Dark Castle

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Dark Castle is essentially an action platform game with a jumping, rock-hurling hero (Prince Duncan) who makes his way through different screens to confront the Black Knight at the end of the game. Each screen is an unoriginal layout of platforms, ladders, stairways, ropes, and trapdoors over which you climb, jump, and run. The enemies are in the form of rats, bats, guards (some with whips) and so on and you can kill them by throwing rocks. There are a few bonus weapons to collect but their use is as limited as their numbers. Because of the amount of actions you can perform, the mouse is needed as well as the joystick (if any) or keyboard. This leads to a confusion when monsters are closing in from all sides but it can be mastered with practice. The controls are problematic at times and the game's engine will interpret movements (such as going downstairs / upstairs through ladders) in a different way according to whether it "thinks" you're standing near a staircase or not! It can be very annoying when you fall and lose a life for no apparent reason or when your hero refuses to go up or down in some stairs. So, what "bombs" this game is neither its unadventurous display nor the old game ideals but its painfully frustrating gameplay.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The graphics on the MAC version are good but nothing to write home about. This game is praised for its sound right from the opening credits with the...rather scary sampled sound of Bach's Toccata and Fugue. It has some nice sampled sound effects and the grunts and screeches add a lot to the atmosphere, though they get a bit repetitive after a while.