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‘The air was cold and damp, a welcome change from the cloying atmosphere of the swamp. Somewhere beyond this labyrinth of underground caves, somewhere in the castle above, Dianos was waiting. There would be traps set to hinder him, magic and potions to help. He needed a map, he needed weapons – but most important of all, he needed treasure. Putting on his helmet, Karadoc stepped onto the shore...’
After ‘Xenon’, ‘Speedball’ and ‘Xenon 2 – Megablast’, ‘Cadaver’ was the fourth game of the legendary development team The Bitmap Brothers. Also it was their first attempt to create an action-adventure...
The Contract...
You play the part of Karadoc, a dwarf, who was assigned to kill the necromancer Dianos. After murdering his master Carolus, Dianos takes control over Castle Wulf – a huge sinister stronghold within a foul smelling swamp...
The game starts in the dungeons of the castle - Karadoc stands in front of his damaged boat at the shore of an underground lake. Because it’s beyond repair, he can’t go back - certainly the main task is to find the exit, which leads to the next level. To do that, Karadoc has to solve puzzles and to fight Diano’s beasts...
New Game, New Engine...
Especially for ‘Cadaver’, The Bitmap Brothers had created a game engine called ‘ACL’. With this engine, you’re able to interact with the several objects like barrels, levers, buttons, potions and so on...
An example: Karadoc stand in front of a barrel filled with water. Once you’re touching an object, in the bottom left corner of the screen different icons appear. By pressing the fire button, the game pauses and via cursor, you can select one of them: ‘Drink’, ‘Pull’, ‘Search’ and ‘Return to movement control’. In case you want to push the barrel, you’ve just to move the stick forward...
By pressing the fire button during walking, the dwarf jumps...
Needful Things...
Similar to classic ‘point and click’ adventures you have an inventory. Here all items (up to thirty-two of them you’re able to store here) you’ve collected during the explorations of the castle appear. Because each of the five levels is populated by monsters, Karadoc has to find weapons. Sadly he can’t use arms like swords and axes (because of his size?) – instead of that, there are ‘throwing stones’ and shuriken. Of course each of the weapons has a certain amount of ammo – after it’d run out; you’ve to find a new one...
By pressing F1, a map appears – all visited rooms of the current level are displayed here. Moving the stick around, you can scroll the map. Using the up/down cursor keys, the player’s able to zoom in/out...
Because the event takes place in a medieval fantasy setting, Karadoc can use magic. Here and there scrolls appear – there are many of them and you’ve to use them wisely. Each situation demands a specific spell...
Another example: to defeat the mighty dragon, which guards the exit to the second level, you’ll need the ‘massacre’-spell. Finding it is the only way to escape the dungeons...
Advices of the Dead...
Like in ‘Resident Evil’ there a many documents, penned by deceased adventurers or servants of Lord Carolus. These will help you solving puzzles or finding special items (‘We have hidden the gem beneath the sacks...’). From time to time Karadoc finds gold or other useful things like food, potions or gems, too...
When you’ve finally entered the next stage, the character’s level and also his health increase. Certainly the degree of difficulty rises, too. The beasts become stronger and the several puzzles are far more complex...
‘Cadaver’ is a very exciting action-adventure with challenging puzzles, dastardly traps and belligerent monsters like worms, dragons, spiders, beholders and even turtles...
Unfortunately the degree of difficulty is very high – the ‘rule type’ of the program is responsible for this fact. You are able to save the game anytime and everywhere. But it will cost you: at the very first time the price amounts to five gold pieces, at the second time the price amounts to eleven gold pieces and so on. Because the player has to save very often, he’ll run out of money soon. Especially in the later levels of the game, the costs are so high you can’t afford it...
And when you finally enter a new level, your maximum health increases – but the current health status remains the same as it was before leaving the previous level...
Because there is no (free) auto save at the beginning of each new level, the player has to load the last savegame after the dwarf has been killed the next time...
Nevertheless ‘Cadaver’ is a truly classic, which continued the hit series of The Bitmap Brothers. On one day the player’s totally frustrated because of the very high degree of difficulty and turns off the computer– the next day he inserts the game disk again, because of the program's distinctive mystic ambience...
A kind of love-hate relationship...
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The several levels of ‘Cadaver’ are shown in an isometric 3D view (similar to ‘The Last Ninja’ or ‘Darkmere’). The different graphic sets of the five levels are very colourful and detailed - each of them is a feast for the eyes. Stunning! In almost every room, you catch sight of nice animations like e.g. the flickering of candles. The different enemies are well animated, too. Merely the animations of the main character look strange. Because every room fits completely on the screen, there is no scrolling...
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The main theme of ‘Cadaver’ is absolutely brilliant. But apart from a few jingles, which can be heard when you’ve finally have solved a puzzle or when Karadoc has been killed, in the game itself there’s no music at all. However, the sound fx are very good – particularly the sounds of locked doors and the death cry of a killed monster are remarkable...
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Exploring Castle Wolf with Karadoc isn’t so easy, because the control is very complex. But not later than half an hour you should manage it. You can also switch between two control types anytime. Because each level fits into the memory, loading times are very rarely...
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| ‘Cadaver’ has its own specific charm - the medieval setting, the eerie atmosphere, the constantly feeling of aloneness. There are no survivors, only their remains. You’ve just the chance to talk to the dead – to ghosts. A great game, indeed. By the way, in summer 1991 The Bitmap Brothers released an add-on called ‘The Payoff’ – this data disk contains four new levels and is very recommendable to fans of the main program... |
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