Satan

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Satan is an action adventure game with platform elements split into two different parts (the game was developed in two independent phases). The first part is a linear adventure where you control a warrior and take him through the Land of Lost Magic, looking for three lost magical papyrus rolls in order to become a magician and finally drive Satan to the entrails of hell where he belongs. There's plenty of action against monsters wielding axes, flying spooks and a whole host of demonic opponents that line the treacherous route. There are plenty of things to collect during your journey, such as Coins (which increases your points), Gems (also increases your points but much more), Elixir (which replenishes you with energy), Clock (to get help by Chronos, the god of time) etc.
The second part can be described as a sort of martial arts (!) game with... lightning bolts! Your mission now is to free the wizards who are imprisoned in the surroundings of the Palace of the Clouds and forever destroy the forces of evil. Each time you destroy one of the many forms that Satan's minions would take, you will receive some coins which you can use to buy devices, such as Teleport cards, Energy recharger, Magic axe, Shield of fire etc) at the shop of the wizard Brownie.
Overall, the game is quite addictive and, although, Dinamic used to develop difficult games with cool graphics, Satan is really playable.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
Graphics are fine, and it is obvious that a great deal of care and attention has been taken over them. The Amstrad CPC version is no exception, except of a few glitches due to its hardware limitations, especially noticeable on the screen scrolling (and in contrast to the C64 version which scrolls fluently). Nevertheless, the backdrops and the game's sprites look great, colorful and quite appealing. Especially the sprites are very well detailed and pretty nicely animated.
Low quality sound effects and no in-game music are on the negative side of this version which should at least have an introductory tune. Note that, comparably, the C64 version offers some high quality sound effects during gameplay.