Producer: Virgin Games
Memory Required: 48K
Recommended Retail Price: £5.95
Language: machine code
Author: Gareth Briggs

Quetzalcoatl was one of the most important Aztec gods. The inlay tells us he was the God of Life and Art. However he's neither at the beginning nor the end of this 3D maze game, so one presumes he was chosen for the title because his name is better known than the other three who appear with him.

As the story goes, you've been searching for the mysterious Temple of Quetzalcoatl for three months, when your party is set upon by a group of bandits, who foully murder your compatriots. For you, there is something worse in store - you're to be cast from the Holy Place, and you wonder whether they can mean the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. Well you guess right, and the next second there you are, alone in the passageways of the first level.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

There are four levels to the temple and you have to descend through them by finding a blue shaft. There aren't all too many of these around, but there are plenty of black shafts. Actually black shafts are okay too, but they damage the beads you're carrying. Beads? Yes, beads. It seems kindly Quetz litters them around the place in neat piles and you can collect them by walking over them. They're useful in case you find the exit - you can trade them with the native who will kill you if you haven't enough.

Each level has a godly guardian. On the first it's Huitzilopochtli (fortunately you don't have to type these names in) who is the Wayfarers' God. If you meet him he will give you a map. Level two is the abode of Tlaloc, the Rain God who wanders about with four pitchers of water. You've got to pick the right one, otherwise he'll kill you - all in all he's not a pretty pitcher! The third level belongs to good old Quetz (he of the beads) and he'll give you a flute and teach you a short tune. This is just as well because on the final level is Tezcatlipoca the Sun God who will kill you unless you can play a short tune on a flute. After that it's a question of how many beads have survived the black shafts. There's always less beads as you progress from level to level.

The map is a mixed blessing too. Every time you use it, it disintegrates a bit more until it's finally all eaten away. When you get to a new level it is renewed and promptly starts vanishing again.

GENERAL

There are six skill levels with an increase in difficulty between one and four. Level five has no map to help and level six has no compass either. The compass is collected by walking into Huitzilthingie along with the map.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions 1/2/3 = left/ahead/right
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good 3D effect
Sound: average, with entry beeps
Skill levels: six
Lives: one
Screens: four

This is a playable game, well programmed, and which manages to produce a fair 3D effect of the corridors.

The 3D is quite good, with positive movement from the three directional keys. There's enough movement to give a feeling of progressing down a corridor. The maze is nicely complex too. I never came across a blue shaft, so it was shattered beads all the way. The more you walk around, the more black shafts appear everywhere, and when you have gone down a level, they remember to make the black holes appear at the right places in the ceiling too. That said, the game doesn't really offer any violent sense of excitement, and plodding through blue and purple corridors, collecting beads gets to be boring.

Producer: Virgin Games 48K (1)
Author: Gareth Briggs

Quetz is one of four Aztec Gods you'll meet in this 3D maze which represents the interior of an Aztec temple with four floors. Quetz is the nicest and provides glass beads for you to collect and gives you a map of the floors when you bump into him. The map disintegrates with use, so use it sparingly. The other gods all present different problems to overcome on their particular floors. The floors are connected by shafts, mostly black and a few blue ones. If you use a black shaft, it destroys the beads you have collected. The longer you take to find a blue shaft the more black ones will appear. Should you find the exit safely, then the beads you have found can be used to barter with the natives for your life. It is a playbale game, with quite good 3D graphics and 6 skill levels, but not much sense of real danger. Average. CRASH rating 56% M/C.

Producer: Virgin Games 48K (1)
Author: Gareth Briggs

Quetz is one of four Aztec Gods you'll meet in this 3D maze which represents the interior of an Aztec temple with four floors. Quetz is the nicest and provides glass beads for you to collect and gives you a map of the floors when you bump into him. The map disintegrates with use, so use it sparingly. The other gods all present different problems to overcome on their particular floors. The floors are connected by shafts, mostly black and a few blue ones. If you use a black shaft, it destroys the beads you have collected. The longer you take to find a blue shaft the more black ones will appear. Should you find the exit safely, then the beads you have found can be used to barter with the natives for your life. It is a playbale game, with quite good 3D graphics and 6 skill levels, but not much sense of real danger. Average. CRASH rating 56% M/C.

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

Quetzalcoatl comprises four fully illustrated, three-dimensional mazes. The aim is to descend from one to the other, collecting glass beads on the way, to escape. The mazes are intricate and the player begins without map or compass.

Various dangers are to be found in the mazes. Descent from level to level must be via the blue chutes and not via the dangerous black chutes. Walking into a wall is apt to result in being burned alive. Each level contains a god, either benevolent or malevolent and, somehow, the malevolent gods are always easier to find than the blue chutes.

The instructions are clear and the game easy to begin. Drawing a map for future attempts is slow and somewhat laborious. Glass beads should never be used as markers as they appear and reappear, even after they have been collected. The graphics are excellent; the view is drawn quickly and clearly; gods appear magically when approached and the map crumbles convincingly whenever exposed to light.

It is an excellent maze game, containing elements of danger, difficulty and skill which can be recommended to all except those in whom mazes produce a blind panic. It is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Virgin Games Ltd.

QUETZALCOATL is a real Indiana Jones-style adventure. Raj looked a bit peeved with the prospect of another maze game, but once he got started rapidly became involved. Instead of the usual bird's eye view, our guest found himself inside the scrolling 3D tunnels of the maze. As in the Temple of Doom, directional dyslexics stand to lose not only their way but their lives!

"Did I like Raiders of the Lost Ark? You bet! My sister and I saw it about seven times! Getting chosen for the sequel was a dream come true, and I certainly like this adventure. The display is classy and exciting and you get right into the adventure first. The text's entertaining too. Especially when you try to pronounce 'Huitzilopotchli'."

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: No
CATEGORY: Maze Game
SUPPLIER: Virgin Games
PRICE: £5.95

Aztec christening services must have been somewhat on the long side - this program is full of names like Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca, and the Quetzalcoatl of the title. These characters are the gods, some good, some bad, that populate this maze game, written by Gareth Briggs.

The story goes like this: captured by bandits and with your companions foully murdered, you are cast into Quetzalcoatl's temple, where Huitzilopochtli will give you a map and compass.

You must descend through the various levels, collecting beads on the way, in search of a way out. You may descend safely only in the blue lifts (the black ones are unpredictably dangerous), and various bods will appear to help or kill you.

You must hang on to the beads because you will need to deal with the natives that you'll meet if you are lucky enough to escape.

Pressing 'M' gives a map, but this disintegrates each time it is used, so it must be consulted sparingly, and the 'Book of Ancient Lore' will detail the characteristics of the various gods you meet on the way.

Graphics are good and colourful, and I enjoyed playing this game, without ever managing to reach the exit. I certainly intend going back to it for another try.