Aztec by Datamost (1982)
If you grew up with an Apple computer in the 80’s, chances were very high you’ve played Datamost’s AZTEC. This dandy of an adventure game was the pinnacle of gaming for the Apple 2 back in the day!
Imagine yourself as an Indiana Jones-type adventurer journeying into the bowels of an ancient South American temple in search of a mystical, and mysterious idol! The quicker you acquire and bring said idol to the surface/entrance of the temple, the more cash it’s worth!
I’m not saying the temple catacombs are a cakewalk to maneuver through, far from it! Just a few creatures you’ll run in to are Spiders (of course), Snakes (sure), Scorpions (you bet), a Giant Octopus (excuse me?), Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaurs (WHAT???), and the occasional Aztec Warrior. Plus a bunch of other awful things you wouldn’t want to step on. Like I said, no cakewalk!
What makes this dash through an Aztec tomb more daunting? The laundry list of keyboard controls!
Check it, ready? Here you go:
W-walk
R-run
J-jump
S-stop
C-climb
A-turn left
D-turn right
G-crawl (once)
P-place and light explosive
T-take
O-opens box or digs in trash pile
L-look in box
Z-inventory
W, R, or J -move mode
F-goes to fight mode. Below are keys while in fight mode:
S-spin around
A-move one to left
D-move one to right
L-lunge
M-strike down
G-draw fun
Space bar-shoot
Did you get all that? Good, because you’ll be using all of ’em!
Oh, did I mention the joint is also booby-trapped? Falling bombs, flooding rooms, compacting walls, and more all wait to do you in. Good luck Indy….type of generic adventurer! You’re gonna need it!
The game created by Paul Stephenson for the Apple II and published by Datamost in 1982. Later it was ported to the Atari 8-bit family of computers and the Commodore 64. Making it a popular game across multiple computer lines.
The graphics at the time were top-notch, the game play was fun and fresh as the temple map would change every time you played. Heck, it’s still fun to play nowadays. Check out the video below and see what I mean!
Enter if you dare…press any key…