Black Magic (video game)

Black Magic
Cover art
Developer(s) Action Software
Publisher(s) Datasoft
Designer(s) Peter Ward[1]
Platform(s) Apple II (original)
Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC
Release 1987
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single player

Black Magic is a multi-directional scrolling action-adventure game written for the Apple II by Peter Ward and published by Datasoft in 1987. Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC versions were also released.

Gameplay

The evil wizard Zahgrim has turned the good wizard Aganar to stone, removed his six eyes, and placed them in different locations across the land so they may view the destruction being reaped. The player's objective is to find the six eyeballs.

Gameplay involves moving through a large, side-view scrolling world, collecting items, shooting arrows at enemies, and casting spells. The world scrolls both vertically and horizontally, and most areas within it do not have to be visited in a fixed order. Resources are limited. Food is always on the verge of running out and arrows are also in short supply. When one of the statue's eyes is collected, new types of monsters appear in the world making travel more difficult. The game plays differently depending on the order the eyes are collected. A large bird can carry the player to a different part of the world, similar to the bat in Adventure for the Atari 2600. Shooting the bird with an arrow makes it go away temporarily.

Spells provide alternate approaches to problems. Invisibility, for example, prevents damage from monsters. Casting Freeze on water immobilizes the creatures in it and allows the frozen surface to be walked across. Every 4000 points, a new rank is awarded: apprentice, wizard, sorcerer, necromancer. New spells are unlocked with each rank.

Once all six eyes have been collected and placed in the Blind Statue's empty sockets, a message appears explaining how to end Zahgrim's rule over the land once and for all. The player is then able to enter Zahgrim's castle, a difficult maze of traps and monsters.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1987 in Dragon #124 by Hartley and Patricia Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers stated the "Certainly, this is one of the better games in the current crop of arcade/adventure games, as the tasks required to complete the quest are quite varied."[2]

References

  1. ↑ Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. ↑ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia (August 1987). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (124): 92–96.
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