I really liked this early game when it was released in 1983. Although the Graphics and the sprites in the game are quite blocky, the atmosphere from the opening scene tied together with the music and the sky darkening to night with the moon slowly passing by really brings that sinister feel to it.
Paul Norman did a brilliant job designed this game for Cosmi Corporations, it was initially released on the Commodore 64 and later converted by Vance Kozik for the Atari 800 .
The story line is of an archer who has gone into a forest to do a little target practice with his bow & arrow when he realises that he has lost his way. You notice that it is starting to get darker and the moon is starting light up the night sky. The forest is getting ominous and there are strange rustling noises coming from the bushes as you realise that you have wondered into the Forbidden Forest.
Armed with only4 quivers of arrows per level, you must battle against various waves of creatures that lurk in the dark, Giant Spiders, enormous bumble bee’s, huge leaping frogs, a fire breathing dragon, a phantom protected by skeletons, an eighty foot snake before finally facing the ghostly demogorgan who will only appear during flashes of lightning that herald the coming storm. You must move quickly and aim accurately and destroy the monsters to escape the Forbidden Forest.
A sequel of the game was later released in 1985 called ‘Beyond the Forbidden Forest’. The gameplay is very similar to it predecessor but you can move Omni-Dimentionally, 4D. The archer can now move into the background as well as the foreground. You still battle some nasty creatures like Giant Worms that have teeth, Giant Scorpions and Mosquitos etc and on killing each wave you are awarded with a Golden Arrow. After four kills you are allowed into the underworld where you must face three more waves, Bats, a Hyda (which is a four headed Serpent that breaths fire) and finally the Demogorgon itself.
There are a few sequels released on the PC. These two are called forbidden Forest, and Forbidden Forest 3 but to be honest they don’t even come close to the original, the disk however did included the original version.
