C&VG


Castles And Kingdoms
By Virgin Games
Commodore 64

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #48

Castles And Kingdoms

Castles And Kingdoms contains fifteen adventure listings in Basic for the Commodore 64. Each adventure is complete in itself, and the collection is loosely tied together under the theme of Graylock lore, set in the mythical kingdom of Graylock.

The titles, most of which are written by Dan and Ed Graggiani, range from The Brass Helm through Revenge of Balrog, to The Blue-Eyed Thief.

The listings are clearly printed with double spacing, and are so legible as to be as easy to enter as you are ever likely to find. Being for the Commodore, the lines are short (the maximum length of a program line on the Commodore is 80 characters) and they are uncomplicated with the word ELSE, a powerful word unknown to this computer.

The presentation is on near A4 size pages of good quality paper, and each game comes complete with a short introduction to its scenario.

Veteran C&VG readers may think this sounds vaguely familiar, and so they might.

I was very much reminded of The Captain 80 Book of Basic Adventures so I dug out the said work and discovered that the author of both books is Robert/Bob Liddil.

Two of the games in Castles And Kingdoms (Revenge of Balrog, and Fortress at Time's End) are translations from original TRS-80 adventures by Don and Freda Boner, in Captain 80.

If adventures are your game, the Commodore 64 your computer, and you're happy to type in listings to save a bob or two, then this book will keep you happily occupied during the winter months!