Sabre Wulf

Copyright : Ultimate | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Released after Knight Lore and Alien8 on the CPC, Sabre Wulf pre-dates both of those games on the Spectrum and is set immediately before the events featured in Knight Lore.

Originally used to help sell the cross-company compilation They Sold a Million, Sabre Wulf sadly marked the last occasion that Ultimate would purge their back catalogue for the CPC, as it fell into line with the release pattern of the Spectrum.

Sabre Wulf is, chronologically at least, the first appearance of Sabreman as he explores a wild jungle searching for the four pieces of amulet that will kill the mythical Sabre Wulf and set him free.

Graphics

Uncharacteristically colourful, Ultimate?s update of their Spectrum classic is both bright and bold. Large sprites soon appear on screen almost as big as Sabreman himself and the whole enterprise does have a real retro charm to it.

The animation, although slightly crude, still has some real flair about it. Sabreman?s attacks and parries with his sabre? obviously? are nicely done and the array of beasts are varied in both design and attack pattern.

Ultimate claim that there are 256 screens to this game and while this may be accurate in terms of number of screens you can enter, a number of the rooms are re-used throughout the maze.

Sound

Once again, Ultimate?s music soundtrack extends as far as the menu with a short tune playing when you press the button to start the game. It?s not particularly earth shattering and neither are the sound effects. The arcade style pops as each beast is slain are quite nice but the accompanying tone for Sabreman?s walk is fairly grating and will have you reaching for the volume control sooner rather than later.

Gameplay

Criticised on its initial release in some quarters for its similarity to an earlier game, Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf doesn?t have the same grab factor as some of the other Ultimate games. Certainly it?s nowhere near as revolutionary as Alien8 or Knight Lore but it has something that a lot of Ultimate?s later games were lacking. Fun.

While the concept is undeniably simple, the execution is polished. After the first few abortive attempts, most players will reach for the pencil and paper to try and craft their own crude map that will help avoid them getting lost in the wilds of the jungle. This necessary step away from full on arcade action is the game?s major saving grace as although there are few and far occasions when you have to use your brain to overcome obstacles in this title, the problems that do crop up give you a pleasing sense of achievement when you develop a tactic to overcome them.

Most of these tactics will take the form of dealing with the orchids. These flowers, along with the pieces of the amulet themselves, are the only elements of the game that change. Their colour on blossoming has a different affect on you, some good and some less good! Yellow freezes your position on screen while it sets off a smart bomb killing everything on screen, purple swaps the control keys around for a few moments, red slow you down and unable to draw your sword but make you invulnerable while blue speeds you up but does the same thing. Learning how to cope in the immediate aftermath of these powers are part of what makes the game a challenge and a little unpredictable.

As mentioned previously, the four pieces of amulet are not always in the same location either but rather one of a set of pre-determined positions meaning that theoretically you could complete the game in a number of ways.

Although initially difficult, the game soon opens up and the further you manage to explore, the more you want to play the game.

One drawback to the game is that occasionally you will die a fairly unfair death. The only way to kill the beasts is by attacking them with the sword this does, however, leave your back open to attack which is fine except that when moving up and down narrow paths it is nigh on impossible to protect both back and front while they are generating almost on top of you.

Enjoyable in the short term and challenging in the longer run, Sabre Wulf has stood the test of time fairly well and is a pleasant diversion for a number of hours.