In the Early Days™, computer games were still very much influenced by arcade games. Half of that is true for Lode Runner. The gameplay concerns a small figure running across platforms which are connected through ladders. It is collecting treasures while avoiding contact with the bad guys (the Bungelings). This sort of thing would work very well in an arcade environment.
What distinguishes this game from most others at the time is its size: There are so many levels, it just goes on and on and on and on. This is something which was commonly achieved at the time by looping the game around, i.e. simply repeating the already finished levels on a higher speed setting, for example. This game is different: The levels are all hand-made and very few people will ever have seen them all!
Last year, LucasArts closed its doors. Instead of spreading even more malice than already out there about them not having produced good games for many years anyway, we would like to go back to the beginning of this development studio under the name of 'Lucasfilm Games'. One of their first two games called itself Rescue on Fractalus.
The first thing you may notice about this title and what probably made you wonder about the other games from this studio, too, is that there seems to be no connection with the 'Lucas' name brand. Everybody would have expected something along the lines of one of the most famous science fiction films of all times, wouldn't you think?
A fantasy world full of castles, palaces and forests attracts the evil forces like flies to filth. This was also the case in this long forgotten part of the world at a time when people still led a simple God-fearing life. The underworld has opened its gates and sent an evil demon whose dark aura covers the land like a grey veil and threatens to suffocate life. As they prepare for the end of time, the priestess Grimhild has a vision of the white wizard Taam, who, according to her afflatus, knows salvation. The immediately informed King Rohdhis immediately sends his messengers through the entire Middleworld in search of the sorcerer. The message reaches the next town and there the handsome son Siegurd of an old-established family, who wants to take the search into his own hands. To do so, he wants to enter the king's service and sets off for Siegelhorst to his place of residence.
