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Review - Wikipedia
Archon is a computer game developed by Free Fall Associates and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was originally developed for Atari 8-bit computers in 1983, but was later ported to several other systems of the day, including the Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga, IBM PC, and NES. It was designed by Paul Reiche III and Jon Freeman and programmed by Freeman's wife, Anne Westfall. Reiche also produced the artwork for the game.
Archon is visually very similar to chess, but with a number of significant changes.
While the pieces on the board have similar relative abilities to the different pieces in chess, when one piece attempts to take another, the removal of the targeted piece is not automatic. Instead, the two pieces are placed into a full-screen 'combat arena' and must battle to determine who takes the square.
Generally (but not always) in combat, a stronger piece will succeed over a weaker piece in either defending or capturing a square. It is also possible for the fight to result in a double-kill, in which both pieces are eliminated. This uncertainty adds a level of complexity into the game, since it is not always possible to predict if taking a square will be successful.
Each character's strength is also affected by the color of the square on which the combat occurs and by a light-and-dark cycle on the 'neutral' squares, indicated by the changing color of the board. The 'light' side is stronger on the white squares and during the light cycle, and the 'dark' side is stronger on the dark squares and during the dark cycle.
Different pieces have different abilities in the combat phase. These include speed, life, and weapon effectiveness. The weapons vary by reach and the amount of damage inflicted on an opponent. For example, the pawn (represented by knights on the 'light' side and goblins on the 'dark' side) moves quickly, but has very little strength; its weapon, a sword or club, has limited reach and power. A dragon is considerably fast and can fire a powerful projectile blast, while a golem moves slowly and fires a slow but powerful boulder.
Some pieces have special abilities. The Phoenix can turn into a ball of fire, both damaging the enemy and shielding itself from enemy attacks. The shapeshifter assumes the shape and abilities of whatever piece it is up against.
Each side also has a spellcaster piece (the Sorceress for the dark side, the Wizard for the light side) which can cast seven different spells; each spell may be used only once per game by each spellcaster. The spells are Teleport (teleports one of your pieces to any square), Heal (fully heals one piece), Shift Time (reverses the light/dark cycle), Exchange (swaps the board locations of any two pieces), Summon Elemental (summons one of four elementals randomly to a chosen square to battle an enemy piece -- the elemental disappears after the battle), Revive (returns one of your defeated pieces to the board), and Imprison (prevents the target piece from moving until the light/dark cycle returns to its color). The spells may not be cast on pieces currently sitting on one of the five 'power points', which are located at the center of the board and the center of each of the four sides.
The game is won when either one side destroys all the opposing pieces or one of the sides is able to occupy all of the five power points.
FreeFall Associates developed a sequel to the game called Archon II: Adept in 1984 (it appeared on different systems on different dates). Not very similar to the original, it had improved graphics, different creatures and required different strategy to win. The players in this version represented either Order or Chaos and possessed a wizard that could cast powerful spells. The Amiga version featured full stereo sound, unusual for games of the day.
Toys for Bob developed a game in 1994 called Archon Ultra. It was a full remake of the original game with updated graphics and sound. It also featured a multiplayer mode via modem. However, it performed very poorly in the marketplace.
Archon may have served as the inspiration for Battle Chess, a computer game of chess where the pieces battle for their spaces. It also inspired some more recent games, including The Unholy War for the PlayStation and Wrath Unleashed for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
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