Producer: Melbourne House
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Silhouette Software Systems

Worlds are about to collide. The wizards can prevent catastrophe, but consumed by their greed for magic they do nothing.

So you take it upon yourself to save humanity. As a novice wizard, you must elevate your power by reaching the Fifth Level and break the links that draw the worlds irrevocably closer.

Your shield against evil has been revoked by the Council Of Wizards, leaving you vulnerable to attacks from evil creatures - spiders, eyes, and stomping feet. Personal power is reduced by casting spells and by colliding with evil entities; it's restored with the passage of time, and by zapping evil beasts.

Runes selected in the correct order generate a spell. The Rune Spell destroys enemies and makes them leave behind a rune which must be picked up before it disappears. Some runes are found in the Dark Side, and to reach it the correct dark spell must be discovered. Side effects can occur if the rune sequence is incorrect or incomplete...

(In Read Spell mode all the spells you've learned can be read.)

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable (no option to redefine though)
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour: scenery changes within play area, backdrops differentiated between light and dark
Graphics: good scrolling, but rather inspid characters
Sound: poor
Skill levels: one
Screens: scrolling play area

Wiz is really dire, and that's putting it politely. The graphics look like they've time-warped from an earlier period of Spectrum games, and it took me several minutes to realise the main character sprite is a wizard. The colour clash as meanies wobble around the screen has to be seen to be believed. Steer well clear of this.
MARK

Though Melbourne House still insist on distinctive expanded play areas, Wiz is much more involving than some of their recent releases. But despite the rapidly-scrolling and well-adorned play area I was very disappointed to see that the two worlds of dark and light have exactly the same structure and just differ in colour - it means lots of retracing your own tracks. So make sure you've got plenty of time to play Wiz, and a great long piece of paper to write all the spells on. All this fairly addictive game lacks is a title screen and some sound effects or a tune, which would add immensely to the atmosphere.
PAUL

The poor graphics of Wiz exacerbate the lack of playability, because of the different perspectives; having characters seen from the side and the scenery from above looks unattractive, and the chunky scenery itself isn't very nice. Firing and moving at the same time is impossible - once you've lined yourself up with an evil being, you have to stop to cast a spell at it, by which time it's run off somewhere else. You might find Wiz passable if you've got bundles of patience, but I doubt anyone who's paid full price for this level of unplayability will have much patience with anything.
MIKE

Melbourne House
£7.95

Wot a wonderful Wiz that woz! Cast your mind back to those magical mystery tours of Dandy and Druid and you'll have some clue where Wiz iz coming from. A sort of Rune With A View, Wiz is a dungeons and dragons shoot 'em up made up of walking sprites that relentlessly pursue you, a humble level one wizard, across the Magical isle where the Dark and Light world's conjoin (oo-er!)

You alone know that too much evil has seeped from the Dark world to the Light. Your task is to bust the bridges connecting the worlds, a task only level live wizards can achieve. How can you, a mere sorceror's apprentice, make the grade and save the cosmos?

it's really a case of "I'll name that rune in one to five." in move and cast mode you're able to whizz around the Magical Isle, avoiding the various skeletons, woodlice and bogey men that sap your zap. Then use the runic spell to marmalize the meanies - though how, when and who to do in is something you'll have to work out yourself.

But to get a spell in the first place you have to go into 'prepare mode', where you have to pick a rune from the on-screen medallion which, at the touch of a button, is also your compass guide to the isle. 'Read Spell' lets you check the wizardry you started with and have since picked up. If you're really stuck you can go into the medallion for 'Buy Spell' mode which'll let you wheel and deal with any wandering wizard you meet. But beware - trying to buy a spell without adequate power will lead to your destruction.

As Gauntlet clones go, I'm not exactly spellbound. Wiz is neither as quick or slick as its predecessors. It's not so much heavy on the magic as heavy on the joystick. Meandering through the modes is a bore, taking the edge off zapping the Evil One's ghoulies. But it's not all a load of old warlocks, so give it a wiz!

Label: Melbourne House
Author: Silhouette Software
Price: £7.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Tamara Howard

The blub to Wiz makes it sound like a remake to Rebel Without A Cause. You are a lowly 1st Level wizard a mere nothing compared to the Council of Wizards. Yet although there is Evil leaking through the abyss from the Dark Side, growing in strength all the time, do they do anything. Ha! No! Because they get half their power from the Dark Side, and if our world was cut off from it. they'd have to send their company cars and remote controlled videos back. So it's all up to you kid. Slick back that quiff and away you go.

This makes Wiz a game with a silly plot, which the company amateur psychologists hoped would appeal to "the kids". But luckily, there is enough decent game design to make it worth buying anyway.

It might remind you a bit of Feud though.

You go through the five levels of the thing with the aim of cutting off the two Light and Dark worlds - the key to all this stuff is learning and using spells. Starting off with the three basic spells - Zap, Light and Force - as you go on, you meet Wizards who will be prepared to teach you others that will come in very useful along the way. These spells will cost you magical power to learn, however.

As well as that, casting any particular spell will cost you certain numbers of runes. There are four types of rune in the game, and you start off with eight of each. To cast a new spell, is not a simple business - particularly annoying if you are in a bit of a hurry.

First, if you don't know the way the spell is cast, you must look it up in your spell book. (Enter Spell Book mode, and memorise the sequence of runes). Now enter spell casting mode, and enter the correct runes in the correct sequence. If you got it right - you now have the appropriate power, if not... you lose the runes, and it's start all over again.

