Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back

Crash

Overall 87%

Phil King 87%

OLDIES UNLIMITED! What? Spent all your Christmas money already? Well, never fear, the golden oldie himself, PHIL KING, takes you on a tour of the latest budget-price rereleases... Cauldron II Producer: Silverbird Price: £1.99 Original Rating: 91% In the original Cauldron, the player controlled a witch fighting the evil Pumpking. In the sequel, you control a pumpkin battling against the evil witch! The pumpkin's objective is a magic broomstick hidden in a castle populated by objects magically animated by the witch to stop intruders. Five objects must also be collected and used at the right places in the game to make progress. As in the prequel, graphics are very colourful and well-animated without too much clash. Progress is again very difficult, but excellent presentation inspires you to keep playing, 128 screens if colourful, playable action seems very good value for the budget price.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)C+VG Hit

Graphics 9/10

Sound 7/10

Value 9/10

Playability 10/10

Paul Boughton

MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad SUPPLIER: Palace Software PRICE: £8.99 Cauldron II - The Pumpkin Strikes Back was C+VG's Game of the Month in June when it came out on the Commodore 64. And in converting it to the Spectrum and Amstrad, Palace Software has successfully captured all the quality and addictive play of the original. Only the sound has really suffered - but that's the fault of the machines. In the first Cauldron game you played the part of the witch trying to rid her world of pumpkins. This time things are reversed. The sole surviving Pumpkin is out for revenge on the witch. To do this the pumpkin must collect a lock of the witch's hair and drop it in her cauldron. The game is set in a huge castle, covering a vast number of levels packed with puzzles, traps, spiders, skeletons and a vast variety of other creatures. If you decide to buy the game then hunt out a copy of the C+VG August issue and turn to the special poster sized map of the game. We don't guarantee the Spectrum and Amstrad versions will be exactly the same, but it will give you some idea of what you're up against. Cauldron II is a delightful game. At the end of the Commodore review we said "Don't delay, buy it today." We see no reason to change our opinion

AMSTRAD SCORES Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 8/10 Value: 9/10 Playability: 10/10

Your SinclairYour Sinclair Megagame

Graphics 9/10

Playability 9/10

Value For Money 9/10

Addictiveness 9/10

Overall 9/10

Phil South 9/10

Palace Software £8.99 Reviewer: Phil South Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble... well, they never said game reviewing would be easy! Hah-ha, The Pumpkin Strikes Back. You loved him Cauldron; now see him get his own back in the mega thrill powered sequel. The gist of what he's after is this - he must neutralise the Wicked Witch Queen by nicking a lock of her hair and, whilst holding he Book Of Spells, drop it into the steaming cauldron deep in the dungeons. To you this may sound like a snip, but to a bouncing pumpkin it ain't that easy. To assist you on your quest there are six magic objects to collect - the Goblet, Axe, Shield, Crown, Scissors and of course the Book of Spells. You can axe your doors down (just get yer axe together man, tee hee), shield yourself from walking skeletons, crown the Witch's killer magic, and finally snip a lock of hair with the scissors. The graphics, especially the pumpkin himself, are lovely. You get so wound up in his efforts to bounce higher you find yourself bouncing in your seat trying to make him go just that millimetre higher. (So that's what you were doing! Ed.) The Gargoyles on the side of the castle are brilliant. I won't spoil the fun of it for you by telling you what happens, just go up there and see. This is truly a delightful game, with an original slant on the traditional platformery, and although the sound and the other characters were good, I must admit it was the bouncing pumpkin that really got to me in the end. It's a well programmed nicely presented , value for money and very, very addictive game. If it doesn't rate very highly in the charts very soon, I'll turn into a pumpkin myself!

This is the Ground Floor. You must work your way up from here to the Witch's Bedroom at the top. Having gleaned the Scissors from the garden, you must then negotiate the lesser Gargoyles. You have to be at the right spot on the ground to jump over certain obstacles, so try bouncing against things to change your position.

This is the Witch's Bedroom. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Without waking her you must snip a lock of her hair, but watch her Evil Magic (the fuzzy spark next to the chandelier) as it'll try to zap you. To protect yourself from this pernicious aura, you must get the crown from the Throne Room. Heh heh. But in order to get that you need the shield to get the skeleton.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 90%

