Dinamic
£9.95 cass/£14.95 disk
Reviewer: Jonathan Davies
Judging by all the skulls, axes and blood all over the box and, of course, the name, I thought we were going to be in for a crappy heavy metal game or something. But I was wrong (and not for the first time this morning). The game's all about beating up Satan, not shouting about him. So that's interesting Fact No. One. Interesting Fact No. Two is that Satan is the latest from Dinamic, those cheerful Spanish programming people. (Thats enough interesting facts. Ed)
From what I can make out (the instructions are a bit 'Spanish') the plot goes something like this - you're a warrior, and you've got to become a wizard in order to duff up the forces of evil. To do this you ye got to collect three thingies, and then you'll have the necessary power to take on Satan who has probably taken over the world or something.
Being a Dinamic game, this means two separate loading parts with a code to get into the second bit. It also means that I looked forward to playing it about as much as a punch in the face, as I've never really 'got on' with these Spanish games. They've all tended to be a bit messy and off-puttingly hard. So what did I think of this one? Well, you'll have to wait a bit longer because there's a bit more description coming up.
These two levels, then. The first one features you as a muscley warrior-type who leaps about from platform to platform and climbs up things with the help of a bit of four-way scrolling. He can also shoot baddies, which is quite handy as there are plenty of them, and collect the little icons they leave behind. These give all the usual extra energy, weapons and stuff. It all looks strangely familiar. Being a bit thick, though, someone had to explain to me that Black Tiger is most likely the inspiration behind this bit.
On to Part Two, and our warrior has become a wizard. He can still do much the same sorts of things, although in a more outdoor environment. This time, however, he has to face the alarming prospect of a confrontation with Satan himself. From what I can work out this usually results in Game Over message in no time at all, but maybe that's just me being crap again. Oh, and there's a 'shop' bit on this level too, also nicked out of Black Tiger.
Right, criticism time. It's not too bad, actually. The first level's the best, nice and easy, while the second verges a bit on the hard side, and the way your character leaps about is most impressive. The graphics are quite good too. Okay, so they're not exactly slick (being in monochrome) and it does get quite difficult to work out what's going on at times, but apart from all that they're fine.
The only really snag is that Satan isn't exactly huge - I'd seen most of it after playing for only half and hour. Beating the game might be another matter but, hard as it is, once you've managed that you might feel ever-so-slightly short-changed.
However Dinamic fans should enjoy it (it's probably their best yet, or one of their best anyway) and others should find it fun while it lasts.
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