ElfLand

A decent and ambitious if uninspired side-scrolling platformer, Elfland is a little-known game published as shareware by the author in 1992.

The description and - in my opinion - an overly optimistic review at MobyGames says it all: "...you play as an Elf fighting off the evil trolls that have invaded your homeland. Elfland was inspired by Captain Comic and id's Commander Keen series. Gameplay - So, if you play it once, go back and play it again for the fun of it. It requires a whole 9 keys! Sounds impossible to me! Using two arrow keys, left and right, you move. Using up and down, you switch berries, using control and alt makes you shoot and jump, respectively, enter gets you out of text with people/creatures, and space brings up your inventory. The you press escape and get to the main menu.

Weapons choices - Berries! There's the red flash berries, the large flash berries that go in three directions, the green ones....I forgot what those do..., the blue ones seek, the black bomb berries destroy odd walls and are extra-strong! It's fun to go back and play this, it's from 1992, so anything that we could consider bad is good for its time!"

Recommended only if you are a fan of Commander Keen and are curious about its "clones" - just don't expect anything great from this rare underdog.

Review By HOTUD