Golden Eagle

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Nahmur, an evil high priest, attacked the Adlerberg's castle and stole the "Golden Eagle" (a statue with magical powers) from its rightful owners. Golden Eagle has a brainwashing effect over the local population. Failing to control the statue's powers, Nahmur broke it into several pieces and scattered them around his base called "Odexa" and then imprisoned the resistance members. You roam inside a huge complex that makes up the base where the game takes place, searching for all the scattered parts of the statue, to ultimately save humanity from Nahmur's evil plans. Along the way, there are several humanoids, robots and other mutant foes patrolling each and every passage. Fortunately you're not unarmed abut equipped with a plasma gun. The statue's pieces are locked in safes that need to be hacked. You can log in to the base's computer terminals and use them to help you in your quest. A nice touch of this game is the DIY map that's included in the game's box. It is actually a large piece of paper that shows the layout of the base. To indicate where you've been and what you've found, there are two different batches of stickers (!) included, which you fit on the map as you go, so you don't ruin the whole plot. When captured, the guards transfer you either at the start of the screen they caught you on or inside a cell from which you must find a way to escape. Golden Eagle is a cool action adventure, although it does not offer anything new to the genre (apart from its unique map and stickers!) It has a quite repetitive gameplay, but still, it is a decent game to try if you are an action adventure and puzzles fan.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game features some atmospheric visuals and nice music, plus a reasonable animation. The sprites' movement is the top asset of Golden Eagle's visuals since it's really good (much like the all time classic "Prince of Persia" game). The sprites are quite large and the backdrops have sufficient details, giving a futuristic style to the story, but nothing really to get excited about. Each screen supports up to 16 color, which is rather awkward for the Amiga's minimum 32 colors per game. The game's sound offers a nice introductory tune while there are several "futuristic" sounds during gameplay.