Leprechaun is the first attempt at a Macintosh game by its author, Gregory E. Hale. If this game is any indication of things to come from Mr. Hale, the Mac community is in for a treat. Leprechaun supports full 256 color screens, but runs very well in black and white as well. It requires system 6.0 or later and at least one megabyte of memory. Because of the intensive graphics of the game, it requires two 800K drives or a hard drive. (You can run it on a single drive system, but it is a pain.)
Leprechaun has a small manual, apparently “Desktop Published,” but quite complete. The instructions are spare with screen shots, but they do include graphic examples of the myriad critters you are likely to run into. Each menu selection is detailed, as are keyboard commands. The actual scoring values of actions are detailed for you, something all games should do.
The game itself is delightful. If you are tired of frenetic “kill the aliens” arcade games, and never could get into those “wander the world” adventure games, then this game could be just the thing you are looking for.
The basic idea of the game is that you are the Leprechaun King, and you have to recover pots of gold from wherever they have been hidden. All of the other creatures in the game (Birds, Trolls, Troglodytes, Snails, etc...) will kill you on contact. Some of these creatures will chase you, others will wander randomly around. Still others will follow a preprogrammed path. The world itself is made up of different types of materials (walls, false walls, decoration, thorns, water etc..) some of which you can walk through, and some of which you cannot.
As if that was not enough to worry about, two more items are included, rocks and balloons. Rocks fall, Balloons rise. A falling rock can kill any creature (including you). A rising balloon kills any critter, but will spare your life. Rocks and balloons will become your primary weapons in your war against the critters. By virtue of your stupendous Leprechaun strength you can push rocks over ledges, where you hope they fall on and kill a denizen of the critter gallery (or two). You can also crush rocks if you wedge them against an immovable object (or another rock or balloon).
Each level has at least one rainbow, and at least one pot of gold. Whenever you get a pot of gold on top of a rainbow, you will advance to the next level. You push the pots of gold just like a rock, and they fall like a rock (crushing any creature in its way).
Movement is simple and the action is slow-paced, but don’t let that fool you. It can get very hectic if you are not careful. The game is based on different “levels” and each level is essentially a puzzle that you have to solve. As you advance you will find yourself saying “Well now, this is IMPOSSIBLE!” but it isn’t. Some of the tricks you will have to learn are very subtle. This is definitely a thinking game.
In the area of “Why don’t all games have this feature?” we have the following:
• A simple tutorial session called “Basic Techniques” that will teach you essential elements of the game.
• The ability to go directly to a level and practice that level with an unlimited supply of “men” although your score will not be recorded.
• The simple acceptance of color or black and white systems.
Leprechaun does not stop there. A full level “Editor” is included in this game so that you can design your own challenges. You can even edit the levels that are in the original game. This is such a nice feature that it defies description. It is easy to design impossible challenges, so watch it.
The only flaw in this game is such a small thing that I feel as if I am nit-picking, but it bothered me so I will warn you about it. The leprechaun character will move in one direction as long as the appropriate key is held down. If you have to suddenly change directions (trust me, this is the key to the whole game) the keyboard repeat does not work. It will move one step in the new direction, then halt, even though the key is still held down. To avoid this you will have to press the key twice for each direction change, then as the key is held down the leprechaun will continue his march. (This has been the main reason for leprechaun “deaths” in my experience with this game.)
Overall this is an excellent game, providing levels that will challenge any member of the family. Because it requires a mix of problem solving skills and eye-hand coordination, it is excellent for children. The color graphics are superb, matching any game on the market today. I highly recommend it.
