Castle Master

Copyright : Domark | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Ok, hands up all those that remember the excellent 3D games design kit which was aptly named "3D Construction Kit"? well this is just one of the many commercial demonstrations of its power. Castle Master allows you to rome around one of the creepiest castles in the world and overcome many traps, perils and dangers on your way - but what made it stand out? the fact that it was in full 3D!

Graphics

Castle Master is a true example of how good the 3D Construction Kit actually was, even on a CPC 464 with nothing special plugged into it you could still walk around fully 3D worlds with pretty much no problems at all. Colours might only be simple and no doubt limited to help the processing speed but they certainly set the tone of the area you are wandering around, the courtyard for example makes you think of horses and hay stacks laying about the place while the second screen grab (The Chapel) creates an image of a classic church from the early years.

Each and every room has its own standout detail so that you can easily tell were you are, for example the chapel (screen grab 2) has a vivid image of the holy cross directly in front of you and the benches for praying on are located to the left and right. Now, Castle Master certainly isn?t Doom and you won?t be getting a frames per second count above 5-6 but the game gets the imagination going and is certainly well produced.

Great stuff indeed.

Sound

Sound was always a little bit of a let down on games made with this engine but then again they weren?t exactly awful either. Anyone that has ever used the actual designer will no doubt recognise every sound in the game but for those that haven?t, well lets just say that there isn?t a massive amount but then again there certainly isn?t a lack of them either. Considering the software it?s all very well done.

Gameplay

Back on release the very idea that you could walk around any kind of world on your home computer without the need for the massively expensive Virtual Reality kits that were in development at that time would easily be enough to make you rush down the local shop and grab a copy. Those that did certainly didn?t regret it as absolutely hours can be spent just walking around the castle and checking out the sights and sounds, there is a game involved in Castle Master and it demans playing but you can also have great fun by ignoring the rule book and just going for a wander around.

As we mentioned earlier the game is much much slower than Doom on the PC but on release it ran like lightening and nobody could believe what the CPC (and other machines of this era) were actually capable of at such an early stage. Many new gamers probably won?t appreciatet Castle Master very much but us true retro-gamers will love it to bits today just as much as we did back then.

Great stuff and highly recommended.