Jim Beloff reports in “The Zedex Microfair” on the enthusiasm of the fair goers for the adventure game Mazogs. We share that enthusiasm.
In Mazogs you are an adventurer searching for a treasure in a HUGE maze. You must find the treasure and return to the entrance of the maze within a certain number of moves. Scattered throughout the maze are creatures called Mazogs whose job is to stop and kill you. You can kill them if you find one of the swords lying around the maze. Otherwise, you have a 50/50 chance of surviving if you get into a fight with one. By killing a Mazog you increase the number of moves you have. Also scattered throughout the maze are prisoners (trapped in the walls) who tell you which way to go, but their directions will take you only a short distance.
[Figure: Mazogs screen display: A MAZE ADVENTURE GAME, with prisoners saying THIS WAY]
Certain commands help you in the search, but each one costs you moves. E.g., a “view” shows a larger view of the maze than the 20 spaces normally shown; a “status report” tells how many moves are left, how many moves to the treasure, and how many moves the various commands cost. A sword can be bought, but at a very high price—half of your moves. You can quit the game, and the computer will tell you how far you got.
After starving to death (running out of moves) or successfully returning to the entrance with the treasure, you can look at the maze which is four screens large. At this point the computer will print the solution. With three levels, it can keep you interested for hours on end.
This game is outstanding because of its mixture of complexity and simplicity, its speed, and its ability to gradually lead the player up to a difficult game. It is a program written mostly in machine code but there is quite a bit of Basic, too. The game is rather long and takes about five minutes to load. We had no difficulty in loading it. The documentation is good, and the use of graphics is especially impressive (see sample run). The treasure seeker and the Mazogs are not tokens moving in the maze, but full fledged figures with limbs that actually move. The size of the pixels on the Timex/Sinclair computers gives rather large figures, but they do move as the game is played. Just watching the graphics is fascinating.
In short, Mazogs is an excellent graphics adventure program. and lives up to the publisher’s promise of being a game “unlike any other game you’ve seen on the ZX81.”
SYNC Software Profile
Name: Mazogs
Type: Fantasy Game
System: 8K ROM; 16K RAM
Format: Cassette
Summary: Outstanding because of its mixture of complexity and simplicity, its speed, and its ability to lead the player.
Price: £10
Manufacturer: Bug-Byte, Freepost, Liverpool L3 3AB, United Kingdom