Give him a hand

Prophecy 1: The Viking child logo Amiga Computing Excellence Award

ONCE upon a time there was a Viking boy called Brian. Brian was a quiet child who worked for his master in a small village. One day his master instructed Brian to visit the planes beyond the forest to fetch herbs and plants for him. It was a long walk to the area where the herbs grew but Brian walked on, it was a beautiful day.

Whilst out on his mission a great storm brewed over the village. Thunder and lightning crashed and a huge cyclone ripped through tearing houses from the ir foundations.

When Brian returned to the village he could not believe his eyes. He stood and stared at the destruction, amazed. He enjoyed nature and often went walking in the forest and woodland surrounding his Viking village, for such was his occupation. The village had been completely destroyed. It's population fled or captured.

Oh, good grief! How I hate cute baby stuff. Arrrrggggh! But Prophecy 1 is a bit more than a pathetic childish story of doom, destruction and a heroic nine year old - it's about having fun, solving puzzles and poking nasty creatures with your stick.

Viking Child is Prophecy 1, the first ina series of Prophecy's from Wired, a label dreamt up by Imagitec Design and the European Electronic Zoo. The Viking Child in question is Brian, a mild mannered kid who's vowed to release his captured parents form the evil clutches of the gold Loki.

From the start, you know that Prophecy 1 is going to be a colourful, visually and audibly pleasing game. Brian's story is told in the form of a scroll with pretty illustrations. The music is imaginative and enjoyable and you get a real feel for what is to come.

So Brian sets off with nothing more than a stick as weaponry. The village has been infested with evil mutants - trees that lob acorns at you are a common sight. But, as you soon discover, poking mutants with a short stick is tricky business - you'll need a longer stick.

But longer sticks aren't easy to come y, in fact they don't exist, but various other arms do. Most of the mutants seem to have some loose change in their pockets so kill as many as you can and rob them of the coins which fly up as a result.

With your newly found wealth you can visit shops to kit yourself out with the latest beast blasting gear. Considering this game is set in Viking times, some of the gear isn't exactly sophisticated. But magic soon alters that and homing fire bombs, smart devises and other additions make Brian's life a lot easier.

If you thought some of the mutants were a bit 'ard then just wait till you get a load of the creatures you find at the end of the levels. These range from huge, mean dragon crossed with Rhino type creatures to maniac teddy bears kitted out with armour and bloody big axes. Still there's a technique to slaying all of these, it just takes a bit of working out. In fact the whole game is riddled with puzzles, the one that will bug you most is the first in the Village. Where the heck is that exit? Sorry, no clues here.

There are some 16 different levels to this stunning maiden game. If that's not enough there are also 22 different original tunes to accompany your game, most of them are light hearted. But with so many colours, cute, detailed graphics and real gameplay, Prophecy 1 needs no fancy music - still you've got it so don't complain as the sound effects are not much cop.

Wired are planning further games in the Prophecy series. I only hope that sequels are every bit as good as the first.


Hey, Wickie, hey...

Prophecy 1: The Viking child logo

ST-Zocker durften das Action-Adventure ja bereits probespielen - mal sehen, wie die Abenteuer des kleinen Wikingers unter verschärften Amiga-Bedingungen abschneiden.

Beim Öffnen der Verpackung fallen einem gleich drei Disks entgegen, was auf mächtig viel Grafik hoffen läßt. Und richtig, alleine das liebevoll gemachte Intro verschlingt bereits eine Disk, die beiden übrigen enthalten 16 horizontal scrollende Level voll ungetrübtem Jump & Run vergnügen.

Naja, fast ungetrübt: Weder wird ein Zweitlaufwerk anerkannt, noch kann man das Spiel auf Festplatte installieren (Kopierschutz), was wegen der endlos langen Nachladezeiten schon ärgerlich ist.

Die Aufgabenstellung ist klar wie ein Gebirgsbach: Der Winkinger-Sproß Brian Muß die nordische Sagenwelt nach seinen entführten Eltern abgrasen, um sie letztendlich aus den Klauen des bösen Gottes Loki zu befreien.

Unterwegs begegnet er zahllosen Gegnern wie Killerpilzen, Mördermotten und anderen Monstrositäten aus Fauna und Flora.

Getötete Feinde hinterlassen Münzen und Juwelen, für die es in Shops reichlich Extras (Bomben, Scholder, etc.) gibt. Die Steuerung ist gut, die diversen Plattgormen und Lifte machen keine Probleme.

Dank eines Paßwort-Systems muß Brian auch nicht immer wieder bei Adam und Eva anfangen. Grafik und Sound sind zwar keine Offenbarung, liegen jedoch deutlich über dem Niveau ähnlicher Spiele.

Insgesamt ist Viking Child ganz klar ein "Wonderboy"-Remake, aber bestimmt kein schlechtes - für Fans des Genres durchaus empfehlenswert! (Jens Petersen)



Prophecy 1: The Viking child logo

Things About Prophecy Which Aren't Exactly The Same As Super Wonder Boy, The Two Year Old Activision Game:
(1) The name.
(2) The speed (Super Wonder Boy was faster).
(3) The graphics (Super Wonder Boy was cuter).
(4) The sound (Super Wonder Boy had more than three different effects).

Things About Prophecy Which Aren't Exactly The Same As Super Wonder Boy, The Two Year Old Activision Game:
(1) The gameplay.
(2) The control.
(3) Everything else.
(4) The gameplay again.

I would not say that this was the most total and absolute rip-off of another game I have seen since Ooops Up's 'tribute' to Pang, but the only reason I would not say it is that I would probably get sued and I cannot afford the legal costs.

Then again, this is AMIGA POWER, so I cannot actually lie to you either. What a dilemma (Great cars, them Dilemmas - Ed). On reflection, I think the best thing would be if I was to say that this is very very like Super Wonder Boy indeed in pretty much every way imaginable, but not nearly as good, ant that you would be much better advised of search out a nice cheap bargain-bin copy of that game instead of spending £26 on this. Yes, they could not touch me for that.