ARTURA 

 ARTURA is a D&D-type strategy/arcade game from Arcadia and
Mastertronic. It offers excellent graphics, easy gameplay, a
four-level labyrinth, lots of monsters, joystick control, and copy
protection. The Atari ST version is the basis of this review; 
Commodore 64/128, IBM-PC, and Amiga version notes follow. 

 The plot of ARTURA concerns your mentor Merdyn, who has
mysteriously vanished, and Nimue, Merdyn's young apprentice, who has
been kidnapped by Morgause, your evil half-sister. Morgause has
built a maze, riddled it with traps and dead ends, and populated it
with rats, bats, spiders, warriors, ghouls, and sorcerers. The
object of the game is to enter the maze, solve its puzzles, defeat
its inhabitants, and rescue Nimue. This is going to be a long-winded
job, one that cannot be completed without the help provided by the
Rune Stones. They've been shattered into many tiny pieces, and
before you can use them, you'll have to gather the pieces needed to
make them whole. 

 The ST graphics display consists of separate screens of the maze. 
When you move your character to a screen-edge or through a doorway, 
a new section of the maze appears, by way of a camera-like shutter. 
Below the action screen is a snakey-looking energy bar that turns
black when you deal poorly with the terrors of the maze. The
platters of food scattered here and there restore lost energy; the
game ends when all energy is gone. Below the energy bar are the
empty slots within which the Rune Stones will be assembled. 

 Runes can be used singly or in conjunction with other Runes to
transport you to otherwise inaccessible areas of the maze. The
manual calls this "riding the mystical wheel of Cerriddwen." (That's
teleportation, to you and me.) 

 ARTURA is controlled with the joystick. The stick moves your
character in all directions; the button throws an axe in the
direction you're facing. The "R" key accesses the Runes and serves
as a pause feature. Pressing the button spins a Rune until the
correct teleportation speed has been reached. The music can be
toggled off. 

 The ARTURA package for the ST comes with one copy-protected disk, 
an instruction manual for all versions, and an extremely large map
of the maze. 

 For the most part, ARTURA is a neat and fast-moving game that's
easy to play. The graphics are excellent on the ST: clear, 
colorful, and detailed. Animation is fine, if predictable. The maze
is overrun with axe-wielding warrior-guards and hungry rats. Bats, 
spiders, lethal birds, ghouls, and sorcerers appear in certain
areas. There are traps that, once triggered, really trap you. The
flow of your warrior's battleaxes is limited by the speed of your
trigger finger, and the joystick's jump functions could use some
improvement: The character's hang time rivals Michael Jordan's. 

 The only thing that takes the edge off ARTURA is that it is more
than an arcade game (although hacking, slashing, and movement form
the bulk of the action). The Rune Stones are in many pieces; no one
Rune is useful until it's completely assembled. Each maze level is a
maze in itself, with many doors and sub-levels and a limited amount
of food. A save option, perhaps made available as each Rune is
assembled, would have been helpful: ARTURA is not a game you're
going finish in one sitting, unless you don't have to move for the
next few weeks. The manual gives X/Y locations of food and Rune
pieces as they relate to maze levels, but matching them with the map
causes colic and confusion. 

 Despite these complaints, which are minor ones, ARTURA is an
enjoyable game. It looks good on the ST and plays well. Any
frustration you encounter won't mean the destruction of your
joystick. ARTURA isn't GAUNTLET II (the Arcade Game of the
Century), but it's a reasonably solid effort. 

 COMMODORE 64/128 VERSION NOTES 

 Although ARTURA on the Commodore 64 doesn't look as good as it does
on the ST, it still looks decent enough, and it plays much the
same. The creatures of the maze, as well as the details of the
maze, are clearly visible and can be recognized. Sounds are mostly
obliterated by the constant music, which can't be toggled off. The
joystick works the same in both versions, up to and including the
hang time inherent in the jump functions. 

 For the most part -- I still think a save feature should have been
included -- ARTURA is a decent game. The ST version is better, at
least graphically, but if you only have a Commodore 64, that version
is still worth buying. 

 IBM-PC VERSION NOTES 

 The IBM version of ARTURA is supplied on a single 5-1/4" diskette
that's not copy-protected. CGA, EGA, Tandy, MCGA, and Hercules
graphics modes are supported. Note that none of the pictures on the
back of the box represent IBM screens. In EGA mode, graphics are
detailed, but with a heavy accent on browns and grays, so they're
not very colorful. There is no mention of support for sound cards. 

 The game booklet includes instructions for the Atari ST, Amiga, and
Commodore 64, but not a word about the IBM version. This was
annoying, but ARTURA is simple enough that you don't have to be
Merlin to figure it out. Played with either a joystick or the
keyboard, this is your basic "walk, jump, shoot" game. 

 The key to ARTURA can be found on the back of the box, which
advises you to "Hack and slash your way to glory!" Even if you
choose to ignore the enclosed map (as well as the page in the
booklet listing the location of everything you need to complete your
quest), the only strategy in ARTURA seems to consist of keeping your
finger on the fire button and knowing which room you're in. There's
plenty of simple action here for those who may be new to
role-playing games, but the more experienced player will quickly
become bored by ARTURA's lack of depth. 

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES 
  
 For some reason, I expected more from the Amiga version of ARTURA. 
Don't get me wrong: The game looks and plays just fine on the
Amiga, and any praise the game receives is well-deserved. However, I
found it disappointing that Arcadia didn't take better advantage of
the Amiga's sound capabilities. 

 The stereo theme music is good, but you have to turn it off to hear
the sound effects, and although you can listen to the cry of a
vanquished warrior or the squawk of a zapped bird, I wish the sound
effects were just a little more profound. Of course, it would have
been in poor taste to make them so lifelike that the game seemed
gory. And it's understandable that with only 512K of RAM required to
run the program, not every luxury can be accommodated. 

 This may just be a petty complaint, though, because I like
everything about the way ARTURA runs on the Amiga: The colors are
rich, the animation smooth, and the gameplay simple enough that even
a child should be able to get the program up and running without
assistance. However, as with other releases in the D&D genre, the
game can be complex; for full enjoyment, some understanding of the
adequate (if rather brief) documentation is necessary. 

 The ARTURA diskettes are copy-protected, but no manual lookups or
other off-disk protection methods are employed. 

 ARTURA is published by Arcadia and distributed by Virgin
Mastertronic. 

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