Cauldron (C64) - Unlimited Lives Challenge and Review - by Lemon64.com

Описание: Cauldron is a platform game created by Richard Leinfellner and Steve Brown, and released by Palace Software in 1985. The C64 version is said to be one of the hardest C64 games of all time. I remember getting far with this before, so lets see if history has been kind to this one.

Production Notes:
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Captured: 19th April 2020
Narrated: 20th April 2020
Edited: 20 April - 3 May 2020

I had this back in the day, along with the sequel, as budget titles. Just like Dragons Lair, Escape From Singes Castle, and Army Moves, I didnt really play it all that much, if at all. But I do remember using a POKE to get further, and I noticed the enemies seemed to disappear from the surface once you cleared the cave underneath. So I figured this was the way to collect the later keys and still stay out of harms way. But coming back to this in 2020, even after looking at all the maps and tips on the internet, it wasnt possible to get very far with it, due to the placement of platforms.

Apparently, the difficulty grade was eased in a version sold in 1987 as part of a Cauldron 1+2 Bundle, (Cauldron (C64, 5 1/4" Disk) Broderbund Software - 1987 USA, Canada Release), where every touch with an enemy only cost 5% health, and flying and shooting took no energy away. I'd never heard of this before, and it wasnt the one I had as a kid, so the standard release is what I played here.

Like Army Moves, I was willing to forgive this after all these years, as the game is obviously a classic. But I rage quit in all the caves and had to start the recording again back at the start, so no amount of extra lives helped with that. The energy cost wasnt so much an issue as the very bad placement of respawn points and platforms in the caves, or at least, a very weak jumping ability. Overall I'd say this has very memorable graphics, music and playability, and the potential was right here to have a great game. If the caves were flatter, and the items easy to collect, perhaps this would be the legend it pretends to be. But this notoriously infuriating and asinine adventure is a sheep in witches clothing, and I'd say its worth maybe a 4 out of 10 at best.