''Feud'' is an

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

John Pickford John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

for Binary Design and published in 1987 as the first game under the Bulldog Software label of

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were distributed in mid-1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved b ...

. Versions were released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, Amstrad CPC,

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

. The player takes on the role of the sorcerer Learic, and must fight his evil twin Leanoric.

Gameplay

The only real enemy is Leanoric. To achieve your objective, the player must collect many herbs scattered across the map and mix them in a cauldron to make offensive and defensive spells. The spells vary from fireballs and lightning to invisibility and even turning peaceful villagers into zombies. A compass indicates Leanoric's location. Several of the herbs are found in a garden, tended by a gardener. The gardener, though slow-moving, is also able to inflict damage on Learic. Leanoric, as a

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

, has to do the same thing, collecting herbs to mix in his cauldron before hunting you down in order to attack.

Development

After developing '' Zub'', John Pickford went on to design a game that he wasn't going to program. This required designing the game on paper before development started and overseeing the work of a different programming team.

Reception

Reviewer "Ben" for ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' wrote, "What a way to kick off a new label! Feud is completely brilliant. I love original games, so it is a real pleasure to see a cheapie that’s as ‘new’ in concept as this — and as playable." Robert Swan, in his favorable review for '' Atari User'' magazine, stated that the game has "fantastic graphics, great sound, addictive gameplay and plenty of action-packed screens." He also praised the game's low price.

References

External links

*
The Pickford Brothers
developers of ''Feud'' 1987 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Atari 8-bit family games Atari ST games Binary Design games Commodore 64 games DOS games Mastertronic games MSX games Single-player video games Video games about witchcraft Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by David Whittaker ZX Spectrum games {{Videogame-stub