Blood Valley

Copyright : Gremlin Graphics | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

The scenario places you in the evil and sinister valley of Gad, a harsh land inhabited by evil creatures such as Vampires, Trolls and demons. The game revolves around the annual contest which is held in the valley - The Hunt - were a slave is hunted down by his ruler and his allies like an animal. If the slave is captured he faces a hideous death. The slaves only hope of survival is the exit and escape from the valley of Gad.

Graphics

After the boring and long awaited entrance to the game you can select between Barbarian, Priest of a Thief as your character. After which the game finally starts and the graphics look pretty good indeed, while some colours are mismatched and tend to hide small detail the overall impression is good and certainly makes you feel like you are on the run in a very evil place indeed. On the downside however the oncoming enemies are repeated almost continuously throughout the game and there is little to no variation in which way they will attack next, this in no way makes the game easy but it does tend to make the player loose interest very quickly. You will also notice a little bit of slow down here and there as the screen becomes more detailed and you are attacked by evil swordsmen, considering the playing area you are dealng with this probably shouldn?t happen.

Sound

Sound is very good indeed, you are treated to a nice evil theme at the start of the game which is the only interesting thing going on as you are briefed to the story line and have to select your language, number of players and controls. When the game starts the music changes pace as you are now on the run and it certainly makes it that little bit more enjoyable, sadly there are no in-game sound effects which I think this game could certainly benefit by having.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very repetitive, you simply run to the right of the screen while turning around every 5-10 seconds and tackling the evil swordsmen, it?s also painfully hard to play. The controls are sometimes unresponsive (applies to joystick only) and you quickly find yourself at the start of the level again after having your energy zapped, the reason being that you can?t attack as fast as the computer.
This is one game that some players may find frustrating and it will take a few goes before you progress to the next stage or in this case the next day. Blood Valley is a tough little game that is only surpassed by it?s good looks and music, worth trying but probably not keeping.