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Issue 36 (Sinclair User) 3rd Jan 2010 11:51
BENEATH the legendary palace of Mycenae, where Agamemnon the conqueror of Troy was horribly murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra, are vast labyrinths. Gates lead from one multi-tiered section to the next.
In Gift from the Gods you are cast as Orestes, son of the dead king. Your task is to collect certain geometric shapes from rooms within the maze and place some of them in their correct arrangement inside the chamber of the Guardian. Only then is escape possible.
Your sister Electra will help you if you can locate her, whilst the shade of Clytaemnestra will attempt to destroy you by reducing your stamina.
The graphics are well made and the figure of Orestes walks and flies realistically. Technically an excellent production, but it does seem rather short on events. You can wander around the maze for quite a time with little happening to provide interest.
Gift from the Gods is a curate's egg really: long in technical merit, short on excitement.
Richard Price
GIFT FROM THE GODS Ocean Software Memory: 48K Price: £6.90 Gilbert Factor: 6
(Anonymous) (Your Spectrum 12) 27th Dec 2008 03:54
GIFT FROM THE GODS
Ocean / £9.95
Dave: This one comes in a large box, with a fairly comprehensive instruction sheet containing the storyline. The tale concerns several strangely-named people and seems to have been written to confuse potential players, so that they don't realise that this is just another 'move about in the maze, collecting things and putting them in the right place' game.
The object of this extravaganza is basically to collect the six 'Euclidian' shapes and place them in the Guardian's chamber. You're hindered in this task by the nasty Demi-Gods, as they've created lots of fake shapes to confuse you; you also have to make sure that your mother doesn't kill your sister.
Graphically, the game is very good with large sprites and several different types of 'nasty' all well animated. It also boasts an 'intelligent' joystick feature that stops you having to press loads of different keys; movements of the joystick (or keypresses) do different things when you're in certain locations!
Unfortunately, Gift from the Gods didn't really hold my interest, as there really isn't much to do beyond filling a large piece of paper with a map of the Labyrinth. 2/5
Ross: I don't think much of the Gods if this is all they can come up with for a gift. Another of the multi-millioned screen bores, but one that does contain pretty graphics. 1/5
Roger: Excellent graphics and that's about it really! Hah, it's all Greek to me. 2/5
(Anonymous) (Crash!) 13th Dec 2008 11:34
GIFT FROM THE GODS
Producer: Ocean
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: Denton Designs
A puff of talcum powder indicates that Mother has this way been.
One of the happier notes in our article last month on the crash of Imagine, was that megagame programmer John Gibson was working with a brand new software company called Denton Designs, largely financed by Ocean. Gift from the Gods is their first game (they are now busy on Frankie Goes to Hollywood), and the team who created it is John Gibson, Karen Davies and Steve Crane (graphics), systems designer Kenny Everitt and graphics artist Ally Noble.
Gift from the Gods is a multi-screen strategy/adventure game which is joystick driven in a rather novel way. More of that later, first the storyline. Set in the Palace of Mycena in Ancient Greece, it follows the trials and tribulations of Orestes who, under the directions of the Gods Zeus and Apollo, must avenge the murder of his father, King Agememnon. Orestes must fulfill his destiny by trial in the Labyrinth beneath the palace and find the solution to the puzzle, or perish in the attempt.
Hidden in 16 special rooms are objects, known as Euclidian shapes, geometric designs based on triangles, circles and squares; six of which, when correctly positioned in the Guardian’s Chamber, reveal the exit. Orestes has some help from his sister Electra, who has been imprisoned in the Labyrinth, and she can guide him to where the shapes are hidden, but Orestes has to decide himself what shapes he must take to the Guardian’s Chamber. Illusionary creatures created by the Demi-Gods try to sap Orestes’ strength, but in certain rooms, life-giving water drips from the roof, replenishing energy and stamina. The Demi-Gods have also created illusory Euclidian shapes as which sit beside the real ones, and although these do not fool Electra, she isn’t always around to help. The other problem is his mother, Clytaemnestra, who has learned of his task and has entered the labyrinth to kill Electra.
Orestes is able to walk or fly and protect himself with a sword. All these functions would normally require loads of controls, but Gift from the Gods has an innovative ‘intelligent’ joystick feature, which effectively ‘knows’ what you want to do next. Whether it really ‘knows’ is another matter, but depending on the circumstances you are able to walk, fly or fight all from the four directions of the joystick.
The screen display is elegantly simple. Each room of the labyrinth is decorated in appropriate Greek style. It is possible to walk or fly vertically or horizontally between linked rooms. As Orestes disappears from view, there is a fast scroll to the next room into which he then appears. Some rooms are blocked by purple walls, through which he cannot go. Others have doors in them, and when positioned correctly, Orestes may move through them either into other rooms or into the secret hiding places of the Euclidian shapes. The only other detail is the stamina figure and a scrolling message line where Electra, Apollo and Zeus may talk. The labyrinth is a confusing place but Orestes may take some small comfort from the seven Tears of Icarus which he carries. Dropped sensibly these can help mark his passage, but wicked Clytaemnestra is likely to pick them up if she comes across them.
A monstrous pile of snake-filled skulls leers at Orestes.
In a side room, Orestes comes across some Euclidian shapes, but which is the real one, and which are the illusions?
CRITICISM
‘I haven’t seen a game like Gift from the Gods before, with the possible exception that graphically and sometimes in feeling there is a touch of Alchemist to it. However, where Alchemist was pretty easy and shallow, Gift from the Gods is more detailed and complex. The game is simple enough, but getting anywhere with it is another matter. I liked the pace, which is slow, but in a thoughtful way, and I liked the way the complexities of the game grew as I played it. At first it seems there is little to do except walk or fly fr
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History
This title was first added on 14th November 2006
This title was most recently updated on 29th October 2015