Originally conceived by Russell Lieblich.
Designed and programmed by Peter Kaminski for the Commodore 64, with music and additional programming by Russell Lieblich, and published by Activision in 1985.
Adapted for the Amstrad CPC and MSX computers by James Software Ltd. in 1985.
Atari 400/800 conversion by David R. Lubar.
Apple II conversion by Dan Thompson.
All versions published by Activision in 1985.
---
INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS
Welcome to the new, reinvented April at FRGCB! Instead of abominations, we're now focused on American publishers, that might or might not begin with the letter A. This year's American April's chosen publishers both start with A, so it's all phonetically appropriate. Of course, this doesn't mean there won't be any abominations here in the future, but I have chosen two rather good games for a change, one of which has been in the to-do list for many years now. This first game, though, is an old Activision favourite of mine, that doesn't seem like any other game ever made, which is what Activision were really good at in the 80's.
---
DESCRIPTION & REVIEW
The story behind Master of the Lamps is a rare early example of an Arabic theme used in a western-produced game, four years before Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia turned the theme popular. Before I began to write this comparison, though, I had no real knowledge of this, because the game had a tendency to pop up as a turbo tape copy or some other cracked and/or pirated form whenever I came across it. Anyway, the game involves putting together three enchanted oil lamps, which were each shattered to seven pieces upon the death of an Arabian prince's (that's you, the protagonist) father, the king. Naturally, this freed the genies from within the lamps, and your mission is to win all the pieces of the three lamps from the genies by beating them in their musical challenges.
Although I didn't really consider it as such, when I first came upon Master of the Lamps on the C64, it was very likely the first music-based game, and a somewhat psychedelic one at that, that I had ever played. The reason is, a big part of the game is flying a magic carpet through a series of diamond-shaped gates in a third-person behind-view pseudo-3D setting, so there is more of an arcade action feel to the game than anything based on music. The second part, though, took me many years to understand (thanks to having no instructions, as usual), that you actually had to follow the music performed by the genie, and play the same notes with the gong cymbals to make progress. Of course, this is where the music part comes in, and your perception of music becomes more important as you make progress.
What I also didn't realize back then, is that while the atmosphere is slightly creepy, the game has no weapons - therefore, no actual violence. A non-violent approach to a game was rather unusual at the time, and when you get two such different segments combined into a viable arcade-like puzzle-action game, it is bound to throw you off at first. However, the atmosphere is magical - quite literally - and the gameplay is unique, if not necessarily fit for all gamers, such as those with bad hearing. But that is exactly what made Activision games from the mid-80's so brilliant - they weren't afraid of trying out new and inventive things, and being excellent while at it. For any gaming historian, Master of the Lamps - and practically all Activision games prior to 1987 - should be a necessary part of their education.
---
LOADING
Apart from the ATARI 400/800 and APPLE II versions, which from what I can tell, were both only ever released on floppy disk, we can enjoy a good old-fashioned cassette loading times comparison. Of course, this only leaves the C64 original, accompanied by the MSX and AMSTRAD versions, but that's something at least.
 |
| Atari disk loading screen. |
2 minutes 27 seconds
AMSTRAD CPC, Activision v1:
11 minutes 32 seconds
AMSTRAD CPC, Activision v2:
6 minutes 54 seconds
AMSTRAD CPC, Proein:
6 minutes 3 seconds
MSX:
3 minutes 42 seconds
Well, the results here probably haven't surprised any of you, who have followed these loading comparisons through the years, but it can still be a bit shocking to see, how much slower even the fastest AMSTRAD version is to the other two versions. In the case of the C64 version, though, it should be noted, that you need to have all extra peripherals unplugged before loading the game - otherwise, you can wait for it to finish until your power block explodes.
From the image files I could find online, the ATARI disk version was the only one to feature the classic Activision loading screen with the flipping logo approaching the camera. But because of the way the other loading screens and/or opening sequences have been handled in Master of the Lamps, the rest of them shall be included in the Graphics section this time.
---
PLAYABILITY
Like many Activision games of this era, Master of the Lamps can be a baffling experience, if you have no instructions manual to read. Luckily, there are only two segments that repeat themselves in progressing difficulty, so it can be figured out without instructions, too, though back in the day, it took me many attempts to realize what the game was about.
The difficulty level options themselves offer no in-game explanations, and the repetitive nature of the game might be off-putting on the long run. The thing is, there are only two actual difficulty levels: "Seven Trials", which is the easiest mission, requiring you to complete a single lamp by getting through seven flight sequences and seven music puzzles; and "Throne Quest", which makes you complete three lamps with increasing difficulty variants - faster and tougher tunnels, and elements from the genie's music puzzles getting dropped as you make progress. The third option, "Magic Carpet" allows you to practice flying through all twenty-one tunnels included in the full quest.
