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Heroquest the boardgame has sold obscene amounts, so it's no surprise to see that Gremlin have translated it to the home computer format The cross between Dungeons and Dragons and more traditional boardgames has caught the imagination of people everywhere, and this is a faithful reproduction of the game.
There are four characters to choose from: Elf, Dwarf, Wizard and Barbarian. Up to four players can take part in the quests, each controlling one of the characters and competing against the others. The characters have different skills: the barbarian is the best fighter while the wizard has the best spells and cerebral abilities. Scenarios increase in difficulty and complexity as the game progresses towards the lair of the evil wizard Morcar. The computer game mimics the idea of rolling dice to determine the number of action points - only it shows up onscreen as a spinning coin! The player clicks on it to stop it spinning and then moves, searches or engages in combat. Again, the combat system is faithful to the boardgame; each combatant spins a number of coins and compares the result to his opponent's throw. Skulls represent attack and shields defence. The person with the most of either gets to block the attack or hit the enemy - a draw means no effect. Examine a room for secret doors or hidden treasure. A pull-down menu charts the player's progress, as well as giving pointers to unseen areas and the likely locations of hidden rooms. Killing monsters gains the player money; but only the first player to complete the task and escape through the exit gets to claim the reward. A mixture of heroism, common sense and downright treachery are the best methods to use in order to win.

One of the nastiest shocks awaiting the adventurer is the presence of traps. The dwarf comes equipped with anti-trap picks but the rest of the characters take pot luck. Jumping the pits is an option for those with enough action points. Unlike the boardgame, the Amiga version can be played solo, with the computer taking on the role of Morcar, the evil wizard. However, the atmosphere and sense of competition are definitely limited by this. The graphics are excellent, dear and distinctly unflowery. The sound isn't anything special with the exception of the noise of the spinning coin; this is fantastic (and needs to be because you'll hear it hundreds of times).
Which brings me to the gameplay. There's nothing to fault it, and the game moves in a logical fashion. A sense of atmosphere is hard to get in a game like this but somehow Gremlin have pulled it off. My main quibble is that once a mission is completed, lost energy is not restored. The only other fault I can find is the lack of interest for solitary players. The difficulty of the scenarios assumes at least a couple of players, so those playing on their own might find it some what frustrating. Still, Gremlin must be congratulated for a job well done.
Matt Reagan

CU Amiga, July 1991, p.97
The scenarios give the players a not-so-gentle learning curve. The first mission, to simply find the exit and be the first to escape, has few monsters and only a couple of traps. The fourteen quests range in subject from the rescue of a prince to escaping from a jail cell. As the levels unfold, the over-riding mission to kill or at least neutralise Morcar becomes more and more important. The final level in Barak Tor pitches the adventurers against the might of the Witch Lord, and his defeat will prevent Morcar from gaining control of the lands. Only the best warriors and magicians stand a hope, so practice well before trying!


GREMLIN £24.99
A wizard of a game best played with a few pals.

GRAPHICS
SOUND
LASTABILITY
PLAYABILITY
81%
77%
84%
75%

OVERALL 81%

Title Heroquest
Game Type Adventure
Players 1-4
HD Installable With WHDLoad patch
Compatibility A500 (WHDLoad patch available for AGA)
Submission Angus Manwaring Profiled Reviewer

Review
Heroquest is an Adventure game that is played from a third person
perspective where you view the action (if you can call it that) from a
"nearby tree" type viewpoint. Heroquest is very, very accessible. I used
to be involved in Dungeons and Dragons, where several of us would gather
round a table, with a Dungeon Master, who had designed the dungeon and
acted as referee and game director.Armed only with some scraps of
paper and our imaginations, the rest of us would plunder the dungeon of
it's treasure, increase our experience, or (more often than not) die
trying. What's this got to do with Heroquest, you may ask. Well, quite a
lot actually, because the games are very similar in concept, it's just
that Heroquest takes the place of the Dungeon Master, it relieves your
imagination of a lot of the work and actually manages to do this rather
attractively. You can choose one of four character types, Warrior, Dwarf,
Elf or Wizard, and work independently or as a team. You "throw a dice"
before each move, and have the option of ransacking your current location
for treasure, traps or potions. The are some tastily drawn introductory
graphics, and the soundtrack is really very pleasant, although as always
it may irritate you eventually. Coming back to the game after some years,
I'm happy to see that the high presentation I remember has not paled, and
the game still strikes me as being the work of a very creative team. Okay,
you are not going to find a huge amount of depth here, and the challenge
is not likely to leave you gasping, but, if you had a couple of friends
over for the night, with nothing particuarly planned, I think this game
could prove quite a success. Without meaning to sound sexist, it seems to
have something about it that woukd even appeal to girls that wouldn't
normally consider playing a computer game. I may be deluding myself here.
Anyway, as you can tell this game has a soft spot with me and I'd
recommend it.