Graphics 91%

Playability 93%

Getting Started 86%

Addictive Qualities 92%

Value For Money 89%

Overall 91%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Palace Retail Price: £8.99 Author: Steve Brown, Richard Leinfellner, Richard Joseph At the end of Cauldron, the wicked witch defeats the Pumpking and wins the Golden Broomstick. Flushed with victory (and a stack of newly acquired magical power) the witch takes up residence in the Pumpking's castle and moves her sidekicks in for company. All the fighting with the Pumpking has tired old witchy out, and now she spends most of her time tucked up in bed dreaming of world domination. Little does she know, one of the Pumpking's minions survived her veggie clean-up campaign. Under cover of darkness this determined delicacy makes its way stealthily towards the castle with one objective in mind: to take the golden broomstick and claim the Castle in the name of all things round and yellow. Although the wicked witch stays between the sheets, she has animated various objects within the castle to keep out undesirables. Floating mines, trolls with hammers and roasted pig heads which waggle their ears in anticipation and then pounce on intruders are amongst the army of horrors that awaits the little yellow fellow. Contact with anything that moves saps Pumpkin's strength, and when the magic meter in the status screen reaches zero he bursts! At the start of the game, the hero is unarmed - bouncing into a pool of sparkling magic replenishes the magic meter and allows nasty-zapping to begin. Unfortunately, the canny hell-hag has granted her minions the power of immortality, and after they've been blasted with a bolt of magic they re-appear a couple of seconds later. Some guardians, like the patrolling skeletons and fluttering bats, cannot be killed with a magic blast - the galivanting gourd can only get past them when a certain object is in the inventory. Gargoyles on the edge of the building harbour great magical secrets... misjudging a leap onto a gargoyle's plinth sends the little hero falling into oblivion with the witch's laughter ringing out loud. Before the witch can be usurped, five objects must be collected and used at appropriate points in the game. The objects that Pumpkin Junior is carrying are displayed at the top of the screen along with the number of lives remaining. Points are added to the scoremeter each time a magical minion is zapped. Although the horrible warty hag is catching up on her beauty sleep, her evil spirit haunts the cobwebbed castle. When the veritable vegetable turns into pumpkin pulp she cackles hideously from her vantage point in the status area. The smiling swede has obviously been doing some serious training for this mission, as he's an agile little fellow, full of bounce. Pressing fire increases the level of sproing - there are three bounce strengths. The pumpkinette roams around the spacious castle by bouncing along, and up and over the obstacles in his path. Careful timing is needed, for movement is effected by pressing left or right as the vegetable hits the ground. Fire and a direction pressed together while the full-fibre hero is in the air shoots a bolt of magic off in the appropriate direction. Considering the dangerous nature of his mission, Pumpkin seems unreasonably happy about everything, with his crooked little smile and the glint in his triangular eyes. When all lives are lost, the game can be restarted - but the pumpkin sets out from one of eight randomly selected start locations, so getting to know the castle's geography is vital. It is up to you to guide the Pumpkin rebel through the castle chambers, collecting and using items so the hag is destroyed and Veggie Power restored. Can you help the Pumpkin Strike Back? COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2 Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: very attractive Graphics: clever animation, minimal attribute clash Sound: very neat intro tune and spot effects Skill levels: one Screens: 128

Another action shot, snapped by ace lensperson Cameron Pound. Cam's been shooting lots of magic too - the meter's running really low. Better find some more soon..

In the throne room, where the pumpkinlet can find a crown. But that nasty, indestructable skeleton is in the way...

The happy smiling pumpkin bounces through the castle. By the look of things, ol' veggie features has just despatched a nasty on the right. Not the pumpkin - we call Cam 'ol' veggie features' when we want to annoy him!

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair User

Overall 5/5

Clare Edgeley 5/5

Label: Palace Author: Richard Leinfellber, Steve Brown Price: £8.99 Memory: 48K/128K Reviewer: Clare Edgeley Pumpkins are well out of season, yet Palace software keeps dragging them back. Although an odd vegetable to act as a hero, the pumpkin is rather cute as it wreaks havoc on the evil witch's castle. We're talking about the sequel to Cauldron, based on the revengeful exploits of the world's last surviving pumpkin. Your mission: destroy the witch's power. Cauldron II - The Pumpkin Strikes Back is a platform game but the delightful graphics, more than make up for this minus. Play begins in a castle - bulut like Palace's logo - a hint which should help you if you want to map it out, at one of six randomly selected starting points. Boing! Splat! Almost immediately the pumpkin bounces on to a skeleton. Instant death and one of six lives is lost. The problem is learning to control the bounce and judging the height you should travel to reach ledges and avoid creeping hands, chopping scissors, spiders, mice and hosts of other deadly creatures. Hold the fire button down longer and the pumpkin will bounce higher and you have to time your jumps and be in exactly the right position to get anywhere. It takes some while getting used to. The movement of the pumpkin is great. For one thing it wears a permanent silly grin and each time it hits the ground it seems to squash under the impact. If you listen carefully you can hear a faint splat! splat! issuing from the depths of your Spectrum. Magic lies all around and if you can catch a bit - it sparkles - you'll be able to shoot the nasties. When retrieving magic and objects from the gargoyles take care not to land on their spiky backs though or you'll burst. Yuk. Pumpkin everywhere. If you get it wrong the slab which holds the object tilts sending you hurtling down and down and down... And its a heck of a long climb back. Cauldron II may be a bit Wallyish - certainly in its graphic style - but it has all the ingredients of a successful follow-up.

