Producer: Gargoyle
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Carter & Follis
Music on the Spectrum has never been a matter to crow about, what with the likes of the Commodore, Amstrad and Atari machines tunefully serenading the high street customers, but here Gargoyle have produced an intro tune which improves and becomes more complete the longer you leave it playing on the introduction screens. The player is further seduced by an animated loading screen - the first I can remember seeing. Many of the pictures you will meet during the game are flashed up around the screen as a loading counter ticks down from 750 in the bottom right-hand corner.
The options on loading up are commendable and are an insight into the complexities and depths of the game. Magick 1 sees you start a brand new game, Save Game and Restore Game are the standard options, while Save/Restore Axil (the main character) and Realign Status are welcome additions. This last allows the player to alter the values for Stamina, Skill and Luck randomly attributed to our hero at the start. Pressing the 6 key has the values swapping around from their inherent bias towards a high Stamina, much lower Skill, and very low Luck so that you might prefer and select a high Skill or a high Luck. Typical starting values for Stamina, Skill and Luck are 33, 8, 3 and 35, 12, 4 showing that your total points tally does vary along with their distribution. You always, however, begin with zero experience points, and are saddled with the far from glamorous grade of Neophyte, a very lowly wizard barely competent with spells.
The first frame gives an idea of how all the information in the superb supporting booklet (the best I've seen since Lords of Midnight in terms of playing details and imaginative storyline) might be enacted. Axil the Able stands between two tables with what look like, and indeed are, books perched upon each. I say 'look like' because herein lies one of the few drawbacks - and a minor one at that - to the playability of this game. The picture is formed by a method Gargoyle have made their own; the screen is formed in memory and blown up onto the screen as a way to conserve memory and so allow a longer and more detailed adventure. Because of this, the scale of the picture is enlarged and the definition is reduced, with the result that individual pixels become conspicuous and objects become that much more difficult to identify. The playablility is saved though by the use of the EXAMINE OBJECT command which not only tells you of the nature of the object but in what way it might prove useful or otherwise harmful. Objects can be harmful by being poisonous or by simply draining Stamina by way of their excessive weight.
Watching the first frame for a while familiarises you with the windows of information along the bottom of the screen. The debut location is a good place to do this, as in other localities various nasties suddenly descend upon you making your task, and your very survival, a difficult business. Your character, Axil, stands between the tables in a long cloak which he ruffles impatiently, waiting on your next move. Waiting long enough here you will also notice this rustling of garment actually takes up Stamina as a click, marking the loss of one unit every few minutes, lets you know.
The first frame is quite useful for showing how one or two of the simpler aspects of the game work. The ever-useful EXAMINE OBJECT invoked, as with all commands, by a key word (in this case brought up onto the screen by pressing X) takes Axil behind the desk to the left and tells of a table pitted with woodworm which holds a book. PICK UP BOOK, enacted by pressing P and spelling out BOOK (all words following keywords must be spelled out in full - no easy matter with words like GRIMOIRE knocking around) has Axil on screen picking up the book with one of many superb and life-like animations. Alas, the book is smeared with poison and your Stamina rating takes a quick tumble. (Incidentally, PICK UP object gives 'You can't lift the table')!
The choice of exits at the start is between east and west but in later screens there can be many exits, a little arrow indicating whether any lead up or down, eg NE {UP ARROW} would indicate that the NE exit takes you up a level. Another symbol you will meet sooner or later is the flashing of a direction marker, which indicates that a nasty is approaching from that compass point. Apart from directions, the left hand window can also hold information on the level you happen to be in and the objects you are carrying (after picking up or putting down of an object).
One point which I either didn't quite grasp, or which is a genuine failing, is the inability to speed up the game. Each frame begins with a description of the locality eg 'You are in the Sothic Complex on Level 2' which remains on the screen for nine seconds. This is a long time if you want to zip around. Perhaps I just missed the description of the key which speeds up this process in the manual. However, if you know where you are going, you can by-pass readouts by using the multiple entry system whereby words separated by commas and entered as a string are acted upon at once. Separated commands can be interrupted by an attacking monster.
Heavy on the Magick is something that has been promised to the computer games world for some time but until now has never quite materialised. It is an adventure, certainly, but is animated to the extent where it will appeal to a whole spectrum of games players. The incredibly lifelike movements of the main character, and the cuteness of the monsters, should find a very receptive audience just dying to get their hands on this one.
