Paganitzu is a side scrolling action puzzle adventure that was introduced to the gaming world by Apogee Software, Limited. Trylobyte developed this little puzzle game, as well as its counterpart, Chaganitzu. Paganitzu was released for play on the personal computer only in the early nineties. Keith Schuler did the programming on both of these puzzle games, and also on the first game in the series, Castle Zhagwhar. The game plays out from a friendly top down perspective. It is a single player game.
Paganitzu is a traditional Aztec word for “Temple of the Gods.” There are a total of three parts to the game: Romancing the Rose, The Silver Dagger, and Jewel of the Yucatan.
Paganitzu contains quite a mixture of elements. The basic (very basic) goal of the game is to pilot the little hero character, Alabama Smith, through the various levels of the game. Of course, this sounds very basic, but it is a true brain teaser. The obstacles in the way are both physical and mental. There are many enemies, such as hostile spiders and poisonous snakes that the user will have to deal with. Beyond that, there will be many obstacles in the way and the user
will have to use a lot of his brain power and probably pull out a lot of his hair trying to figure out what levers to pull and what blocks to push in order to open the way to the level exits and help the protagonist out of each puzzling room. Between the name of the hero and some of the play, it is similar to Indiana Jones.
The programmer of this game got his start programming simple board games and some of this influence is present in Paganitzu. The major difference is that the game features plenty of action to go with the mental aspects of the game. The player can look forward to many little combat sequences, although they are not so hard as to distract the user from the real challenges: the puzzles. If the user is very successful in solving the puzzles, and has a little bit of luck about him, he may find some of the game’s hidden rooms and treasures. There are also some built in hints to help the user in the especially tough areas, and also some very fun and humorous little animated sequences that are simply meant to entertain the gamer and lighten the mood, all the while giving his mind a quick break from the puzzle demands.
