Producer: Starlight Software
Retail Price: £8.99
Author: Mick Eatock and Simon Welland

Greyfell is an ancient land ruled over by Mauron The Evil. Norman the Wise (a cat of no particular ambition) hears tales of this sad land from the great wizard Hitormis, whilst quaffing a few too many in his local. According to legend, Mauron stole the Orb of Life and in so doing, sentenced the land to a future without love or peace. A drunken ambition is kindled in Norman's feline breast. He staggers out, vowing to destroy the evil one and return Greyfell to the tranquility it once knew.

What a rash cat, you may think, but curiosity...

Norman is soon embroiled with many enemies, out to prevent him succeeding. Rats, Wolves, Crocodiles, Dragons, Minotaurs, those old favourites - Killer Tomatoes - and even Cat-eating Plants burst forth from all over the place.

These creatures can be despatched with a quick spot of fisticuffs, but Norman also has three spells he can summon up. Physical fighting drains stamina, but, worse, the spells are finite and care should be exercised to conserve them for really tight spots. Stamina, on the other hand, can be replenished by eating plants (walking over them). Stamina is shown as a can of beans - if all the beans vanish. Norman riddles loses one of his nine lives ... how appropriate.

The adventure element in Greyfell is supplied through action icons, seen at the screen base. Pressing fire while Norman is stationary accesses icon mode. With the icons, spells can be selected and fired (unless supplies run dry), objects can be picked up or dropped, and the last selected object can be used. There are also facilities for pausing the game, saving current position to tape and toggling the sound on or off.

Some Greyfellians are pleasant, and are even helpful when they offer clues as to which objects might be collected and to whom they may most usefully be given. Clues appear as speech bubbles in cryptic form like "Fe2Cu". Having pondered on the possible meaning, Norman can hare off to get the required object.

Greyfell is traversed on foot using the cardinal compass points. Pressing against an object allows Norman to cat-jump onto it, if it's low enough. He can also enter the small huts encountered along the way, the scene cutting to their interiors. There may be a series of flip-screen rooms inside, seen Alien 8 style. Norman's objective is to seek out Mauron in his lair, and return the orb to its rightful place in the cup of sorrows. Success is measured 'arcade style' by the number of nasties killed, and adventure style, by the percentage of quests completed.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable: walk north, walk east, walk south, walk west, fire
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor
Use of colour: limited
Graphics: 3D monochrome graphics
Sound: a chirpy tune at the beginning and spot effects throughout
Skill levels: one
Screens: 120 plus

An impressive debut from STARLIGHT. The plot is original, if perhaps slightly tacky. The graphics are cute - the 3D forced perspective screen layout works well, and the characters are endearing. Sound is also well above average with a few tunes and a worthy amount of effects. Greyfell falls over one giant stumbling block: Its gameplay - it left me cold. Stomping around the playing area fighting off the meanies just isn't fun. After a few goes I'd had enough. Not playable or addictive enough for me to recommend.
BEN

This is a lovely game to launch a new software label with. But despite the flashy loader and pretty graphics, the game breaks no new boundaries. The screens are superbly drawn, pleasing to the eye and offer one of the best 3D views I've seen. The icon-driven section is a bit too cumbersome to use quickly, and things are generally too slow for the average arcade player. The strong adventure elements make it more likely to appeal to adventure players than arcade fans. It's a decent little game, and well worth a look.
PAUL

Greyfell is very well presented. It has excellent graphics, and a very neat loading sequence. The 3D effect is superbly executed, but unfortunately, the game moves slowly. The fact that there are far too many meanies makes it much more unplayable than it could have been. This is a pity, because if the game had had as much playability as it has polish, then I think this new label would have been off to a flying start. As it stands, I think Greyfell is very well produced, but lacking in the playability department.
MIKE

Starlight
£8.99

There are more belly laughs than at Greyfriars and more thrills than at Greystoke Hall here 'cos we're in the magical land of giggles and guffaws created by Ariolasoft in its latest arcade adventure - Greyfell.

As Norman the Wise (no, not Dame Edna's hubby - this ones a cat), your quest is to recover the orb of life from Mauron the Evil One (Shouldn't that be Moron? Ed) bringing peace and love back to the land, hey like wow, man! Norm may be full of wisdom but he's a gormless chap who begins the game legless as he falls out of the pub! This may account for his peculiar on-screen movement, but then again it may not! So, Norm the Gorm needs help (don't we all) from the various good guys scattered around the land of Greyfell.

Once he's found these illustrious heroes, like the Wizard, Blotto the drunken rabbit (is this game licensed I wonder?), and Willy the Pig (he's a policemen) they'll give Norm clues to the orb's whereabouts. But by this time he's in need of a drink himself to understand the gobble-degook they speak!

But, of course, no adventure is worth its magic salt without its legion of nasties roaming about, and roam they do. There are rats, who get everywhere you want to go, especially the caves. Killer tomatoes and wicked wolves are also ready to pounce, and there are dragons, cat-killing flora, minotaurs and crocodiles to contend with - all before the final confrontation with Mauron the skeletal overlord. Phew!

Most meanies can be vanquished arcade style - run, hide or zap (our Norm packs a mean punch). You've also got a bevy of icon-driven spells at your disposal while on-screen monitors measure your stamina rating ion a baked bean tin!) and your score, which can be upped by rolling around in the right plants?! Even so, you'll be struggling to keep your nine feline lives.

Survival's only half the story, though. Certain key objects (notice the clue) must be found then swopped with the Heroes' goodies before you can hope to succeed... but now I'm telling you the plot!

Super zealous adventurers might say Greyfell's too heavy on the laffs and not heavy enough on the magic but I reckon it's brilliant. It's true the icons are a bit scrunched up but otherwise it's a bundle of fun and well above the Norm!

