DANTERRIFIK III

Authors:

Toku Soft., David Garcia (Design), Javier Parra (Music),

Memory: 48K/128K

Released: 2021

Here’s a light-hearted charming game to play to pick you up if you’re feeling down. Actually, maybe not. You take control of Dan, who’s found himself trapped in the Dantemonium Cathedral, being kept against his will and subjected to mental and physical torture. Quite what he’s done to deserve being here, I’m not sure.

All we know is that he’s being housed with some pretty nasty creatures, who are being punished for their evil, murderous actions. He wants out (well, who wouldn’t?) and so he sees about trying to escape. The High

Priest of the German Catholic Church has condemned Dan to this torture stating that ‘Life does not forgive weakness. You will have to pay for all those unpunished acts.’. Maybe Dan isn’t quite so innocent but nonetheless, with those words ringing in his ears, he vies to make his way to the exit. Those grotesque creatures mentioned earlier are lying in wait, and will take great pleasure in ending Dan’s life, so he’d better have his wits about him — and also hope the sight of blood doesn’t make him queasy. Any game that has a caution of explicit content in its menu, does make you wonder what you should expect. How bad can it be? Well, pretty bad it turns out.

CRITICISM

• Danterrifik III has a look you don’t see much, black sprites against a white background is not the usual look for a Speccy game but, this particular colour scheme works very well in creating its evil atmosphere. The first screen of this platformer you enter, shows an evil looking priest at the end of the room, holding a head dripping with blood whilst bearing a swastika

around his neck. I’m

not an expert in these types of things, but I’m quite confident in saying that he’s not the kind of person to invite around your mother’s house. There are skulls strewn around the floor too, whilst bats circle above your head intent on sinking their fangs into you. So no, this isn’t your standard cathedral where you can stroll around taking pictures of the stained glass windows and admire the architecture, death awaits around every corner so I’d say that camera is best off staying in your bag.

Gameplay is standard platformer fodder, jumping over spikes, avoiding the moving enemies and timing jumps and falls as you go. There’s something to be said about collision detection and it’s not

something