Lode Runner For Windows

Water filters. You may not know this, but your brain is just like one. Three of us agreed on this - it would have been four if the forth hadnt been up getting the next round in. The thing is, though, as water filters remove all traces of dirt, insects, elastoplast, etc., from tap water, your brain does this to your memories over the years. All the bad bits seem to magically disappear, and what are you left with? The good old days, thats what.

Well, to cut a long story short (shorter; surely. Ed.), Ive been getting rather nostalgic over the last few days. Reliving the past, if you will. Sierras new release Lode Runner, is much more than some new game - its a piece of history!

My information, gleaned from Sierras head-office, tells tales of the dark ages of Commodore 64s, zx Spectrums, and other such mythical creatures. These were the days of the Lode Runner. Sierra claim this was the first platform game ever. Blimey! So here it is, Lode Runner for the 90s.

The story so far

...Some mad monks apparently seem to have stolen all of the worlds gems and trinkets, and have scattered said gems etc., around their underground kingdom. Oh no! But fear not, for you (a brave hero-type -again) are here to save the day. Collect each gem from each of the 150 levels to proceed (hmm, sounds familiar).

On all but the first few levels, an annoyance manifests in the form of Little Red Jelly-Babies - your would-be captors. A close (and I do mean close) examination of the screen grabs and youll get the idea. These monks are not, fortunately for you, all too bright. Climb up... theyll climb up, climb down... and down they go. Theres not much A.I. to speak of. The monks can be dealt with in a manner of ways - you start with a blaster which can blast holes in the floor (monks fall down these holes but do not die) and can then progress on to snares, bombs and many other tasty bits ofwarfare, too.

...And so to conclude

Every 15 levels a cut sequence takes place telling the story, but, unfortunately, this was not enough to keep my interest. Even the head-to-head options and the level builder just seem to me a wasted effort. (Let's be honest, it's not Doom, I cant really see people around the world swapping Lode Runner levels, can you?) Really and truly, though, Lode Runner does manage to capture all the atmosphere of the original - but it has to be said: that was ten years ago. Ten years! Thats a long time for computer games. There is far, far better value shareware available.