Castle Bally - Review by Adam Trionfo

It's August 2005 and I just played a new game for the Bally Astrocade. It's by Paul Pank and it is called "Castle Bally." This game was written in 2005 (or was it 2004?); this is the first new game for the Bally in a LONG time.

General comments:

1) When I first played I went South three times and won the game by killing Mordimar. It took about a minute. After playing the game more, and looking at the program listing I think that there is supposed to be a battle. I guess that part isn't finished or didn't work.

2) I explored the game after "beating" it. I found the Sword of Fire to kill the werewolf (not that he presented a danger; the poor beast just was hanging out there, not even bothering me at all).

3) I found the Shield of Ang by the pond, which I presume would have protected me from Mordimar, but it seemed I killed that evil guy automatically on the first play through.

4) I listed the program and found these four phrases were not used (they're all for the "Battle" with Mordimar, I presume): "Mordimar attacks you!", "The shield blocks him.", "He attacked you!" and "He missed you..."

5) I would suggest the joystick interface that was used in "Cavern Quest" for any possible new version of "Castle Bally," as the Go menu interface is quite annoying- you have to choose GO, and then choose a direction by number. Since the Bally prints text slowly, this really removes the player from the game.

Comments on language representation:

1) Werewolf is not spelled "Wherewolf"

2) "Slash it dies." should be "Slash, it dies!" or "Slash! It dies!"

This game is VERY small. Here are all the room locations, what's in them and what happens when you use the items.

1) You are inside a small church, by an altar [Does this room have a
purpose?]
2) You are by the Village near a well (Coil of Rope)
3) You are standing in a forest (Fiery Werewolf) [Use Sword: "Slash, it dies!"]
4) You are in a long hallway [A hallway BEFORE the castle?]
5) You are in a castle by a thrown (Mordimar) [You killed Mordimar. You've Won!]
6) You are in a valley near a pond (Shield of Ang)
7) You are facing a large oak tree
8) You are upon a branch above the trees (Sword of Fire)

Overall, this is an interesting programming example for a text adventure, but it is FAR from a game. The 1983 "Cavern Quest" by Bruce Jaeger has FAR more rooms, and it was random- it could be played over again without repetition; that game packed a much more powerful punch. "Castle Bally" would only hold the attention of someone who might want to try a new game on the Astrocade just for the heck of it and not care WHAT it is.

If you're into text adventures why not try a pass through the classic adventure Zork? The Zork trilogy is free and can be downloaded here:

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/download.html
