helsing would be proud of you. COMMENTS Control keys: sensible, I/Q up/down, 9/0 left/right and S to drive home a stake Joystick: none Keyboard play: very responsive Use of colour: nicely used Graphics: small, undetailed and slightly jerky at slower speeds Sound: neat squeaks but little else Skill levels: 5 speeds Lives: 3 to start and depends on garlic afterwards Screens:3 Originality: concept fairly original, game type quite typical

Drac's out on patrol and the undead await you...

The Castle door's open, but can you reach it in time to rescue the villagers?

The cloves of garlic mount up in the first screen maze.