Beyond the Ice Palace

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The story is pretty similar to the Ghosts 'N Goblins game; a mystical land (somewhere in the north) has been taken by a demon and you are the chosen one who must get rid of him once and for all. You’re initially armed with your bare fists and later use a variety of weapons like Daggers, a Sword or a Mace. Your quest is tough since you have to fight ghosts, demons and goblins that either fly or walk towards you and are very "willing" to protect their precious master from your blades. A funny thing on the CPC version is that, the hero looks like he's wearing sunglasses! The gameplay is interesting though typical (as in most 8-way scrolling arcade adventures) but, depending on the kind of gamer you are, you can also end up beating the hell out of your CPC in frustration as it can be very easy to lose lives with a single slip. A minor thing here is that the instant dying routine is getting annoying at times when you reach tricky areas (i.e. jumping over a deadly hole while a flying being attacks you!). I must confess that the control is a little awkward since you have to move in all eight possible directions to avoid enemy hits. You can climb on ladders to get at higher or lower grounds, duck enemy fire, jump etc. So, you must be careful and patient, as only 9 lives (presented as...hearts at the top) are available!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game has nice visuals, with decent backgrounds and cool colors, although it looks a bit outdated for its time (even on the more advanced Amiga and Atari ST). The design looks a bit better compared to the CPC and ZX versions and the sprites move faster. The sound features a wonderful music at the main menu screen but there's no in-game music at all except of some rather "dull" sound effects.