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Red Rat
48k disk
48k cassette
1/2 players
1/2 joysticks
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Mad genius Evil Otto, a sort of 25th Century Dr. Frankenstein,
escapes from Futureworld into the past. Your Robot Knights follow
him and must find his laboratory and destroy the monster he has
created before time runs out. You'll have to fight off the Guardian
Zombies who will attack you with fireballs as you progress through
all the dungeons & chambers of Castle Klang..... This sets the scene
for ROBOT KNIGHTS, another new release this month from Red Rat.
It's a platform game with an added adventure theme to add some
originality and features single player gameplay or a 2-player
combined option. In single player mode you control SIR BRAVE (or SIR
BOLD if you prefer), a Knight of great distinction, who is equipped
with a handy Deflector-Shield. This is used to fend off fireballs
and plasma-globes which are launched at you by Otto's guardian
creatures. Zombies are the most common. These pitiful creatures are
the result of Otto's failed experiments on the peasant villagers of
the area.
You begin the game with only one life and 1000 energy units. You
lose energy by contacting a fireball, plasma-globe, zombie or other
creature, or by falling off a platform above head height. You gain
extra energy by collecting energy sources which are found in some
rooms of the castle. Lose all your energy and you lose your head
..... literally!!
There are nine different rooms to negotiate - Dungeons I & II, the
Secret Passage, the Lost Cavern, the Store Room, the Great Hall,
Otto's Room, the Transformer Room and, finally, the Laboratory. Each
room has to be cleared of all it's items and inhabitants before the
door opens to allow you through to the next one. You repeat the
process in subsequent rooms until you reach the laboratory where
Otto is located. Destroy him before the monster destroys you!
In 2-player mode, the second player controls SIR BOLD who is armed
with an Energy-Bow. You can fight each other or, more sensibly,
combine your resources against Otto and his creatures. The 2-player
mode is a lot of fun and gives you double the chance of advancing
through the dungeon levels.
ROBOT KNIGHTS rates just below the two 'Crumble' games but is still
a cut above most of the recent releases. The graphics are big and
bold, the screens well designed, and gameplay at a suitable level of
difficulty for most people to cope with (I used play level three as
the other two are a bit 'slow motion' for my taste). Oh yes, and the
high-score table with it's Olde English text is a nice touch and
compliments the 13th Century game setting.
If Red Rat maintain this standard, each new release will command the
same attention as those early Synapse games. Who said the 8-bit was
dead?
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