Extra trouble starts if you run out of one particular type of rune. To solve that particular problem, you have to search around for more runes and stuff.

And so on until you save the world...

Fair enough, it doesn't sound the most original of plots, but the implementation and design are excellent. Written by the programming duo of Mike Lewis and Simon Price who brought you the creditable Redhawk and Kwah! (also from Melbourne House) land graphics are well designed and the gamesplay is a novel combination of brain strain and reactions.

There are problems to solve, spells to learn, runes to get, levels to advance and more. Wiz is a challenge that'll take you more than half an hour to crack.

For instance, some spells cannot be brought straight off from the appropriate image. You find that you have to complete a quest... yuk. This makes things difficult... because some quests mean you have to have already got the right spells to complete it, etc, etc.

The actual spell casting sequence awards experience and IQ. If you have memorised the sequence for invisibility, for example, whenever you are in the mire up to the kneecaps, there's no messing around with the Spell Book, it's straight in there with the incantation. Good stuff. So, you can be assured that Wiz is both challenging and lastable. In fact, all in all, Wiz (despite the absence of Michael Jackson and Donna Summer) is the best Melbourne House release for quite a bit. Magic.

MACHINES: C64/Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Melbourne House
PRICE: £9.95 (C64), £7.95 (SPEC)
VERSION TESTED: C64

Is this the latest Stephen King novel or a set of game instructions? There's enough reading in the blurb for The Wiz to last you a week - well, a couple of days anyway.

And yes, you just HAVE to read it this time. There's no way you'll get away with sitting down and playing the game straight off - you'll end up going nowhere fast.

That's the bad news. Once you mastered the instructions you can go on and master the game. Which isn't half bad really. At first glance it looks like yet another Gauntlet clone - your little Wiz whizzes around zapping creatures, zombies and anything else that wants to stop him completing his task - which is? just read on...

As every day passes, more and more evil burst through from the dark side. It seems obvious to you, a mere first level wizard, that the long forewarned meeting of the worlds is imminent. On the Magical Isle, where in places the worlds of light and dark touch, the manifestations of evil are reaching epidemic proportions.

The Council of Wizards are reluctant to act. They see no way of preventing the disaster other than destroying the ancient links between worlds. In doing so they would lose much of their magic as two of the four runes from which spells are prepared can only be found in the world of darkness.

Despairing at their greed for magic, you resolve to act alone. You must become a powerful fifth level wizard, acquire the spell you need to break the links and separate the two worlds forever.

The council has already learnt of your quest and seek to prevent you completing it. By their own rules they are barred from interfering with the magical advancement of a wizard. Consequently, no wizard can refuse to teach you spells of your magical level unless you have been openly hostile towards him.

Despite this, they have other means of obstructing you. Your shielding against attack, normally maintained for lower level wizards by the fifth level masters, has been removed.

As a result, you are now vulnerable to the power draining attacks of evil beings.

As if this were not enough, it is rumoured that Tracer has been summoned and, should you stay in one place for long, it will find you and come through from the dark side. Once in this world, it will pursue you relentlessly.

You start the game and you will see your wizard in the centre of playing area. At the top right of screen there is a scroll containing your current score, magical power and wizard level.

At the bottom right of the screen there is a spell book open at the "Zap 1" spell description.

Wiz operates in four modes: Move and cast, Prepare Spell, Read Spell Book, Buy Spell.

Move and cast mode: This is represented by a Red Medallion. As you move, an arrow will show you your direction on the medallion. By pressing fire or space you cast the last selected spell. Beware though, as colliding with evil beings drains your power. Every time you cast a spell you use up one unit of magical power. If you run out of power you die!

Prepare spell mode: To move into this mode from Move and Cast press the space bar. You will now notice that the medallion has changed. It is now blue and has runes in place of direction arrows.

To select a rune, move the joystick toward the desired rune. Spells are prepared by selecting the rune in the correct sequence and then pressing fire.

As you select each rune it appears in the scroll above the medallion and the appropriate rune level goes down.

When you press fire the spell book will display the details of the spell you just prepared. Spells can only be cast by pressing fire when in move and cast mode.

Read spell book mode: Once entering this mode from Prepare Spell mode you will notice that the medallion has again changed.

It is now grey with only three directions marked. By moving the joystick left and right you can read through the spell book which contains all the spells you have learnt so far, plus the ones you started off with.

Wiz only lets you prepare spells currently in the book.

Buy spell mode: The medallion changes again. It is now purple with up to four different symbols.

If a wizard is on the screen when you enter this mode, the medallion shows the symbols of the spells he is qualified to teach.

There may be up to three. You can preview these spells buy selecting the appropriate direction. Press fire and you will try to buy the highlighted spell. Note that the "Up" option means "buy no spell" and will take you back into move and cast.

A preview appears in the spell book and normally shows the name of the spell the symbol for the spell; the amount of magical power you will use up learning the spell, and wizard level you must attain before trying.

Attempting to buy a spell for which you do not have enough power will kill you! Or failure to buy the spell is indicated by the spell book page becoming blank.

Keep an eye on your score every time you try something new and you will soon learn the best way to achieve a high score.

However, getting a high score isn't just a matter of personal pride, it is the way to higher wizard levels.

Lots to do as you can see - so the lastability of this game is guaranteed. Playability? Well, I have to say that I found it difficult to get to grips with the game to start with.

But spend a bit of time on Wiz and you'll be rewarded with an entertaining arcade adventure.