Cloud Kingdoms

Cloud Kingdoms is a great action/puzzle game featuring the first injection-moulded, eight-way rolling, rubber-bottomed software hero! The review at Lemon 64 says it all about this underdog, and there's not much difference between the C64 and PC versions aside from graphics detail, so I'd like to quote it here in full:

"Ok, so here is the plot: Terry is a little, eight-way scrolling rubber ball who lives in a peaceful kingdom over the clouds. This kingdom is filled with crystals and Terry has nothing better to do than scroll around and look at these crystals all day. One day a nasty fiend, for some reason, decides that he can't stand Terry's lifestyle and steals all of the crystals from Terry's kingdom. Terry gets quite upset about this and decides to get them back. Now tell me if this isn't the most stupid plot ever! Surely those guys at Millennium didn't have much imagination...

Well, the plot really sucks, but the game itself is wonderful, an under rated little gem who didn't get the success it deserved. There are 16 levels in which you struggle to get your little crystals back; Things aren't very easy, there's a strict time limit for each level, and little annoying bugs such as insects (not programming faults) who can take off some of your energy. Again, don't forget that you're a rubber ball filled with air, and therefore things like acid and fire can hurt you quite a lot. Each level is really peculiar and has its own strategies: for example, in Chase Kingdom you're chased by bugs on a magnetic track leading to the crystals; you can't jump to avoid the nasties and you have to be quick and pay attention not to fall off the track. In Unseen Kingdom the walls are invisible and you move around trying to find a path to the crystals.

Check out Ice Kingdom, my personal favourite, where you slide and bounce around like a with the smoothest scrolling ever seen on a C64! Cloud Kingdoms is by far my favourite C64 game, and one of the best platform games I've ever seen. Try it and you won't be disappointed."

Two thumbs up!

Review By HOTUD