Rastan is a side-scrolling platform game that was touted to have been inspired by the Conan the Barbarian comic books and movie series. It was released in 1987 for the arcade halls by Taito, where its popularity soon pushed it into other formats, inevitably the PC in 1990. Rastan was ahead of its time in that it featured detailed graphic backgrounds that were very unusual in scrolling platforms.
The story begins with the hero, Rastan, looking tired and aged and perched on an ornate throne.
Rastan is a side-scrolling platform game that was touted to have been inspired by the Conan the Barbarian comic books and movie series. It was released in 1987 for the arcade halls by Taito, where its popularity soon pushed it into other formats, inevitably the PC in 1990. Rastan was ahead of its time in that it featured detailed graphic backgrounds that were very unusual in scrolling platforms.
The story begins with the hero, Rastan, looking tired and aged and perched on an ornate throne. He begins to tell a tale of his younger days when his exploits were violent and sometimes villainous, stating that he was once a murderer and a thief. The quests, contained within each individual level, are all part of this old king’s
tales of his youth when he was charged with saving the land of Lograth from every doom it faced.
The Rastan computer game was modeled very closely after the arcade version and featured various levels of monsters for the barbarian Rastan to battle. The variety of enemies seem endless and consist of every manner of creepy crawly from beast-men to dragons, cockatrices to armored knights. There is a tough boss creature at the close of every level, not to mention the annoying little bats that are constantly swarming you and picking away at your life meter. Rastan has only one weapon, similar to Conan, and it is his huge sword. It can, however, change into different weapons, such as a flame shooter, to match the level. There are bonus items that can be attained, but beware of the glowing cursed items that will suck away your health and leave you in a crumpled heap on the top of the cliffs.
Overall, Rastan is a good game with graphics that were great for the time. The soundtrack sounds similar to a B slasher film, which is somehow appropriate for this style of game. Rastan, as a hero, however, is somewhat slow and cumbersome, making him initially difficult to control. There are many timed jumps, or jump and strike combinations that are necessary to succeed in this game, and it may take a fair amount of practice to master these moves.
