@~This issue's Something Different is ...

                   Mystic Towers - Apogee
                    (On SynTax Disk 745)

             Reviewed by James Judge on a 486sx

Requires 286+, 550K free base RAM
Supports Joystick, Keyboard, Mouse, SoundBlaster, Soundblaster
Pro

Hands up all of those who haven't heard of Apogee or one of their
products. Unless you are completely new to the computer scene I
call you a liar.

Apogee have had an unprecedented number of hits over the past few
years mainly working on the shareware principle from games such as
the Commander Keen series to the classic Wolfenstein, a string of
educational programs and, over the past few months Hocus Pocus
(good quality platformer), Raptor (pretty good vertical shoot-'em
up) and now this, a jaunt into the past.  Any readers remember
classics on the Spectrum such as Rent-A-Kill Rita, Head Over Heels
and other 3D isometric games? Well, if you do this game will give
you a good blast of nostalgia.

The game puts you in the shoes of an ageing Wizard who must travel
through a number of towers destroying some monsters and a monster
generator in each tower. This old man may look decrepit, but he is
sprightly enough to trundle through the towers at a brisk pace,
jumping over barriers and firepits and dropping from quite a
height.

All this dexterity does mean, though, that he can't drag a huge
battle axe with him to cleave the monsters in twain. Instead he
must pick up an assortment of spells around each tower to use
against the monsters and the monster generator (how I wish for the
axe option!).

Apart from the battle spells your little bod can also collect some
'household' spells such as Reveal, Levitate, Heal and Teleport.

Wandering around a tower blowing away monsters isn't everyone's
idea of fun, so Apogee has seen fit to throw in the odd puzzle, a
few levers, lots of ladders and a lot of pitfalls.

Your little man can wander through the game remarkably easy (once
you have gotten used to the strange orientation of the screen.
Instead of up being to the top of the screen, up is to the top
right hand corner) jumping around, picking up food to feed
himself, water to rehydrate himself (run low on either of those
two and you start to die), treasure to bump up his score, coins
for buying spells and certain items and spells to cast.

The first few towers are very easy (especially the first) but they
are still enjoyable. There is a map provided for the first tower,
but after that you have to find it somewhere in the tower, and so
you won't get lost too easily but the real problem isn't getting
lost, it is finding where the monsters and the monster generator
are.

The levels all consist of about eight rooms and there are five
levels per tower connected by either ladders or teleporters.

After killing the monsters and you must find a bomb with which to
destroy the generator and after destroying that you must find the
main key with which you can open the door to go to the next tower.

After completing a tower you are given an overall score which is
then broken down in traditional Apogee style giving you the time
taken, number of monsters killed and number of secret rooms
visited. You then progress onto the next level and so on until you
complete the game.

One thing that I truly love about the game is the sound and
graphics.  Apogee's new sound driver (used in Hocus Pocus) really
does sound a treat even on my 8-bit card and the graphics are big
and clear with a lot of nice incidental animation such as the guy
wiping his brow, doing a little turn or picking his nose!


This version is only a shareware version consisting of the first
few towers. To get the full version you must pay œ29.50 to the
Apogee UK office. Now, I know I grumbled about Hexxagon but this
is ridiculous, œ30 for a shareware game! I know that Apogee are a
very professional company, but I wouldn't pay œ30 for a full
priced game (unless it had been released about two days before,
was a sequel to one of my all-time faves or had received 95%+ from
most of the glossies), let alone the remainder of the game!

Good for a while, but soon becomes repetitive after repeated play.









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