A stone gremlin guards the goblet. Time your jumps so as to hit the slab spot-on. Then jump back before it tilts outwards.

Avoid the hunchback. The goblet has been rescued. It guards against reverse control.

In the throne room, the centre of the castle. The crown lies in the throne guarded by a deadly skeleton. Don't jump into the candles or the flames will make you burst.

PLAYING HINTS Six flashing objects scattered I around the castle have to be picked up. The crown protects you from the witch's killer magic and is vital in the later stages of your quest. The goblet guards against the reverse control feature whenever you hit a purple hand and it's helpful if you get this early in the game. Like the purple flower in Sabre Wulf, whenever you run into a hand remember to reverse the controls for a few seconds. It's very confusing at first. The axe smashes open locked doors and is necessary for access to certain areas. To find it you may have to dive out of a window - you won't die when you hit the ground. The shield, guarded by an unfriendly stone gargoyle, gives protection from the skeletons. The scissors are used to cut off the witch's hair. And the Book of Spells is needed in the final throes of the game. Using these objects, you must find the witch, cut off a lock of hair and place it in the simmering cauldron while hoWing the Book of Spells. Like Samson, her power will then be drained. One of the biggest problems is climbing up through the castle. Getting down's no problem. just leap through a gap and keep your fingers crossed that you don't land on anything nasty. Using the ledges to get up is another matter altogether.

ZX ComputingZX Computing Monster Hit

THE PUMPKIN RETURNS AS HERO IN THE SEQUEL TO CAULDRON Palace Software £8.99 The Pumpkin Strikes Back! If you played the original Cauldron game you'll remember that it was the witch's task to destroy the Evil Pumpkin in order to become Queen of the Witches. But now, in Cauldron 2, the tables are about to be turned as the last of the pumpkins enters the witch's castle in an attempt to cut off a lock of her hair and drop it into the cauldron hidden in the depths of the dungeon. But before you can cut off the witch's hair you'll need to find the scissors which are hidden somewhere in the castle, as well as collecting a number of other objects that will be needed if you're to find your way safely through the dangers of the castle. Each game starts in one of six possible locations within the castle and you have to guide the little pumpkin through the corridors, stairways and halls in search of the objects and the room where the witch lies sleeping. The 127 rooms are laid out in the shape of a castle with different floors and turrets jutting out here and there so finding your way up or down properly adds an extra level of difficulty to the game since some rooms are easy to get through if you're on your way down from the top of the castle but impossible to get through if you're frying to go up from the lower levels. Pumpkins don't have legs (in fact they don't have much except heads and a big grin) so the only way to get around is by bouncing. This where most of the fun lies, as controlling the pumpkin's bouncing is an art in itself. There are three different heights of bounce that can be used in conjunction with the usual left/right controls, but unlike most platform games where you just jump and stop, the pumpkin continues to bounce all the time, and if you misjudge a single bounce you can end up shooting out of control and ricocheting from platform to platform. If something like this happens in the wrong place you can find yourself hurtling out of a window at the top of the castle, only to fall into the grounds beyond the moat at ground level. In addition to the problems of bouncing your way around all the rooms, there are all the monsters wandering around to deal with as well. One or two monsters are deadly upon contact, but most of them just drain your energy level - which is recorded as a percentage level at the top of the screen, along with a record of all the objects that you've managed to find - and when this falls to 0% you lose one of your seven pumpkinny lives. Fortunately, there are sources of magic within the castle which allow you to recharge your magic powers and to blast most of the monsters that stand in your way (though at a cost of 1% of your energy each time). The graphics and animation are excellent throughout and good use has been made of the Spectrum's sound, with nice little sproingy noises accompanying the bouncing action. And just watching the pumpkin bounce around is fun, especially as the squishy little fellow squeezes through some of the tight spots in the rooms. If you enjoyed Cauldron the first time around, you'll certainly enjoy Cauldron 2. It doesn't really break new ground, being a descendant of the long line of platform games, but it is well designed and puts the emphasis on fun and playability rather than enormously complex icon menus and suchlike. I haven't come anywhere near finishing it, but I'll be going back to Cauldron more than I do with most games these days.