Arabian Nights review

[Shatterhand]

Browsing my HD, I found a small Arabian Nights review done by me.. I just can't remember why the hell I did it, and as it will just stay on my HD, to no one reads, I'll post it here, if you guys don't mind



Arabian Nights
Developed and published by Krisalis in 1992



Arabian Nights doesn’t have the most original plot ever. In a nice day, you were doing a bit of gardening in the king’s castle, when the princess is kidnapped by a winged demon, and you’re blamed for the kidnapping. Now you have to get out of the castle chambers and rescue the princess!
Yeah, Arabian Nights is a jump’n’run game. Released when hedgehogs and plumbers were dominating the scene, Arabian Nights, unlike most jump’n’run games released in that time, tried to be a little differente than the console heroes, and it gives them a big kick in the ass!
The graphics are very good, with each stage having a different theme, and the sound are simply excellent, with great songs, and nice sound effects. But this really doesn’t matter too much, because the real gem in Arabian Nights is the gameplay.
The levels were superbly designed, with lots of well thought harzards, and many secrets to be found. The way the game is divided in scrolling and semi-static sections is brilliant and it gives the player a feeling of “what’s going to happen now?”. The puzzles help to break up the action a little bit, and makes the player think a little, although they aren’t really hard. And there’s two horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up levels that makes a nice change to the plataform action
The difficulty level is perfect, and although any average player may finish it in a week, he will be coming back every now and then to see if he can get a 100% score in every level (something that took me a LONG time to do). Inertia was nicely done this time, and you never feel like you lose a life because of bad game design.
For some reason, this game was long forgotten for most die-hard amiga gamers. When talking about plataform games, usually people remember of Ruff ‘n’ Tumble or Soccer Kid, so now it’s time to give the little arabian guy a chance! I am sure you won’t regret!


Rating:

Graphics: 86%
Sound: 93%
Playability: 92%
Lastability: 89%
Overall: 93%

[Tim Janssen]

Shatterhand, maybe you can submit your review at Malc's ALE -He accepts reviews of Amiga games.

I am still working at my homepage which has HTML-ised games reviews which appeared first on paper. In an attempt to write my longest reply ever here at EAB I attached two HTML-ised reviews of Arabian Nights which have appeared in CU Amiga. Both reviews are from my homepage which is still under construction:


ARABIAN NIGHTS A500:
As the only one in the office with a penchant for curly-toed sandals, Jon Sloan was the perfect choice for Krisalis' new platform puzzler.
Did your parents ever try to send you to sleep at night by telling you stories of a brave prince beating overwhelming odds to rescue a princess? Were they full of demons and nasty monsters? Yes? I know, I needed years of therapy afterwards too. That aside, if you want to relive those tales of derringdo, Krisalis are releasing the game for you.
Arabian Nights tells the story of Sinbad Jnr., Chief Gardener's Assistant Helper (2nd Class), to the Caliph of some small eastern country. He is secretly in love with the Caliph's daughter, Princess Leila (isn't the hero always?). Unfortunately, he just doesn't have the necessary amount of OOO's at the end of his bank statement to make a serious play for her hand. To cap it all, the evil Vizier has designs on Leila too, and he has the power to get her. Being a generally nasty sort of bloke the Vizier can't make Leila an offer directly, so he summons a demon from one of the more unpleasant levels of Hell to steal her away. Sinbad is in the garden when the demon appears and attacks Leila; sensing trouble (boy, this kid is quick!) he starts to scale the palace walls to reach Leila's balcony. Just as he gets there the demon takes off so Sinbad grabs its foot, but his grip isn't very good and he falls to the ground below. When he wakes up Sinbad finds himself in the palace dungeon accused of kidnapping Leila and using evil sorcery. Sinbad has to escape to rescue the princess and dear his name. Which is where you come in...
What we have here is the usual scrolling platform fare. Guide Sinbad across the screens, leaping unleapable gaps and whacking all sorts of nasties in the process. On the face of it there doesn't seem to be much to distinguish Arabian Nights from the 1001 other platform romps.
Fortunately, there's more to it than first meets the eye. Apart from beating the necessary joystick-twitching dangers, playing Arabian Nights requires a little brain power as krisalis have had the foresight to include a puzzle element in the game. Not only does it make up playing and winning harder, it also adds to the lastability of the whole thing.
The puzzles are not brain straining but serve as a useful diversion from the main action. For instance on level two Sinbad has to find some way to reach a high platform. Look carefully and you'll see a flower which looks as though it needs watering. If you check your inventory (he can carry up to 36 items at once) you won't find any liquid. However, earlier in the level he upset a bear which is now weeping; to carry the water you'll need some kind of container, and a search will reveal an old granny who gives you her thimble. Put two and two together and Sinbad will soon be reaching new heights. Don't worry if this seems too obscure to solve immediately, because whenever he needs one, Sinbad will be given an on-screen clue. This appears in the form of a light bulb above the character's head and pressing the space bar brings up a message. Sometimes this is a clue, at others it will warn you of a hidden danger immediately ahead.