COMMENTS
Difficulty: very playable, not easy to complete
Graphics: unusual blown up pictures featuring superb animation
Presentation: smart
Input facility: keyword and sophisticated multiple entry system
Response: fast
£1.99
Rebound
Gargoyle came up trumps in Issue 29 with this graphic adventure about a novice wizard's fight for survival in a dingy dungeon.
Axil The Able was fairly useless as a wizard, but his forte was Wizard-Baiting, ie telling very rude stories about his magical colleagues! Unfortunately, one of them overheard him and threw him in a castle dungeon. Axil's task is simple: escape before the various ghouls who inhabit the dungeons have him for brekky. Axil does have a book of spells, enabling him to do all sorts of magical things, but alas there are only a few pages in the book to start with; others have to be picked up during his wanderings.
I'm personally not that keen on adventure games, but Heavy On the Magick is rather playable. Command of the language used in the game takes a while to master, but Axil is soon on the right track to regaining his freedom. The denizens of the dungeon attack without mercy, and for the first few games I doubt that you will get very far. But if you enjoy a good adventure, try Heavy On The Magick.
Then: 9/10 Now: 85%
HEAVEEEEEEE
With just a clove of garlic for company and a faded spellbook under his arms, Phill South trod the slime filled dungeon of Gargoyle Games' latest epic, Heavy on the Magick, and dragged himself back to quill this report.
FAX BOX
Title: Heavy On the Magick
Publisher: Gargoyle Games
Price: £9.95
Joystick: No
Keys: All of them
Brrr. It's cold down there. Creepy. The very stones of the wall seem to radiate cold, and the constant dripping sound of fetid water leaking through the roof rings in your ears...
I wish I hadn't gone there. But as Axil's alter-ego I was forced to tread that fear-some way, fighting the terrible monsters and traps with the magick contained in my spellbook, The Grimoire of Gugamon. I really shouldn't have been telling off-colour stories about Master Therion, and then he wouldn't have sent me down there. But he did, and it was my quest to survive the trials of the catacombs and to escape.
BIG!
The area of the dungeon is vast. There are about 255 rooms and 21 different creatures to do battle with, as well as 280 objects to collect and use to their best advantage. There are also demons to be invoked, but this is a hazardous business. They are all powerful and very impatient. No room for spelling mistakes here! You must speak clearly and quickly else they'll banish you to the furnace where you'll perish in mortal torment. (sob!)
BIGGER!
Now if this sounds a bit ho-hum to you, as far as your experience of either Gargoyle or adventure games in general goes, then think again. The universe of Graumerphy is portrayed using real time animated graphics, so the game plays a bit like real life. Sometimes you have time to think, other time you have to act first and ask questions later.
The pictures are at first sight a bit on the chunky side. That's all down to the compression and expansion they have to go through to fit so many of them into the game. You soon get use to this effect, however, and it's then you begin to notice how mobile the characters are and how much personality the exhibit.
BIGGEST!
All in all, Heavy On The Magick is the best blend of arcade skill and adventure logic that I've ever seen, and it's a real showcase for the humble Spectrum's severely underrated (sez who?) abilities. A breakthrough, a hit, and a lot of fun besides.
BARGAIN BASEMENT
What's going cheap this month? (Make any bird jokes, and you're dead, Ed). Certainly not Marcus Berksquawk. (BLAM!!)
Rebound
£1.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann
Another game from Greg and Roy's Gargoyle vaults, and another cracker. This one's all of three years old, and was the first 'graphic adventure', if you can call it that. On the screen you see your rather roughly drawn hero, and you move him not by joystick but by entering instructions via the keyboard (N, S, etc). As he wanders around, you have to react to what crops up in the various dungeons, which as well as puzzles, objects and magic spells includes monsters who knock you off with the merest flick of a wrist. At the time it was hugely influential, and much imitated, and it survives well because not only was it cleverly done, but there was a game lurking in there as well.
Naturally there's mucho mapping to be done, and the game's liable to appeal to arcade adventurers rather than straightforward zappers, but it's still good fun, and I found that I had forgotten everything I had so patiently learnt about the game first time round. Another spanker, although what the cover illustration has to do with it all, I have no idea.
Publisher: Gargoyle
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K Also runs on 128K
It happened like this. Young Axil, inclined to magic more by temperament than by common sense or aptitude, found himself one night in the Golden Thurible.
This establishment, much frequented by wizards, warlocks and their hangers-on, was renowned for its potent Icemark Lager, a brew reputed to refresh the wraiths other potions could not reach.
