Producer: Gremlin Graphics
Retail Price: £9.99

The hunter and the hunted represent opposite sides of the same coin; Blood Valley gives the player the chance to savour the experience of both.

The Hunt is an annual contest which takes place in the Valley of Gad. The hunter is the tyrannous reptilian Archveult; his quarry is an unarmed slave released into the valley for the hunting pleasure of the malevolent ruler and his henchman.

The roles of hunter and hunted are designed for two players although there is a solo option. The player acting as the slave has three different characters to choose from. Thief, Barbarian and Priest are each given several objectives to complete prior to their escape. This involves destroying several of Archveult's primary allies and, in the case of the thief, stealing several specified objects.

Before the hunt itself begins, a map is displayed and Archveult stations his henchmen in positions that correspond strategically with his quarry's quest.

The movements of Archveult and his quarry against the various landscapes of the Valley of Gad are shown simultaneously on a split screen display. Unfriendly valley inhabitants, robbers, vampires, trolls and demons must be defeated by hand to hand combat. Food, gold and other collectable bonus objects boost stamina rating and increase bargaining power. When invoked, an options screen allows each character to use different potions and items.

Ordinarily Archveult pursues the quarry in his own person, but when the slave approaches any of his allies, Archveult takes control and fights on their behalf.

A scroll to the right of the screen displays the stamina level of both characters, distance travelled and amount of gold collected. The Hunt lasts five days and a clock displays the countdown.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: little characters with poor scrolling
Sound: hardly anything at all
Options: One or two players and a choice of three characters to play

Blood Valley is intended to combine fantasy adventure with elements of role play and strategy. Unfortunately, once you've waded through all the explanations, you're confronted by nothing more than a sub-standard arcade adventure. Gremlin have tried to include so many elements that only the most basic ones - of killing and collecting objects - stand out. The objects, once you have them, seem to bring little benefit other than the dubious one of a prolonged life. The graphics are remarkable only for their inconsistency: objects and enemies appear and disappear at random. The scrolling, combined with a strange flick-screen procedure is uneven and the weird, ghostly music can do nothing to resurrect the spirit of this barren and bitty game.
KATI

After sitting through almost half an hour of loading you eventually find that the game wasn't worth the effort! The idea of slaying everything in sight is fun for a while and extra things like bribing trolls add a little spice, but the lack of a tense atmosphere and real variety soon kills any compulsion to continue. There's the choice of playing three different characters but if you load in one and don't like it you have to reload the entire game. If you want a good two player game then look elsewhere.
NICK

The packaging of Blood Valley is quite good, with a bed sheet-sized instruction leaflet that clearly sets out the aims of the game, but on the graphics and gameplay side - forget it. Visually the game is totally dire, with crudely drawn and badly animated stick men hobbling around a vile background. Gameplay is not much better, becoming repetitive and ultimately dull. I became totally bored of the whole caboodle after only a few attempts. Admittedly there is a game of sorts lurking around in there, but Gremlin will have to get a bigger shovel to try and dig it out.
MARK

Gremlin
£9.99
Reviewer: David McCandless

This game is based in one of those fighting fantasy books called Duelmaster, in which you either play the gravel pit, no, sorry, quarry (one player), or the hunter, evil firedrake Archveult (two player). The idea, if you're the quarry, is to complete some tasks then burn it outa' Blood Valley; and if you're Archveult to deploy your hideous henchman and then give hectic chase.

I have only one gripe (yes but I'm going to the clinic tomorrow), - the instructions. They babble on about how great Duelmaster is, and how long Archveult's big toe nail was, but they don't actually tell you about playing the game. There's no this-is-this, and that-means-that at all. Perhaps this is purposely to create suspense, but all it left me with was a bad case of Confusionicus Maximus.

The title load (title screens are now redundant), struck me as very polished. A choice of three languages, tasteful gothic letters scrolling on a scroll, and very good "choose your character" (a la Gauntlet) graphics, all look very slick. But what about the game?

You run (looks like skipping), both left and right, stabbing anything that moves. Once dead, nasties disintegrate and may leave dots or clumps of pixels behind. These either represent gold or food - the latter restoring your stamina - or are meaningful objects that you can use later on. Nasties range from cowled monks to blow-piped pygmies, but all give you severe hassle. The playing area is tiny and suffers from chunky scrolling syndrome. Nasties and player characters have an annoying habit of being too small (two character squares by one). Another disquieting thing is the instantaneous way the scenery changes. One second you have a backdrop of mountains, and then you're sweating in the middle of a jungle - very strange.

A breather can be obtained in mid-skip if you clear the screen of nasties and press "up". This plonks you in an examine/use objects mode. Don't come looking for enlightenment here, objects aren't explained just displayed.

The tasks you're given - be you Barbarian, priest or female thief are difficult, very difficult. "Defeat the Flame of Acheron" the game ordered me - the flame in question frazzled me as soon as I got near it.

