Producer: Software Projects
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Andy Walker

Some heroes don't know when they're well off. Having once escaped the scaly clutches of Singe the dragon, Dirk the Daring returns to the Dragon's Lair in search of a pot of gold - will the man do anything for money? Deep beneath the castle's stony walls, the Lizard King now holds sway, jealously guarding the pot of gold Dirk so desires. Cunning and ruthless, this reptile lord has set traps and problems for anyone so foolish, or brave enough to enter his domain. Before Dirk can possess the gold, he must successfully pass through seven screens.

Dirk begins his journey in a boat, floating down a river pierced by saw-toothed rocks. Hurtling downstream, Dirk follows a course marked by arrows, and paddles quickly to the left and right avoiding the boulders. Contact with a boulder smashes Dirk's boat and flings him headlong into the turbulent water. When the boulders have been successfully negotiated, dangerous whirlpools move across Dirk's path.

Now drier, Dirk must survive Boulder Alley. A giant boulder chases after him, and others sweep down from the enclosing walls. Dirk must avoid these whilst leaping the holes that gape suddenly beneath him.

With Boulder Alley cleared, Dirk arrives in the throne room of the Lizard King. Here his only welcome comes from frying electric bolts, and a grabbing black hand which Dirk despatches with his sword. To leave the room Dirk must sit upon the throne itself.

Now in the dungeons of this dark kingdom, Dirk encounters the Lizard King. Dirk must be fast to avoid its blows, should he falter or be too slow, the King beats him unconscious. For protection Dirk must find his lost sword, plunged deep into the pot of gold. With sword and gold collected. Dirk slays the Lizard King and begins his escape from the deep reptilian world.

A magical flying horse awaits Dirk, to take him through a torrent of boulders and around obstructing walls... but first he must enter and leave Doom Dungeon. From the floor of this dire place fire leaps to toast Dirk's tootsies, if he doesn't jump in time, snakes appear from behind doors, heads set to strike and spiders drop from ceilings. Dirk's only means of escape is through a low passageway, and the room of the Mystic Mosaic lies ahead.

Here Dirk must find the safe route across the room. The floor is made up of tiles, only one of which Dirk may step on at a time. These tiles can have a disturbing habit of disappearing, and if Dirk is on one as it vanishes he is plunged to his death. Even 'safe' tiles provide no permanent haven for Dirk, as a large vicious bat appears if he lingers too long.

Dirk has now reached the final screen and can almost taste freedom upon his lips. All he has to do is cross the hot, mud-filled lake and collect the magic bottle from its other side. But as Dirk attempts to cross, the creatures inhabiting the lake try to pull him into their boiling world. The correct path must be found across using the monster-made bridge. Life isn't easy.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, Space to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Use of colour: very good, with no clashes, nice backgrounds
Graphics: well animated and smooth
Sound: spot FX only on 48K, nine tunes as well on 128
Skill levels: one
Screens: eight

This is the most disappointing game of the month - it has been marred horribly by some dodgy programming and the Spectrum's limitations. It doesn't 'hang together' at all well - the eight levels should have some sort of intro so that they follow on from each other a little better. The gameplay is there, but it does take a lot of patience to 'wheedle' it out. On the whole this is far better than Dragons Lair, but then again it couldn't really be worse.
BEN

Escape From Singe's Castle is one of the best games to come from SOFTWARE PROJECTS - even better than Jet Set Willy. The graphics are excellently designed, and there's always a large range of colours on screen. The screens are well detailed and contain no clashes, while Dirk's animation is very smooth and realistic. Don't be put off by the original - Dragon's Lair II is much more addictive, and a hundred times more playable.
PAUL

There's tons of playability here, and it's all nicely packaged with very clear and well written instructions. I didn't expect the follow up to be anywhere near the arcade smash in terms of graphics, but I was well satisfied nonetheless. The value for money is reasonable - though the price is high, the game is sufficiently addictive to make it worth it. It's a good job too that SOFTWARE PROJECTS managed to do something about the horrendous lack of playability that made the original version such a disappointment.
MIKE

The programmers' defects really make themselves noticeable on the 128/+2. There are nine pieces of music, which would be excellent in their own right, but unfortunately they corrupt and change speed with the game - at several times I nearly 'pulled the plug' simply because it was all so annoying. I'm very surprised that the multi-load system hasn't been dispensed with - surely it all could have been crammed into the large memory!

