Dungeons of Avalon 1 - on SynTax PD 579
                      (RPG for Amiga)

                 Reviewed by Bill Commons

I have been playing this game now for seven weeks and I am
absolutely hooked on it. It is a cross between Dungeon Master type
and the old D&D scrolling hit points games.  When I first loaded
it I was reminded of the first levels of Eye of the Beholder with
the red walls and corridors but on my first encounter with some
monsters I was a bit disappointed in all that happened was the
playing window was filled with a very detailed still picture of a
monster and very fast scrolling text window flashed through
showing how many hits I received and how much damage I had caused
to the monsters. It was funny but as I got used to the game I was
able to read these messages but at first I could not.

The adventure starts in the town where you have a choice of
locations to visit. There is the Adventurers' Guild where you
create your team of six heroes, or you can load in six existing
ones. Alternatively you can load in any one of three previously
saved games which take you to different locations in the dungeon
with different teams.

You can also visit the Armoury shop to buy weapons or the Temple
to heal wounds or revive a dead hero.

The dungeons are full of the usual secret walls, spinners, traps
and treasure chests and, of course, monsters. These are shown one
step before the encounter by a slightly darker green spot on the
floor in front of you.

There are only four levels down in the dungeons but because the
designers have cleverly used sliding walls and changes when a wall
or foot switch is pressed, I was convinced that there was at least
ten levels in all. It was only after I had compared my maps that I
could see that I had several almost identical pages.

I think that the game has been translated from the German language
as some of the spelling is a bit odd and with a lot of 'auf' and
'unds' in it. Also I was convinced that one of the riddles was a
bug but I think that this is due to a slight language difference.

When your team is up to the higher levels there are a couple of
spells that can be used to show a detailed map of the dungeon.
This gave me a chance to go all over the levels and it was
surprising how much I had missed previously.

I went right down to the end of dungeon before I discovered how to
rest my crew, and only after starting it again from the beginning
did I find out what some of the spells were for.

When you have completed the dungeon you then move on to the
castle. The same builder must have been employed as the layout
looks very similar but the monsters here are much stronger and
some of the spinners have been placed next to each other and in
corners so it is hard to stop going round in circles.

The sound effects are good even down to snores and whistles when
the party is asleep.

One minor drawback is that you cannot move anything from your
backpack into your hands or to another member except at a shop
where you have to sell it and buy it back including what's in your
right hand at that time. This can prove expensive if money is
short.

At the time of writing this I have not been able to kill the final
monster, the Dark Lord. So I have started again but I am not using
the special scrolls and weapons on the weaker monsters. These can
only be used for a short while so I am saving them for the final
conflict. If I still can't kill him I might have to send in a plea
for help.