The Lords of Midnight and old video games!

I've discovered an old Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer game available on-line. It's called "The Lords of Midnight" and was one of my favourite titles from my Spectrum gaming days of the 1980s! The game is a graphic adventure/strategy hybird and is simply *FANTASTIC*! The version I'm playing is an update - graphically at least. The gameplay is pretty much identical to the original. The plot concerns a group of "good" kingdoms who are trying to defend themselves against an evil overlord (and his armies of darkness!) who is trying to invade and conquer them. As you would expect it is set in a mythical "Lord of the Rings" style time and place, so there are dragons, towers, mountains, magical swords etc. It's quite fun sending your characters, such as 'Luxor the Moonprince' and 'Rorthron the Wise' around the huge map, finding things, recruiting lords, raising armies and defending keeps and towns. What made the game so revolutionary back on it's 1984 release was that it could generate (for then a staggering) 32,000 different views from the point of view of the individual game characters. The programmer, a chap called Mike Singleton, developed a process called 'Landscaping' to achieve this. As you move the characters around the kingdoms, you can see objects (such as a ruin or forest) getting closer and the landscape revealing itself, as well as armies on the horizon. Very atmospheric: the gameplay is involving and the graphics are wonderful!

The game version I'm playing can be downloaded here at the excellent Tower of the Moon site.

A newer update can be found here at Frozen Empire - looks like they've expanded the graphics and gameplay!

"LOM" is one of many video games from the past that I love to play! Others include arcade classics like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Battle-Zone, Defender, Amidar, Donkey-Kong etc. Talking about Kong, there is a new documentary about two video game egos battling each other for the world championship high score. Its called "The King of Kong" and looks wonderful! Hopefully I can get it on DVD soon and can review it then!