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CAPTIVE
Mastertronic,
£1.99 cass, joystick or keys
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This
is the second arcade adventure to come from Mastertronic
and is the follow-up to (strangely enough) their first
offering, Spooks. It looks very similar to Spooks
and follows the same sort of approach in both format
and play. This time however, you find yourself lost
deep in the Glen of Coloured Corpses from which you
must escape -- Coo!
The
playing area is of large proportions and scrolls in
eight directions as only a small part of this playing
area is shown on screen at one time. The locations display
is at the top of the screen while a set of selectable
actions available, along with any objects carried, is
displayed on the lower half of the screen.
Another
arcade adventure that drops you in a large
scrolling landscape. Here the hero is in the town.
The
game starts in a small town but through exploration
you discover forestry, a river, a graveyard, and a castle!
The view is of a near plan-view with yourself and any
objects/nasties displayed side on (as in Spooks).
You can walk freely around the 'island' and its dead-ends,
but there are 'doors' that can only be passed if you're
carrying the correctly coloured key and there are nasties
that pop up in the form of the Messengers of Doom. These
appear, move a bit, then disappear just as swiftly and
are deadly to the touch.
The
keys, amongst many other objects, are scattered about
the island and can be picked up. Only three objects
can be held at one time though. There are quite a few
objects to be found and utilised correctly, including
a crucifix, a gun, a shovel (very habdy), mushrooms
and even a helicopter! The helicopter, as well as the
gun, once found cannot be used until the correctly filled
out scroll is carried. About the landscape there are
several scrolls and on each there are words to the effect
of 'This certifies that (your name to be typed here)
is able to use a (object, eg gun)'. This introduces
a new feature over Spooks in the form of abilities.
Pressing
the fire button on the stick enables you to select one
of seven actions -- DO NOTHING (in case you selected
the action by mistake), PICK UP AN OBJECT, DROP AN OBJECT,
USE AN OBJECT, QUIT GAME, ABILITIES (perform a specific
ability), and STOP USING (an object/ability). To pick
up an object, you simply move
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over the required object, |
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press
the button, select the PICK UP AN OBJECT option,
and select in which of the three positions you
wish to put the object in. The same sort of thing
applies with dropping an object, using one, and
stopping using one. If the QUIT GAME option is
selected a countdown to the end of the game begins,
which can be stopped by pressing the button.
There
are also items of food about the plains that can
be picked up and 'used' (ie eaten) to gain extra
energy, which feverishly ticks its way down in
the bottom right of the screen. Should this energy
reach zero, or should you run into a Messenger
of Doom, then the game is over and your score
is displayed along with the high score.
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Presentation
65%
Average packaging but easy to use playing options.
Graphics
41%
Fairly simple with minor detail
and passable scrolling.
Sound
38%
Rather poor and grating tune.
Hookability
68%
The usual exploration urge.
Lastability
70%
Large terrain and tough to finish.
Value
For Money 75%
Good little arcade-adventure for
little dosh.
Overall
61%
By no means outstanding but still
pretty good.
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