Necromancer Atari XEGS Review

[@GenXGrownUp]

Allegedly, after five levels of the evil wizard, his spiders, and gravestones, you can win the game. I say, "allegedly," because I've also never accomplished it! 😁

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@GenXGrownUp oh wow I'll have to investigate further. I might've made it to level 3 or 4 of the gravestones

[@DarksladeDiaries]

@@TheAtariNetwork I have beaten it many times. It was one of my favorite Atari 8 bit games. The sounds and music. (Especially the sound of the trees crying for help). When you finish the 5th level of the graveyard, the forest 'explodes' into a rainbow of color and the game ends. Yes, you can plow through the spider chambers, but you are missing out on some more unique gameplay and a lot of points. (This is a scored game, remember). Even today when I break out my 800XL, this is one of my go to games. (Try planting 25+ trees in the opening level and see if you think it's still boring!). Synapse made some of the best and most unusual Atari 8 bit games. I managed to collect them all. There are a couple of duds, but not many. Check out Slime, Drelbs, Alley Cat, Electrician, New York City: The Big Apple, Fort Apocalypse, Blue Max (which was programed by a friend of mine back in the silicon valley days, Bob Polin), Dimension X, Claim Jumper and so many others.

[@randalgelking7329]

It's TRUE!!

[@ridiculous_gaming]

Necromancer, the theme song is a fantastic example that illustrates how capable the pokey sound chip is. Coming from an Atari 2600 to the computer, back in the day, this game is a classic alongside Star Raider, Mule and Archon.

[@paulwestphal7336]

This and Alley Cat have some of the best sound work done on the 8 bit.

[@ShamrockParticle]

Alley Cat was more playable and remains an all-time great (IMHO, YMMV, EIEIO), but Necromancer definitely had a solid look.

[@bryede]

I cannot imagine how long it took to figure out those effects in the early '80s. Pokey can make a lot of sounds, but there was no documentation telling you how to create more than pure tones and engine noises.

[@Androsynth75]

I discovered this as an adult too. This is a fun, weird, unique game, well regarded at the time, but MAN is this a tough one. The manual helped a lot with this one. I’ve never understood why people think that’s a con though. I do think it’s fun, but like you said, I can’t play this for that long. It’s like Track and Field or Decathalon: good game, but a hand killer.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@Androsynth75 yeah it made me sore that's for sure. I think people just like pick up and play because it's more accessible. Any time we are asked to do more than pick up a controller it feels like a chore. Because we're all lazy lol

[@Androsynth75]

@@TheAtariNetwork Yeah, heh, that seems to be the prevailing opinion. But there are quite a lot of games from this generation (particularly on the home PCs) that require instructions that are really, really good. If you’re getting into the XL/XE line, I’d recommend hitting Atarimania and glancing at a manual because while there are a ton of pick up and play games, incredible stuff like Rescue on Fractalus, Koronis Rift, Last Starfighter, Star Raiders, Pastfinder, and a ton more need a quick manual read if you don’t want to get lost or die unexpectedly.

[@Monhamd1000]

Seems fitting for XEGS newcomers!

[@saskia6750]

amazing game

[@cyrollan]

I always love hearing the intro music to this channel. Great review, if I'm being honest. Must be tough reviewing not so good games.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@cyrollan there's worse things in the world! I like the intro music too I'm glad other people enjoy it!

[@Trialwolf]

Will keep my eyes open for this one to give it a try. Will recommend Alley Cat if you haven't played it yet as it's a fun game. I did play The Dreadnought Factor for the first time about a month ago and it is a fun and very different shoot-em-up..... I did play the Intellivision version which runs horizontally instead of vertically. Great box art for the game.

[@Phoenixryu]

I loved my Atari XE back in the day! I even wrote/copied some of the included programs it came with! It's sad that when people talk about Atari, this system seems to be forgotten. I think I still have all my copies of Atarian as well...

[@sonomabob9043]

I had this game on disk. I recall that the first level was challenging and required concentration. The game became impossibly difficult during the second level. The "hands of fate" were so fast you couldn't plant the trees above the vaults. Supposedly there is a fourth level after the graveyard level, but I never heard of anyone making it that far.

[@kevinstrade2752]

I forgot about this game. Thanks for reviewing it

[@IsaacKuo]

I had the opposite experience - I saw screenshots first, in magazines. I could tell it looked magical, although I could at first only imagine what the gameplay might be like. Before I ever saw it in person, though, I read at least one magazine review which explained what you were supposed to do (and why). So fortunately I avoided the mystery of trying to make sense of it fresh. The C64 version has more detailed sprites, but lack the cool looking gradient effects. I dunno ... I'm a C64 guy but the screenshots I first saw were Atari 8-bit and that's really the look I was hoping for in the C64 version (it's not capable of such subtle gradients, but it could get close). (I'm all NTSC, so I don't know whether folks in PAL-land got a 5/6 slower version.)

[@GoodMomo]

This game felt so polished compared to so many of the other games I had on my XE65.

[@bryede]

Bill Williams was a genius.

[@ObsidianContraption]

This looks and sounds pretty cool. I wouldn't mind trying this out if it were on some collection

[@ioloavatar8430]

I only played this title on the C64 back in the day , ummmm back many many years ago . \m/

[@computing8389]

Played it recently on the C64 Mini. I had previously played it on the Atari and the C64 version seems to be bugged on the second stage.

[@rameybutler-hm7nx]

Great video, i agree necromancer isnt a great game. However i still believe that if atari had focused all the way on the xegs it would have saved them. Great video🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@rameybutler-hm7nx I think they had to chose 7800 or XEGS. It partly killed them just being in the middle.

[@cartoonraccoon2078]

2:52 "Pressing the buh-in"

[@GoodMomo]

Also I'm pretty sure the graveyard section isn't infinite, this was one of the few games with an actual ending.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

Every time I have seen gameplay of this game, I have been a little confused. Some things looked like I knew what was going on, others I could not make heads nor tails of it.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@jeremiahthomas8140 that's how I felt too

[@GTV-Japan]

Wow XE games! I always kind of wanted one of these, but eh, never happened.

[@tomevil6]

Classy video!

[@The_Badseed]

This is a pretty cool for what it is. The XEGS is a pretty ugly console, it looks like a fax machine. The classic woodgrain is much missed

[@AngryCalvin]

It looked like Fischer Price made it. It looked really funky if you hooked it up with a disk drive, keyboard, printer, and the works.

[@brotherblue3340]

I always liked the design.

[@ecwnikos]

i heard of this game a long time ago i only tried it 1 time on my frieds 64 and i gave up on the first screen ohh well.

[@retroarcadefan]

Loved this game back in the day. Never had a problem playing it, you are just old now. :) There is a strategy to tree planting that you do not appear to be utilizing. Your score is way too low imo.