Classification:	Game / Dungeon Crawler	vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Publisher:	Loadstar (Softdisk, Inc)
Programmer:	Mike Clore
Music/Sound:	Mike Clore
Year:	1987
Rating:	★★☆☆
Disk:	dungeon_of_namos.d64

Dungeon of Namos is a challenging dungeon crawler, where you are on a quest to find the illusive Circlet of Power. This game was written by Mike Clore and published in issue 31 of Loadstar.

In this game, your goal is to make it through the challenging maze of dungeon rooms and track down the Circlet of Power. In order to do this, you need to either collect all of the treasures in each room, then unlock the door to next room; or touch the teleporter, which will take to a random room within the dungeon.

While collecting each room's treasure, you need to avoid (or shoot) the monsters that inhabit the room. You only have so much ammunition, so you will also need to collect the ammo “bundles” found on the screen. If you come into contact with any of the nasties, you lose one of your lives. If you have chosen to play the game in “Advanced” mode, then you also must avoid the walls of the maze, as touching them will also cost you a life.

Over-all, the game has enough challenge and action to keep me coming back, every now and again, for another game. However, there does seem to be a couple of bugs in the game, which keeps it from being a favorite of mine. First, there are “shield” treasures that are placed in the game screens, but they cannot be collected nor seem to do anything else in the game. They are just “there”.

And secondly, sometimes you are placed in a closed off section of the maze and have no way to escape - sort of. If you're playing in “Beginner” mode, you can sometimes work your way out of one of these sealed sections by leaning on a wall. Given enough time, you can get yourself “jostled” out to the other side of the wall and continue playing the game. However, if you're playing in the “Advanced” mode, this option won't work, as you lose a life if you touch the walls.

Apart from avoiding the enemies, you can shoot the enemies on the screen, but this can cause more trouble than you might think. The enemies come back and enter the level from the edges of the screen; and they can do so very quickly and unpredictably. So, if you are anywhere near the edges of the screen when you shoot the enemies, you can find yourself quickly overtaken by the ones taking their place.

Dungeon of Namos is a simple shooter, but it does have it's challenges and is one of the better games published by Loadstar. However, it does have it's bugs and feels like it would have been better if more time was taken to polish it up and address the issue with periodically getting trapped. It's an okay game, but not great.

★★☆☆ - Some bugs and kinda rough around the edges. I don't return to play this one very often.