Software Projects
£7.95

Not content with rescuing Princess Daphne and returning her to her father, not happy with restoring the entire Kingdom to peace and happiness, not satisfied with having infinite riches poured upon him (not to mention all kinds of exotic bath oil) Dirk the Daring wants to return to the Dragon's Lair. Worra dirk! Okay, so there's this pot of gold coins that'll give him wealth beyond dreams, but that still makes this guy a loony. Mind you, if he hadn't decided to go back, we wouldn't have such a good game.

In Dragon's Lair, the prequel to this game, Software Projects proved that you really can squeeze a hi-tech laser disk game onto the Speccy, and it looks like it's done it again. Those of you who've spent a lot of time frequenting the cafés and arcades of the city playing the original Dragon's Lair arcade machine may well have noticed that a few screens didn't make it into the first Speccy version. So, repackaged and revamped, here comes Dragon's Lair Part II, though where the escape comes from in the subtitle is beyond me - getting into the castle is the initial problem,

Dirk decides to take the watery route in. This means negotiating The Rapids and Whirlpools which make up the first screen. Not an easy task, and it was with some pride that I informed the YS team I'd managed to get through (it's a cinch when you know how!)

Once you've completed this it's on to the Boulder Alley, where, as well as coping with holes in the moving floor, someone with a weird sense of humour decides it'll be fun to roll big balls at you. Then there's the Throne Room and The Dungeons of the Lizard King, where you get to duff up the reptilian one himself and grab the loot. Now it's escape time, which tends towards the hairy with a Magical Flying Horse, Doom Dungeon, Mystic Mosaic and finally the Mud Monsters to avoid. At last! A game with a beginning, a middle and an end.

Now this game certainly ain't easy, and the large crib sheet that comes with it is essential to explain in great detail what you can do with your joystick on each screen. The game loads a screen at a time, as lots of clever things have been jammed into it. This method of loading could be a real pain but Software Projects seems to have got round this by always having the first screen present. All you have to do is load the subsequent screens, and you've probably put so much work into getting to them that the loading time comes as a welcome relaxation period.

The graphics are beautify designed and make the game a joy to play as you flip from screen to screen, even if it does tax every brain and joystick waggling muscle you possess. It's addictive too, and if you enjoyed Dragon's Lair, you now have the chance to delve further into this realm.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Fixing a leaky tap in the basement, RICH PELLEY stumbled across a few spooky cheapies clogging up the U-bend. So here they are (damp and slightly mouldy)...

Encore
£2.99
Reviewer: Rich Pelley

Spook or what? Not only do I have to suffer the tedium of Dragon's Lair this month - I get given its sequel too! And, surprise surprise (get that damn woman out of here!), it's pretty much the in the same vein. Only even more pitiful.

I simply don't know why they bothered re-releasing it. There are eight different levels to plough your way through, which I must admit are vaguely varied, but still all complete trash. They range from floating down a river in a barrel (yawn) to fighting loads of mud monsters (double yawn). And they're unbelievably boring and repetitive. The subsiduary levels are snore city too. Yep, much as I hate to be negative, I feel it my obligation to inform you that this is one of the worst games I've ever, ever played (well, since Warlock Of Firetop Mountain anyway, but even that seems rather good in comparison). The only joy I got out of it was bludgeoning it to Speccy heaven with my baseball bat.

Label: Software Projects
Price: £7.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Jim Douglas

"Ah-ha! Have at ye, scoundrels! I am Dirk the Daring and I'm back from a short holiday after my escapades in Software Project's Dragon's Lair I in, you guessed it, Dragon's Lair II.

Now, admittedly I wasn't very good in the first game. I couldn't run about much, and sometimes I simply refused to move when or here you told me. I've since realised how annoying that was and am doing my best to mend my ways.

At the end of the last game, I rescued the lovely Daphne, from the clutches of Singe the Dragon and returned her to her father, King Aethelred. Now I'm going back for the treasure. You'll have to guide me through more caverns and rooms while I do my best to fling myself onto spiky rocks and under enormous boulders

In fact I'm still pretty tiresome although I'm quite well drawn.

Right. On with the gauntlet and on with the game. Ah, these waterfalls look a bit trick don't they? Ay, but it's deceptively easy. All you have to do is guide me left and right through the jutty-out rocks. You'll have to make sure that I don't get caught int he under-currents and swept off in an unexpected direction... And, there are lots and lots of waterfalls. They go on for ages. Some have bridges over them that my little boat might hit, some don't.

