1 - Commodore Is Awesome

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E V I E W
Tr-rE VERDICT
Ninja-based beat-'em-ups are always
popular (the Last Ninja series,
Shadow Warriors or Shadow Dancer,
anyone?) so a new entry to the genre
has got to be something really special
to stand out from the crowd. Sword
of Honour has several points in its
favour. The animation of the your
character is quite smooth and he
looks quite hard while doing his com-
bat rolls, flying kicks and the usual
plethora of karate moves. The back-
drops, however, look a bit hazy and
ill-defined and this can lead to annoy-
ing deaths where you can't see the
enemy missiles or traps. Sound is
rather unimpressive, consisting main-
ly of whistling wind and trickling
river background effects overlaid
with a few grunts and groans. The
hand-to-hand combat, which makes
up the meat of the game, is quite
1%
enjoyable and you get some pretty
good fights due to the instinctive
selection of attacks. The computer
character 'interaction', though limit-
ed, adds a deeper dimension to the
game which helps prolong interest as
you try to find a use for the objects in
the game. Overall. Sword of Honour
isn't a half-bad game but doesn't
really push the boundaries of the
beat-'em-up genre any further either.
Still, its a pleasant enough timewaster.
This fearsome Samurai will do you some serious damage should he lay
those fearsome swords upon your person. Its quite nifty the way he spins
ing up to a fight you may be able to bribe your way past. Hmmm, he
must be very hot inside all that armour - maybe you've got scurwthing
to cool him down...
SP:fr):1
-11
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1characters for computer games.
N It's probably due to the fact
ithey
possess lightning reflexes and fists
nof
steel, not to mention that huge arse-
jnal
of exotic pointy weapons So. It's no
a 1surprise C]
to learn that Sword of Honour,
s being a beat-'em-up, casts you in the
hrole
of a warrior of the night eager to
acomplete
a quest to recover the stolen
v
sword of his Shogun and thus protect
his master's honour.
e
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It's a side-on-viewed affair although,
a
at various junctions, the player is given
l
the option to walk up 'into' the screen
wor
down 'out of' it into new areas of
a
exploration. Progress through the flick
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--• • • • • • • • -• allodW• -
Ninia-San Khalid Howladar looks to the
Land of the Rising Sun as he delves into
D.M.L's chop-socky extravaganza
screen world is generally a matter of
chopping up various enemy ninjas and
bushido warriors who are out to stop
you in your tracks.
There's also an element of arcade
adventuring. Various objects are dotted
about and these are used to 'interact'
(after a fashion) with some of the characters
you meet, i.e. give a person something
they want and they'll either let you
pass or give you something useful to use
elsewhere. Some objects you can actually
use for yourself, such as healthrestoring
food or a few one-shot
shuriken death stars (especially useful as
they allow you to take enemies from a
distance).
Various buildings
can be entered by
pushing UP or
DOWN on the joystick
when outside
the entrance. The
monk you
encounter here
inside an ancient
monastery proves
quite uncommunicative.
However,
maybe a little
something from
your inventory will
loosen his still
tongue and let you
progress a little further?
Here's a tricky situation. That poisoned arrow means instant death should it
strike you. Due to the animation the process of leaping is actually quite a
slow one, so a good sense of timing is essential to jump over it successfully.
The bar along the top of the screen allows you to use, give and drop any
objects you come across. The icons along the bottom allow you to control
your Ninia using a mouse; needless to say that doesn't work very well at all.