Whatever the truth of that claim, three quarts of the fiery fluid soon loosened our Axil's tongue and he launched into a colourful account of the tale of Master Therion, a Moon Creature and a naive and gullible Elf. Just as he reached the most scurrilous and interesting point a hush fell over his assembled audience. Too refreshed to notice, Axil continued - until, that is, he felt the bony finger of Master Therion himself on his shoulder.
Master Therion, a magician of some note, possessed many qualities. Regrettably a sense of humour was not one of them and, after a short and pungent series of comments on Axil's parentage, filthy habits and features he lifted his finger and threw Axil many leagues across the land of Graumerphy, deep into a complex of dungeons set in the bowels of the earth beneath Collodon's Pile.
These dungeons were, if anything, even more miserable than the castle above them but, philosophically, Axil got up and looked about. There on the table lay a Grimoire, a book of spells, tattered but still retaining a few pages... perhaps it would help him escape.
And so you put on Axil's hooded mantle. Heading east you look about warily - this awful place, like most of Graumerphy, is Heavy on the Magick. Who knows what creatures prowl here but one thing is sure - they'll all do their level best to annihilate you before you reach one of the three exits. The key is that your must grow in magic until you are the equal of any power that crosses your path - an up-hill journey with many deaths and rebirths.
Gargoyle's latest is a role-playing text and animation tour de force, set in the classic role-playing environment, a monster-infested dungeon full of treasure and its guardians, puzzles and traps. Physical prowess however plays no part in the quest and all the combat is magical - hence the title.
The bonus in Heavy on the Magick is text, keyed in in Merphish - which Gargoyle describes as a rather terse, even Spartan, tongue, familiar to most adventurers as action + object. The action commands work by single key-press and include the eight compass directions, left or right movement within rooms, examine and pick up/drop. There is also a set of commands to use what magic you have found - / to invoke a Demon, B to blast a creature and F to use a Freeze spell. There are others but you have to find them as you progress. Your chosen command appears in full on the central text window and all you need to do then is add the name of the thing you're interested in dealing with - though if you're desperate or under attack, you can blast away without wasting time on typing in the creature's name.
Speech is also possible and you can converse with quite a few of the monsters. This helps you to get crucial information about items you're carrying or doors you can't pass through - there are many passwords for these and you're only likely to find them by chatting to the dungeon denizens or even to the doors themselves, many of which have pillar-like guardians. Talking to trolls, though, is mostly a waste of time. They have very poor posture and even worse conversation - mainly, unfortunately, of the 'Troll kill Axil' variety.
Still, you do have one friend, the cheery and clumsy ogre called Apex. For some reason he adopts you at the beginning and will act as a sort of encyclopaedia, giving hints on the purpose of objects, passwords and so on. Once you've found a Call spell you'll be able to summon him at will wherever you may be stuck. The Call spell will bring other creatures if you want but I strongly advise you to be very careful - most of the 21 different types of monster are very badly socialised.
One thing to avoid at all costs is getting close to a creature. Physical contact is at least painful and, more usually, fatal as it's very hard to get away from beside or behind a monster. Even, amiable Apex can stumble into you if you're next to his entry point. With a stamina rating of 40 he can do you a lot of damage especially as he's not too bright and hardly seems to notice he's stepped on your head.
Most of the monsters you'll know from other games. There are baboon-like goblins, wyverns, wraiths, ghosts, vampires and even a medusa and a werewolf. Pretty well all of them are indifferent to your survival and the majority can be openly hostile. They move fast in attack and will do a lot of damage if your reactions are slow.
Keep an eye on the exit indicator at the lower left of the screen. This warns you when a monster is nearby and gives you time to move away from that entry point as quickly as possible at least that way you'll have time to prepare a spell or get out fast by another door.
You can invoke Demons. Four of these are mentioned in the page of Grimoire you carry and all of them have particular likes and dislikes. Your common sense should tell you to collect objects which will placate them if invoked - these may be talismans, plants or jewels. Ignore this advice at your psychic peril because all of them detest time-wasters, fools and silly sorcerers.
According to Gargoyle there are about 280 objects to use and examine, some useful, some hazardous and some downright puzzling. A basic knowledge of ceremonial magic will help with some of the stranger things - a salamander clasp, for instance, will act against heat and fire but what creature might want a block of nougat? Apex may well help but most of the time you're on your own.
