GIFT FROM THE GODS "The Power of Destiny" THE PLACE The Palace of Mycenea in Ancient Greece. THE PLAYERS ORESTES Our Hero aided by the Gods returns to Mycenea, to regain his Kingdom from the clutches of his trecherous stepfather and evil mother. CLYTAEMNESTRA The traitorous queen who disposes of her husband and rules over the land with her conspirator Aegisthus, after banishing her children Orestes and Eiectra. AGAMEMNON The real ruler, whose death Orestes must avenge to restore prosperity to the people of Mycenae and power to the house of ATREUS. ELECTRA Sister of Orestes, imprisoned by her mother in the catacombs below the palace, where Orestes must venture to find the solution to Agamemnon's Puzzle. THE GODS Zeus and Apollo - take Orestes to the summit of Mount Panassus and bestow upon him the gifts he will need to succeed in the Labyrinth and assume his rightful place on the throne. THR GIFTS From Zeus:- he receives the silver studded sword given to Ajaxby Hector after the Trojan Wars—alone this weapon has the power to defeat the iIlusionary creatures Orestes will face. From Apollo:- Orestes is given the seven tears shed by Icarus as he flew towards the sun, these can be left as markers in the catacombs. THE PLOT Orestes must fulfil I his destiny by trial in the Labyrinth beneath the palace and find the solution to the puzzle, or perish in the attempt. The inter-connecting chambers were created by the gods to punish errant mortals and hidden in 16 special rooms are objects known as Euclidian shapes, geometric designs based on triangles, circles and squares; six of which, when positioned correctly in the Guardian's chamber reveal the exit and success. This chamber however is home of the Demi-Gods who use their power of illusion to prevent discovery of the shapes-Orestes must be wary of this deceit! To assist our Hero in his search the Gods have revealed the solution to Electra imprisoned beneath the palace, "Find Electra", Orestes is told, "She will lead you to the shapes you need", but without the help of Electra, Orestes must determine which shapes from which rooms must be taken to the Guardian's chamber. Terrifying illusionary creatures by the Demi-Gods will try to sap Orestes'strength.. .he is advised by Zeus "Whenever you feel weak go at once to the Guardian's chamber where your strength wiil be restored" — If the creatures can be killed their power will temporarily be lost. "Use this fact to your advantage" advises Apollo. Finally Orestes is warned that Clytaemnestra has learned of his task from a soothsayer. She has entered the catacombs to kill Electra, making Orestes task all the more difficult since he must protect his sister-without her he may never solve the puzzle! Orestes enters the darkness from where no human has ever returned. . . GIFT FROM THE GODS Its program code, graphic representation and artwork are the copyright of Ocean Software Limited and may not be reproduced, stored/ hired or broadcast in any form whatsoever without the written permission of O.S.L All rights reserved worldwide. The program runs on the 48K Spectrum and ZX Spectrum + LOADING Position the cassette in your tape recorder with the printed side upwards and make sure that it is rewound to the beginning. Ensure that the connection lead goes from the EAR socket on the recorder to the EAR socket on the Spectrum and that the MIC socket is disconnected. Type LOAD "". (Note there is no space between the two quotes). The" is obtained by pressing the SYMBOL SHIFT and P KEY simultaneously. For further instructions consult your manual. PRESS PLAY on the recorder. The screen message should appear and the game will load automatically. If this does not happen adjust the volume and tone controls until loading takes place. When loaded follow screen instructions. CONTROLLING THE HERO The game has been designed to be played with a joystick but a keyboard option is available, joysticks supported are: KEMPSTON PROTEK FULLER AGF SINCLAIR INTERFACE 2 Any joystick compatible with one listed above will also work. When the game has loaded you will be asked to make your selection of Joystick/keyboard. Once chosen, your selection can only be changed by reloading the program. The hero has a large repertoire of movements available to him. F-le can run, turn round, step back (through a door), fly (in 8 different directions), take-off and land. Additionally he can fight by stabbing