Oh-ho! Well done! We cleared the water-falls but watch out for these whirlpools! Each whirlpool moves unconvincingly left and right across the screen and contact with one will throw me out of the boat. Try to avoid this is quickly. That's it, pull down on the joystick and I'll do my best to run away from the oncoming rock. I'm not very good at running, I'm afraid. I look a bit stupid and I can only just manage to jump over the holes in the floor that crop up every now and again.

After a few seconds a big rolling thing will bole down from the side of the tunnel and knock me down and I lose my quota of lives, you'll have to go all the way back to the beginning and do everything again.

We'll also have to work hard to guide me through lots of other sections of the castle like the Throne Room and Doom Dungeon where I get struck by lightning unless you yank the joystick and move me to a safe location.

Despite the fact that things get a bit predictable, and you have to load my game in in sections. And despite the fact you have to go all the way back to the beginning every time I lose all my lives. Despite all this I'm actually enjoying being in this game much more than in my first outing".

Encore
Spectrum/Amstrad £2.99

This Encore re-release puts you in the chain mail of Dirk the Daring, on a quest to enter the castle of the despotic Lizard King and "do him over, good and proper-like". This means fighting his way through eight separate parts of the castle, each one being a different subgame. Some sections are puzzles, others are more action-oriented, but, as in the laser-disc coin-op, all of them require you to learn a sequence of moves before they let you pass. However, unlike the first Dragon's Lair game, there's rather more to playing Singe's Castle than pushing the joystick in exactly the right direction at exactly the right moment, so its much more fun. The nice graphics and sound add their two-penn'orth to the enjoyment too.

DIRK RIDES AGAIN IN ESCAPE FROM SINGE'S CASTLE.

Software Projects
£7.95

Two games from Software Projects within the last six months, that must be a record. Mind you, Escape from Singe's Castle isn't a completely original title as it's the follow-up to their recent hit conversion, Dragon's Lair. The original coin-op game was too complex to fit into the confines of a little home micro, so Software Projects split the game into two halves (and presumably, got two games out of one licensing deal).

Having rescued Princess Daphne and despatched the dragon last time around, your character, Dirk the Daring, has returned to the castle, which is now controlled by the old Lizard King, in an attempt to find the pot of gold hidden in the depths of the dungeons. But, as in the previous game, you have to guide Dirk past a number of deadly obstacles in order to reach you goal and then escape to safety.

I have to admit that after all the hubbub died down I was a bit disappointed in Dragon's Lair, mainly because I found it so hard to play that I simply couldn't get any distance into the game. I eventually gave up because I got bored with always dying on the first or second screens. Part II, however, proved to be a bit easier to play.

The challenges that Dirk has to face in this game include Ye Whirlpools and Ye Rapids, ye amazing Magical Flying Horse, ye olde Mud Monster, and of course the old Lizard King.

I could be wrong but it looks like they've improved the graphics a bit for this game as well. I remember Dirk the Daring looking like Dirk the Smudgy Black Blob in the last game, but here there's a bit more detail in both hiss figure and in some sort of the location graphics.

Controlling Dirk is a relatively simple matter. Depending on which screen you're on, you use a combination of up/down, left/right, fire/jump to perform the required actions. I wasn't much keen on the joystick control, but using the keyboard was quite simple since this isn't the sort of game where you need 150 fingers to handle the controls.

Dragon's Lair was an innovation in coin-op games because of the way it used a laser disc to store the cartoon style graphics. But the drawback to this system was that the options available to you were limited because of the amounts of memory taken up by the high-quality graphics. This means that, at times, getting past an obstacle was simply a matter of trial and error rather than real skill, and once you'd worked out the correct sequence of moves there wasn't that much left for you to do. However, at its best moments the games also allowed you a bit more scope to approach the obstacles in your own way, and this is where the conversion of Lair II seems to have improved over the first attempt. Perhaps Software Projects saved all the best screens for this game, or maybe I'm just getting better in my old age, but it certainly seems like there's more game to play here. Essentially you're still limited to finding the right move at the right time, but the 'feel' of the game has improved, and I felt a bit more involved with this game than I did with Lair I, as there's a random element in some of the screens that makes you feel you're in control of events instead of just following a fixed sequence.

So, if you're feeling brave and in the mood far a spot of derring do, just jam a saucepan on your head, rehearse a few 'Varlets!' and load up Escape from Singe's Castle (and count yourself lucky that the Spectrum version doesn't cost 20p a go).