Black Tower, The - Review

Jim Macbrayne wrote this very large old school adventure for the Commodore PET back in 1983. Paul Young and Bananarama were regular music chart visitors and I was taking my 'O' Levels. It all seems a long time ago....Minor spoilers follow.

The premise, such as it is, involves a complicated journey above and below ground to find a sphere which will defeat the Demon Lord who resides in the eponymous structure. The game has many of the tropes you would associate with its age....several mazes which must be mapped thoroughly (I still am inordinately fond of them) many chances to soft lock the game and an inventory limit. Some doors for instance will open for one move only; guessing a command incorrectly can burn all your boats as well. In this respect the game has much in common with the Phoenix mainframe games of the seventies and eighties. In fact you start near a maze of barren heath in most directions so no mollycoddling from the off with this one.

Minute exploration reveals a way underground and some strange devices, including a teleportal machine and a semi-circular lift platform which must both be utilised in subtly different ways to transport you to different regions of the game. Some have to be visited more than once, and remembering details from a first visit can be vital when revisiting later. Memories are mandatory here.

There is one particular puzzle which reminded me of Gareth Rees's Christminster. Like that game it involves moving in the dark and is very cleverly constructed. You have been warned!

There are no NPCs in the game aside from the final battle in the Black Tower; this is thrilling stuff although as has been noted by Dorothy Millard a bug right at the end doesn't carry you to the Village. No matter, your work has been done.

There are approximately 200 locations in the game, all interestingly described and about 25 objects; as the inventory limit is 10 objects you will need to keep a central location to store them in.

I played the game via the C64 Vice emulator which runs as smoothly as ever. Just remember to save game often as you can screw up very easily and not know it for some time.

The parser is not up to the qualities of Jim's later games, neither his early nineties TADS games nor the recent Windows remasters but even so I was rarely stuck for a way to phrase what I wanted to do. TAKE ALL EXCEPT LAMP AND CRAMPONS is happily accepted, but there is no VERBOSE, BACK or HELP.

Jim is considering rewriting the game for Windows and I hope he goes through with it as it is a very good game indeed for the puzzlefest lovers out there.

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Parser/Vocabulary (Rating: 6/10)

Probably the game's weak link, but standard for its age.

Atmosphere (Rating: 8/10)

Nicely evocative descriptions building to an exciting denouement in the Black Tower.

Cruelty (Rating: Cruel)

Very easy to put in an unwinnable state. Sometimes this is obvious but not always. Save often.

Puzzles (Rating: 9/10)

The game's strong suit. There are some very challenging ones in here, hard but fair. One's memory is utilised a lot, as are different combinations of buttons and levers, a common occurrence in Jim's oeuvre. He loves machines.

Overall (Rating: 8/10)

A lovely banquet of a game. Plenty to sink your adventuring teeth into.