💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › games › REVIEWS › unreal.rev captured on 2020-10-31 at 23:30:53.
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UNREAL UNREAL, a fantasy arcade game by UBI Soft, is aptly named, what with its smooth game play, breathtaking two- and three- dimensional graphics, a brilliant musical score and lifelike, digitized sound effects. This one is a winner. But be prepared to have a quick trigger finger ready. There are creatures, goblins and fiendish traps all over the place, and while the level of difficulty isn't impossible to manage, it will take a considerable amount of patience and determination to finish all eight levels. (This review is based on the Amiga version). In this one-player game, you are Artaban, and your task is to capture your princess, Isolde. She has been taken by the evil Master of Darkness, and if you do not reach her within 21 days, she shall be forced to marry him. The Master of Darkness has used his awesome powers to create havoc on the planet of UNREAL, and you'll have to navigate some treacherous terrain. Armed only with a magical sword, you'll begin your search by clinging to the back of a friendly dragon as he whisks you through the sky. Later, you'll cross through dangerous forests and even battle snow, ice and harsh winds that will have you teetering on the edge of cliffs. It's typical, nonstop arcade fun all the way, but there are some kindler, gentler aspects to the game. Some arcade games are so difficult that the casual gamer is tempted to give up after only a few tries, leaving the game to collect dust on a bookshelf. The designers of UNREAL seemed to realize that when they built in a training mode. When you character is killed, the game automatically changes to a training mode. You're allowed to resume where you left off, with the training mode providing the opportunity the opportunity to practice the moves you'll need to successfully complete that area. The training feature alone should be enough to draw arcade fans to UNREAL. That feature plus the ability to save your position three times suggests that most players should be able to finish the game if they stay with it long enough, although the higher levels clearly are for more advanced gamers. Those features are only a part of what sets UNREAL apart from other arcade games. Chances are you'll marvel at the sound effects, such as the crackle of flaming logs and the rushing waters of a river. In one scene, I could hear birds chirping through my left speaker, the splash of boulders landing in the creek through the right speaker. Those are all nice touches that make the decision to try UNREAL an easy one. UNREAL, which has on-disk copy protection and cannot be installed on hard drives, will work on Amiga 500s, 1000s and 200s with at least 512K memory, but it will not work on accelerated Amigas. If you Amiga is equipped with a 68020 or 68030 accelerator, you'll have to return to the stock 68000 mode to play. Amiga 1000 users must use Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3. The game comes on three disks, but excessive disk swapping isn't a problem. UNREAL is published by UBI Soft and distributed by Electronic Arts.