1st January 1984
Magic Meanies
Amazing what you can do with five crystal balls, four magic apples and a bit of creative writing. Why, you could almost convince someone this is not another variation on the well worn Dig Dug theme. The action is, we are told, set in the lead mines of the ancient mystic land of Zeldor. Here Good Wizard Meltec tunnels about carrying out his eternal quest for lead (blue blobs) which he can change into gold.
The mines are, of course, guarded by evil magic meanies (reject space invaders) who chase Meltec all over the place giving the poor chap a very hard time and using up one of his three lives each time they catch him.
Meltec's magic doesn't work on Zeldor (so why make him a magician?) so he has to resort to the five crystal balls which he can fire at the meanies and the four magic apples which are scattered about the play area.
The only thing 'magic' about these is that they can be dropped on the meanies to squash them (score extra points for this) or used to block their path. The crystal balls are only effective at long range as Meltec has to face his attacker.Most of the time, he's on the run with a meanie hot on his heels and no time to turn and fire. Graphics are good and speed can be varied over nine skill levels. Sound is good if you can bear the 'Can-Can' repeated endlessly. (My gratitude to the programmer for providing an on-off facility for the sound.) There's also a very good high-score table which can be copied to the printer for those who want to frame their achievements.
A fun game, yes. Magic... not really.
