Gamebase64 Link: http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id = 5055
Full title: Mr. Mephisto
Software House: Euro-Byte
Year of Publication: 1984
Genre: Platform
The life and history of the first software company to Commodore 64 are always shrouded in mystery: the news and information is scarce or null and void, and tend to get lost in the distant past of computing, including amateur, independence and new ideas. The Euro-Byte
English is certainly part of this group: its (few) products are reminiscent of the "space" G-Force, which licenses the music of his best feature, and the mediocre clone of Pac Man-titled Grab-a-Crab, so called because of the "nice" place with the ghosts of anonymous crabs. In the midst of these games altogether negligible in the vast park of the Commodore 64 software, certainly stands out the presence of Mr. Mephisto, planned in 1984 by Dave Lucas.
the image will set us in a dream: in an anonymous suburban cinema, the Roxy, is about to go on the air a movie, maybe one of those double features morning ("double bill") so dear to Stephen King, through which the youth of that time could enjoy two visions, Series B and preferably high horrorifico and sci-fi content, in exchange for the price of a single ticket.
representation which will see through the press of the fire is a terrifying nightmare in which the protagonist will have to go into an initiatory path, which will lead you from Hell to Paradise. The echoes of Milton's Paradise Lost we echo in our ears while we little men scurrying, we groped to rise from damnation to bliss.
Our enemies sono ancora i classici demoni dell'immaginazione, che coi loro forconi e code appuntite ci tolgono una vita al minimo tocco. Essi sono astuti, anticipano ogni nostro percorso e ci costringono a repentini movimenti del joystick, per calibrare ogni spostamento e collisione.
Ogni livello è dominato da una serie di piattaforme orizzontali collegate da strane scale mobili infinite che sembrano partorite da un paradosso escheriano. La nostra missione in ognuno dei sei livelli è giungere ad una delle porte situate sul lato superiore, evitando i diavoli che ci minacciano e raccogliendo degli oggetti lungo il nostro cammino; gli artefatti che serviranno a ricostruire la nostra santità perduta sono tipiche icone del mondo angelico, halos, Bibles and harps, and will also be useful to activate some mechanisms, in addition to simply increase our score.
Only one of the doors is in fact the right one, the others are just evil traps that force us to restart the entire route: often just to open the gate that leads on to the next we will be forced to make dozens of attempts to probe each wall or floor in search of secret passages.
The fifth level is particularly difficult in this sense, since the platforms and stairs are also invisible and are revealed only to our first pass, forcing us to route a "trial and error," trying once again the right via di salvezza.
Questo schema conduce allo "scontro" finale con una grande entità demoniaca, forse Lucifero in persona, che protegge l'ultima porta per la libertà. In realtà l'abominevole mostro è meno pericoloso di quanto possa sembrare a prima vista, e ci basta scoprire l'ennesimo pulsante segreto per ottenere finalmente le chiavi del Paradiso e l'apertura del cancello mistico.
Un coro angelico ci circonderà pervadendoci di beatitudine, ed allora ci innalzeremo verso il cielo in un crescendo musicale, per poi approdare alla visione divina... e poi tristemente ricominciare dall'inizio del primo livello in un ciclo infinito, come spesso accade in questo genere di giochi, immersi in un'eterna Zona del Dusk.
The graphics of this game is average with the style and technique of 84, while the soundtrack is nothing special and only a couple of classical pieces and a loop at low frequency before disturbing and annoying then, during the various phases of the game.
play and progress in Mr. Mephisto is damn difficult, given that the protagonist is always slower than the demonic adversaries, and it is perhaps not responsive to the movement of the joystick. We often make of furious tour de force calculated pixels to collect the item or enter the right door, because times are tight and the screen is always full of enemies, this will lead to many attempts failed, causing frustration that heavily affect longevity.
The pros of this product may well be found that often creates an unhealthy atmosphere in the mind of the player, for a global taste and originality of the setting, allowing more to be Mr Mephisto vintage men still remembered by the gamers in their thirties to 8 bits.
The flames of hell, crackling and shifting, are a constant presence in the bottom of the screen and a small part of visual spectacle to: undulating and hypnotic in their rhythm, perhaps trying to remind us all that basically we have a little private hell to be feared and avoided.
Andrea Packages
NOTE: This review originally appeared on Still Alive n.7
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