Producer: Firebird
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Paul Hutchinson

Long ago, an evil lord threw the lands far to the north of Belorn into turmoil and confusion. He captured the wizard, Ansalon, took away his cloak and divided his body into six parts. Each part was placed separately in a secret chamber guarded by a mighty demon.

The quest to recover and reunite the wizard with his robe may be attempted by one of two vikings: Olaf (renowned for his strength) or Olga (wise in the ways of magic). The search takes place in four dark towers, each comprising seven floors of maze-like passages and rooms. The strange inhabitants of these grim surroundings prove hostile, but each warrior carries a supply of arrows, bouncing electricity bolts and fireballs with which to protect themselves.

Initially the player is in possession of two cantrips which enable him to burn away obstructing bracken (allowing access to other parts of the tower) and transform gold into food.

Treasure, extra arrows and other bonus items can be collected, such as relics, which have the power to make the player invisible, and potions to increase tire power or replace energy.

Once the wizard parts and cloak have been reunited, the wizard's power is restored and peace can be returned to the land north of Belorn.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor. Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: monochrome backdrops, with little variation of cute, but small, characters
Sound: mediocre spot effects with impressive tune
Options: choice of Olga (female) or Olaf (male)

The presentation of Gothik, which owes a lot to Dandy and Druid, is slick. Some of the squelchy spot effects are humorous and the figures are detailed. Unfortunately, the variety promised by the complex instructions fails to materialise: long periods are spent stumbling aimlessly through the maze of corridors and movement is often pointlessly impaired by burning carcasses which block passages long after the alien is dead. Although there are 32 types of potion only three or four seem to recur, and accessing rooms by burning bracken is much less interesting than the traditional method of collecting keys; at least the latter Involves some element of risk. Valiant vikings are unlikely to give up pillaging for a quest as mediocre as this.
KATI

Talk about more of the same! I've seen more Gauntlet clones in the last year than I care to remember. The simple fact remains that the concept is now repetitive and dated. Gothik contains few advances over early spell games like Dandy. The potions may do different things but the game is basically the same. And why, all of a sudden, have these games gone monochromatic? Are going down the same route as shoot 'em ups? There's no for it. Even if the programmers have forgotten the palette, they remembered the sound chip - a great tune blasts out on all versions. Gothik contains a plethora of spells and weapons, which make the game very interesting to start with, although once used they fall to hold appeal for much longer. A decent enough game, but still at full price?
PAUL

Gothik doesn't really hold anything new but there is some fun to be had here. The little sprites are quite well defined and the animation makes them look extremely cute. They move smoothly across the detailed backgrounds, but the way everything freezes while the screen scrolls isn't all that helpful. A scrolling system similar to the one in Ikari Warriors would have been much more fitting. On the colour side, the programmers could have been a bit more adventurous than just yellow backgrounds that change to blue at night, plus red blocks with black characters. Gothik is worth looking at but does get a bit boring after a while.
NICK

Firebird
£7.95
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

To squeeze Gothik into an introductory nutshell, it's a view from above, dashabout collecting/zapping maze game. It's Gauntlet with knobs on. Lot's of knobs in fact - and jolly super knobs they are too!!

At start of play you choose to be either Olga or Olaf, Vikings both, (she being handier at magic, he better in the old duffing up department). It transpires that your master, the Grand Wizard, has been taken prisoner and is being held in the Dark Castle of the Evil Lord. It's worse than that though, ("Crikey, things are bad then?"). 'Fraid so, spec-chums - the Evil Lord's only gorn and split him into six parts, each being hidden on a different floor within the castle complex. To top it all the Evil Lord himself (for it is he), is guarding the wizard's robe on the highest floor of the castle. Phew. And you know what you've got to do, don't you?? You've got to collect all the wizards squidgy bits and reunite them with his robe. Bleeurghh!!!

The castle is made up of four towers, each seven stories high, making four separate, (and large) playing areas per level. Each playing area, (or tower) has a teleport that'll send you to one of the other three towers on the level you're currently on (gasp). Got it??

As I said, it's a view from above in the Gauntlet/Dandy vein, with the playing areas being monochrome vertical/horizontal scrollers (in other words no sudden 'crikey where am I' flip-screens). Sooo, you zwoom about the mazes picking up stamina, ammunition, magic and various other bonus icons, whilst zapping/avoiding the many nasties until, hopefully, you'll find a shield. Once you've got this, you'll be allowed to go and kill the monster that's guarding one of the wizards wibbly bits. When you have the wibbly bit, you can go up to the next level.

