Atari 8-bit - Atari User - 1986

Cavern Escape

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

From volume 2, issue 1 dated May 1986.

VOTES / STATISTICS

Rating6.0/10

COMMENTS (1)

Muffy St. Bernard11 Apr 2010
You're some kind of Indiana Jones adventurer with a quick sprint and a rude profile. You're trapped in a maze of 100 rooms -- a 10x10 grid -- and you need to find your way out. The maze is the same during every game and it's full of guards, sulfur pits, subways (!), and inescapable dead ends (well, only five dead ends but you'll grow to hate them). To escape you need to evade the perils, collect the keys to unlock the five doors, and make your way to the exit. This is fun because it's never so difficult that you lose sight of the single joy: map making. There are some very tricky spots where your joystick skill WILL be tested, but for the most part you're just evading a few sprites to reach the next exit. My big tip: if you run into a wall you are teleported back to the middle of the room, but you don't lose a life, so it's VERY useful when you're cornered. Also, when the next room is loading, if you hold down your joystick in a particular direction, you will appear close to that exit in the next room, often allowing you to evade the guards or subway cars altogether. And the ending? Satisfying enough. Kudos for a simple, solid, well-implemented game.