Stormlord

The Good
Naked faeries have been kidnapped by an evil queen, and, as Stormlord, you must rescue them one by one. Enemies such as falling acid rain, venus fly traps, and flying dragons make this task difficult. Furthermore, you must rescue a specific number of angels before nightfall or else the game is over. The game also ends when you run out of lives. And you will need help from an eagle to drop you into areas that cannot be reached by foot.

Whoever was responsible for adding Stormlord to the MobyGames database obviously did not realize that this game involves a bit of strategy. More often than not, hidden faeries are on the other side of locked doors, which can be opened with the gold key. But opening few locked doors could lead to nothing. You have to use your judgment and follow the path from that door. If you end up opening that locked door, your key will be wasted and you cannot go back to where you came and look for a replacement key. Also, you can carry one object around with you sometimes, and that object may be dropped only if you pick up another object that you find along the way. Believe it or not, the objects can help you in some situations. If you drop a pot of honey near some bees, for example, the bees will move toward the pot of honey and clear any paths that you wish to take. Carrying an umbrella will stop you coming in contact with the acid rain.

Most of the game takes place outdoors where you walk through a huge garden, complete with trees that have doors in them, and there is lightning in the background. A few levels will have you walk through indoors that make you feel that you are walking inside somebody's castle, as there is tapestry painted on the walls, and knight statues all over the place. There are also deadly fire pits that can be fatal if you happen to fall into one.

The sounds are awesome, and they are something to laugh about. You see, a blue earthworm says "Oh yeah" as it comes out of the ground, and a whistling tune is heard when Stormlord happens to pass a naked faerie. (I guess that Stormlord even likes naked faeries.) But the best sound that I heard was when Stormlord dies, not only does the sound of dying heard, but this sound is played in such a way that sounds like as if he is actually spewing his guts. Stormlord has very little music, but the music in the Amiga version is much better than its other counterparts. The music during the game is also awesome. After a while, a melody is played that has Stormlord yell. But as a disadvantage, the Commodore 64 version has better music during the title screen.

There is a bonus stage between each level where the object is to throw hearts at faeries that are flying around, and collect their tears for points. Although it looks simple enough, it is easy to miss hitting the faeries with hearts so they move at a rapid rate. If you run out of hearts to throw at them, you cannot get some more. You just have to sit ad wait until time is up.

The Bad
The main characters, Badh the queen, and Mael Dvin the eagle, are too difficult to pronounce, let alone write properly, but this is the sort of thing that you expect from a game like Stormlord that is set way back in the past. The game is not completeable, meaning that there is no ending. If you complete about ten levels, you go back to the beginning.

The Bottom Line
Overall, Stormlord is still an action game, but you have to be careful in some parts of the game. The Amiga version has good graphics, and it has much better sound than its other counterparts. God knows why Hewson decide not to put clothes on the faeries.

Rating: ***½

The Good
The DOS version has all the original graphics that caused a stir ( and were later modified ) in the Genesis version. Excellent visual effects. Time is shown in a meter that progresses from day to night. There is a puzzle aspect where you have to figure out what objects to use for certain situations. And movement between various stages must be carefully plotted.

The Bad
The game movement is painfully slow. Originally I thought it was my 286 that was slow but when I ran it on a 486 it was exactly the same.

The Bottom Line
Due to the nature of the slow movement it is more like a puzzle plat-former than an action game. You must rescue all the fairies on each level before time runs out. Along the way you can pick up and hold one object. Dropping whatever object you were holding at the time. Locked doors require keys. Other enemies require an object to distract them. You have magic to shoot at your enemies which sometimes come in waves. Other enemies and obstacles are part of the landscape. Along the way you get help from a large Eagle that will carry you to other parts of the stage otherwise inaccessible by foot. All in all a very colorful game.