| ARCHIVE STATS |
262 games
79 downloadable
1226 MB archived |
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| INDIVIDUAL GAME LISTING |
Wrath of the Sea King  
Headaches are bad. So bad and painful, for the hero of Wrath of the Sea King, they were driving him crazy. Searching for a cure, in 1900 he found a magic pendant which seemed good for the purpose; but it made him immortal, with the headaches remaining. Now this adventurer, who later became known as Dust, is searching for some way to die. After years of unfruitful tries, he finds out that the god Poseidon possesses what he needs. The story is narrated in the "Dust Sketches": they deserve a look before you play, since they are great hand-drawings.
The main objective of the game is advancing through Poseidon's palace, finally reaching the Sea King in person: in between, you'll find that every room has a different challenge to offer, and, at times, some bosses eager to whack Dust to bits. Some rooms involve a simple slaughtering of monsters, by throwing knives at them, or avoidance of devilish traps and obstacles; others are puzzle rooms where your brain will be more important than any muscle. The designers really had a lot of creativity, and spent it all designing the game: variety is one of the keywords, you'll never find a challenge similar to a previous one, and some are even original. You will be on a strange boat in a section, in the last part of the second of the three "acts" the game is divided into you can take different paths, each with his own challenges, and for a while you will be even transformed in a super-human creature, too. No fear to be bored.
The character of Dust is made of a small bunch of pixels, really too small, maybe: I won't be surprised if you had difficulties in spotting him in the small screenshots here. But don't worry: with the exception of a couple where the same red color used for him predominates, he is always clearly visible on the beautiful and abstract-looking backgrounds. The entire game has a surreal and sometimes disturbed look.
If Dust is sometimes hard to come for the eye, he's certainly not for the ear! In fact, he talks a lot through very good speeches which, due to his harsh voice, have a definite Duke Nukem flavour.
Controls are standard Game Factory fare (you can reconfigure them, though): arrows, Shift, Ctrl. In some rooms full of monsters to kill, you can use the numeric keypad to make Dust move and shoot independently, like in Robotron and Smash TV.
You have unlimited lives, which is coherent since Dust is an immortal; for this reason, reaching the end won't take long. The difference lies in how many times you die in the process. You can't be slaughtered too much if you want to see the entire ending sequence. Here lies the real challenge: finding a way, in every room, to die the less possibile times, if not at all. Very good replayability here. There are rooms looking semi-impossibile at first, becoming a breeze after you find the best strategy to pass them; I find this very gratifying.
But there's a stain. Beware of the screen before the final confrontation, since it's quite buggy. Try to stay in the center because, if you are on the edges, you could "exit" the screen, with no possibility to move, and thus be forced to restart the entire game. Shame for such a fault, at the end of the game too!
Aside from that problem, Wrath of the Sea King is very recommended.
On a final note, if you are familiar with the older games by Bloodlust Software, of Noggin Knockers and Time Slaughter fame, you will know this game is not stuff for kids: often bloody, some bad language, and some bosses are a bit disturbing.
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REVIEWED BY Gendo Ikari
STAFF RATING 9/10
USER RATING 4.9/10
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FILE SIZE 24 MB
FILE DATE Jul 31, 2000
UPLOADED Aug 21, 2004
DEV TOOL The Games Factory
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NO DEMOS 