Wizards Lair

Copyright : Bubble Bus Software | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Tis a legend told long ago, about dark caves far down below, where deep within a Wizard dwells, bespaking doom and casting spells. If this lair thou dost uncover, four pieces of lion thou must discover. Only then may you escape past the lion that guards the gate. So heed this warning and beware, never venture into ?Wizard?s Lair?.

Trapped in an underground cave ?Pothole? Pete stumbles across the WIZARD?S LAIR - a massive subterranean network of interconnecting caves, rooms and passages. His only chance of escape is to find the four pieces of the Golden Lion which are spread over several levels of the cave. There are many items and strange creatures to help and hinder Pete in his quest to escape.

Graphics

Don?t let the screenshots full you. Just because Wizard?s Lair looks like a cheap and cheerful Spectrum conversion, doesn?t mean to say there aren?t hidden depths to the graphical capabilities of this game. True the often-derided red, yellow and green combos can become a little nauseating but the colour scheme is oft set by the speed at which everything moves.

The sacrifice to appearance has allowed the programmers to really crank up the pace of not only Pothole Pete himself but the vast armies of baddies that spawn on each and every screen and pelt around, from corner to corner and into just about every nook and cranny.

The design of these creatures is not too bad either and, again, once you get past the colour scheme they can become quite charming in a roughly hewn kind of way.

Sound

A medieval and fairly uninspiring title tune plays at the beginning of the game but soon disappears upon commencement of play. After this point the usual rash of sound effects to indicate explosions and the like, as well as the odd jingle to signify a lift moving levels, begin to kick in. Par for the course really.

Gameplay

The first time I played Wizard?s Lair, back in the day, I hated it with a passion. It came on the B-side of AA Covertape #3 and played second fiddle to Spindizzy, as a result I think I loaded it up once, was killed within three screens and gave up, never to play again.

The great thing about emulation is that it allows you to look again at titles you overlooked or disregarded when you were too young to know any better and this is most definitely the case with Wizard?s Lair.

Incredibly difficult to begin with, the game is a fast paced, shoot-em-up with several strategic elements and a massive exploration game. Mapping is absolutely essential if you want to make any real progress in the game and I would also advise taking liberal use of the cheat mode so as you can familiarise yourself with the playing area and the different types of enemies that you encounter.

The game can become very frustrating however as there are two types of creature that can kill you instantly on contact (the others merely sap your energy - albeit at a fast rate) and if you die close to a doorway and are not quick enough to get yourself through or away from it quick enough, you can often lose multiple lives.

The strategic element of the game comes from the fact that your weapons are limited and replenishment can be few and far between, meaning sometimes it?s better to run away and find a different route rather than wading in, axes flying wildly.

A real grower, Wizard?s Lair takes a little perseverance but is well worth the effort in the long run.