Particularly intriguing are the signs a feature of other Gargoyle games - which hang on many of the walls. Many of these are strange magical glyphs and it's worth checking out the reference books mentioned in the instruction booklet, just in case they're useful to the game. Some have simple interpretations - like the toll sign Apex will reveal to you outside a set of doors. Beware! I'm quite sure one of them killed Axil when I asked him to take a look at it. Dangerous business, this Magick.
Like all good role-playing games Heavy on the Magick gives you random stamina, skill and luck ratings. Stamina can be regained by eating but combat will take a heavy toll on your strength and food is hard to come by. If you want to progress in experience points you'll have to indulge in some bolt-slinging and inevitably use up your stamina. Never mind - you can save different versions of Axil to tape so the experience need never be lost. These saves will also include major objects that Axil possesses at that point, thus avoiding having to go all round the course again in a new game.
Axil can also grow in his magical power. He begins as an absolute Neophyte of the lowest degree. Certain achievements move him up the Magicians' Guild status ladder. Having found the password to a particular door I can now boast of my skill as a Zelator though, I've still got another nine grades.
This is a dream of a game to play, not just because it's as involved as other Gargoyle games but because the graphics and text interweave so well, so smoothly and so fast.
Let's be clear about this - these aren't just static location graphics or the sketchy figures of PSS's Swords and Sorcery. Axil and the other creatures are well animated, with an attention to detail which makes you grin with pure pleasure at times. Axil's cloak moves as he walks and, if you tell him to go through a non-existent door, he'll first look for it then turn to you and shrug his shoulders in puzzlement.
Invoke a demon and you'll first see a wisp of smoke. The smoke swirls and grows, finally becoming a vast face taking up almost a third of the screen. Trolls lumber and gawp, ghosts flit about and the goblins lope like apes. Even dumb old Apex has clearly some sort of character. He grins and cocks his head lopsidedly at you, displaying his enormous lungs. And when you die, you subside, surprised but resigned, into the floor to be seen no more this incarnation.
The single key-press system is no more difficult to use than the Sinclair keyword method and provides most of the main commands you would use in a text game.
Here are two genres of graphic role- playing and text interaction are combined to produce a fluid playing style which allows you to use both your verbal and physical/reactive skills. Mastering the text input system won't take you long - just play for half an hour and you'll be ready to begin in earnest. The interpreter reacts swiftly to your commands provided they're coherent, so stay cool if you can - though that can be difficult when you're trying to both blast a wraith and escape at the same time.
Above all, make sure you draw a map. There are 255 rooms in this dungeon, as many locations as in a Level 9 text adventure. That's one mother of a prison to get around by guesswork, and you're in for a whole mess of backtracking and wandering to find out how to use the objects and information you pick up.
This kind of vast exploring game, combined with first-rate animation, has become Gargoyle's forte. There can't be many companies who have so consistent and so excellent an output. What shows through is that Gargoyle themselves relish playing the kind of games they make - you're likely to enjoy them too.
At last graphics and text have been combined in a really satisfying way which augurs well for future games in a similar style.
Further modules and new main adventures are promised, so keep your eyes open and don't hesitate about buying Heavy on the Magick. It's a demon's delight.
MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad/C64
SUPPLIER: Gargoyle Games
PRICE: £9.95
Prepare yourself for one of the most original and exciting games you're ever likely to experience. Gargoyle's Heavy on the Magick is a real step forward in game play. It's an interactive adventure with big cartoon style graphics, beautiful animation and 255 locations packed with weird and wonderful monsters, including Wyverns, goblins, trolls and the enigmatic Apex the Ogre.
The adventure stars Axil the Able - who has been cast into a dank dungeon network beneath a dreary castle called Collodon's Pile by Master Therion - the cleverest wizard in all Graumerphy. Axil should really have known better - practicing his favourite pastime of wizard baiting in The Golden Thurible of all places. Still what was done was done - now his job was to get out!
Once the neat loading screen has disappeared – it gives you sneak previews of the screens from the game - you get a screen which gives you a few general tips - shame you can't get back to this once you've entered the game - and then the option screen appears.
When the option screen is displayed, you may notice that the program has already generated values for Stamina, Skill and Luck. While you can't alter the values themselves, you can re-allocate them - select option 6 and the values will be realigned. It depends on whether you think Skill counts for more than Stamina, or perhaps you just feel lucky!
When Saving or Restoring a game, you will be asked for a version letter - this is to ensure that the right game is restored, so keep a note of version letters.
Communicating with the program is all done though the middle window. Here you see all the commands you input.
