ELF

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game is based on Cornelius's story, a male Elf that has to save his girlfriend Elisa from the armies of the evil Necrilus, before he boils her on a large bubbling vat of oil! To accomplish this Cornelius first has to walk and fight his way through 8 hostile levels built from platforms and ladders. This mission is surely not a walk in the park, since the levels are swarmed by numerous bad guys, whom you have to either avoid or kill. Your jumps have to be calculated carefully, as Cornelius can be instantly killed if he falls from too high. You must find particular stuff to give and also help your friends (or animals) and, in return, gain items that will help you solve your problems, otherwise there is no chance for you to progress to the next level! During your quest you will find a variety of herbs and other items around in order to combine them and create magic potions (powers/spells). Inside some shops you may also get a few hints to progress. But each level has its own unique problems so new strategies are needed to succeed. Elf isn't a "run of the mill" platform romp, where you go run and kill from one end of the game to the other. It features eight huge levels and a "save game" option gives this game a long-term appeal. The only downside here is that the difficulty level is pretty hard; and it's too hard for those who fancy playing the occasional arcade blast but really challenges the die-hard platform freaks!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The graphics look pretty cartoon-ish and the backgrounds suit well to their respective levels, although the flip-screen scrolling is a bit of a letdown. The Amiga version has 64 colors on screen and its visuals are identical to the PC (DOS) version, with smooth sprite animation and fast action. The sound on the Amiga version is equally good and the game gives the option to either play with music or spot effects. In my opinion, you should go for the effects, not because the music is bad, but due to its repetitiveness. The Amiga's sampled sound effects are pretty cool like when you kill something and screams with a blood curdling voice! Note: An amazing, creepy and funny at the same time detail on this game is the Game Over sequence in which the hero is decapitated on a guillotine!