King Of The Mountain Reviewed by Retro Video Gamer
Review by TrekMd - Score: 10/10 - King of the Mountain (KOTM) is one of those games that you look at and you tend to underestimate but quickly figure out just how wrong you were! KOTM is a one-player homebrew game for the Intellivision in which you play a hiker who has to climb 10 mountains, each of increasing difficulty, just for the fun of it. You start the game at a park map where you are in your car and you drive to each of the mountains before each climb.
Once you select a mountain, you are shown a menu of supplies which you need to manage if you want to make it to the top. This screen also displays the weight of your backpack (the heavier it is, the slower your climb) and whether or not you’ve sustained injuries. There are certain “essentials” you must have enough of to survive the climb as you face falling boulders, bears, bee swarms, rain, and rivers.
The essentials include fire, food, and water. If you run out of any of these, the game ends. All of these are used up at a steady pace but you lose more of them if you get hit by bears, boulders, or bees. As you climb you can stop at cabins where you can buy and sell items to make sure your inventory is good enough. Of course, you can’t just buy unlimited supplies as you have a finite amount of money to begin with and the only way to get more money is by killing and bagging bears. You see, dead bears can be sold in the cabins for cash which you can turn into items needed to survive. In addition to the essentials you’ll need ammo (to shoot the bears), a raft (to cross the rivers), and shelter (to be protected from the rain as the rain uses up your fire more quickly).
KOTM is not an easy game and does require appropriate strategy in order to succeed. Once you reach the mountain top, a flag is set and will remain there on the larger map so you know which mountains are completed as you drive between mountains. Visually this game is very nice. The mountain trails look great and the surrounding terrain is detailed enough to have different kinds of foliage. The boulders look like they are really rolling and the hiker is represented in multicolour sprites. The bears are the only character that I think could look better. The rain is also well done and the cabins look as you’d expect. Even your car looks great! There is no in-game music but the sound effects are good and help you in gameplay as the enemies have their own sound. This game is another must for any Intellivision fan! -