Below the Root

The Good
It's been almost 20 years since I played this game on my Tandy 1000SX computer off of floppy disk. While I can't remember everything about it, I do recall that it totally absorbed me.

The imagination on which the game was based surpassed anything I had played previously. I was enthralled with the story and thrilled with each success that carried me further into the plot.

The Bad
It was hard to understand exactly what you were supposed to do. In fact, I'm not sure I ever finished Below The Root. When I upgraded my computer, it would no longer play, and I was really sad that I could not continue the quest.

The Bottom Line
Below The Root is truly a classic fantasy adventure. One step above a text adventure, it was released at a time when the original Zork games came out. I would welcome the chance to play it again, if it could run on a Windows 98 system.

The Good
Below the Root was absolutely enchanting. I played this on my Commodore 64 computer, and was totally into it. The game included a cool fold-out map where you could plot out your movement in the game environment. Like someone else, I was never able to finish it. I got to a certain part "below the root" where I couldn't progress any further.

After moving on to the IBM environment, I got rid of all my Commodore stuff. Now that I've repurchased a Commodore 64 on ebay, I would love to get a hold of this game again!

Very warm and fuzzy memories from my childhood.

The Bad
Difficult to complete the entire game.

The Bottom Line
This game really made you think your way through, while providing a great background fantasy/myth world within which to play. It was a lot of fun, as I remember it.

The Good
Well, like everyone else, its been years since I've played it, on my good ol' Commodore 64, which I still have, so I'm reviewing off childhood memories here. =) Anyhow, the graphics for the time were pretty good, and the general theme of the game was great, as well as the game play itself.

The Bad
The plot was somewhat sketchy, I couldn't always figure out what I was supposed to do next.

The Bottom Line
Unlike the rest, I have finished it. =) The main goal is to rescue a guy named Rammo from the tunnels underground, Below the Root, as it were. There's either, a few large trees you have to traverse, or just one big one with some rather large limbs, I couldn't tell you without seeing the fold-out map again.. But you have to save a few people, help out some others, gather items, and get below the trees to save Rammo... what I'm not sure of, however, is who he is really, and why he's stuck under the roots...

The Good
The graphics are great for 1985 on the Commodore 64. It is still a great game to play nowadays as you have to rescue a man below the root.

Unlike other text adventures, this game has an arcade element into the game, in which you jump from branch to branch on the grounds, talk to people to get some wisdom and gain skills, like kiniporting, pensing, and growing limbs.

This game is similar to Alice in Wonderland, except that you have to deal with rest and hunger. If any of those stats fall below 0, you go right back to your home, recovering from whatever failure you endured. So, you have to gather some things, like Roast Lapan and all that other stuff, and if you are extremely tired, you'd better hope that someone offers you a nap.

Graphics are excellent, it's an arcade with a twist, and it's a role-playing game all in one.

The Bad
My complaint: Why CAN'T you swim!? It would be a nice addition to the gameplay. Also, sometimes your scuba gets torn if you even fall once or twice. Maybe if some company does make a sequel to this game, then they should at least let them swim.

The Bottom Line
Despite my complaint that you can't swim unlike Alice in Wonderland, it is several games in one. It's an arcade, it's a strategy, it's a role playing game, and it's a command-driven game. Ever since this game came out, it became an instant classic.

Well, if you can still play this game, then by all means go for it! It's still a fun game, despite it being 20 years old, and if they would've update this game and create a sequel, that would be nice!

The Good
Everything. It totally tapped what the Commodore 64 (C64) had to offer to create a game which combines graphics adventure, action and cool storyline with a hint of RPG and arcade action. If you haven't tried this game, you simply have not seen how great a graphics adventure the C64 was capable of supporting.

It was because of this game that I read the Zilpha Keatley Schneider book trilogy. It is a masterpiece of storytelling depicting how understanding, acceptance, and spirituality can solve political, racial, spiritual, and social problems without the need to resort to violence. Like in the books, acts of violence or aggression are severely punished in Below the Root. The Kindar race can't eat meat without taking a nasty spirit loss penalty, because such foods endorse the killing of animals. Killing is simply unacceptable. You must always find another way if you are to succeed.

The game always had me immersed in the world of Green Sky. I would spend hours jumping off of every tree branch I could find, hoping to glide into some secret area to find an animal (spirit boost), elixir (boost stamina), or secret house with a new spirit leader (boost spirit and advance the storyline). I felt compelled to explore every inch of the maze of tunnels below the root, and really developed an appreciation for the detail and the vastness of the graphical adventure world of Green Sky. It is as colorful and breathtaking as any explorable world I've ever seen created on the C64.

The Bad
It was sometimes frustrating when I would collapse from exhaustion, fall through a hole, miss a jump, or get captured by a supporter of an enemy faction. Sometimes Shubas (gliders) and Trencher Beaks (saw-like bird beak) break all-to-easily, forcing you to carry spares and discover sources of emergency replacements. Also, Anyone who has ever missed a jump, landed on a spider, and been knocked down 8 or 10 times in succession know how tempting it can be to whip out a trencher beak and end it's miserable life - of course the punishment of such an act, loss of critical spirit power, is absolutely devastating. However, all these negatives provide an arcade-like challenge which serve to make the game just demanding enough to be fun, addicting, and replayable.

If anyone finds the storyline confusing, vague, or poorly drawn out, I recommend reading the book trilogy. People who criticize this aspect of the game who have not read the books are really missing the point of the game - to bring to life a world depicted in a classic novel. That is Windham Classics' primary goal in creating computer games, hence their name.

The Bottom Line
You start off as one of the various Kindar or Erdling characters, exploring Green SKY, a strange world of trees where people live in tree houses, sleep in hammocks, and travel from branch to branch with gliders. As you progress, you find sources of food, rest, money, and useful objects to help you explore further and soar to more distant trees (known as Grunds). The people you meet impart knowledge about the social structure and political challenges of green sky, and sometimes lead you important people who reveal key information about your quest and boost your spirit to help you develop a set of lost spirit skills. Armed with these key spirit skills and a few key secret objects, you finally have the power to explore the vast maze-like tunnels below the root to find and rescue Raamo, the lost Spirit Leader. Only he can restore peace and hope to Green Sky, a world troubled by a difficult time of social, political, racial, and spiritual transition (Read the Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Schneider that the game is based on for details - they are truly classics in themselves).

All this, and a Mario jumping/flying/avoiding enemies type arcade interface that will keep you challenged for hours. You will have lot of fun looking for hidden areas and objects as you wrack your brain for ways to explore the furthest reaches of Green Sky's Grunds, the ground beneath, and the maze of tunnels that lie below the root.

From the moment I got to explore Green Sky, talk to a few people, and meet the Wize Child I was enthralled and obsessed with playing the entire game. When I got my own Commodore 64 and disk drive, this was the game I had to have.

The Good
I liked everything. The whole game kinda entranced me. I was pretty good too. It's like one of those memories... there's no words for it. I just miss the game so much. It seems almost like a fantasy, but it's not. I struggle to remember parts of it and I would absolutely love to play it again, on the Commodore 64. There was something appealing about the graphics, mysterious almost. It would never be the same with different graphics.

The Bad
I honestly don't remember anything I didn't like about it. I guess the fact that I'm never going to play it again.

The Bottom Line
This game is like playing a dream. The graphics, sounds, movements, colors, everything is like dream. Exactly.