SPRINTING ARAB
Sinbad is a nippy little fella and zooms around the platforms. He animates at a speedy 50 frames per second and, if you've got an '030 processor or higher, pressing F10 toggles him up to 60 fps! Not only is he fast, he's fairly agile too. He can leap huge gaps and do a snazzy running slide which, if he ducks at the same time, is extremely useful in avoiding low hanging spikes. Each of the nine levels is littered with these spikes, as well as acid pits, large spiky balls and other objects which must be avoided at all costs.
Coupled with the background stuff are a smattering of nasty characters who seem intent on stopping Sinbad fulfilling his quest. Contact with these objects and creatures saps our Sin of his vital energy, so either dodge them where possible or whip out your trusty sword for a swift bit of slicing.
Speaking of energy, Sinbad starts off with a fairly limited amount, denoted by blue rectangles in the left corner of the screen. Every contact with a dangerous object takes away at east one of these bars. Fortunately, scattered around the levels are treasure chests which contain varying amounts of extra energy. These chests are vital to his health and must not be squandered. Some house special magical amulets which increase the total energy units Sinbad can have. They may also contain certain useful power-ups, including keys, speedy boots and weapon boosts - Sinbad starts off with a fairly weedy sword, more of a penknife, really but this can be increased on later levels to a longer, missile throwing slicer. it's absolutely vital to keep the various objects that you find as they will almost certainly be put to good use at some point. Tapping the space bar brings up the inventory and you can alter the objects that Sinbad's carrying in his hands according to need.
One of the main pluses of the game is the amount of variety between levels. Not only do the backdrops change, but also the style of gameplay. Level one is the Caliph's dungeon and, apart from the puzzles, is a simple platform game, likewise level two, set in the forest. But level three has Sinbad on board a flying carpet swooping across the skies in a basic shoot 'em up. Later levels consist of an under water maze, another shoot 'em up and there's even an Indiana Jones style mine cart race.

GOOD AND BAD
Arabian Nights has a lot going for it. Both the coder, Simeon Pashley, and the artist, Darren Hebden, have obviously put a lot of thought into it. Every level contains some nice comic touches, which range from Sinbad's precarious balancing act when he's too close to the edge of a platform to the jumping sheep which leap up to smash into his flying carpet (and emit a plaintive 'Baa!' when they get shot). The animation is top notch as is the soundtrack.
However, there's also a lot missing. I would have liked for there to have been more baddies and a few more power-ups. Despite the level variance, it all seems repetitive after a while. Equally, the restart points for when Sinbad is killed seem to have been chosen with little thought. There's also an odd mix of scrolling and flip-screen movement - why didn't they settle for one way of redrawing the screen?
Despite these drawbacks, this is still one helluva game. I can recommend it to anyone with a love for platform romps who fancies some thing a little different.
CU Amiga, May 1993, pp.58-59
OVERALL: 89%


ARABIAN NIGHTS CD32:
This disc goes to prove one thing, you don't need masses of video bites and lengthy CD soundtracks to make a good game. With Arabian Nights you simply get the same quality action you get on floppy disk.
The only thing this has in common with the original Arabian Nights legends is that the main character is called Sinbad; although this one's given up sea-faring for a spot of gardening. Still, with baggy trousers, a traditional fez on his head, and a sword given to him by Sinbad Senior, he is destined to become a hero.
While indulging in a spot of late night pruning, he sees the local princess, Laila, being carried off into the night by a creature summoned up by the evil Vizier. Realising that if he told anyone what had seen they'd probably think had spent too much time in the mushroom patch, he sets out to rescue the Princess himself. The resulting adventure is one of the best platform games of 1993. It combines masses of levels with taxing gameplay as you hack n' slash your way through the Vizier's evil henchmen.<BR>
There are a few pick-ups for extra lives, energy and weapons, but these are few and far between, especially on the later levels.
Arabian Nights doesn't have the kind of flashy features of other CD games, but what it does have is plenty of playability and enough of a challenge to keep you hooked for a long time.
SCORE: 90%
Mark Patterson
CU Amiga, February 1994, p.51

[kafiend]

The Amiga Games Database are also after reviews.

http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/AGDB.html

They already have the game reviewed, but they quite often accept second reviews for games.

[RCK]

HOL will also accept reviews
(yes yes I know, the engine is not ready yet )

[Shatterhand]

Hmmm, I didn't even consider sendin this review for any site, because it's a so small and simple review.. I have no idea why I made it...

RCK, if you want to use this review for HOL, go ahead

[RCK]

When HOL will be open, everybody will be able to submit his own review with rating

[Shatterhand]

Hmm, 'til there, I better elaborate more my review

Will HOL take screenshots too ?

[RCK]

hahaha... hum
a looooot of screenshots...