Beginning a new game sees you sitting at the left corner of the screen, and you need to walk to the carpet to start the mission. First, you need to fly through the long and winding tunnel composed of separate diamond-shaped gates by keeping your carpet-flying person within the gates. The following music puzzles are less intuitive. First, you need to summon the genie by hitting any gong three times. Then, the genie will present its sequence of notes that you must repeat, initially with colour-coded notes to make it easier for you to recognize the notes, and with a good of time to hit the corresponding gongs, but in the last stages of the game, the notes will have disappeared entirely, and you need to rely entirely on your ear, and do it much quicker. The first level only has two notes to play, and the final level of a series of Seven Trials has eight notes to play, so learning the pitches for each gong is required by the third trial in the Throne Quest. If you fail to complete the music puzzle, the current level starts over.
Another confusing thing about the original C64 Master of the Lamps is, that you can actually play the game from both joystick ports, which might have been confusing in those days - not merely because it's actually possible to do so, but because plugging the joystick in port 1 gives you pilot controls (up = down, down = up), while port 2 gives you directional controls. When in the music puzzle sequence, though, the game plays the same on either port: up and down hit the gong, left and right make you walk, and fire button can warp you quicker to the space between the next two gongs in your facing direction. I always felt this control style was a bit counter-intuitive, because usually you would use the fire button to perform an important action, such as hit the gong in this case, so if you're like me and feel this way, chances are, you might move around unnecessarily much in the gong line-up, because using the fire button comes more naturally.
The controls are basically the same for all five versions of the game; however, the AMSTRAD and APPLE versions only have pilot controls for the flying sequences, and the MSX version only has the directional controls, while the ATARI conversion is the only one to feature both styles in addition to the original. Another point worth noting regarding the controls is, that the player character walks at a frisk pace in the original, which has been taken into consideration in all but the MSX version. The AMSTRAD walking pace isn't exactly as quick as the original, but not too far from it; the MSX version's player character walks around considerably slower, which makes it impossible to get two adjacent gongs played back to back in time, thus requiring the jumps between gongs at all times.
While the general design of Master of the Lamps is such, that it cannot really differ too much, you can easily determine, how difficult each version is simply from the first two stages of Seven Trials. Firstly, the C64 original starts off with a straight tunnel, which you can freely test your flying abilities and how the tunnel visually reacts to your movements. And remember, this is an American game, so the original was to be played on a faster NTSC system. Most of the other versions start off with a straight tunnel, but the AMSTRAD version's first tunnel is an horizontally winding one. That alone tells you, that the difficulty curve for the tunnels might be somewhat tighter, but you don't actually get to witness the change until a few stages in, as the curves get much tighter. The MSX version's tunnels are also much more difficult than in the original, but then both of these versions were ported by the same people. The ATARI version plays similar enough to the original, even if the tunnels do get slightly more difficult as you make progress. The APPLE version's tunnels are comparatively easy, but the lack of colours limits the clarity of graphics in the tunnels, thus making them harder to read in the distance.
And then, you get the music puzzles, which in the Seven Trials mode is more of a necessary evil than an actual puzzle. Mind you, if you're using a PAL C64, you might have trouble seeing certain colours correctly, so the C64 version might still present some sort of a challenge for you, with its palette being less contrasting. However, in the later stages of the full-blown Throne Quest, the colours become irrelevant. But the actual range of difficulties in the music puzzles is determined by the time you have to react to the genie's given notes, before they float down and trap you to teleport you back to the beginning of the most recent tunnel. Again, your system of choice being PAL or NTSC also determines this, but since the gameplay balance isn't affected by this, the regional differences are irrelevant. Basically, it's the two James Software ports that differ most considerably in their timings from the other three versions, and as I mentioned earlier, our protagonist walks much slower in the MSX version than elsewhere. However, the MSX version allows the player to move to a preferred spot after the puzzle is complete, while the AMSTRAD version halts all player movement once the final gong has been hit, and you get teleported back to the bottom-left corner of the screen to start the next tunnel.
So, in the end, the differences are minor enough not to give too much of consideration, when you're not doing a detailed comparison like this. The AMSTRAD and MSX versions are clearly the least similar versions to the original, but I cannot honestly make the claim that they're any worse for it - just different, and more difficult, but certainly playable enough. For the lack of control options, I might have to drop the AMSTRAD, MSX and APPLE versions' points in this section, but that's about all I can do here.