Anyway, that's the basic formula as you travel up; except the nasties get nastier. By level three things are already getting well squiffy!

You know I said that this was Gauntlet with knobs on? - well here they are: Six Magic Relics, a brillo weapons system and thirty two (count them - thirty two), different magic potions to take.

The six Magic Relics ('Ring of invisibility' f'rinstance), are scattered through the first three levels and can be tricky to find. Once found though, they're yours for keeps (well, until you get killed). Working in different ways they all, basically, stop the nasties from attacking you and can be toggled on or off at will - but they don't half drain your magic energy.

The magic potions are bunged about all over the place, (at random I might add). There's zwillions of 'em. Truth is, that you don't know which of the thirty-two different types you're going to get until you've picked them up. They then take effect immediately and last for about a minute. There's one that speeds you up, one that slows you down, one that makes your joystick control go all wibbly, one that turns the lights off, one that... but we could be here all day; suffice to say there are lots and they're not all helpful.

The weapons system gives you three zap-modes to toggle between - arrows, lightning-bolts and energy-bombs. Arrows behave in, erm, an 'arowlike' manner - they travel in a straight line in the direction you're facing. Lightning-bolts bounce off the walls and zap about all over the place - even when they're off the screen (you can hear the nasties being fried). The Energy Bombs are the most powerful, though. You can select the ferocity of the blast, from a puny femto-sizzler, to a mighty wall-vapourising ker-bloom!!

All this icon toggling and weapon selecting takes place on the status/display screen, which you can get whenever you want by pressing the space key. As well as showing your various energy levels and position in the castle, it also serves as a pause mode. Phew! Thank goodness for that.

Anyway: Gothik! Aaaaahh. A peach of a game. It's fast. It's furious. It's also something of a first. It's the first time I've doshed out on a megagame. Oh dear. Time, methinks, for one of my incredibly brilliant jokes.

Q: What's the difference between a Viking and a potato.?

A: Weight for weight, potatoes have a marginally higher starch content.

Label: Firebird
Author: Paul Hutchinson
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Don't dismiss Gothik as just another Gauntlet clone, or just another Dungeons-and-Dragons role-playing game. Although it's pretty close in many ways to Firebird's successful Druid, Gothik seems to have greater depth of gameplay and more thought behind it.

Set in the usual maze of catacombs, viewed from above, Gothik features the muscle-bound Olaf and the mystical Olga, who look pretty similar apart from Olga's extra two pixels. Olaf is better at the strong-arm stuff, and Olga at magic, as you'll see when you access the status display by pressing the space bar.

This display shows the potency of your three main weapons - arrows, fire and lightning bolts - and whatever charms and spells you have collected on the way. In the centre of the screen is a skeleton, parts of which glow as you discover pieces of the wizard which are the object of your quest. There are seven levels, each with four sub-levels accessed by transporters. Of course, the catacombs are also haunted by sundry nasties, including giant gorillas, walking eyeballs, and, at the end of each level, a guardian demon who can only be defeated with the right combination of spells.

Sixteen different potions can be found in the mazes. Some of these are helpful, giving you extra speed or strength, increasing the power of your weapons or disguising you to confuse the guardians. Some are worse than useless, taking away your strength or speed, or even reversing the directions of your controls.

If you collect gold, you can exchange it for extra strength or magical power if you are running low. It's also worth bearing in mind that there are some situations where you will find yourself trapped unless you have sufficient fireballs or firestorms to blast your way free.

Unless you pay attention to what you're doing, it's rather easy to spend a long time wandering around, using up potions and zapping the baddies without achieving anything. It's best to make a map and to concentrate on finding particular objects which you need to complete your quest,. In this sense, Gothik isn't much fun if all you're looking for is a quick blast. It seems the sort of game where you require a lot of time and concentration to get anywhere, and it's a pity the graphics, especially of some of the monsters, aren't quite up to it. Still and all, as Conan the Barbarian used to say, an absorbing and worthwhile fantasy adventure.

Firebird in the dark ages.

Olga is a dab hand at casting spells and firing magical weapons. Olaf is pretty deft when it comes to archery so you'll have to think carefully before you choose which one to take into the lower rooms of this epic arcade adventure. Your quest is to reassemble a kind old druid's skeleton and bring him back to life, but the evil lord responsible for the druid's death in the first place - well, he's not going to be too happy about this. Given that he's in charge of a whole horde of gorillas, giant ants, dragons and other nasties, this could all get a bit serious.

