Synapse .... 32k
cassette .... 1 player....
'The age of darkness
is upon us, shrouding the sun in a gloomy half fog. Men move cautiously,
beasts of the forest scuttle silently from cover to cover and the spell
of black magic hangs over the darkened houses creating permanent
twilight'.
So the scene is set for
Necromancer, the magical arcade/adventure game from Synapse. You control
Illuminar, the white wizard, who must defeat Tetragorn, the evil wizard,
who rules supreme. To do this you must firstly raise an army of trees
(rather like the Tree Ents from Lord of the Rings) in the forest. You
move a wisp and, by pressing the joystick button, plant a tree. To
obtain more seeds you must hit an eye pod which occasionally jumps
across the screen with your wisp. You are hampered by the ogres who
stomp down the trees before they are fully grown but you can destroy
them with your wisp. A more deadly foe is the Forest Spider who poisons
the full grown trees causing a sad face to appear on the trunk. The
trees can be cured by wiping away the face if you are quick enough
otherwise it's another sad case of Dutch Ent Disease(!).
When you run out of strength
you go on to the vaults where you
must prevent the spider larva from hatching out by planting your walking
trees over the vaults where the larva grows. The trees roots will grow
through the stonework and the tree crashes down onto the larvae. You
must watch out for the Hands of Fate which may grab you or a tree and
pull you screaming into the sky. The Hands leave behind question marks
which when touched lower a ladder to the next level or leave you with a
mystery prize, not always pleasant!. You must also be aware of the
Salivating Spider from Sith who spits deadly venom, while the Ceygolian
Janitor Rings give you extra strength.
After leaving vault 5 you
enter Tetragom's lair. Here you must fight Zombie Spiders and a Mother
Spider whilst removing all of the 13 headstones so that Tetragorn, who
you also have to fight, cannot reincarnate himself. When you achieve all
of this the forest explodes in a rainbow of colours.
The game has reasonable graphics and a
nice little tune but what is more important is that it is totally
original, very playable and quite addictive. One of the better Synapse
games, definitely worth a look.
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