[Eastern music]
[typing]
In 1983, Doug Smith's Lode Runner
was released by Brøderbund Software for the Apple II.
In Lode Runner,
you played a stick figure running away from other stick figures,
navigating the platforms,
shooting holes into the ground
and trying to collect gold without getting caught.
It also is one of the first games to include a level editor,
ensuring there was always plenty to do.
In short, Lode Runner was fantastic because it was awesome and rad.
As a result, tons of ports and follow up games were produced
throughout the following years
from games like Championship Lode Runner on the NES
to Lode Runner: The Lost Labyrinth for the NEC PC Engine.
But it wasn't until Presage Software bought the rights to Lode Runner in 1993
that a proper evolution of the game came about.
The result of this new developer's hard work
was 1994's Lode Runner: The Legend Returns,
published by Sierra Online for Windows 3.1 and the Macintosh.
It took the original Apple II game and updated it for the '90s
with 256-color graphics, an awesome soundtrack,
new traps and tools to use,
a two-player co-op mode,
and an improved level editor
and evil monks hungry for your flesh!
The Legend Returns sold a bunch,
won a bunch of awards,
and got a bunch of ports to other systems.
But there is a reason I'm not focusing this review on that game.
And that reason is Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge from 1995,
released exclusively on Mac and PC.
It's got all the goodness of The Legend Returns,
with at least 37% more pure, unfiltered awesome included.
More levels, more traps, and new online multiplayer modes,
as implied by the name.
Though it's unfortunate that some people seemd to take this to mean
that it was ONLY playable online,
but that's what you get when you judge a game by its cover.
Honestly, the biggest reason to get this version, if you're a fan of The Legend Returns on PC,
is the fact that it's been totally reprogrammed in 32-bit code.
Which means it's not only faster, but it actually works properly on Windows 95 and higher,
whereas I've never been able to get The Legend Returns working on anything past 3.1.
It also only comes on CD-ROM, as far as I know,
which means you get the excellent Redbook Audio CD soundtrack
instead of the hit-or-miss MIDI tunes from the earlier floppy versions.
Start it up and you're greeted with a menu
very similar to The Legend Returns, but more streamlined.
You've got options to start a single-player game,
play a multiplayer game on the current PC,
play multiplayer over a local area network,
play multiplayer over a modem connection,
create your own levels in the level editor,
and change the options.
Options. Yes.
They're simple enough. Just choose your controls
and volume levels and that's it.
The level editor is also pretty simple to use.
Pretty much just choose a tile and place it.
And the user interface makes it really easy
to make levels every bit as complex as the levels the game comes with.
Not only can you make your own,
but this means you can also download level packs online made by other people,
so that gaming, theoretically, never has to stop.
But of course, it's the levels the game comes with
that you'll probably want to hit up first.
And you can do this by either starting a new game from the very beginning,
or jumping ahead to any level you want.
You won't get as high of a score when doing this, but it's useful,
if you just want to skip ahead when you run across a level
so aggravating it makes you want to stab someone with a hamster.
And yes, just like previous versions of Lode Runner,
you will run across levels of increasing difficulty
as the game progresses,
many of which are well beyond my patience level.
But at the beginning, it's smooth sailin'.
You control either Jake Peril as Player 1,
or Wes Reckless as Player 2,
and navigate the level's platforms
in order to collect all the gold and/or keys on-screen.
All you do at first is climb ladders,
traverse bars and shoot holes in vulnerable platforms,
just like the original Lode Runner,
then pass through the exit portal once you've collected everything.
But it's not long before you'll run into Mad Monks,
which will not only kill you
but devour your body on contact.
[crunching]
And I love that sound effect for some reason.
Makes me, uh...
makes me happy.
These demonic dudes
follow a pretty basic set of logical rules
where they will always follow you on a horizontal and vertical plane,
but stop when they run into an obstacle
or can't move from their current position
because you're on one of those planes and they can't reach you.
In other words, they don't have any intelligence
but they will follow you if a logical path allows it.
So learning their quirks is essential to not becoming their next meal.
They'll also randomly steal and relocate gold pieces they walk past,
which can really screw up your strategy if you're not careful.
And then all of this is thrown for a loop
when you take into account trapping,
because once you trap them in a hole and it fills back up,
or you blow them up with a bomb,
they will respawn somewhere in the level.
Along with your ability to shoot holes in the ground,
you also have the new items from The Legend Returns.
These are introduced through these little animated cutscenes
in between the new worlds,
which gives a short introduction to bombs,
buckets of sticky goo,
snares,
a jackhammer,
befuddlement gas,
a pickaxe,
a glowing pendant for seeing in the dark,
and teleporters,
which often teleports you to exactly the wrong place.
In addition to these, you have two more things to worry about
in Mad Monks' Revenge:
phase blocks and liquid blocks.
Phase blocks phase in and out of existence – go figure –
trapping a character if caught in it.
And liquid blocks will cause instant death on contact,
though they can be filled in with a pickaxe.
Combine all of this with the regular blocks and obstacles,
and you've got a game that's definitely a step or three
beyond the original Apple II game.
Although, you can actually play the Apple II levels
through an Easter egg in Level 1 if you really want to.
It even has the same blue-on-black tile set.
Which is just awesomely nostaglic
for those of us that remember playing this one.
And of course, being called "Online" you have the online modes.
In addition to the 180 single-player levels,
you have 150 two-player levels to get through.
That's an absolute crap-ton of co-op gaming,
which is a surefire way to get a nice heated rivalry going,
especially when you start competing for gold.
You can play these levels either locally on a single PC,
over a LAN,
or online over a modem connection.
It's a huge addition to the game and adds a ton of value,
but I still think it was probably a mistake for them to use the name "Online" in the title,
if only because it was a bit confusing to some.
I mean, yeah. It was, you know, important, but
seriously, people can be really dumb.
Slightly confusing title or not,
The Mad Monks' Revenge is a fantastic Lode Runner game,
and probably my favorite of the entire series.
It has all the charm of the original,
combined with all of the additions of The Legend Returns,
and a bunch of new gameplay and content on top of that.
It keeps the original formula without being overbearing with a bunch of new additions.
And I really can't complain about this game
because it's exactly what I want in a linear puzzle game.
Lots of variety, solid gameplay, enjoyable puzzle solving,
multiplayer options and customization once you're done.
Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge
was completely awesome back in the day.
And as far as I'm concerned,
it remains just as awesome today.
[crunching]