The moon-bound adventures of Charlemagne Fotheringham-Grunes have long held a place in my heart. From the moment the Spectrum version loaded and shouted "NODES OF YESOD BY ODIN COMPUTER GRAPHICS", I had a feeling the game would be special.
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| I say, what a splendid little trinket. One may have to add that to one's collection. |
It was. Charlie's quest to collect alchiems and find the Monolith was addictive, playable and full of charm. Nodes of Yesod was a relatively standard platform game by-and-large, enhanced with cute touches such as your mole sidekick who could eat through walls to create shortcuts, and the evil red spaceman who stalked your every move and stole your precious alchiems.
In fact, Odin went on a run where they released the highest quality games, all gorgeous-looking and filled with cute touches. Robin of the Wood, The Arc of Yesod, Heartland... lovely games that kept me playing for ages, even if I did occasionally get frustrated with tramping around the same damn bits of Sherwood Forest!
The run couldn't, and didn't last, and later titles lacked a little of the spark of the early days. But for a while, Odin Computer Graphics shone as brightly as anyone. If any of the chaps involved is out there now, I'd love to ask a few questions...
OCG did some great games. I really like the smooth animation they put into their main character. My favorite game was Robin of the Wood. I thought the intro tune on the Spectrum was one of the best multichannel tunes I had heard at the time. My little bro and I used the tape recorder for amplification.
ReplyDeleteI played Arc/Nodes of Yesod and Robin of the Wood recently but didn't get on with them (although the graphics are fantastic).
ReplyDeleteOn such a large game as Nodes, the way the red spacemen could pilfer you alchiems so you'd have to find them again was just plain frustrating.
I found Robin of the Wood quite boring and it was annoying that the Normans (or whatever) could fire arrows yet Robin couldn't use a longbow.
I've yet to try Heartland but hope it's not more style over gameplay. I'm not holding my breath.
Hmmm... I expect you might be disappointed, Wingnut. Heartland is a traditional Odin game in every way... it looks lovely, but I doubt you'd be a fan of the gameplay.
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