Whilst fighting for King and Country, an evil Baron kidnaps the beautiful Princess Arthena. So jump into your chariot and rescue her. Actually, this really means playing lots of different arcade-style games which surely can't be a bad day at the local war zone, right?
Released in 1989 by Impressions, Chariots Of Wrath isn't just one particular game but instead is a half-dozen bundle of retro gaming oldies. If there was ever a mixed-goody bag of various games (thrown together) then this is it. Each range in style, from a Breakout clone to a pretty nice shoot 'em up and each must be played in order before you can advance to the next.
Of course, each and every game will become progressively harder the further you venture. Initially, I didn't care for the "operation wolf" clone because it's far too easy and a little boring but, later on, I admit to liking this as it became a lot harder and thus more challenging.
The breakout game is pretty darn awesome and comes with a number of power-ups to increase the excitement. I found it rather enjoyable but I'm sure the Arkanoid fanboys won't be quaking in their boots! The platformer looks nice but the controls feel wooden and it has an incredibly frustrating and extremely unforgiving time limit. Asteroids also make an appearance and play very well with some nifty new touches that I really liked. Finally, I really enjoy the vertically scrolling shoot 'em up which is both loud and exciting. Sadly, it suffers from amateur mechanics and a little slowdown, but it is still great fun and I did enjoy it with its BOOM BOOM sound effects!
The breakout game is pretty darn awesome and comes with a number of power-ups to increase the excitement. I found it rather enjoyable but I'm sure the Arkanoid fanboys won't be quaking in their boots! The platformer looks nice but the controls feel wooden and it has an incredibly frustrating and extremely unforgiving time limit. Asteroids also make an appearance and play very well with some nifty new touches that I really liked. Finally, I really enjoy the vertically scrolling shoot 'em up which is both loud and exciting. Sadly, it suffers from amateur mechanics and a little slowdown, but it is still great fun and I did enjoy it with its BOOM BOOM sound effects!
The graphics are pretty cool throughout each of the games with smooth scrolling and lots of colours, so overall my ears and eyes had little to complain about. However, in terms of playability, Chariots Of Wrath almost has a homebrew feel and, with a little spit and polish, we could have had a unique release? The potential is certainly there with this jack of all trades but I fear it sadly falls short and there are better individual games out for the Atari ST.
Play off a hard drive instead of the floppy thanks to 8BitChip!For those who require a floppy disk version look no further than Old Games Finder.Check out the superb video recording by CaptainD from Indie Game News.