There's a trace of addictiveness there: tasks, spells and the two player option add something, but I couldn't help thinking that this game could have been much, much better.

Label: Gremlin
Author: Martin Hooley
Price: £7.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

I like to imagine two sorts of games players - headbangers and strategists - as implacable enemies, facing each other across a yawning chasm lined with tons of software. "Mindless philistine!" cry the strategists, casting magic spells at their enemies. "Effete worms!" shout the shoot-'em-up fans, cocking their laser pistols. And so the two camps fight eternally.

Now, many software houses reckon that if they can produce a game which appeals to both camps, they'll clean up. A pity that Blood Valley isn't it. Graphically disappointing and strategically shallow, Blood Valley is based on the Duelmaster fighting fantasy books. The main plot is based around a hunt, where the evil Archveult chases a lowly slave. Archveult has a series of allies throughout the valley, while the quarry (one of the three characters, barbarian, priest or thief) has magical potions, food and treasure hidden around the valley for collection.

At the bottom of the screen are shown the quarry's tasks, such as to slay certain characters, to steal certain objects or to destroy magical artefacts. There are one and two-player options; in the one-player game, you play the quarry. In the two-player game, the player acting as the Archveult gets to deploy his allies throughout a map of the valley before the game starts.

The big prob is that the graphics in the one or two player windows are pretty ploppy; the characters are represented by little black scribbles running and poking at each other with swords, and the background jump disconcertingly from one area to another. On the right hand side of the screens are the tallies of score, gold carried, stamina, and current time, all of which you have to keep an eye on, since there's a time limit to your quest to escape from the valley (or, in two-player mode, to hunt down the quarry).

Blood Valley isn't bad in two-player mode, but in one-player mode it loses out tremendously in comparison to superior products like Platoon. I know the theme isn't that similar, but that's the wort of quality Blood Valley could have been, and dismally fails to achieve.

Gremlin's manhunt.

This one or two-player game is based on the Duel Master series of fighting fantasy books. The game is centred around a central plot of a man hunt, and if you're playing solo you play the quarry. Blood valley is an ambitious game that just doesn't deliver, with an interesting game concept ruined by poor gameplay.

Reviewer: Andy Smith

RELEASE BOX
C64/128, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now
Spec, £9.99cs, £12.99dk, Out Now
Amstrad, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 70/100
1 hour: 50/100
1 day: 50/100
1 week: 20/100
1 month: 10/100
1 year: 0/100

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £7.99
Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99
Amstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99

A BLOODY HELL

Blood Valley is based on the Duelmaster Fighting Fantasy adventure book of the same name, written by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson. These authors have previously contributed two titles to the Fighting Fantasy series, Talisman and Sword Of Samurai. They also participated in the software design of games based on these series, and Jamie co-wrote, for Games Workshop, what is now a classic adventure, The Tower Of Despair.

The action takes place in the evil and sinister Valley of Gad, wherein the reptilian ruler Archveult holds his annual hunt. A slave is set free at an ancient circle of standing stones, subsequently hunted down and cruelly put to death by the Archveult and his allies.

Blood Valley is for one or two players. In solo mode you are the quarry and may select one of three characters to play: priest, barbarian, or thief. Each has different characteristics which have to be utilised in order to complete the quests and objectives set that enable an escape. In two-player mode, one person plays the Archveult who, with allies Kritos Bloodheart, Karim the Assassin and the Demiveult, attempts to track down the second player. Using a fullscreen map, each ally is positioned in the valley, ideally where you think the quarry may run. When the hunted enters a place inhabited by an ally, Archveult teleports there to do battle.

Sadly, it is here, at its heart, that the game falters; the two-player option becomes a waste of time, as all one player has to do is wait for the other to die - there is no comraderie in Blood Valley!

HOW RED WAS MY VALLEY

Once all the choices are made, the hunt is on. You begin with very little knowledge of the Valley of Gad, save that the capital city is called Askelon. and that there is a way out at the western end.

Horizontally scrolling through different scenes - the screen is split to show the two players' characters - both parties are open to attack from the local inhabitants: vampires, trolls and demons all attempt to put an end to the hunt. However, the players are not defenceless: pressing fire or an appropriate key, the characters' weapons are activated, which they use to good effect.

During head-to-head battles, the energy meter - a sword icon - shows rapid depletion, although replenishment is achieved by eating food. Useful items such as gold and magic potions can be collected and added to the player's inventory. A choice is offered to view the inventory, use an item from it or return to the game.

Considering the depth and content of the Duelmaster game books and their game potential, the computer versions are all shallow in comparison. Little is taken from the books; the game relies more on a hack and slay approach than interaction, and even the two-player game fails to relieve the tedium of continuous running and fighting. Followers of the Blood Valley game books will be very disappointed with this - the thrill of the hunt is definitely lacking.