A brilliant
computer game released by
Beyond/
Denton Designs in the
8-bit computer era, more specifically in 1985. I myself played it on a
ZX Spectrum, but it was also made for the
Commodore 64 (in fact these
versions came on each side of the
cassette). What
genre this game belongs in is a difficult question, but my best guess is
real-time strategy/
RPG.
Shadowfire made use of a new control format, based on the cursor and icon system found on the at the time new Apple Machintosh computer.
Shadowfire puts you in control of a squad of alien misfits called the Enigma Force tasked with breaking into a space station. Once inside there were quite a few objectives that had to be completed.
You had to save Ambassador Kryxix, capture General Zoff, and finally destroy the space station Zoff V. Everything had to be done in 100 minutes, and without typing a single word! (Being an 8 year old boy at the time, not knowing left from right when it came to the English language, this game system made it possible for me to actually get quite involved in the game right there and then. But the game really came into it's right a few years later when I could understand the text feedback in the game)
Apart from the slick icon interface and attractive graphics, the game sported some of the most amazing opening music that I've ever heard on the Spectrum. Too bad it didn't play during the game!
The characters you controlled were:
Sylk, the muscle of the team. A good fighter and quite quick.
Severina, the sneaky female. If someone could open a locked door, it was her.
Manto, although pretty feeble he was the most important team member as he was the only one that could operate the devices that transported you in and out from the Zoff V station.
Maul, the weapons droid. Very powerful in battle, but annoyingly slow.
Zark Mantor, the leader of the team. A good allround character.
Torik, a bird-like character that was fast but weak.
Since every charachter is so different from the others you had to play for a while to get to know the individual character's strengths and weaknesses, in order to be able to use the team in the best possible way, hiding the weaknesses.
I did never finish the game even though i stuck at it for probably 7-8 years.
My brother completed it once, and of course I was incredibly annoyed with the game!