Necromancer

Necromancer pits you, Illuminar, against the evil wizard Tetragorn. You must assemble a tree army and destroy Tetragorn before his evil reigns supreme.

The first level of Necromancer gives Illuminar the chance to grow his tree army, while he fights off deadly ogres. Once Illuminar's strength is depleted, he is transported into the larvae vaults where he must use the trees to destroy as much of the spider larvae as possible. Once Illuminar exits level five of the vaults, he descends into the cemetery where he attempts to destroy Tetragron by completely wiping out all of his gravestones.

When Act One begins, the gamer controls Illuminar's wisp with the joystick. Plant your seeds close to Illuminar, making them easier to protect. Try to sow them one at a time and wait for one to grow fully before you plant another. This makes it easier to protect the Saplings from the ogres' deadly attacks. Once the spider appears, try to hit him with the wisp. This increases precious strength, which will keep Illuminar alive longer. If the spider hits a full-grown tree, he poisons it. When you hear the yelp, immediately run your wisp over the tree's crying face, or it will perish. Don't worry too much about running out of seeds because the moment you plant the last one, an eye pod appears. Kill him with the wisp to gain extra seeds. It is important to grow as many trees as possible because they are your army. The more Illuminar has, the stronger he is at the beginning of Act Two.

Act Two requires Illuminar to kill the larvae in the vaults. It is not necessary to kill all the larvae on a level before moving on to the next one, but remember, the spiders you leave in the vaults must be fought in the cemetery. In other words, it is better to kill them when they are dormant than to deal with them at full size.

Once the level begins, start moving your trees and planting over the vaults. Watch the Hands of Fate. If they grab a tree, it is gone forever. If a larvae starts to blink, don't plant a tree over it unless you're already right next to it. That larvae is about to hatch and if it hatches with a tree over it, it will eat the tree. Once the larvae hatches, don't panic. Just keep the wisp close to Illuminar and the trees and the spider will keep his distance. The time to strike the spider is when he is on a ladder or moving left or right and you can intercept him with a diagonal pass of the wisp.

On the first two levels, the spiders move slower than the wisp and are not much trouble. Once you reach level three, watch out! Should a Janitor ring appear, try to get it as Illuminar needs all the strength he can get in order to defeat the Evil Wizard. Once Illuminar hits a question mark and lowers the ladders, he has the option of hitting another for a mystery prize. Hitting it again is not recommended. Two of the three things that may happen are bad (the third gives bonus points).

Once Illuminar walks off the bottom of level five, he goes into the cemetery. Here he faces all the spiders he did not kill or let hatch. He may kill them with his wisp but they have a tendency of being reincarnated.

Once this level starts, go for the gravestones immediately. If the wizard or a spider blocks the way, shoot the wisp out straight ahead. Try to hit the wizard as often as possible since this gives Illuminar 200 strength points.

The second you stop, Illuminar will be surrounded and attacked. In the first two levels of the cemetery, it is possible to gain strength by continuously hitting the wizard and simply outrunning the spiders. Once level three is hit, this is no longer possible as the spiders move too fast. Try to gain as much strength as possible in the first two levels. Once you reach level three, don't bother trying to hit the Wizard because he appears and disappears much too quickly. The same holds true for the spiders. So your best bet is to run for the gravestones as fast as possible.

Necromancer is a game of quick thinking and fast action. It may be quite frustrating at first, but with a little practice, you will be able to restore truth, justice and the American way...

People who are fond of black magic but squeamish when it comes to the ingredients (eye of newt, tongue of lizard, wing of bat, etc.) will be ecstatic over Necromancer. This enchantingly original game allows you to weave perfectly respectable spells without having to deal with anything really repulsive.

You're a sorcerer doing battle against some rather voracious spiders. Your weapons - and the spiders' favorite thing to poison - are the trees. Only these are enchanted trees which you control with your magical wisp. Using the wisp you plant the seeds, nurse the saplings to maturity and prevent them from being trampled on by uncouth Neanderthal thugs wearing nothing but large wooden clubs. Later, you take your deciduous army to the next screen where you position them strategically over unhatched spider eggs located in brick incubators. If you're skillful, the roots will erode the brick and the tree will crash down, crushing the egg and killing the fledgling spider inside. If you're sluggish, the spider hatches, eats the tree and comes after you. Leave no eggs uncrushed because they all become spiders which come back to haunt and hunt you in the last screen - the final showdown between you and the Necromancer himself who, unable to find an apartment, has moved in to the cemetery.

Your wisp has more uses than a Cuisinart and is joystick controlled. In the first screen you throw it away from you and, by pressing the fire button, plant your seeds. In subsequent screens, you throw the wisp to magically move your trees to the positions you want them in. The wisp is also useful for destroying spiders and thugs. The only things the wisp cannot do for you are replenish your strength and create ladders. Strength is provided by walking into a small circular object that appears on the screen from time to time. Ladders for climbing lower and lower in the egg hatchery are procured by walking into question marks left by mysterious arms that descend from above. The arms can also spirit both you and your trees away if you happen to be under one of them when it takes a notion to come on down.

All of this action is accompanied by wonderful jazz music - almost as if Dave Brubeck and his band were inside the eggs instead of spiders. The graphics are magical - your wizard has a long-sleeve garment on and thrusts his arm forward authoritatively and the wisp and trees sparkle enchantedly. You walk away from the game feeling as if you could actually point to a broom and make it sweep. You can't.

In the first screen, plant a tree in each corner first and the row of trees you plant between them will be protected. The Neanderthal bullies turn right around and retreat from trees that are bigger than they are.