Knights v2.24
       (Arcade Adventure for Amiga, part of Disk 831)

      Played by Paul A. Hardy and Stephanie L.  Rhodes

Knights is a two-player arcade adventure written in AMOS by Kalle
Marjola from Finland, and what a well-written piece of software it
is too!

The game requires 1MB to run and, as its name suggests, allows you
and a friend to take on the role of two Knights. They're rival
Knights, in fact, and explore a dungeon complex hoping to complete
a pre-determined quest before their opponent. The winner will get
to hold his head high in exultation, whilst the loser will be left
to hang his head in shame ...

When 'Knights' first loads, you are greeted with the Game Menu,
from which all aspects of the dungeon to be explored in the game
can be modified. Which quest you will participate in; whether the
dungeon will be pre-mapped (or whether it will map automatically
as you explore); how many keys, gems and other items you will be
able to find; whether some doors and chests will be trapped or
not; the size of the dungeon to be explored; even the colour of
your Knight's armour can be modified from this screen, with just a
click of the joystick button. The game is controlled solely with
joysticks, although you can use keys if you would prefer, although
we found joystick playing to be definitely easier!

There are a number of pre-set quests for you to participate in,
each with a suitably atmospheric name, such as 'The Lost Book of
the Gnome King', 'The Tomb of the Liche Lord' and 'The Ancient
Wand of Death'. Each quest has a certain number of objects,
monsters and rooms to be explored, and the number of monsters and
objects encountered can be modified, making it either easier or
harder to complete the quest as desired.  Or, if you prefer, you
can customize your own dungeon - what about a huge tunnel network,
with plenty of objects, traps and brimming with monsters? Either
player can change any attribute of the game, but they both have to
select CONTINUE to proceed, once they are in agreement of the game

parameters.  Consequently, both players strive to complete the
quest first and so win the game.

It is in the dungeon itself where the heart and soul of the game
lie. The screen is split into two sections down the middle, with
Knight #1 on the left and Knight #2 on the right. The main portion
of the screen shows the Knights' view windows (showing the section
of dungeon each Knight is currently in) below which are listed
items carried, with each Knight's Health Rating and Map icons
below that at the bottom of the screen.

The view windows are in 2D from a perspective above the Knights,
and display the current room section or corridor the Knights
occupy, rather like in the 'Ultima' series of games. The map
sections do not scroll but flip from one screen to another when
the edge of the map is reached. This can be either exciting or
annoying, depending on your outlook: personally I found it a
little of both, to flip to a new screen only to appear next to a
Zombie which would inevitably strike me before I could react.

The view windows themselves are a decent size and we had no
difficulty determining what items were or how far away monsters
were, etc.

Items collected in the game are displayed as icons below the view
windows. When a new type of object is picked up - a dagger, for
instance - its icon appears for you and subsequent daggers
collected appear as icons below the first in a stacking motion.
This effectively allows you to swiftly determine how many objects
of each type your knight has.

The main point of the game is to complete the predetermined
objective (quest) before the other player. Quests available are
many and varied, such as a duel to the death between the Knights;
retrieving an object (usually a certain book or wand) and escaping
the dungeon; finding a certain wand to destroy another object
(usually a book); or merely being the first to escape from the
underground with the required number of gems.


However you are not pitched into the dungeon totally unequipped,
you have your sword and may collect other items like an axe, a
staff, a crossbow, throwing daggers or a maul (hammer), each with
varying degrees of combat effectiveness. Staffs can be used to
disarm traps by simply hitting any door or chest you think is
trapped with it.  Crossbows and daggers are good missile weapons,
with the crossbow doing more damage but being slower to fire - and
you will need to find some quarrels to load it with too. The
sword, axe and maul can all be used as melee weapons, and can also
be used to smash up dungeon furniture such as tables, chairs,
barrels, doors and chests, which often contain treasure.

Other useful equipment available in the dungeon include bear
traps, which may be set to injure other players or monsters; keys
used to unlock some of the dungeon's doors; picklocks, again used
for opening locked doors though picking locks takes a very long
time; gems, which are sometimes required to allow you to escape
from the dungeon; and poison needles and spring blades, two types
of traps you can set on doors and chests for your own amusement.

There is also a large variety of potions and scrolls on offer in
the dungeon, each with different effects such as healing for your
Knight, temporary increased strength, poison immunity, treasure
sense, invulnerability or speed, all of which are beneficial to
the Knight using them. Other scrolls and potions are less helpful,
though, and will teleport you elsewhere (usually somewhere near
the other Knight), wipe clean your map so you have to re-explore
it, paralyse you temporarily, poison you (unless you have active
poison immunity) or turn you into an undead Zombie!

Poison kills your Knight outright, regardless of his remaining
health rating, and likewise being turned into a Zombie slays the
Knight in question too.

When a Knight dies, whether it's in combat, from a trap, falling
into a pit, drinking poison (without immunity), being turned
magically into a Zombie or whatever, he drops all his equipment.
However, the Knight reincarnates and reappears at his original
start position so you may continue with the game, minus any
equipment you collected.  Only a Knight's sword remains with him,
but there is, of course, nothing to stop him going back to his
previous point of death to reclaim his missing equipment - unless
the other Knight snatches it first, that is! Fortunately there is
no limit to the number of times each Knight can be resurrected,
which is just as well as you will probably be killed quite often.
Another good feature of the game is that dead bodies of both
Knights and monsters don't vanish but stay where they are, so you
may reminisce about fights past as you re-enter their locations.

'Knights' (v2.24) is an excellent game which will keep a couple of
players amused for hours at a time. It can be played solo, with
just one Knight trying to complete the quest whilst fighting
Zombies and Vampire Bats - the second Knight will remain
motionless at his entrance point as there is no option to switch
one (or even both) Knights over to CPU control.

And it is as a two-player game that 'Knights' works superbly well.
Each randomly created dungeon offers a multitude of possibilities,
and setting traps for each other, as well as for monsters, is
great fun. The graphics are good and functional without being
brilliant and the sound, limited to weapon swipes, grunts when
injured, magical effects and objects being smashed open, is also
fine. Lack of any in-game music may upset some, but it wasn't
necessary in my view and would have added little to the game's
fantastic claustrophobic atmosphere.














                              - o -