Necromancer

The player controls the wizard Illuminar who attempts to grow an army of trees to attack Tetragorn the Necromancer and his evil minions that are trying to take over a graveyard. The game is divided into three sections with unique gameplay, and the player's success in each affects the one that follows it.

• Title — Necromancer • Developer — Synapse Software • Designer — Bill Williams • Publisher — Synapse Software Atari Corporation • Composer — Bill Williams • Released — 1982: Atari 8-bit 1983: C64 1987: XEGS cartridge • Genre — Action • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64

Necromancer consists of three sections, as in a three-act play: The Forest, The Vaults, The Graveyard.

• Illustration — First stage: The Forest (Atari 8-bit) Illuminar stands fixed in the middle of the screen. Moving the joystick controls his "wisp", a magical boomerang-like device. Pressing the fire button plants a seed that will slowly grow into a tree in several stages to adulthood. Ogres appear from both sides of the screen, walking across it horizontally. If they walk over an immature tree, it shrinks back one stage of growth, eventually disappearing. Spiders occasionally appear and move randomly about the screen. If they move over a fully grown tree, it becomes poisoned, and will eventually die. Both enemies can be killed by touching them with the wisp, which will also cure poisoned trees. Eye-Pods containing additional seeds sometimes appear and can be picked up with the wisp. The speed of the action increases continually through the level until it becomes hectic.

• Illustration — Second stage: The Vaults (Atari 8-bit) Every tree that survives the first level becomes Illuminar's ally in the second: The Vaults. Here the player enters a five-level side-view map of a crypt filled with spider eggs. Using the wisp, the player selects trees and moves them over the coffins where their roots grow into the roof of them and eventually break through to crush the eggs below. If they take too long, spiders will hatch and attack the trees until the wisp kills them. Occasionally the Hands of Fate descend from the roof, picking up anything below them and sometimes dropping prizes. The player must move through the vaults while all of this takes place, capturing question-mark prizes in order to extend ladders needed to reach lower levels. On this level, moving the joystick normally moves Illuminar, but holding down the fire button freezes him in place and moves the wisp instead.

The final confrontation between Illuminar and Tetragorn takes place in a graveyard. Gravestones appear that must be destroyed by walking over them in order to prevent Tetragorn from emerging. When he does, (there are always enough gravestones to ensure this) he shoots trails of fire that injure Illuminar as he moves about. Any spider eggs that were not destroyed in the vaults also turn into spiders which attack Illuminar. The wisp can be used to banish either enemy, although while it is in use, Illuminar remains fixed in place. Each hit by any enemy on Illuminar reduces his power and eventually kills him, although the occasional appearance of small rings of power will improve his life force again.