Archon II: Adept

Last updated

Archon II: Adept
Archon 2 cover.jpg
Developer(s) Free Fall Associates
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) Jon Freeman
Paul Reiche III
Anne Westfall
Platform(s) Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Release1984
Genre(s) Turn-based strategy, action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Archon II: Adept is a strategy/action video game developed by Free Fall Associates: Jon Freeman, Paul Reiche III, and Anne Westfall. It was published in 1984 by Electronic Arts for the Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64. [1] Ports followed for the Apple II, Amstrad CPC,ZX Spectrum, and Amiga.

Contents

Archon II takes place on a game board. When a piece lands on another player's piece, both are moved to a battle arena where they duel to the death. It is the sequel to the 1983 Archon: The Light and the Dark .

Gameplay

Adept is a game for two players or one player against the computer. The starting side can be chosen or randomized. The side that goes second receives more magical power. Order plays with yellow pieces and Chaos with blue on a game board with concentric bands of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, two Void squares, and two decorative citadels. Each player starts with four wizards called "Adepts" that can place other pieces into play.

Game board (C64) Archonii.gif
Game board (C64)

Adept introduces resource management in the form of magical power. Magic is gained by having pieces on power points, and spent as an Adept moves or casts a spell. The summoning spell places a demon (which are common to both players) or elemental (specific to each) piece on the board, where it incurs a per-turn upkeep cost. Adepts can also cast spells that heal, hinder, or remove pieces. Or they can cast Apocalypse, which makes the citadels uproot, transform into luminous Adepts that base their strength on the state of the board, and face each other in a Void arena for the outcome of the game.

Order and Chaos alternate turns. On a turn, a player must move a piece or use an Adept to cast a spell. Summoned pieces may move any number of squares in their elemental band, or one square in any direction. Adepts teleport anywhere. Neither may enter occupied squares, except to attack an opponent's piece by ending the turn on its square. An Adept piece can target spells onto the elemental band it is on. Pieces can be summoned into empty squares or, for a surcharge, directly onto the opponent's summoned piece. The cost of summoning and maintaining a piece varies per type.

There are four power points on the outer edges of one elemental band at a time. After each player has taken their turn, the points move one band inward. Two stationary power points with a lower income rate are on the Void squares. The game is won by having pieces on all six power points at the same time, by destroying all the enemy's pieces, or by winning Apocalypse. Conversely, a player who is unable to move during their turn loses instantly. The computer can concede to a human player, typically when down to a single Adept with no magical power to summon new pieces for several turns. If a player loses their last Adept, "the Masters intervene" triggering Apocalypse.

Combat

Pieces in battle are moved to an arena to fight in real time. Pieces can move and attack in eight directions. A chime sounds (higher for Order, lower for Chaos) when their attack has recharged. Attacks that land decrease the target's life bar. Once a life bar is depleted, the piece dies and is removed from the game. The survivor is returned to the board, its injuries persisting. Combat can end in a draw if both pieces die.

In Archon, a piece would either have a melee attack, a projectile, or deal damage in an area around itself. Adept elaborates on this. Chimeras cycle between three attacks, juggernauts transform to and from their own projectiles, and krakens' projectiles lose strength as they travel. Adepts can switch between moving the piece and guiding its projectile in flight, and gorgons sap speed instead of health. The previous game's area-attacking pieces, phoenix and banshee, are revisited as firebirds, which can abort attacks, and wraiths, which drain health and are invisible save as they attack or reload (or against computer opponents). Sirens must be stationary to sing, and their singing automatically damages their opponents.

In Archon, the battlefield had obstacles that blocked pieces and projectiles. Adept elaborates on this as well. In battles on Earth squares obstacles act in Archon, in Water they slow, in Air they slow pieces and divert projectiles, and in Fire they admit projectiles but damage pieces. Void arenas are empty.

Reception

II Computing stated that the Apple II version of Archon II "is even more challenging than its predecessor, and features exciting innovations", and concluded, "It's good to see a sequel to a successful game that is not only as good as the first but extends the boundaries of the game's system." [2] Reviewing the Amiga version, Computer Gaming World recommended both Archon and Adept for those interested in challenging strategy games. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shogi</span> Japanese strategy board game

Shogi, also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. Shōgi means general's board game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratego</span> Strategy board game

Stratego is a strategy board game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual officer and soldier ranks in an army. The pieces have Napoleonic insignia. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent's Flag or to capture so many enemy pieces that the opponent cannot make any further moves. Stratego has simple enough rules for young children to play but a depth of strategy that is also appealing to adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Checkers</span> Strategy board game

Checkers, also known as draughts, is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from alquerque. The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move".

This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.

