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Dom Robinson reviews

Ian Livingstone's
Deathtrap Dungeon

for PC CD-Rom

Red Lotus

Distributed by
Eidos Interactive Limited

Price: £39.99
Players : Single Player - 1;
Multi-Player network - up to 8
System Requirements :

Windows 95
Pentium PC 90 Mhz (166 Mhz recommended)
16Mb RAM (32Mb RAM recommended)
Graphics card capable of 16bit colour at 640 * 480
120 Mb Hard Drive space
Dual-speed (2x) CD-ROM Drive
(Quad speed (4x) recommended)
DirectX 5.2 (included on CD)
Microsoft-compatible mouse
Windows-compatible soundcard

Also supports :

All Major Graphics Cards
All Major Joysticks

Deathtrap Dungeon is the computer game version of Ian Livingstone's classic role-playing game book. In paper form the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks were an instant hit in the mid-late 1980's kicking off as a joint collaboration between Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

A total of 51 books have been released in this series including The Citadel Of Chaos, The Forest Of Doom and Starship Traveller as well as a number of spinoffs and novels. Deathtrap Dungeon was the sixth in the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series and it makes you wonder why the series hasn't been brought to the computer screen before.

Deathtrap Dungeon - The Beginning

Fang, the Town Of Lost Souls, once known as the Town Of Plenty is ruled with an iron fist by the tyrant Byron Sukumvit. Deep in the hillside overlooking Fang, he built a labyrinth of trap-filled passageways and rooms populated by stomach-churning creatures of evil. He named it Deathtrap Dungeon.

All those who opposed him were despatched to the dungeon. None came out alive. Yet the Baron was a gambling man at heart and loved notoriety. He let it be known that anybody in the lands beyond Fang would be welcome to enter the dungeon of their own free will. If they killed the supreme beast - Melkor The Red Dragon - and came out alive he would offer a purse of 10,000 gold pieces and the freedom of the town of Fang.

The first year, seventeen brave warriors attempted "The Walk" as it later came to be known. Not one reappeared. Now you have decided that you will attempt "The Walk".

Deathtrap Dungeon - The Quest

Your quest is to slay Melkor The Red Dragon and get out of the dungeon alive! As you progress deeper into the dungeon, you will need to collect all the weapons and magics you can to aid you.

You begin the game at the start of the first level, The Spire. As you complete each level you will be given a summary of your performance and a short missing briefing on what you need to do to finish the next level. You have the choice of one of two characters to help you complete your quest - the heroine, Red Lotus (pictured above), or the hero, Chaindog.

Put simply, you'll come across three doors in each level which require keys: one red, one silver and one gold. Get the keys, open the doors and exit to the next level. Sounds easy, but if you think it is then you clearly have played the game yet.

Installing and Running the Game

Installation is simple. When in Windows 95, inserting the CD will autorun the installation process. If you do not have autoplay set up for CDs, then run the 'setup.exe' file.

You will then be able to select the various graphics and sound set-up options. If you have a 3Dfx card it will be automatically selected as all major cards are supported. If it isn't supported, or you install a new card after installing the game, it can be selected from the Deathtrap Dungeon Configuration option via the Windows 95 start menu. The game will take up approximately 120 Mb of hard drive space but you will need to keep the CD in CD-ROM drive while playing the game.

Playing the Game

In-game Controls

The four cursor keys control the main characters with the rest consisting of keys to attack, action, cast spells, run or slow down. All are redefinable though and I set mine close to the controls I use for Quake II/Unreal/Tomb Raider II. Keys F1-F4 bring up menus for Close Combat and Ranged Weapons, Spells and Potions.

Main Menu

Restore Game

Returns you to the game in progress.

New Game

Allows a choice of New Game, which either starts a new one-player game or allows to you re-play any of the levels already completed; or a Multiplayer Game which can accommodate up to eight players.

Load Game

Loads any of the previously-saved games.

Save Game

This saves your position at certain points in the game when you come across a save-game portal. There are two types - white and red. You can save at any white portal, but saving at a red one is going to cost you a number of gold coins!

Setup

Options available for configuring the graphics and sound to your specifications as well as sorting out the keyboard/joystick/mouse control and any specific hardware configurations, all done in a very humourous way.

Graphics, Sound and Playability

The graphics look very good, especially if you have a 3Dfx card which is fast becoming a necessity these days to bring out the crisp graphics and detailed locations. However, the graphics engine used appears to be the same used by Die By The Sword which results in the game appearing to move in a slightly jerky fashion, rather than the fluid movement of another, well-known, third-person arcade adventure, Tomb Raider II. On the plus side, the game runs very quickly with no slow-down at all in terms of the frame rate, but if, like me, you're too used to the smooth style of the Lara Croft game you'll feel there's something not quite right.

Also, the third-person perspective sometimes views battles a number of positions including behind your character, behind the enemy or to the side of both, so you can't always see the enemy you're fighting. This, too, is reminiscent of Die By The Sword. On the plus side, at times there's a hint of Resident Evil II about it as the viewpoint switches to a camera positioned high above, although in this game the camera follows you about, unlike the fixed viewpoint of the aforementioned zombie-blaster.

The music and sound effects set the ambience very well and there's some nice bone-crunching sounds as you hack away at your opponents, or - as I found out once - when a portcullis falls on your head when you don't quite get through in time. This is, naturally, followed by a blood-curdling scream!

The playability is also similar to Die By The Sword with the extra camera movement being a bit off-putting at first. You do get more used to it as you play on but it remains slightly annoying. It's a shame there isn't a first-person perspective option as this is really needed for combat moments.

But I want more !!

Then you can have more! Deathtrap Dungeon comes in the form of a Limited Edition boxset which not only contains this game and a graphically-elaborate manual (The Bestiary) describing the quest and detailing the heroes and every enemy, but also the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook from which the game originated as well as a Deathtrap Dungeon card game for 4 to 8 players.

Overall

Overall this is a fairly entertaining game, which will allow many gamers to bring back an element of their teenage years. The game is also very well-packaged since it contains the aforementioned extra book and card game.

I'd certainly like to see a sequel to Deathtrap Dungeon. After all, there's at least another 50 possibilities so far! However, I'd like to see the game engine re-written to appear more like Tomb Raider II, if it's a third-person game, or Quake II / Unreal if a first-person perspective is chosen.

If you're wondering who the girl on the right is, it's supermodel Kelly Brook, used to promote the game in the guise of "Red Lotus". She features in FHM's 1998 Top Supermodel list at No. 29, as well as appearing in the current "Sure" adverts alongside Jonathon Ross as "Nicky, with the ticky!"

If you're after some more info on Eidos Interactive's games, you can check out their official Website at www.eidosinteractive.com or www.deathtrapdungeon.com

GRAPHICS 		: ***
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC	: ***½
PLAYABILITY		: ***
ORIGINALITY 		: ***
ENJOYMENT 		: ***
-------------------------------
OVERALL 		: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.

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