Amstrad Computer User


Tusker
By System 3
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Computer User #66

Tusker

A rather yellow effort that sees you struggling across endless landscapes in search of an elusive elephants' graveyard.

A small raft slowly up the Turkwel river. Atop, a ragged figure lays spread-eagled. Vultures swoop overhead, studying the body for signs of life then land and peck at the flesh. These are the remains of your father, a bedraggled figure skewered to a floating hearse, killed by the unknown in the search for the Elephants' Graveyard.

Does it really exist? Will it ever be discovered? One thing's for sure; Dad won't ever see it. Three years on and you stumble across your father's personal journal, the contents of which you have never read, at your father's request. The pages are brittle, the contents far more interesting than your father ever let on. Detailed maps, drawings and diagrams fill the browning pages: notes that would lead your father to the Elephants' Graveyard and certain death.

Tusker

But the book never left his side. Why was it here and not with his body, and what's more why had the last two pages been torn out? Dun, Da Dah!! You decide there and then to retrace his footsteps. Poorly equipped, you head off for Africa.

Miles and miles of yellow sand sprawl out before your intrepid CPC persona. On closer. inspection it turns out to be miles of miles of yellow: the whole thing's yellow! The year is 1990 and we are still playing monochromatic games!

So there you are in all your yellowness, surrounded by sand and the occasional yellow cactus. Armed only with your feet and fists you must search the yellow landscape for items that will aid your quest. Daggers allow you to stab hostile Arabs, although the screen representation looks rather rude. Guns would make light work of the assailants if only they were loaded.

Tusker

Kicking the hell out of the Arabs isn't all that easy thanks to awful joystick control. The pure fact that the Arabs are there seriously hinders your movement around the plain. Talking of movement, what sane person would jog around the desert? Not me for sure, but, just as with cartoons, computer games are rarely true to life.

The status area at the top of the screen shows an Indiana Jones lookalike (in yellow of course!) and what you are currently holding in each hand. Your energy appears as a vertical bar in the status area arid this provides the only change of colour on the whole screen.

There are many objects littered around the desert, some hidden underground. Down below, further hazards lurk. Statues suddenly spring into life and prod at you with sharp blades and crocodiles snap at your limbs when you wade through the deep subterranean pools. How do you kill them? Simple, poke 'em on the snout!

Tusker is in the class of arcade adventure and if you like that kind of thing then you might fancy the challenge. If you prefer a bit more colour than just yellow then I strongly suggest you look elsewhere. Honestly, you'd think it was a Spectrum game.

Andrew Banner

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