Onslaught
System: Genesis
Release Date: July 1991
Developer: Code Monkeys Ltd.
Publisher: Ballistic
Genre: Action
Lead the rebellion to victory and emancipation in Onslaught! 500 years of dictatorial rule has existed in the dominion of Gargore. Many have tried to overthrow the kingdom, but none have been able to overcome fourteen imperial armies that roam the land. Your father, Donkar, came up with a plan to overthrow his bonds of oppression. Unfortunately, he was captured and executed for treason, leaving you to take the mantle and lead your people to liberation! A fight to the bitter end is in your future, can you handle it?
Hoo boy, when I first started playing, I couldn’t stand the controls. There’s an inventory on the bottom of the screen and you scroll left with the A Button, scroll right with the C Button, and use the item with the B Button. There’s a map of the land and you start in the center. From there, you fan out to adjacent squares, though you will be stopped by mountains, water, swamps, and trees. These will be overcome if you hold the specific talisman from one of the elemental temples. (44:50; vid 1) The bottom corners of the screen show your energy level in blue and life level in red. If either of these scrolls fully drain of color, it’s game over.
The goal of each level is to overtake the sitting army and control their territory. You begin by walking to the right and capturing a flag in a Field Battle. After reaching the goal, you need to clear the level of enemies, either by killing them or letting them run away. The enemy is also attempting to do the same to you and if enough enemies get past you, they supposedly win. Winning or losing takes you to a Siege, which is the same thing, but on a different map. A second win loss on this stage takes you to a Mind Duel. As long as you don’t die, you keep moving through these stages until you beat their leader in a Mind Duel or they beat you in a Defensive Mind Duel. I never lost a stage unless I died.
You start with a weak mace that has eight uses before it breaks and disappears. Every enemy you kill will drop an item. It may be a mace, super mace, crossbow, super crossbow, grenade, Brahma Bull, or Ghost Face. I found the weapons to be useless and just a waste of inventory space. I did like the Brahma Bull and Ghost Face, though. Whenever I picked them up, I’d spam them real fast. They’d home in on any enemies and take them out through attacks or explosions. There are also single use spell scrolls that drop. Red and blue scrolls replenish your life and energy, respectively, and are incredibly important. Green scrolls kill all enemies on screen, or destroy their mounts. Yellow scrolls blow a fireball in eight directions. The white scroll freezes enemies in their tracks, though they can still attack you. And the black scroll overwrites your inventory with either green or yellow scrolls.
The tactic I used was to kill enemies with whatever I had until I got a black scroll. Then I’d use all my good weapons, and then click the scroll. Now I would have a full inventory of instant death magic and just walk forward. The items seem to loop in a deterministic pattern, so by the time I ran out of spells, I would have another black scroll and do it all over again. You’re not allowed to carry more than one type of the same item, unless it’s through use of the black scroll. I cleared out the opening area and went across the water before realizing that I didn’t want to do this exact same thing 100 times and called it a day.
Graphics: 3.0
The sprites are big, there’s lots of animations, and colors aplenty.
Sound: 1.0
You either get music or sound effects. The song isn’t bad, but it just loops over and over again, which is annoying.
Gameplay: 2.0
I would be surprised if anyone liked the controls right away. I did get used to them after 10-15 minutes, though. I don’t see anyone choosing to use maces or crossbows.
Difficulty: 3.0
Levels were rather easy, but if you die, it’s game over. The manual says you can continue by pressing reset on the end game screen.
Fun Factor: 2.5
I enjoyed it in a mindless walk forward and press buttons kind of way. I don’t really expect others to get that enjoyment.
Overall Rating: 2.3
Onslaught earns a C+. This isn’t a great game, but after getting used to its quirks, it’s a playable game. Try it and let me know what you think.