Wizard of Wor

"Wizard of Wor" is an arcade game from 1980, developed by Midway, and later ported to the Commodore 64 as well as the Atari 800, the Atari 2600 and the Bally Astrocade. The title of the game is often incorrectly spelled as "Wizard of War". The game was released as part of the compilation game "Midway Arcade Treasures 2" in 2004.

Gameplay

"Wizard of Wor" is an action-oriented game for one or two players. The game takes the form of several maze-like dungeons infested with monsters. The players' characters, called Worriors, have to kill all the monsters. Player one has yellow Worriors, on the right, and player two has blue Worriors, on the left. In a two-player game, the players are also able to shoot each other's Worriors, earning bonus points but causing the other player to lose a life. Team-oriented players can successfully advance through the game by standing back-to-back (such as in a corner) and firing at anything that comes at them.

Each dungeon consists of a single-screen rectangular grid with walls and corridors in various formations. The Worriors and the monsters can travel freely through the corridors. Each dungeon has doors at the left and right edges, which connect with each other, making the dungeon wrap around. Whenever a door is traversed by a player or monster, they deactivate for a short period, making them impassible. A player who exits the door can pop back through the door immediately when the Worluk or Wizard is in the dungeon.

The various monsters include the following:
* Burwor: A blue Wolf-type creature. It also looks somewhat similar to a squirrel.
* Garwor: A yellow "Tyrannosaurus rex"-type creature. Has the ability to turn invisible, thus it can only be seen with the radar
* Thorwor: A red scorpion-like creature. Also has the ability to turn invisible, thus it can only been seen with the radar.
* Worluk: An Insectoid-type creature.
* Wizard of Wor: A blue wizard.

Normally, each dungeon starts filled with Burwors. In the first dungeon, shooting the last Burwor makes a Garwor appear, and shooting the Garwor makes a Thorwor appear. In the second dungeon, shooting either of the last two Burwors makes Garwors appear, and so on. The Worluk appears in every Dungeon from the 2nd dungeon onward. Killing the Worluk will create a "Double Score Dungeon" as the next dungeon. The Worluk will often escape out a door, ending the level.

The Wizard of Wor will appear in or after the 3rd dungeon once the Worluk has been killed or has escaped (depending on how many men you have lost). After a few seconds the Wizard will disappear and teleport across the dungeon, gradually approaching a Worrior. The Wizard remains in the dungeon until he shoots a Worrior or is killed. Killing the Wizard of Wor will also create a double score dungeon for the next dungeon. He uses a speech synthesizer to taunt the player.

There are two special dungeons. The 4th dungeon is called "THE ARENA" and the 13th dungeon is called THE PIT. The Pit is extraordinarily hard because there are no walls to hide behind. These special dungeons give the player an additional worrior. The game also calls the player "Worrior" through after dungeon 7 the Player is referred to as a "Worlord". The "Worlord Dungeons" are more difficult because they have fewer walls. Eventually with Dungeon 13, The Pit, there are no walls.

Each dungeon begins with a dramatic rendition of the five-note opening from "Danger Ahead", the theme to the radio and television series Dragnet, although the fifth note only occurs on the "double score dungeon" screen.

External links

*StrategyWiki|Wizard of Wor
* [http://www.archive.org/details/C64Gamevideoarchive11-WizardOfWor/ Video from the C64 Version] on archive.org