Your Stamina, Skill and Luck are a reflection of your current abilities. If you run out of Stamina, you die. Your Stamina and Skill together affect the outcome of conflicts: your Luck will influence all your actions.
Combat will reduce your Stamina a lot, most other actions will reduce it a little, but taking food or drink may well increase it. Other special objects will enhance your Skill and Luck.
As you progress through the adventure you will gain in experience, this will not only enhance your status characteristics, but, exceptionally, advance your Magical grade, which will allow you access to items and knowledge not available to the lower grades.
All combat is Magical - physical encounters with other creatures are often fatal. If you decide to engage in a macho bout of blasting, check your own and the monster's status before each round - it may be capable of hurting you more than you can hurt it!
Blasting is not the only way out of a tight situation. Some monsters, and all demons, may have information on objects which may prove useful, and often the status of a creature will give you a clue to to deal with it.
Sometimes you come across locked doors. Most locks that you encounter are magical and therefore are opened magically by magical keys! Naturally, they might not immediately be recognised as keys but they need only be dropped by a lock to be effective. Other locks can be opened by magical passwords. Remember, you have to "drop" objects for them to be effective with doors. Just having them in your pouch isn't good enough.
One of the most exciting things about the game, apart from the depth of the thing, is the command system which allows one key inputs together with more traditional text instructions.
All the inhabitants of the dungeon speak Merphish, a language similar to English but more compact, if not terse. All commands take the form of a keyword followed by a Return/Enter.
Keywords are entered as just the first letter. The name of both animate and inanimate objects must be entered in full. Unrecognised keywords are queried.
Commands can also be entered as a string, with each command separated by a comma, and the final command followed by a Return - like the system used in Lord of the Rings.
Apex the Ogre will help you out if you talk to him nicely. Remember to enter your conversation like so. "Apex, (object). The first quote mark and the comma are crucial if old Apex is to understand what you want help with. He may look fierce but he's nice really.
You don't need a joystick to control Axil - he moves at your command. Tell him to go north by hitting the N key and our hero moves to the nearest northern exit and moves into the next location. You can move him about within a location by using the left/right commands. This is used to get him near objects you want him to examine or pick up.
Always remember to pick up the Grimoire - or book of spells - you'll find in your starting location. If you don't you won't be armed with the useful array of magic you'll need to combat creatures in dungeon.
You can blast them, freeze' them or invoke a demon - but all this requires stamina. Don't try it if your stamina rating is low or you'll die a slow painful death.
Gargoyle say that they'll be bringing out add-on modules for the game. You'll be able to transfer your saved character into new scenario's - like Collondon's Pile, the castle above the dungeons, the Tombs of Taro and the mysterious Paradise reglossed!
Heavy on the Magick is a brilliant game - but it will appeal to arcade adventurers and D&D freaks alike. And, just maybe, it will introduce arcade adventure addicts to a whole new area of games playing. Miss this at your peril.
Spectrum 48K
Gargoyle
Adventure
£9.95
Axil the Able, more commonly known as Axil the Absolute Average, surveyed his surroundings with a deep sense of misgiving. Only a few fleeting seconds ago he had been engaged in his favourite pastime of wizard-baiting. Just as he was about to finish the story, who should appear but that old buffoon Therion, after a severe telling off, about which Axil was not too amused. Being told you look and eat like a Graumerphy goat is not funny. Therion raised his left index finger, muttered something under his breath, and Axil was transported several hundred leagues across Graumerphy into the stinking, dismal dungeons which stagnated below Coilodon's Pile.
The first item Axil noticed was a mouldy old book which, on closer scrutiny, revealed that it was a spell book. So, armed with the book and little else but an indefatigable spirit. Axil set about finding his way out. That is where you come in. The latest Gargoyle game will have you enthralled from the start. Controlling and guiding Axil through the dingy dungeons is a joy to watch. Animation of the various characters is excellent and there are certainly many characters in the program, all created in large cartoon-style graphics.
Axil is a marvellous hero who shrugs his shoulders when unable to do anything, throws his arms in the air when casting spells, and even waves his fist at you when in the process of dying. I felt like explaining to him, in certain circumstances, that I did not mean to make that fatal move.
As in any D&D/RPG, stamina, luck and skill play an important part. Running into monsters and doing battle can have fatal results if your stamina is not what it should be, but searching round the dungeon and finding bread helps build this essential part. Heavy on the Magick will appeal to all gamesters, young and old.