Label: Starlight
Price: £9.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: John Gilbert

Norman the cat stumbles blindly out of his local pub and into one of the most bizarre arcade adventures ever to cross wires with the Spectrum.

At first the land Greyfell resembles the Ultimatesque exteriors of Knightlore and Alien 8, combined with an icon control system that looks as if it's been lifted from Beyond's Enigma Force.

But there the similarities end. The game is a wickedly sarcastic comment on heroic fantasy where 'umble 'eroes battle darkhearted demons.

The nearest you'll get to an 'umble 'ero is Norman. The great wizard Hitormis, tells you of how the land of Greyfell was plunged into darkness when Mauron, the Evil One, stole the precious orb of light. Peace and love have been banished forever from the land. Anyway, that's enough plot. Basically its incomprehensible tosh - and intended to be so. I suppose you ought to know there's an Orb too which needs to be returned to its proper place in the Cup of Sorrows.

Greyfell is absolutely chock-full of seemingly useless objects some protected by medieval security systems, huts with seemingly useless interiors, and seemingly endless tree clusters.

You'll never walk alone in Greyfell. Not for long. There are five goodies and eight types of baddie. A simple artificial intelligence routine makes the goodies talk through speech bubbles - a technique first used in Imagine's Movie - while baddies remain silent, but deadly if they get too close.

Greyfell's characters talk in riddles and spout on about their standard of living and what they need to survive. Offalorien, the shifty spy, for instance, says 'Fruit 4 me'. When you come across a strawberry, perhaps, pick it up and look for shifty. Maybe he'll give you something in exchange to help you with your quest.

You pick up objects, choose Zap spells and use them with the icon-control system. It's slightly unwieldy and, when baddies are badgering you, almost impossible to use.

The Zap icon is easy to use, you just press Fire twice and the current spell wends its way slowly towards the enemy. If your luck holds - and it's the right spell - it'll hit the baddie and destroy it. More than likely, however, the spell will float over its head and it'll get even more angry.

The other icons are more of a pain to use. You have to flip through four of them and press the Fire key to pick up an object. That would be OK but if several rats are making you feel as if you're the minced meat in a sandwich you can't do anything but defend yourself and loose energy.

Only the right type of spell will destroy first magnitude monsters - wolves, killer tomatoes and cat-eating, fish-headed plants, but a good fist-clobbering will do for some of the lower life forms among the dark lord's denizens. Just hit the Fire button and Norman hits his foe. You will, of course, have to be within striking distance and you'll have to get in one or two good thumps before the baddie's blitzed and all the while you'll be in danger of losing one of your nine lives.

Greyfell is one big trap. You can fall down pot holes into useless dungeon locations. You can step on pressure pads which catapult you into the arms of fish-head plants. Or get pinned between walls which pop out of thin air.

The walls are there to protect some of the more important objects. When you step toward them, over an invisible boundary, they build brick by brick and, unless you've worked out which spell to use you'll just have to give up and go on searching for cup and orb.

Very rarely do two cliches put together make an original game, but Greyfell is an exception. And who cares if it's filched bits and pieces from Enigma Force, Knightlore, Alien 8, Fairlight, Marble Madness the Holy Grail...

MACHINES: Spectrum/Amstrad/C64
SUPPLIER: Starlight
PRICE: £9.95
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum

About time! A game with a cat as the hero. In their debut game Starlight strike a blow for cat-kind and prove for good that all cats are probably the most intelligent creatures in the known universe.

Norman is the name of our feline friend. He finds himself in the strange world of Greyfell on a quest for the Orb of Light which will restore sweetness - and light - to Greyfell, currently under the evil rule of Mauron the Evil One.

Norm the Cat explores a world which owes a lot to Knightlore, Fairlight and several other similar games - but never fear it's FUN anyway.

You have to interact with the other characters in the game. There are five nice guys who will help you and eight baddies who seek to rid you of one of your nine lives.

These characters talk in riddles which appear in speech bubbles - first seen in Movie. Unravel the riddles and you could be on the way to solving some of Greyfell's numerous puzzles.

Watch these bubbles carefully 'cos you could get a clue which will lead onto other clues.

For example someone might ask for some fruit. Take him a nice fresh Granny Smith and he might give you something in exchange.

Use this to pick things up, select useful spells - yup, old Norm has magic leaping from his paws - and use objects.

At busy times, when you are being attacked for example the icon system gets a bit frustrating and difficult to manipulate.

Traps are everywhere. Pressure pads, magical self-building walls, pot-holes, dungeons and so on.

Very mappable, extremely playable and very addictive, Greyfell is quite simply the cat's whiskers.

Arcade adventurers shouldn't fail to add this debut game from Starlight to their collection.

Starlight
£9.95

The debut game from Ariolasoft's new label casts you as Norman the Wise cat who must battle the evil Mauron. His friend the Wizard Hitormiss has told him of the Orb of life that Norman must find to free the land from Mauron's evil grip. The game plots Norman's attempt to complete his vital quest.

The screen shows a typical Knight Lore style 3D arcade adventure landscape packed full of trees and boulders to block Norman's path, populated by Mauron's minions to rob our hero of his nine lives and deadly cat eating plants and mines to keep you on your feline toes.

A series of icons beneath the main display can be accessed a pressing the fire button and allow Norman to pick up drop and examine objects that might help him in his quest, load, save and halt his game position, and choose and fire two different weapons along with an energy and number of lives display.

Unfortunately, as with many other Spectrum arcade adventures the graphics and animation, although impressive, slows down dramatically when there are three or more critters on the screen. Despite this, Greyfell is a fine example of arcade adventuring in which you might have a whisker of a chance to get the bottom of the tail.