Apprentice : The

Copyright : Mastertronic | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Come, tender novice, your skill to try at this the game to end all games. Save the apprentice from his blundering spell! stear him round pernicious pitfalls; through concealed exits! does disaster await The Apprentice - play it and see!

That?s how Mastertronic advertised this platformer, see for yourselves how good or bad it is.

Graphics

There is no doubt that the Amstrad CPC version of this platform classic is much better than the ZX Spectrum version with much more detail, colour and better graphics on show throughout. The colour scheme is perfect in The Sacred Armour as there isn?t too much and not too little - just the right amount when required. The graphics have also been very well drawn and animated with plenty of various enemies to tackle along the way, even though you are walking around in the nip for the best part of the game.

However it?s not without it?s problems as once the game becomes scattered with enemies you?ll find yourself crawling along the screen, if you kill one of the characters it will speed up again indicating that the game is trying to put too much detail onto a single screen at the same time. It?s not going to stop you from playing the game but it certainly is annoying when it happens.

Sound

Sound is pretty nice also with a great introduction theme and plenty of in-game sound effects for you to enjoy. Palace have always been good at providing in-game effects and music (Barbarian is just one example) and they?ve certainly not let us down with this one.

Gameplay

The most important thing about any game is how well it plays and if it?s actually any good, Antiriad is very nice to play with a good responsive control system, nice graphics and plenty of sounds. On the other hand it?s a little tough at times and it does suffer from a slow-down bug which occurs when the screen becomes too cramped with sprites, it?s not going to prevent you from progressing but it?s an annoying bug to say the least.

It?s certainly worth checking out if you?re a fan of the platform shoot-em-up genre and it kicks the Spectrums butt (as always).