Game Review: The Curse of Sherwood (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

The Curse of Sherwood originated on the ZX Spectrum, with Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC versions being released at the same time. When reading the inlay instructions for the game, it is clear from the outset that Sherwood Forest has been taken over by the Cult of Sagalia, instilling fear into the forest dwellers. Are there any clues on how to remove this cult and bring back normality? Well yes, and it turns out that fortunately there possibly is. On a blood-stained parchment left on the slain Bishop of Derby’s body (after failing to carry out an exorcism), there was a sixteen-line rhyme pinned to his body. Follow the clues and destroy the source of evil. The rhyme is printed on the inlay and does give you some very handy clues.

Cursed Conversion

The conversion to the Commodore 64 appears to have been on some form of development system, which is realised by tell-tale signs within the game’s code. If you look closely in memory, you can find that options for Kempston and Sinclair joysticks would have appeared on screen had the referenced text not been amended to look elsewhere, and the screen layouts also look similar in its architecture. As with the ZX Spectrum version, there is also no loading screen to keep you occupied, although this does at least mean a faster load time. The title screen just gives you joystick or keyboard options, with no redefine keys. On this version, the keys are Q, W, P, L and space. Thankfully the quit key is now RESTORE (not documented in the instructions) so at least pressing Q will not ask you to quit the game.

You start the game in the forest with three lives and a sword weapon, and you also have three slots for anything that you pick up and carry along the way. If you collect an item whilst three are in your possession, you can cycle through which ones to keep and which one to leave behind by picking up again. Other weapons are also available such as the very useful ice wand, and when collected the weapon you have swaps to the new one collected.  You will soon find that certain weapons work best for certain enemies: for example, the club is best at getting rid of the skeletons, and the ice wand can create a gap over water to cross as well as being able to eliminate most enemies well.

Breaking the Spell

When you head right and encounter the two sets of skulls and destroy them, you encounter your first cottage to enter. Some of these have characters you can trade your items with, others, such as the one here, need to be killed and will leave behind a useful object – in this case, the crystal ball. This is one of two items needed to hand to the witch later on to create a useful object which you will need to brave some of the fires later. In addition, if you manage to locate and destroy a dragon, that will leave you some gold you can collect and trade with. If you read all the inlay and rhyme, it gradually does start to make sense and gives you enough clues without being too frustrated, which is good.

However, what spoils the main screens of gameplay are the slowdowns. When there are multiple enemies on screen, such as the guards by the bridge, or four bees, and often with the two skeletons, the slowdowns happen and you can feel the reactions to your joystick not being as good as they should be. The moment you do destroy one enemy it speeds up and that can be quite unpredictable as to if that works to your advantage or not. It is unacceptable to be honest, and more time and care should have been spent to ensure that the game code was more optimised to ensure this did not happen, maybe using interrupts and not relying on just the processor to handle all the work. As the original ZX Spectrum version also showed this, it only reinforces the view of being a less than satisfactory port.

Swamp Fever

If you do manage to locate the hermit in his cottage and swap the gold for the map, you have something very useful to hand – a map of the swamp and the safe way to navigate this without sinking to your death and a loss of life. With the map in your inventory, you can now press 1 at any time to be able to call up the map, with the yellow arrows showing the way to navigate the swamp without dying. It is not fully clear and you need to reference that against the trees, bushes and other objects laid on each screen to try and navigate your way. The second of the four swamp screens also has birds which can lose you a life on contact, which feels slightly unfair. Once you get past this, you are on the final leg to locate the pentagon where you need to drop the silver cross you collected earlier in the game, and destroy the final enemy to complete the game.

In theory, it sounds like a huge game, but I probably count around forty screens maximum in this game, with some of them being bare, with nothing present but to navigate, and others containing enemies and hazards. Once you have mapped out the way forward, especially through the swamp, you can potentially complete the game in around ten minutes, although it is the getting there that takes the time. One useful feature is that if you destroy all enemies on a screen, they do not come back, which is useful for mapping out the way. However, you can escape a screen at any time but if you go back in, all enemies are present. Sometimes of course escaping with your life intact is better, so risk and reward, or even re-entering the screen somewhere else so you have a better chance of hitting an enemy may prove the difference.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in The Curse of Sherwood are the same as the ZX Spectrum version, with the same high resolution being used with multiple colours. Whilst this does at least show clearly, the screen draw time is noticeable and you have to wait before you can proceed. There is not that much animation either. The sound, or should I say lack of, is very apparent. A tune that could have been played in-game would have improved things considerably, especially as there is plenty of memory left to add it in without any issues.

Final Thoughts

Although The Curse of Sherwood promises a mix of arcade action and arcade adventure, the delivery is the key here and it does not make the mark on a few counts. The slowdowns encountered with multiple enemies on screen are unacceptable, and should have been rectified. The lack of visual or sound enhancements to take advantage of the Commodore 64’s hardware, plus the remnants of Kempston and Sinclair in the game’s code, only gives you proof that the game was ported over from the ZX Spectrum original with minimal effort. The game, plot and the way to solve the game itself are sound enough, but it needed far better execution to both attract and keep your attention for a considerable length of time. Once you complete the game, you may not go back and play it again unless you want to show off to your friends. A very below average effort all round, and it could have been so much better.

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