"Straightforward but fast-paced and exciting early video game"

When the game commences by writing ''prepare to joust--buzzard bait'' in some gothic font you have a feeling it is going to be a challenge, and after you read ''they game is over'' you are prepared to become buzzard bait again, but not quite as fast, of course. You appear as a knight on an ostrich of sorts, obviously no match for the knights that materialize on platforms above you shortly after. Fortunately the fights are not detailed; when you collide with another knight, whoever is on top wins automatically--you get 500 points if you do it right, but you trade a life for only 50 otherwise. Simple enough idea, right? Just flap your wings all the way to the top and stay there, thumbing your nose at gravity--but wait. You need to get there first, and once you hit the top, or the bottom of a platform, you bounce nastily down. So Joust requires some timing. Even if you nail a monster, you are knocked backwards, perhaps to somewhere you don't want to be. Then, once you win a joust, you have to collect the eagle's egg, or another eagle will come back and a tougher jouster will mount(there are three types of jousters.) And don't forget to get through the waves quickly, or an ''unbeatable'' (read: a long snaky and very mobile bird you have to hit in the mouth or it'll get you. It may even nail you when exiting, just after you completed a level) pterodactyl will come after you. There aren't many other rules, but there are special waves--platforms often disappear, and there are ''survival waves'' (points for winning without losing a man,) and ''egg waves'' (where eggs hatch quickly, but you can get easy points at the start.) In addition, the lava pool at the bottom of the screen burns the floor at the edges on level 3, meaning you can't run around and wait for eagles to attack you past then.

The gameplay is a left/right joystick to steer your bird, along with a ''flap'' button to propel him in the air. You can change direction in the air quickly, but you'll screech to a halt on the ground, and if you ''clip'' a platform you will go bouncing across it for a second or two unless you flap. You can go horizontally in more than one speed, and the screen wraps--it would be too confusing if you bounced off a screen wall! Also, two players can play, and you can knock the other one off for 2000 points(yeah, he loses a guy)--more than you can get for any one victory.

There's not much variety in the way of graphics, and the enemies get quite boring. However, it is amusing when an eagle reclaims a hatched egg, or you just beat the eagle back to an egg, or when a hand pulls an eagle down in the lava pit. The sound isn't much either, for the most part, with obvious noises for flapping, electronic screeching for the pterodactyl and three separate noises depending on how your joust winds up(successful, tie, or loss,) but sometimes small noises like bubbling lava before the bottom platform shrinks(one of the most memorable points I have found in ANY video game) are neat because they offer a hint that something is happening before you see it. The high-tech noises that accompany you or an eagle flashing slowly into view are also apt. Nothing is sudden in this game except, of course, the pterodactyl, who's meant to be.

There's a lot to like about Joust. The concept is simple and progressively challenging, and your bird's reactions to the controls and to bumping into things are very realistic. Giving the player an extra man every 20000 points is a very nice idea, which makes the game seem less of a quarter-grabber. It's one of few violent games without firing and it gives the thrill of shoot-em-up games, along with the pain of messing something up. If I have one gripe with it, the random element can be overpowering. It is sometimes too hard to recoup your losses once you lose a bird(you often start back down at the bottom, and you may waste time and lose a life getting back among the eagles,) the score you get for picking up an egg is random between 250 and 1250(i.e. more than the pterodactyl--an imbalance here), and the pterodactyl appears too quickly at the later stages, but there is a lot of fast-paced action where you need to rely on wits and reflexes instead of heavy artillery.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/24/00, Updated 10/24/00