1. COMMODORE 64 / ATARI 400/800
2. APPLE II
3. AMSTRAD CPC / MSX
---
GRAPHICS
Before getting into the graphics, I would like to point out, that the ATARI screenshots were taken using PAL mode in Altirra, because for some reason, I couldn't get good quality screenshots in NTSC mode. Unfortunately, this means that the Atari version's graphics look a bit flattened.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the manner in which the game is presented in certain versions requires the loading screens to be shown in this section, because they are part of the game's introductory segment. Of course, the contents of these segments are widely varied.
 |
| Opening sequences and loading screens. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. Others, top to bottom: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. |
Master of the Lamps boots up to the blue Activision logo, followed by "presents" under the logo, written in a customized Arabic style font. The opening sequence starts with the Prince flying his magic carpet to the front yard of the temple, where he then hits the gong three times to summon a genie. The genie will then puff up some magical smoke that devours the Prince and sends him off to places unknown, while the screen fills up with smoke. As the smoke clears up, the game logo fills up the screen, followed by a credits screen. The Arabic font we saw previously in the "Activision presents" screen now gets shown to its full potential.
Obviously, there are some colouring differences between the three versions, but the APPLE version has the palace designed notably differently, with the large onion-shaped structure being replaced by three narrower ones, and the bottom area being more unified than sectioned. The C64 version uses different graphical styles, with the genie being drawn in lower resolution multi-colour sprites, and the rest of it being hi-res monochrome stuff, making the palace and the gong holder being notably prettier than in the other versions. The smoked up screen is also much more impressive on the C64, with the Prince and the genie still visible behind the smoke, while the other two versions have the smoke hog up the entire screen with no transparency. The ATARI version even builds the smoke screen into something that looks like a flag with three horizontal layers, which is weird and feels unnatural in the context. The game logo screen and the credits use some colour in the C64 version, and the APPLE version tries to keep up with it to the best of its abilities, but the ATARI version goes with a black-and-white theme.
The AMSTRAD and MSX versions do not feature this opening sequence; rather, the MSX version only shows all the necessary info bits in the loading screen, while the AMSTRAD version shows the exact same information in the loading screen and as the game has booted up - only the loading screen features the Activision logo in its intended form. The MSX loading screen uses a new custom font, similar enough to the original, but used to a lesser effect.
 |
| Game options screens. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 400/800. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. |
Once the opening sequence is finished, you are taken to the game menu screen, where you can pick one of three options: Seven Trials, marked by a lamp, Throne Quest, marked by a crown, and Magic Carpet, marked by a tunnel of diamonds; and all of the text is written in the now familiar custom font, where available. In the background, you can see a demonstration of one of the tunnels.
In the C64 and APPLE versions, the items next to the options are painted with a chosen colour: the lamp is green, the tunnel diamonds are purple, and the crown is yellow in the C64, whereas the APPLE lamp is orange due to restrictions. The ATARI and AMSTRAD versions use no colour on the items, and the MSX version has no items at all, nor does it have the tunnel background.
 |
| Two variants of the taking-off room, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II, Amstrad CPC, MSX. |
As you might perhaps be able to decipher from the screenshots above, the weird triangular shapes appear in kaleidoscopic patterns, although the C64 original is definitely the most psychedelic of the lot, with the higher amount of colours simultaneously on display. In the ATARI version, the triangles are more abundant, but somehow appear a little bit further in the background compared to the lamp pieces. The lamp pieces themselves appear in interlaced colours in the C64, ATARI and APPLE versions, but use solid colours in the other two. Singularly, the APPLE version also uses interlaced colours in the smaller triangles surrounding the lamp.
Now might also be a good time to talk about the Prince and his carpet, because his appearance is clearly documented, and is rather recognizable. In most versions, the Prince is wearing a white thawb (robe) and red keffiyeh (headdress), and his gong-hitting club is definitely of a red shade as well. The AMSTRAD version goes only slightly awry with a club that sometimes appears turqoise, but the APPLE version has the top half of the Prince's outfit unfathomably blue. The carpet clearly has an Arabian red-and-orange pattern in it, with a white splash in the middle, which is rather well replicated in the AMSTRAD version, only with less detail. As is only to be expected, the APPLE carpet uses the wrong colours, but it is surprisingly well detailed. The ATARI and MSX carpets are solid red.
 |
| Flying through the gates. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. |
 |
| Crashing visuals in the tunnel segments. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right. MSX. |
If you fail to keep yourself within the gates, you will see a funny crash animation with randomly switching various line-patterned rectangles all over the place and the Prince (in a sitting position) and his carpet appearing at random spots on the screens. This lasts for about five seconds or less, before the level resets proper.
