     | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I made a new year's
resolution never to allow
another duffo computer game to
darken the circuits of my pet
Spectrum again. Obviously, this
ambitious and foolhardy
resolution was brought about by
an over indulgence of
journalistic inspiration (ie
alcohol), because here I am with
yet another prime example of
the way-not-to-make-Speccy-computer-games.
Actually, Shackled is a bit of an ugly duckling. It has the potential to be a cracking game, but the poor programming and lack of polish has forced me to chain a message of disapproval to the remains. A waste of a valuable arcade licence, and largely a waste of everybody's time. Shackled is a conversion from the coin-op, which itself was a rip-off from one of the greatest arcade games of the known, (and probably unknown) universe. That's Gauntlet to you dumbo! And yeuk, what a simply squalid conversion job the US Gold programmers have made of it. Hang on, 'cos before I lay into the programmers again, let's have a butchers at the action. The action, such as it isn't, revolves around the brawny duo who decide to combine talents and rescue their buddies from a maze like prison. In game design, play, and basic plot this is Gauntlet City Arizona all the way. To be fair, Shackled does attempt to break the well-used mould by introducing elements from games like Nemesis. So, walking over certain icons will give you extra powers. Collecting one of your mates from a cell, adds further fire power to your own - bit like the famous 'multiples' in Salamander. This was the only highlight of the game for me, and that's not saying much! So where did they go wrong? I could write a book (but this review will have to do)! Graphically, it's uninspired. Just black and white is used on screen - boring, chaps. The sprites are tiny and very badly animated and sometimes lose each other in crowd scenes. The collision detector is far out (man), and the response to the keyboard is sluggish. Worst of all the gameplay is slow, clumsy and only a mite entertaining (a very, very small mite may I add). With far better Gauntletesque programs about like Avenger, Ranarama and the big 'G' itself, why part with good money to own this? Some people may wring playability out of the two player option, and good luck to 'em, but for the rest it will be disappointing. I'd have to be chained to the Spectrum to play it again. Recommended only for people with more money than sense (hang about, that includes me...)!
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tony Lee has kindly authorised this site | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| LOOKING FOR EX-YS WRITERS! Do you know where any are? | ||||||||||||||
| READERS NOTE: The original YS articles on this site were written many many years ago, and should provide no indication WHATSOEVER of the author's present writing style. Judge these people on their current work, not articles they wrote decades ago. | ||||||||||||||
| All original YS text is still copyright to their original owners, including BOTH publishers and authors. Permission has been granted to reproduce these articles by a few of these owners - if you see your work on here and would like it to be taken down, e-mail me and I'll do it straightaway. All other pages have similar restrictions - email me for more details. None of the pages on this website may be reproduced in any way, nor sold to the general public (i.e. put onto a CD-ROM) without the consent of Nick Humphries and the author of each article. If you want to include any of these articles on a site or a CD, contact me for more instructions. |