<i>Archon: The Light and the Dark</i> 1983 video game

Archon: The Light and the Dark is a 1983 video game developed by Free Fall Associates and one of the first five games published by Electronic Arts. It is superficially similar to chess, in that it takes place on a board with alternating black and white squares, but instead of fixed rules when landing on another player's piece, an arcade-style fight takes place to determine the victor, and each piece has different combat abilities. The health of the player's piece is enhanced when landing on a square of one's own color.

<i>Age of Wonders</i> 1999 video game

Age of Wonders is a 1999 turn-based strategy game co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic MegaGames, and published by Gathering of Developers.

<i>Golden Sun: The Lost Age</i> 2002 video game

Golden Sun: The Lost Age, released under different names in some regions, is a 2002 role-playing video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It is the second installment in the Golden Sun series and was released on June 28, 2002 in Japan, and in 2003 in North America and Europe.

<i>Yu-Gi-Oh!</i> Trading Card Game Trading card game

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game developed and published by Konami. It is based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters created by manga artist Kazuki Takahashi, which appears in portions of the manga franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! and is the central plot device throughout its various anime adaptations and spinoff series.

<i>Mind Walker</i> 1986 video game

Mind Walker is a video game written by Bill Williams and published by Commodore in 1986 as one of the first games for the new Amiga 1000 computer. The player is immersed inside a human brain and must cure a psychosis that is threatening the patient's well-being. Many aspects of the game play on this psychological theme. The four player avatars, for instance, are the human bodybuilder, the water nymph, the mysterious wizard, and the alien spriggan.

<i>Lords of Chaos</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Lords of Chaos is a turn-based tactics tactical role-playing game published by Blade Software in 1990. It is the sequel to Chaos and an ancestor of the popular X-COM series of games, also written by Julian Gollop. In Lords of Chaos each player controls a wizard who can cast various magic spells. The spells have various effects, for example summoning other creatures, or damaging opposing creatures and wizards. The game can be played against a computer-controlled opponent or by up to four human players.

<i>Dungeon Siege II</i> 2005 video game

Dungeon Siege II is an action role-playing video game, the sequel to 2002's Dungeon Siege. It was developed by Gas Powered Games and released in 2005. The story is a continuation of the Dungeon Siege storyline. An expansion Broken World was released in 2006.

Yari shogi is a modern variant of shogi ; however, it is not Japanese. It was invented in 1981 by Christian Freeling of the Netherlands. This game accentuates shogi’s intrinsically forward range of direction by giving most of the pieces the ability to move any number of free squares orthogonally forward like a shogi lance. The opposite is true of promoted pieces which can move backward with the same power.

Laser Chess is a two-player, strategy video game modeled as a board game with chess-like pieces, most of which have mirrored surfaces, and one of which is a laser cannon. Laser Chess first appeared in Compute!'s Atari ST Disk & Magazine in 1987, written in Modula-2, winning the $5,000 first prize in the magazine's programming competition.

<i>Dark Legions</i> 1994 video game

Dark Legions is a 1994 action strategy game for MS-DOS. It was developed by Silicon Knights and published by Strategic Simulations (SSI).

<i>Diablo II: Lord of Destruction</i> Expansion pack for the action role-playing video game Diablo II

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is an expansion pack for the hack and slash action role-playing game Diablo II. Unlike the original Diablo's expansion pack, Diablo: Hellfire, it is a first-party expansion developed by Blizzard North.

<i>Spot: The Video Game</i> 1990 video game

Spot: The Video Game is a video game developed and produced by Virgin Mastertronic in 1990/1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS computers, Game Boy and NES. It is the first video game to feature the then-current 7 Up mascot "Spot", and was later followed up by platformers Cool Spot and Spot Goes To Hollywood.

<i>Hex</i> (video game) 1985 video game

Hex is a turn-based strategy game developed by Mark of the Unicorn and published in 1985 for the then-new Atari ST and later for the Amiga. The player controls a unicorn that is trying to turn all the hexes on the game board to the same colour. Opponents attempt to turn them to a different colour and thus defeat the unicorn. As the unicorn levels up, new spells are added to its repertoire, but only 5 can be used at any given time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of chess</span> Strategy board game

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:

Mage Wars Arena is a customizable strategy card game by Arcane Wonders, and is the first game in the Mage Wars series. In Mage Wars Arena players take the role of powerful and experienced mages fighting in a gladiator style arena duel. Despite being a card game, Mage Wars Arena has several significant mechanics in common with tactical miniatures games, such as movement and range, as well as having a game length more typical of tactical miniatures games.

References

  1. ↑ "Archon II: Adept". IGN.
  2. ↑ Shapiro, Neil (October–November 1985). "Of Jewels and Ghouls and Butterflies and Strategies of War". II Computing. pp. 24–26. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ Wagner, Roy (November 1986). "Amiga Preferences" (PDF). Computer Gaming World . No. 32. p. 38. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.