GARGOYLE GAMES'S LATEST FANTASY EPIC IS THE BEST YET. JOIN ZX AS WE ENTER THE DUNGEONS OF Icemark (BUT DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR GRIMOIRE).
Gargoyle Games
£9.95
You, Axil the Able, a fair to middling magician in the land of Icemark have made a baaad mistake. Sitting in your favourite tavern one night, you were telling ribald tales about Master Therion, who just happens to be one of the greatest Wizards not just of Icemark, but of all the lands of Graumerphy. He also happened to be sitting in a corner listening to every word.
Thirty seconds and one annoyed Wizard later you find yourself standing in a dark, dank dungeon beneath the castle known as Collodon's Pile. All alone, you look around at the dismal surroundings wondering why you didn't take your mother's advice and go into banking, until the sounds from just along the corridor make you realise that perhaps you're not alone after all...
DOWN IN THE DUNGEONS
After their excursion into science fiction in Marsport, Gargoyle have returned to the lands of fantasy with Heavy On The Magick. In some ways, Magick, is similar to their earlier games Tir na Nog and Dun Darach, but is even more sophisticated than they were. As with all their recent games Magick features large animated characters and locations which occupy the top two thirds of the screen display. The lower section of the screen contains three windows giving information about your (Axil's) position in the dungeon depths, objects carried, and a display for the text commands that you enter to control Axil's actions.
Like a traditional adventure, Magick allows you to enter verbal commands in order to control your character, but instead of getting a text response you can see Axil and the other creatures on the screen move in response to your commands. The figures are a little less finely drawn than in previous Gargoyle games, but somehow the quality of the animation is even better. The movement is more realistic and the animation actually seems to add to the personality of Axil - for instance, if you tell him to move in a direction that is blocked he will begin to move, then turn to face you and shrug his shoulders as if to say "well what d'you want me to do about it?"
YOUR MISSION...
Axil's task is simply to get out of the dungeon alive, but as there are over 250 rooms and more than 20 different types of monster out to get you (including goblins, wyverns, and werewolves) it's a task that should keep you going for a long time.
Like all good dungeons this one also hides a number of magical items, locked doors and traps that can put paid to all but the canniest adventurers. Axil begins the game with three spells; Blast, Invoke, and Freeze. Blast and Freeze are self explanatory and Invoke allows you to call up powerful beings who may or may not feel like helping you - it all depends on whether or not you've collected the correct Talismans to protect you. As you go along you may find further books of spells which will give you a better chance of surviving attacks by monsters.
Axil has three ability scores; stamina, skill and tuck which affect the outcome of all his actions (attacking a monster when his stamina is low will result in a quick defeat, while a high luck score can save him from a sudden, ghastly death). These scores are determined at the start of the game, but experience gained from successful (or unsuccessful) adventuring can boost or lower them, so keeping a close eye on these scores is vital to Axil's chances of getting out alive. Even using the 'save game' option affects your stamina, so you can't use it as an easy way of getting out of tough situations.
Commands are entered using a language called Merphish. This contains some 400 words and is as sophisticated as you're likely to find even in most text-only adventures, so although you are limited to relatively simple two-word commands there is still plenty of scope for giving instructions. All the usual pick up/drop/examine commands are available, as well as those for casting spells and travelling in all the directions of the compass, but it's up to you to experiment and find out the rest of the things that Axil can do.
Merphish also allows you to abbreviate commands so that just two words can be used to convey quite complex meanings. There is an ogre called Apex who is, fortunately, willing to help you and if, for instance, you need help opening a door you can just type, "Apex,door" and Apex will understand what you mean.
Magick strikes just the right balance between problem solving and monster bashing which should allow it to appeal to everyone, not just adventure purists or arcade addicts. The game is played in real-time, so when you suddenly find yourself being chased along a corridor by a werewolf you have to react quickly or you'll find yourself dying 'a horrible death'. All the monsters are very well drawn and animated, and the way that Axil casts spells is impressive, so that the graphics help a lot in creating the right sort of atmosphere for the game.
There have been many attempts to capture the spirit of fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragons in a computer game, most of which have met with mixed results. For me, Heavy On The Magick is the first computer game that comes close to recreating the illusion of an exciting and challenging fantasy world, which is what D&D is all about. And Gargoyle plan to produce both Magick 'modules', which carry on from the end of this game and other completely new games also set in the lands of Graumerphy, so the adventures of Axil look like continuing for some time to come.
All information in this page is provided by ZXSR instead of ZXDB