In this action game from Bally/Midway, you are a worrior, and your job is to go through level after level, shooting many blue monsters such as Burwors using your laser. If you manage to kill all the Burwors, then you have to face either Garwors or Thorwors. These yellow and red monsters are hard to kill, since they are moving so fast, and you might miss a shot if it decides to turn a corner. After you have killed all three monsters, you will meet Worluk, an insect that flies around each maze. He gives you several seconds to kill him before he escapes. If you don't kill Worluk immediately, you won't get a double score.

Some monsters will sometimes disappear and reappear, so it is important to keep an eye on the radar to see where they are headed. You need to be careful not to be shot at by the Wors, so you need to immediately shoot it as it comes into your line of fire, but shooting back will help block shots. If you feel that you are in danger, there are two warp holes on either side of the maze that you can enter, just like Pac-Man. Occasionally, on later levels, the "Wizard of Wor" will appear, which has the ability to warp to another place if he happens to be in danger, and you must shoot it as he is your nemesis.

Some of the mazes in Wizard of Wor have names like "The Pit" and "The Arena", but most of them are "Dungeons". The game can be played with two players, who work simultaneously getting rid of the monsters. The best thing about playing with two players is that you can shoot each other rather than the monsters, and the person who is shot loses a life. The player who gets shot has a chance to pay your back (unless all of their lives are lost).

The gameplay remains close to the original coin-op game as possible. The graphics and sound are faithful to the original as well. Games like this can be addictive to some players, that after the game has ended as a result of lives lost, they want to go back, play it again, and get a score bigger than the previous games. At least they won't have to insert a quarter when the player plays the game on their home system.

The Bad

There were some sampled voices in the coin-op version that seems to be missing from the home versions, including the Commodore 64 version.

The Bottom Line

Playing Wizard of Wor with two players is recommended. Not only will you finish the mazes a lot quicker, but you can shoot each other once in a while. But if you haven't got another player handy, you can still enjoy the game.

Rating: ****