(Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, SPE) ( Activision )
“Knightmare… is quite quite brilliant.”
“Original and exciting game with something for everyone to get hooked on. Fast moving game for part-time thinkers. Superb. 10/10”
Based upon the award-winning, innovative television programme from Anglia television, Activision’s Software Studios beat all the major software publishers to secure the right to develop the game of the show.
I created the design for the game, and was the Producer. The legend that is Mev Dinc was the programmer and graphics were by the brilliant Nick Cook We won several awards for innovation including "Sinclair User Classic" and "TGM Gold Star". The reviews for the game were average more than 90%.
Here is a description of the game, taken from a review:
“Knightmare… is quite quite brilliant. You’re at no disadvantage if you haven’t seen the TV show as the game stands on its own. Nevertheless, if you’re a fan of the Anglia TV twenty-miniter, you’ll be impressed by the similarity that programmer Mev Dinc has managed to achieve.”
“Knightmare is an adventure in the truest sense of the word. You control the knight, guiding him around various levels of a ghastly world, solving problems as you go. Its difficult to give an idea of the play and feel of the game by comparing with previous titles because the way it works is so original. But there are elements from games like Fairlight here and even Valhalla,”
“As you move through the game, you will often come across situations which wont be easily solvable. Here, like the TV show, you can call for assistance. Two Oracles will appear, like gods, at the top of the play area, looking down on the game. Both will offer advice as to what your next course of action should be. One Oracle is good, the other evil. Unfortunately, the good oracle is quite happy to advise you to take a strong course of inaction and get absolutely nowhere, while the evil character will try and get you killed. What to do?”
“On screen, Knightmare is a wonder. The screen is laid out like a book, with the action taking place on the pages. Move from one location to another and the current page will scroll in a most realistic manner to reveal the new scene. The rooms are drawn in a single colour in semi-3D form. As you can see, Electric Dreams has steered well clear of the isometric/Ultima approach.”
“The graphics for the characters are well defined, if a little on the thin side, and they move around the screen quite quickly and without fuss. As well as moving around and fighting, you can use two word input for object handling and similar actions. No need to worry about the need for typing forever though, as you use a very friendly system that ED is calling ‘Word Gears’. Actually, it isn’t particularly impressive to look at but the way it works is quite clever. By hitting a key, one word (usually an action) will pop up at the top of the screen. If this is the word you want you can select it which will cause another to appear next to it. You can cycle through the words by tapping a key.”
“The clever thing about Word Gears is that once you have selected an action word, Open, for example, the next series of possible words will only comprise items you could try to open. This saves a great deal of time wasting which could easily result in your demise.”
“The game is in two parts. The first consists primarily of dungeonesque locations. Should you manage to battle through to the next section, you’ll emerge into the woodland scene.”
“Without giving too much away, you can expect to find the classic challenge involving a female, a large reptile and a rich old man. Electric Dreams has taken a top-notch license and produced a classic game. Smart-alecs!”