Epyx Software recently released two colour-only games for the Atari ST: Rogue and the Temple of Apshai Trilogy. Rogue has a long and honourable history as a mainframe programmed game, but both these games were originally designed for the Commodore 64, and frankly, despite boasting greatly enhanced graphics, it shows. Both are, by modern fantasy RPG standards, unsophisticated dungeon crawls in which a single character roams through various levels, clobbering monsters and collecting treasure. There's literally nothing more to it than that, since whatever magic comes into the game is tied to objects such as weapons or potions - you don't actually get to cast any spells.
Temple of Apshai is a real non-starter; the graphics are primitive and the levels boringly repetitive, while the ‘trilogy’ bit in the title simply means that the levels are split up into three groups (a total of 12 levels). You very quickly realise that all you can do is march up and down, bopping creatures (mostly giant insects) on the nose and running for home when supplies get low. None of the monsters are at all impressive, and there isn't even much in the way of progression from one level to another; this was confirmed when, out of sheer boredom, I ran a roughly fourth-level character through some of the twelfth-level rooms and got him out again in one piece. Apshai could, I'm afraid, be described as Packman with none of the excitement.
Though very far from state-of-the-art, Rogue is a much better game than its stablemate. The original game's ASCII characters have been replaced with graphics - a touch cutesy but quite competent, with a nice line in shadows (look for the hovering bat, for example). An elegant touch is the fact that every time you descend a level, the map of the dungeon, its contents and monsters are generated afresh, so there's no point doing any mapping; you can switch from large-scale view to an overall map of the level which takes up the entire screen, except for a window on the right which shows all your possessions in the form of icons.
Temple of Apshai is a real non-starter; the graphics are primitive and the levels boringly repetitive, while the ‘trilogy’ bit in the title simply means that the levels are split up into three groups (a total of 12 levels). You very quickly realise that all you can do is march up and down, bopping creatures (mostly giant insects) on the nose and running for home when supplies get low. None of the monsters are at all impressive, and there isn't even much in the way of progression from one level to another; this was confirmed when, out of sheer boredom, I ran a roughly fourth-level character through some of the twelfth-level rooms and got him out again in one piece. Apshai could, I'm afraid, be described as Packman with none of the excitement.
Though very far from state-of-the-art, Rogue is a much better game than its stablemate. The original game's ASCII characters have been replaced with graphics - a touch cutesy but quite competent, with a nice line in shadows (look for the hovering bat, for example). An elegant touch is the fact that every time you descend a level, the map of the dungeon, its contents and monsters are generated afresh, so there's no point doing any mapping; you can switch from large-scale view to an overall map of the level which takes up the entire screen, except for a window on the right which shows all your possessions in the form of icons.
A large number of characters can be generated and saved, but be warned - if your character is killed, his file vanishes even if previously saved. The only way of surviving to the bottom of the 26-level plus stack is to keep a blank disk in the second drive and copy a character file over every time you save. Things get tougher and tougher as you move down, and I can guarantee that making it all the way through without several ‘resurrections’ is impossible.
There are lots of magical items to collect, the most important being rings, staffs and scrolls. You will need a Scroll of Identify in order to find out what most of these items do, particularly as their function is randomly allocated each time a new character is created; a ruby ring might protect you in one game, but in another it might simply infuriate monsters. However, within each character game it pays to experiment and keep notes.
Probably the most essential item is a Ring of Searching, without which you keep falling into traps and missing secret doors. Next you will need a good selection of long-range and offensive staves, of which my favourites are ‘Teleport Monster Away’ and the Staff of Polymorph, which changes the monster type (though you may, of course, get one that's even nastier). Staves have a limited number of charges, so go easy on them. Also crucial is a ‘Make Visible’ ring, without which phantoms remain invisible but still lethal.
Your way back up to a higher level is magically blocked until you reach level 26 and find the Amulet of Vendor, which allows you to travel in either direction. The best strategy, therefore, is to thoroughly explore every room on the way down in order not to miss any important items; once the amulet is secured, you can hightail it back to the upper levels and renew your armoury before plunging ever deeper.
The program includes a Guildmaster’s Hall of Fame which lists the top 10 characters, including name, rank, amount of gold gathered and an icon of the monster which killed them. Alas, this is a posthumous honour, and the only way of getting on the list is by being killed or resigning - which amounts to the same thing, since in both cases the save file is wiped. The ranking, incidentally, is based on the number of gold coins carried.
Rogue is clearly not very strong on plot or imagination, but it's fun in small doses and might even become addictive after a while. I can recommend it as a kind of ‘solitaire’ RPG, something to play for a few rounds in between more serious pursuits; as such, it could keep you amused on and off for a long time. Oh, and beware of the Drain Life staff - it drains it from you, not from the monster. Nice touch, that.
There are lots of magical items to collect, the most important being rings, staffs and scrolls. You will need a Scroll of Identify in order to find out what most of these items do, particularly as their function is randomly allocated each time a new character is created; a ruby ring might protect you in one game, but in another it might simply infuriate monsters. However, within each character game it pays to experiment and keep notes.
Probably the most essential item is a Ring of Searching, without which you keep falling into traps and missing secret doors. Next you will need a good selection of long-range and offensive staves, of which my favourites are ‘Teleport Monster Away’ and the Staff of Polymorph, which changes the monster type (though you may, of course, get one that's even nastier). Staves have a limited number of charges, so go easy on them. Also crucial is a ‘Make Visible’ ring, without which phantoms remain invisible but still lethal.
Your way back up to a higher level is magically blocked until you reach level 26 and find the Amulet of Vendor, which allows you to travel in either direction. The best strategy, therefore, is to thoroughly explore every room on the way down in order not to miss any important items; once the amulet is secured, you can hightail it back to the upper levels and renew your armoury before plunging ever deeper.
The program includes a Guildmaster’s Hall of Fame which lists the top 10 characters, including name, rank, amount of gold gathered and an icon of the monster which killed them. Alas, this is a posthumous honour, and the only way of getting on the list is by being killed or resigning - which amounts to the same thing, since in both cases the save file is wiped. The ranking, incidentally, is based on the number of gold coins carried.
Rogue is clearly not very strong on plot or imagination, but it's fun in small doses and might even become addictive after a while. I can recommend it as a kind of ‘solitaire’ RPG, something to play for a few rounds in between more serious pursuits; as such, it could keep you amused on and off for a long time. Oh, and beware of the Drain Life staff - it drains it from you, not from the monster. Nice touch, that.
First published in ST User, Autumn 1986
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder
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