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 PC version was developed by a different software team (AVN Software) 1 year after the Amiga and ST versions. The graphics are identical to the Amiga version although the flip-screen scrolling still exists. Thid version supports three different graphics hardware (CGA, EGA, VGA) and the VGA version can show up to 64 colors on screen. The sound also supports a variety of hardware such as the AdLib, the SoundBlaster and the almighty Roland. Much like the ST and the Amiga versions, the PC version features the option to play either with music or with sound effects. But the music gets a bit repetitive after a while. So, the sampled sound effects are a better option I believe here!