There's a strong Gauntlet look to the proceedings thanks to the (more or less) overhead view, the critters and the shooting, but overall the game's a good deal more complex than this suggests. There are three different weapons available to you: bow and arrow, which speaks for itself, lightning bolt, a magical ricocheting weapon useful for clearing rooms out without entering them and putting yourself at risk: and fireball, a variable-strength magic weapon which can kill nasties, clear a path through the games obstructive clumps of bracken and even blast holes in walls.

Add to this various magical relics, several dozen different potions and some vital resources to maintain and you've got a tough-ish, very playable game. Earth-shatteringly original it isn't, but there's no need to let that put you off.

Reviewer: Andy Wilton

RELEASE BOX
Spec, £7.95cs, Out Now
Ams, £8.95cs, £14.95dk, Out Now
C64/128, £9.95cs, £12.95dk, Imminent

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 75/100
1 hour: 80/100
1 day: 70/100
1 week: 50/100
1 month: 20/100
1 year: 5/100

GAME: Gothik
MACHINES: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Firebird
PRICE: £9.95

Just when you thought you were safe from Gauntlet clones. Ah well, that's software.

Gothic is the usual guff, evil wizard, tyrannical rule, evil minions roaming the castle. You play the hero who must rescue the good wizard - who's rather gone to pieces all over the place.

Finding the Wiz's bits and putting him back together will reurn light and enlightenment to all and sundry.

The player takes the part of big butch Olaf or tricky little Olga who has more magic but less brawn.

In the best traditions of these things, you get a plan view of corridors and chambers. There are four movement directions and flick scrolling. There are various objects to be picked up which fall into two main categories: potions and items. The items are food which replenishes life energy, gold can be converted into food, magic strength replenishes your ability to use magic, quivers replenish your arrow stocks and flames replenish your stock of firestorms.

By pressing the "space" bar, you bring up the status screen. This is a neat way of keeping the main action screen clear of all the usual clutter showing you which things you have collected and shows the five ratings affected by the collection of the items I just mentioned. It also shows progress through the game and also allows you to select weapons and magic items.

There are three weapons: arrows, lightning bolts and fireballs. Arrows simply fire in the direction you are facing. Depending on the monster, copping a few of these will soon have it pushing up the daisies. Lightning bolts use a little magic strength and keep bouncing around till they find their targets. Fireballs are impressive. On the status screen, you can vary their strength - the more powerful, the more magic strength they use. The effect when they hit is quite dramatic, it can blow out walls and torch bracken.

There are five magic relics which can be picked up. Once picked up, they can be selected and have various strange effects. The ring of invisibility is self explanatory; Chameleon makes the warrior look like an object - fine except that some creatures will try and pick you up.

Doppleganger makes you look like a creature - trouble is some creatures dislike other creatures as much as they dislike you.

Grim Reaper kills creatures and Medusa's Head makes creatures stop in their tracks.

So how does this little lot measure up to Gauntlet clones past. To be sure, a lot has been packed in here and there are plenty of good ideas and touches. It lacks the addictive pace of Gauntlet, there's no feeling of racing the clock.

If you've already got Dandy, Druid or Gauntlet you should probably give this a miss.

Spectrum Cassette: £7.95
Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.95, Diskette: £12.95

THE quest to reconstruct the dismembered Grand Wizard Hasrinaxx (reviewed TGM006, Amstrad CPC 57%) continues on the Commodore and Spectrum.

Gameplay closely resembles the basic Gauntlet/Druid style with an overhead view of the maze being explored while enemy creatures attack. Despite such appearances, however, and the choice of female Olga or male Olaf characters, Gothik is purely a one-player game. This might seem a disadvantage with four dark towers to search, each containing seven floors and numerous monsters, but your character can be well-equipped to survive it all. There are three types of weapon, five spells and 32 mostly helpful magical potions to help in the quest. Selection of weapons and spells is via a status screen which also shows health and magical power.

The Spectrum game has clear, reasonable - if virtually monochromatic - graphics and good tunes. On the Commodore, since the (very smooth) scrolling only comes into operation when your character is near the screen's edge, it's all-too easy to run into enemies. With bland graphics and average sound - even the speech is nothing special - it is marginally inferior to the Spectrum version.