• Completed
by Brendan Phoenix (with assistance from Holgi)
•
Reviewed by Vinny Mainolfi
I used to love the early Virgin releases. They could
be hit or miss, but even the misses had some charm to
them - Bitmania and Zyto come to mind. For some strange
reason, this game seemed to pass me by - I can't work
out why!
Sorcery is a nice little
adventure/platform game that is fun to play, but can be
frustrating at times. The graphics and sound are
simplistic but effective, and the game play is fast
paced - almost manic...
###
Ending Version 1 ###
Our hero reaches
Stonehenge...
...and gets ZZAPPED
by the sun!
Slowly he is pulled
upwards...
...where his quest is
completed.
The rest of the
'crew' join in...
...for a celebratory
jig. The End.
###
Ending Version 2 ###
Our hero is on top of
an aeroplane...
...lightening seems
to be striking!
Time to open the
hatch...
...and climb aboard!
Finally in the
Cockpit.
The End.
###
Ending Version 3 ###
Oh... Stonehenge
again!
A lightening bolt is
flying around...
...and swoops passed
our hero...
...and back again!
The End.
HOW WAS IT COMPLETED?:
It looks like Brendan used a cheat and also had some
assistance from Holgi :-)
SO WHAT HAPPENS?:
Wow! Where do I start... erm... there are actually 3
different endings!
-
ENDING 1:
this has our hero at Stonehenge where he gets
ZZAPPED by the sun, but he survives. This is
followed by the words: "YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR
QUEST TO SAVE THE WORLD."
-
ENDING 2:
our hero is on the top of an aeroplane where he
opens the hatch and jumps in. This is followed by
the words: "RING VIGIN GAMES ON 01 727 8070 WITH
THE PASSWORD DIGBY RULES OK."
-
ENDING 3:
once again our hero is at Stonehenge, but this time
he is ZZAPPED by a bolt of lightening. This is
followed by the words: "LIGHTENING DOES STRIKE
TWICE, WITH FATAL RESULTS."
- Brendan: I have
included all 3 endings of Sorcery - the original I sent
(keep hold of fire and tap left to start end sequence)
the second ending - just walk to the hatch on the
airplane to start it (asks you to ring Virgin with a
passcode!) and the bad 3rd ending.
Holgi gave me some hints and told me which crack to use
(was having a problem with a bug).
Have to say I think this is a nice little animated
ending with a congratulations message (pity they used
the title tune) wizards dancing on Stonehenge - what
more do you want? 7/10.
- Vinny:
8o Where on earth do I start?! As I mentioned
before, I have never actually played this game and
so I am not too sure what it's all about, but I
don't think that really matters.
It's obvious that the programming team have thought
this one through and made an effort to have a
'proper' ending to the game. Okay - so it isn't a
masterpiece, but it certainly IS impressive in so
many ways.
My hat goes off to the programming team for their
valiant effort. I am going to give this 8/10.
Doing
some reading tonight (Home Computer Weekly, 26th Feb
1985) and found this snippet in the news that might
be of interest and answer a question about
Sorcery!...
"NEW YORK OR
BUST Virgin Games is offering a prize to the first
player of Sorcery to find the gateway to New York.
You must collect some rather strange objects
including a suitcase and a camera and battle with
the necromancer and his servants.
The prize is two
return tickets to New York on Virgin Airlines. There
is a screen showing the aeroplane Maiden Voyager in
which the winner will travel. All you have to do is
take the objects to that screen and await
instructions.
Virgin, 2-4
Vernon Yd, 119 Portobello Rd, London W11 2DX"
- Kungfufurby:
I'm impressed. This is like Finders Keepers, in
which there are multiple endings... one of them
being a bad ending. Speaking of which, one of the
endings is like an Easter egg. Was there some
contest that Virgin had related to this game? ^_^
- Frank Gasking:
Great set of little endings, I'm surprised they
had any room to add that many in - so it certainly
deserves the rating!
I'm wondering if they spent as much effort with
their other games like Strangeloop and Dan Dare?
Doing
some reading tonight (Home Computer Weekly, 26th Feb
1985) and found this snippet in the news that might
be of interest and answer a question about
Sorcery!...
"NEW YORK OR
BUST Virgin Games is offering a prize to the first
player of Sorcery to find the gateway to New York.
You must collect some rather strange objects
including a suitcase and a camera and battle with
the necromancer and his servants.
The prize is two
return tickets to New York on Virgin Airlines. There
is a screen showing the aeroplane Maiden Voyager in
which the winner will travel. All you have to do is
take the objects to that screen and await
instructions.
Virgin, 2-4
Vernon Yd, 119 Portobello Rd, London W11 2DX"
- Andrew Fisher:
I've just interviewed the Gang of Five about Dan
Dare for Retro Gamer, hoping to follow that up with
pieces on Strangeloop and Sorcery... according to
Simon Birrell there's a mini Strangeloop section
hidden in Sorcery+ on the Amstrad.
Anyway, I digress. Fascinating to see these endings
after all these years - I didn't know there was more
than one!
- Andy Vaisey:
Being me, I'm going to complain about the
unrefined graphics; a bit more effort with shading
and anti-aliasing and these would have bumped the
score up higher than it is for me. Still, not to
detract from the actual effort that has gone in -
good show!
Sorcery
