Artura

Copyright : Gargoyle Games | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Stand proud Antura, son of Pengradon as you use the mystical wheel of Ceriddwen to travel to the stronghold of your evil half sister, Morgause to rescue Nimue. Overcome ghouls, spiders, soldiers and giant rats whilst finding the mystical rune stones which will help your quest.
An arcade adventure set in the 5th century when bloody wars and mysterious magic made every day a tireless adventure.

Graphics

The CPC version of Artura doesn?t look as rich as the Commodore 64 conversion but it does look better than the almost monochrome ZX Spectrum version indicated on the back of the original inlay card - not that surprising but it?s very obvious. Colours are better with nice flesh colouring on the sprites but almost each and every room looks the same as the last with shades of green everywere - almost like someone has thrown up all over the place.
There are many different sprites on offer ranging from angry soldiers to wall huging spiders and wizards it?s all been done nicely with a great amount of imagination from the developers. Not only do the in-game sprites look great but there is also a very nice intro effect right before the game starts - given the story of the game it helps set the mood and looks very nice indeed. If you can overlook the differences in colours from the C64 to the CPC then it?s a great looking game and like the many other Gremlin Graphics games very well presented.

Sound

Sound is also on top form with a nice thumping gothic introduction track and some great slashing, exploding and atmospheric noises during the game itself - some other developers could learn from the many Gremlin titles offerering this level of sound quality, very well done indeed.

Gameplay

As for the game, well you walk around the corridors of your evil sisters mansion slashing your way through soldier after soldier while keeping an eye on your energy bar (you only get one life) and trying to find those mystical rune stones we talked about earlier. Rather than the typical scrolling slash-em-ups you have the ability to walk in and out of rooms (like in the later Dizzy games) which makes it that little more interesting to play.
Having said that you do only get one life to complete the game with and if you don?t keep an eye on your energy bar you might die sooner than you think, it?s not ridiculously hard but then again it?s not that easy either - well and truly worth checking out if you?ve not seen the C64 version first.