Producer: Top Ten
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Paul Machacek

Dawnssley is an enchanted underground kingdom for Hobbo The Elf and Thor to explore. Sounds easy? Not quite, because the network of subterranean levels is inhabited by hundreds of strange monsters out for the adventurers' blood.

You can be either Hobbo or Thor, and there is a two-player option where each player takes one. Hobbo is armed with his fireballs and Thor with throwing axes when they set off, but other objects, spells and potions are available as you progress deeper into the game.

Keys, scattered around the scrolling play area, open the blue doors that separate rooms. But beware - there aren't many keys, so don't go through doors you don't need to! And on each of the 27 levels there's a hidden exit leading to the next cavern of Dawnssley.

Monsters emerge from the solid rock walls in the caverns, and you have to fight them off as they guard their kingdom from your unwanted presence.

In the two-player mode, Thor and Hobbo can fight between themselves over who gets to kill the most monsters.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Kempston
Graphics: small, uninteresting sprites
Sound: limited spot FX
Options: two-player option

Oh, woe is me - it's another Gauntlet clone! The graphics are rubbish. The colour clashes all the lime. The objects are as big as the main characters. And the sound is virtually nonexistent. Gauntlet was much, much more playable than this tedious piece of trash, and even at this price Dawnssley is a waste of money.
NICK [29%]

It's just as well this missed the Gauntlet feature last month (RUN IT AGAIN, August) - it would have looked so bad against the other clones. For once I'm lost for derogatory words. Games like Dawnssley give Gauntlet a bad name. Still, it you get bored you can always play 'spot the bug', which is entertaining for hours.
PAUL [6%]

Oh no, not another mediocre Gauntlet clone. A lot of the features of Gauntlet are present, but none of the playability. The graphics aren't too bad, in a fat, wobbly, fiickery sort of way; the sound, though, is an ear-wrenching noise which had me instantly diving for the volume control. Frustration and boredom set in when ou realise you've seen it all before - even at this price, Dawnssley is definitely a game to be missed.
MARK [22%]

Top Ten
£1.99

Oh no, not again! Not another Gauntlet clone! I can't take it anymore! Arrrrgghh! Take my advice and don't you take it either. Dawnssley tries to be a straight copy of the big G, but fails on every count. The underground levels, the elf, the warrior the leys, the monsters, the boredom are all here in this cheapie. Unfortunately, so too are a catalogue of bad programming techniques. There's a horrible jangly noise when playing that can't be turned off, jerky scrolling, mysteriously vanishing character squares (including your chap at times!), no quit keys so you have to wait ages to be killed before starting again, no joystick option. Add to this no loading screen or title music, and all but impossible gameplay, and you have a poor package. Even at £1.99 it's not worth the dosh, Tosh. Never mind Dawnssley, call it Yawnssley and you're on the right track!