The AMSTRAD version presents another exception to the design, with a couple of red full screen flashes at the exact moment of the crash, and then you and your carpet switching around places on the screen with no colorful rectangles at all. The other versions have some variety in the rectangle patterns, but that's about it. If you're a big fan of patterns, the MSX version seems to have the most variety in its rectangle patterns, and the APPLE version the least, but it's hard to tell exactly, really.
 |
| Genie's puzzle room (in Seven Trials mode). Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. |
 |
| Puzzle failure teleportation effect. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. |
 |
| Finishing screen (Seven Trials mode). Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: Amstrad CPC. Bottom right: MSX. |
Considering, that the ATARI 400/800 was exceptionally good with colours among the 8-bits, Lieblich and Kaminski seems to have made sure to design the C64 original in such a way as to make it impossible to equal the ATARI version with the original. The odd screen colour map remnants during the smoke and diamond effects look weird and less effective than those on the C64, and the introductory sequence is ultimately less impressive. The flight sequences are where the ATARI version shines, but the colour-switching stars might feel a bit overcompensative. The APPLE version performs surprisingly well here, despite the lack of colours. The only version that is clearly sub-par in its graphical execution is the MSX version, which flickers madly in the tunnel sequences, and has no actual title screen/sequence.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. ATARI 400/800
3. APPLE II
4. AMSTRAD CPC
5. MSX
---
SOUNDS
Since Master of the Lamps is a musically inclined game, logic would follow that music plays a greater role in it. In truth, though, the only bit where the game actually features sounds as a gameplay element is the music puzzle with the gongs, so that is the only part that truly matters in terms of having any sounds at all.
As it happens, the APPLE version bypassed the actual soundtrack, and just as well, since it doesn't utilise any sort of external sound device. Therefore, the only sounds you will ever hear during this one are the gong notes, which undoubtedly perform their duty well enough, but hardly sound inviting, much less realistic. When a gong plays, it has no fade-out of any kind - the sound just turns on and off. At least it wobbles while it plays, but if the same gong is played more than once in succession, there is no gap between the two gong hits, which can be fairly annoying, if you're not paying attention to the visuals.
The full soundtrack includes a unique tune for each of the seven tunnels, one for the starting room, and a completion tune, as well as two shorter melodies for messing up in the tunnel and one for descending to the puzzle screen. Most of the soundtrack is surprisingly non-Arabic, but rather has roots in old ragtime music and classic rhythm'n'blues and rock'n'roll songs. The game's info page at Lemon64 tells us, that the European version of the game's soundtrack features one extra subtune. Surprisingly, the ATARI version is as close to the C64 version in quality as humanly possible, and some of the tunes actually sound even better when played through the POKEY chip than their SID counterparts. Therefore, I'm of a mind to give both versions a tied top spot here.
However, one thing I'm not very fond of in the ATARI version is the gong sound, which sounds too bright for a gong, as well as having the harmonics of the gong boringly octaved. In the C64 version, the harmonic note is very close to the actual note, making it wobble nicely, and although this time, the gong noise is a bit too soft, it is much more pleasing to listen to. That makes the C64 version the winner here.
The AMSTRAD and MSX versions must fall between the ATARI and APPLE versions; the question is, how? Comparing the two between each other, the MSX version sounds a bit softer, and there is no stereo panning, like in the AMSTRAD version. Also, the bass notes somehow sound like they are played slightly too late in the AMSTRAD version, but that's only because of the stereo separation, that it sounds worse than the MSX version. Other than that, they're more or less equal in their execution, so I might as well let them share the third place.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. ATARI 400/800
3. MSX / AMSTRAD CPC
4. APPLE II
---
OVERALL + VIDEO
That's another Activision game comparison down, this being the sixth one so far, in case anyone wants to keep count. As you might have expected from the start, it's also yet another C64 win, but not by far.
1. COMMODORE 64: Playability 3, Graphics 5, Sounds 4 = TOTAL 12
2. ATARI 400/800: Playability 3, Graphics 4, Sounds 3 = TOTAL 10
3. APPLE II: Playability 2, Graphics 3, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 6
4. AMSTRAD CPC: Playability 1, Graphics 2, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 5
5. MSX: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 4
Despite these rather drastic-looking and somewhat unfair scores, Master of the Lamps is a very playable and enjoyable game on all five platforms. For the full experience, though, you do need either the C64 or the ATARI version, and preferably an NTSC machine, which I have tried to point out in the accompanying video right here:
That's it for now, thanks for reading! Another high quality American game will be compared later this month. See you then!
Just an FYI that AppleWin does handle WOZ images as well and has for several years.
ReplyDeleteI do see that you are familiar with AppleWin, I should have looked first before posting the comment above. There are instances where if the WOZ contains a flux track that AppleWin may not work. (that is to be resolved at some point if not already) But I have successfully used AppleWin and WOZ images.
Delete