Archipelagos (Amiga) - A Playguide and Review - by LemonAmiga.com
67Archipelagos is an island-based real-time open-world 2.5D adventure game, released by Logotron in 1989. The aim is to destroy some rocks, and destroy the monolith on each level. Without a guide, this can seem baffling, but after a bit of investigation, I set out to find out if this is a game worth playing.
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Recorded: 12 Jan 2024
Edit Started: 6 May 2024
Narrated: 22nd Aug 2024
Uploaded: 4th Oct 2024
This is another of those games which I was always intimidated by, along with Heart of China, Cadaver, and even Populous; so for this series I thought I'd at least break them down into small chewable chunks, so they can be digested. I found a solution bundled with the WHD version, and the manual was kind of helpful, and then I started up the game, and the recorder, having not played it before. So this is another Cold play, with me finding out how to play it as I went along.
Once I remembered to connect land bridges to the stones in later levels, it seemed the game just went on forever, and eventually I got bored and stopped the recorder. I guess this is one of those games which is better played with passwords, rather than aim to beat it in one sitting.
The 'Chicken' gag in the video is meant to signal that Alfred Chicken will be played later in this series. There was mean't to be one of those tags in the Cadaver review, and Heart of China, but I think I forgot to add them?
Danscore:
Archipelagos is one of those games which tried to be a bit different. You could argue this is a 3D game, but as the ground is flat, and the graphics are sprites, it is difficult to say this is full 3D. It certainly has the atmosphere. with a nice theme and fitting sound effects. Graphics are drawn well enough, with a nice shaded sky and sea, so that it looks a bit more realistic. The puzzle element of hopping over the affected parts of the landscape to smash up boulders is simplistic, but soon seems formulaic. There are no clouds or birds or animals on the landscape, like Hunter, so there are only a bunch of trees for company. There is a time critical element, but forcing the player to rush to the exit with plenty of time on the clock seems a bit redundant. Controls can feel a bit unwieldy to begin with, and it would have been so much easier to look and aim with the mouse, while moving around with the keyboard.
While Simulcra had large and expansive levels with lots of action going on, and Hunter had that deep adventure element, this game feel all smoke and mirrors, and a one-trick pony. It feels deep looking at it from the outside, but there isn't much to keep veterans hooked except for the occasional themed level - which can be fun. Overall, this would seem an excellent game in the 1980's, when video games needed to be extraordinary in order to seem futuristic and interesting. With a few more RPG elements, this might be a masterpiece, but as an island-hopping rock crushing sim, it falls down through the cracks for me, so I give it 6.5 out of 10.