DRUID (c)1986 Firebird ----------------- COMMENT by Magnus: Druid looks much like a Gauntlet-clone, but plays quite differently -and much better - than that game. As a druid you have to free the land of some great evil, and in the process kill lots of monsters. Collect magic spells and keys from chests to get on. CATEGORY Arcade Adventure DESCRIPTION Druid is a Gauntlet clone (before Gaunlet was released!) with slightly more depth and with subtle and welcome differences, such as different available spells. AIM OF THE GAME Four demon Princes of Darkness of immense evil power have taken up residence in a Castle under the form of fire spitting skulls. The princes are now spreading misery and decay throughout the Land. You, as an aging Druid, must destroy the evil princes. THE GAME PLAY You can cast various types of spells. On top of the screen the following spells are displayed from left to right. First, the common ones: - Water - Fire - Electricity while other rarer but more powerful ones are: - Key (opens door) - Invisibility - Golem (creates magical assistant - of which more later) - Chaos (smart bomb). Each time a spell is cast your capacity for casting that part- icular spell decreases, and the counter under the respective icon at the top of the screen will show this. Each kind of demon servant has a strength or weakness for elements so each will take varying types and numbers of shots to kill, as follows: Demon Water Fire Electricity Servant Bolt Bolt Bolt -------- ----- ---- ----------- Ghost 1 1 2 Beetle 3 1 2 Skeleton 1 3 2 Snake 3 1 2 Ralack 1 2 2 Wraith 3 2 2 Slime 3 1 2 Devil 3 3 1 To kill a demon Prince there is no other way but to touch it and unleash a Chaos spell at the same time (this is the end game). The druid's most powerful spell is indeed the Chaos spell but you must reserve some for the princes! It will kill all bar a few types of servants on screen whether they are there or appearing. The Chaos spell also makes the Druid regain a little energy. If any of the above demon servants contact you they will drain your energy. This energy can however be replenished by standing on one of the Pentagrams of Life that are scattered around the Castle. Chests are another source of useful power. Chests hold many goodies and can be opened by running into them. But careful thought is needed before selecting an item from a chest; the items are magically trapped and taking one item will destroy all the others in the chest. Hint: a map might be useful... If things are getting a bit too hectic, casting the Golem spell creates a magical servant who can be controlled by separate keyboard commands or a second joystick. The golem can be given three commands: Send, Follow and Wait and has its own energy bar (at the top left of the screen below the Druid's bar) which is drained in the same way as yours. However, its touch is instantly fatal to demons! Golems cannot be healed and you can only have one at a time but they can be replaced. Use the golem as a shield - it kills any demon servant it touches at a small cost of energy. Key spells can open locked doors. Be warned, locked doors reset when you leave a level and it is possible to be unable to win if you run out of key spells. An Invisibility spell will make monsters not run at you for a while. The druid will be hurt by his environment - things like water, fire, certain unholy symbols. CONTROLS Joystick port 2 and keyboard Joystick Movement left/right/up/down Fire Cast elemental (Water/Fire/Electricity) spells P Toggle the elementals + Cast Key spell to open locked door - Cast Invisibility spell C= Summons a golem - can be given orders via joystick C= + ??? Summons a golem - can be given orders via keys Clr/Home Summons Chaos spell. Run/Stop Pause mode (switch control of golem then?) KEYBOARD CONTROLS : Left - Z Right - X Up - K Down - M Fire - SPACE ------------------------------------------------ SCORES RECEIVED Crash "A compelling demon-bashing game." RATING : 90% (CRASH #35, December 1986) NOTES Druid was the predecessor of Gauntlet, and quite a few true Gauntlet clones appeared in 1987, including Ranarama, The Dandy, Into the Eagles Nest and Storm. -END-