Ivanhoe

STORY / GAMEPLAY
King Richard -the bravest of all Knights- was kidnapped by his evil brother King John and imprisoned somewhere in Austria. One man must rescue the King and that man is the King's favorite Knight, Ivanhoe! There are many different lands to walk through. You start your quest in England, then to France, until you reach Austria. Your route is swarmed from evil enemies like pirates, muscled killers, vultures, archers etc who are willing to take you down with pleasure. You are armed only with a sword and a shield. Fortunately, both can be upgraded via bonuses. The shield can turn larger protecting more of your body while the sword can have the ability to spit fire! Your energy can easily decrease though, but you may find several special life potions when you knock down some foes. The game includes a horse riding stage in which you ride as fast as you can until you reach the end of the level, avoiding obstacles and killing incoming enemies. There are also a few bonus sequences where you engage in a one-Vs-one battle, but most of the main levels are based on side-scrolling hack 'n slash action. The impressive cartoon quality graphics only serve in masking the repetitive nature of the gameplay. The game is lacking play-ability. Swinging your sword at your enemies over and over again fails to extend your interest for too long I guess, although its few interesting variations like the horse riding section.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The ST version has brilliant graphics, identical to the Amiga version since the latter is possibly a port. The visuals are cartoon-style and beautiful with colorful backdrops and nicely drawn sprites though they move a bit awkward. The animation is not up to scratch and therefore lowers the appeal of the, otherwise great looking, graphics. There is a large variation of both enemies and landscapes with each stage having its own unique design while the one-Vs-one battles have even bigger sprites on-screen! It is quite impressive the horse riding stage that scrolls extremely smooth and fast. Soundwise, the game on the ST is good, with several nicely composed in-game tunes and a few sounds effects. Note that the ST tunes in this game are totally different compared to the Amiga but they are equally good.

GAMEPLAY SAMPLE VIDEO
On our video below you may watch both the Atari ST and Amiga OCS versions of the game.