Author: Richard Phipps Genre: Role-playing / Strategy License: Freeware Version: - Other Links: -

Downloads: for Windows 11,178 KB (Zip)

Sorcerous

Being a wizard might seem like fun at first - after all, you get a trendy pointy hat and sparkly robe to wear, a staff to channel immensely powerful spells with, and a whole tower of magic to relax in at the end of a hard day. In the old Spectrum world of Chaos, though, wizards are just grumpy old men who enjoy throwing around curses, jinxes and summons at anything that moves. Preferably other wizards.

And so in Chaos Funk, a Windows remake of this retro classic, you will find yourself directing the actions of your wizard in order to wipe up to 7 other opponents off the face of the battlefield. To do so, you are given a random selection of 20 spells - each only usable once - that may either summon a creature, directly attack, affect the landscape in some way or improve your wizard's equipment.

Gameplay cycles between three stages. In the first and second stages you will choose a spell then try to cast it. Several factors might influence your choice but the biggest issue is the success rate. Trying to summon a Red Dragon will be much more tough than conjuring up a simple Bat, and if you fail to cast any spell then you must wait until the next turn before trying again. All spells have an alignment - Law, Neutral or Chaos - and as spells are cast by the wizards on the battlefield, the world alignment shifts appropriately. If the battlefield is tending toward Chaos, spells of that alignment will become easier to cast, and vice versa. Neutral spells are unaffected by the world alignment and always have the same casting chance.

The third stage of gameplay is where the action happens. You have the opportunity to move your wizard, followed by any creatures you have summoned. Attacking an enemy creature is as simple as moving into an adjacent square and clicking them, but some twists in combat will force you to consider things tactically. As soon as a monster moves next to an enemy, they are engaged in combat and cannot move to an empty square unless they kill their opponent first. Also, undead creatures can only be attacked by other undeads, attack spells or magic weapons.

One other twist to Chaos Funk's strategy is the choice of summoning a creature as real or as an illusion. Both creatures are identical, except that illusions always have a 100% chance of being cast successfully. The drawback to this is that an illusion may be instantly destroyed by using the Disbelieve ability that all wizards have mastered. Unlike normal spells, Disbelieve will not disappear from your spellbook once used, though it will use up your turn as any other incantation would.

There are other intricacies to the game, but they are best learned through experience (and perhaps the readme file, though don't believe any mentions of things that haven't been added or that don't work yet - the game is fully functional). The only major gripe I have against the game is that it could use a few more multiplayer options, though the included hotseat multiplayer will probably be enough to satisfy players of the original Chaos.

An amusing timewaster, Chaos Funk is a fairly niche game that will probably appeal to only a few people, but give it a whirl and join the fearsome ranks of wizards like "Badger", "5th Horseman" and the feared "Mr. Spam" - it's not as dull as it looks!

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