Reviews

In the Colditz story you have to sneak from room to room avoiding the guards and looking for keys and other useful objects and ultimately a means to escape. If you reach a room with a guard you're treated to a mini game which sees you trying to evade capture None of these are particularly brilliant but they're pretty short and make for a nice change of pace.
A nicely atmospheric game which is good fun to play.

If you like spy games this is for you !!!

The atmosphere is quite involving and opressive with several micro-games inside ...

ALMOST A CLASSIC ! 4,5 / 5 .

1987 Atlantis Software (UK)
by Barry Jones

Technically The Colditz Story is a bad example of programming, but manages to be an entertaining fun game. The idea is simple and easy. Escaping Colditz Castle. If it seems easy, think twice, 'cause it ain't. There are several strategic moves to perform and some mini action games interluding. The action mini-games are quite cute, and some are fun to play, others are a bit annoying.
But overall this is an all together fun game.

This kind of game was already dated in 1984, let alone in 1987. Poor graphics, and sound, shoddy programming, repetitive and tired gameplay make The Colditz Story just not worth your time.

The Colditz Story....

Sad thing is even though this game was written in 1987, it literally could have been written in 1984, or 1985.

Yet there is something strangely compelling about playing it, and what's disturbing is it's published by Atlantis Software, pre-Shaw Brothers Atlantis, which means it's published by Shatlantis! But yet it's still a strangely enjoyable game.

It's blatantly written in basic, which has either been compiled or has machine code routine running along with it. Try loading it in to a 128k Speccy and witness the glorius SPECTRUM SPECTRUM SPECTRUM memory bank problem happen hahahaha!

The game is basically an arcade adventure where you must escape from Castle Colditz. It's quite simple you're presented with a map, and you move around it, each screen has a selection of options depending on your location. It's the usual fare Search, open, and so on, unless you encounter guards.

The guard encounters is where the games "action" comes into play, and it's basically a selection of mini-games. I'll give it, it's dues it's simple but effective, and one of them even requires you to know (or realistically at the time of release guess) a basic knowledge of German (Oooo Edu-macational). These mini-games range from you like mentioned above having to select the correct German response to a guard who asks you a question, crawling past guards while their backs are turned, or having to shoot a guard while his back is turned.

Yup It's actually pretty brutal, and I think the Colditz Story may have been the first game I ever saw blood in. The game is unforgiving, and to be honest that sets the scene perfectly it is set during World War II after all. If you mess up one of the sections the guards tell you such wonders as "If I catch you again...", then there's a selection of follow ups such as "Shot at dawn", or "Boiled in oil" Hahaha!

Get caught 3 times, and it's in front of the firing squad, where the Nazi's shoot you to death and your lifeless corpse falls to the floor with blood spilling out into the morning sun.

I've made it sound way better than it is, and to be honest the game was dated by at least 2 years when it appeared. I am willing to go out on a limb though and say regardless of seemingly simple gameplay there is a very enjoyable game underneath the rough exterior. Which actually take a little bit of time and thought to succeed at. Which to be honest is more than can be said of a lot of the full price action titles of the era.

So I'm gonna give it an insane 4, because it IS good, regardless of how shit it appears if you have a 30 second go of it and say..."ERGH!".

Nice game from Atlantis, in which you are a prisoner that tries to escape from the famous Colditz castle, during the WWII.

It consists of going through rooms till the entrance of the castle and escape. In each room you can find objects to use later or face mini-games. You must overcome them or lose a life.

The good point of this game is that is not lineal so you can choose several paths to reach the end, coming across different challenges. The graphics are poor, as poor as the sound, but it can be addictive thanks to the simple concept of every mini-game.

Not a classic, but perfect for a short gaming.

You are a prisoner in Nazi Germany who attempts to escape from Colditz Castle, and to do this you must navigate your way through the many rooms of the castle, collecting items along the way and participating in various mini-games, such as crawl without being seen, shoot the guard and communicate in German. If you are caught three times, you will be executed. If you escape, well I don't know what happens actually as I've never managed it. But this is pretty good actually, the mini-games add to the game and it's a good time filler more than anything. There is a lack of sound and only carrying three items can be a hassle but I did enjoy this for what it was. Some of Barry Jones' games are bad but some of them are good as well, Hit Man I remember being a good little game and this too is pretty good as well.