ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER JUNE 1990
 
 
          Review: Comprodine's The Living Tomb, by Quinton Tormanen 
          reviewed by Andy Frueh, Lima UG 
 
     At the Lima Fair, I had the opportunity to play (and of course, buy) The
Living Tomb.  I read about it first in MICROpendium but it didn't go into the
type of extreme detail I needed to buy the game.  After seeing it, I "had" to
get it.  Of course, I am quite an avid game-player, both fantasy and arcade, so
a game like this appealed strongly to me. 
 
     Enough with the intro to the article, let's get into The Living Tomb
("Tomb").  Tomb is a one-player graphic adventure game in the Tunnels of Doom
mold.  It goes much beyond this with advanced graphics, fast action, and 100%
joystick control.  You never need to touch the keyboard.  Every option is
selected from a set of windowed menus.  You can do the "normal" actions such as
collecting items or examining them, battle moves, and even advanced operation
such as sound and warning message delays. 
 
     The object is simple.  Get a gem.  Stopping you are countless monsters.
Very few are friendly, and killing a friendly beast costs you Hit Points.  If
these points fall to 0, you die.  Unfortunately, one of these monsters must be
killed to win the game. 
 
     The Alchemy Gem will break the curse put over your land.  It isn't easy to
find in the 3 floors of the tomb.  Moving from level to level requires you find
the coil of rope.  Very thorough play.  There is a high-score rank board that
you can put your name in.  This is also done with the joystick.  If you solve
"Tomb", you get the title "Sir".  It isn't extremely difficult, and I solved it
after the 6th time of playing.  Even though I solved it, I want to keep playing
it.  Addiction to an adventure after it is solved is rare.  It isn't a
frustrating game with tons of secret puzzles.  Instead, it is straight forward.
What makes it challenging is the monsters, and figuring out where the Gem is. 
 
     Another excellent feature is the windowing displays.  The entire screen
except the bottom row is used for the forward view, so windows are used when
you examine or take inventory.  You can fine-tune each game as to how fast it
moves.  The complete joystick control is a great idea.  I love to be able to
get away from the console and play games like this in comfort! 
 
     Unfortunately, I can't give Tomb a straight A+.  There are a few
complaints I have with it.  The biggest one is the fact that I can't save a
game.  If I collected tons of weapons and armor but had to leave home for a few
hours, I would have to either leave the TI on, or just shut it down.  Bad show!
Another complaint is although the graphics of the tomb, and your character
after he dies (or you quit, called "suicide") are excellent, I can't help but
feel cheated on the monster graphics, and how easy most of them are to kill. 
At only $15 the program is a good deal, and is a must if you like Tunnels of
Doom type games. 
.PL 1