or scything with his sword. He can also pick up and drop objects. "INTELLIGENT" JOYSTICK FEATURE All these movements are available from a single joystick (or the keyboard) without the need for complex combinations of stick and FIRE button or a plethora of keys. This is achieved by making the Joystick 'INTELLIGENT', it knows what the Hero is doing and by implication what you want him to do next when you operate the controls. It would be confusing to present a list of joystick/keyboard functions; it's better for you to discover the rules by experiment. Load the game and when it is running, play with the joystick and see what the Hero does. You'll soon get the 'feel' of it; just remember that the direction you move the stick in will also be the direction in which the hero will move. STRATEGY TIPS i When the Hero's running, you can make him stop immediately by releasing the stick and pressing the FIRE button. ii To make the Hero turn and face backwards, stab the stick in the opposite direction to which he's facing. If this leaves him facing a door/ simply push the stick up and he'll step back into the connected room. iii The Hero can only use his sword when he's on his feet. To make him stab: press the FIRE button and move the stick left or right (depending on which way he's facing). To make him scythe: press the FIRE button and pull the joystick down (regardless of which way he's facing). iv To make the Hero pick something up: press the FIRE button and push the stick up. To make him drop something he's carrying: simply pull the stick down. If you want him to drop something when he's flying/ press the FIRE button as well. v There are two things that the Hero is able to pick up, carry and drop: EUCLIDIAN SHAPES and ICARUS'S TEARS. The Hero may carry as many or as few of the 7 tears as you wish. He can only carry one EUCLIDIAN SHAPE at a time. vi EUCLIDIAN shapes can only be dropped in the GUARDIAN'S CHAMBER and in the special rooms in which they're kept. Conversely, the Hero can only drop an ICARUS'S TEAR in the catacombs proper. vii To be sure the Hero knows what he's supposed to be picking up, position him above, below or over it before you operate the joystick. PLAYING HINTS Try to think of the Hero as a real person; don't ask too much of him. Every action he performs will reduce his stamina, some more than others, as his stamina gets lower so he'll move more slowly, making it more difficult for him to get about and defend himself. Be sure to seek out the GUARDIAN'S CHAMBER or some other means of rejuvenation whenever he shows signs of flagging. Don't expect him to be able to kill theJarger demons with just a quick flourish of his trusty SWORD. They can be 'stunned' quite easily, but to 'kill' a blow to its vunerable part is necessary, which part that is you will have to discover for yourself. Don't underestimate the value of killing these illusionary creatures. Remember that the Guardians' power of illusion is lost to them for a short time when an illusionary creature is killed. That means the illusion of EUCLIDIAN SHAPES will disappear temporarily from their restir'g places within the catacombs. There are 64 shapes dispersed around the catacombs, your task is to discover the 6 "REAL" ones. If you come across the Hero's sister ELECTRA, follow her closely, she'll take you straight to one of the EUCLIDIAN SHAPES you're looking for. The NYMPHS/ may not help you Finally, keep in mind that the Hero's mother, CLYTAEMNESTRA, who is also in the catacombs doing her best to sabotage her son's efforts. She'll pick up and move EUCLIDIAN SHAPES and ICARUS'S TEARS in an endeavour to confuse our Hero ORESTES, and worst of all, she'll kill ELECTRA if she finds her! CLYTAEMNESTRA will do her best to avoid meeting ORESTES as, needless to say, she's afraid of his hatred for her. The best way to thwart her is to keep her on the move. You'll know when she's in the vicinity because she always leaves behind her a small cloud of sparkling dust. "Gift from the Gods", created and written for the Spectrum by Denton Designs, is one of many exciting games from Ocean Software. Please ask your local dealer for other titles in our range. If you've written a good program why not contact us, without obligation, to discuss marketing it for you. Write to: Ocean Software Limited, Ocean House, 6 Central Street, Manchester M2. PRODUCED BY D.C. WARD © 1984 Ocean Software Limited.