Cloud Kingdoms
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| Cloud Kingdoms | |
|---|---|
 Atari ST box art | |
| Developer(s) | Logotron |
| Publisher(s) | Millennium Interactive |
| Designer(s) | Dene Carter |
| Composer(s) | David Whittaker |
| Platform(s) | Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS |
| Release | 1990 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Cloud Kingdoms is a puzzle game published by Millennium Interactive for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS in 1990. The player controls Terry, a green bouncing sphere, on a quest to recover his magic crystals that have been stolen by Baron von Bonsai. To do so, he must travel through the eponymous Cloud Kingdoms, avoiding enemies and hazards while collecting all of the crystals within the game's time limit. The game was developed by Dene Carter at Logotron, with sounds and music composed by David Whittaker.
Most editions were priced at £24.99 upon their release, except for the Commodore 64 ports, which were less expensive. Reception for the Amiga version was generally positive, but was more mixed for the Commodore 64 port. Most reviews, however, praised the graphics and gameplay and criticized the difficulty and the amount of content that was available for the price. A less expensive re-release for Amiga computers a year later, at £7.99, also received mixed reviews.
Cloud Kingdoms is a puzzle game where the player controls the character of Terry, a green bouncing sphere with eyes, in his quest to recover his magic crystals that were stolen by the game's antagonist, Baron von Bonsai. The crystals have been scattered across a series of levels, the eponymous Cloud Kingdoms, which Terry must conquer in order to win the game. The player navigates Terry through each Kingdom from a top-down perspective and can move in eight directions, as well as jump over enemies, obstacles, and holes. Enemies include fairies that have been transformed into insects and black balls by Baron von Bonsai. There are 15 Kingdoms in the Commodore 64 version and 32 in all others.[1]
Players begin the game with a preset choice of four Kingdoms to begin with, with each leading to four other kingdoms that are opened up once the level is won. The objective in each Kingdom is to collect all of the crystals and maneuver through hazards such as trap doors, slippery floors, magnet floors that prevent Terry from jumping, and pinball bumpers. The game overall has a time limit of 99 "Manukas", each of which is equivalent to approximately four seconds.[1] Contact with lava fields[2] or enemies drains the player's energy and, if all energy is lost, the level is reset and ten Manukas are subtracted from the remaining total. The level can also be restarted voluntarily, at the cost of five Manukas. When the Manuka counter reaches zero, the game ends. Collecting clocks will add five Manukas to the timer, while successfully completing a Kingdom will add twenty. Energy can be restored by collecting soda bottles, while shields will make Terry invincible to enemies for a short period. Other items include wings, which allow Terry to fly over all obstacles, paint cans, which allow him to fill in holes and trap doors,[1] and alcohol bottles that temporarily make the gameplay more difficult by altering some of the mechanics.[3]