Equinox is a very old, fairly simple game. It's split into two parts. On the overworld, you never actually battle, but instead go down the different entrances to the dungeons, or get into fights with big bat monsters and orges that look like gorillas and jump like cowboys on trampolines. In dungeons, you run around throwing various weapons and casting various spells at various enemies, to collect twelve shiny purple balls that will allow you to fight some form of boss that is very meanly using its spirit to block you from continuing your journey on the overworld, making the shape of a cloud with angry eyes on a birdge and utterly confident that you will never find and destroy its body, despite the fact that the last three bosses before it said the exact same thing.

Okay, I'm giving it a tough rap here; the graphics are clean (mostly), the music is nice (when it plays) and I love the adorable little scream your character makes when you walk him into a spiky ball, or get him run over by a ghost, or one of the many other dangers to a warrior as fragile as antique china teacups. Theres also a story, but only on the back of the box and at the end of the game. Supposedly your character dad got imprisioned by an evil witch who hates him or something, so it falls to you to save him and also the rest of the world for some undefined reason. Oh, and you have some harp and the first 5 bosses have all been bullies and stolen the strings, and you want them back, darn it!

At the beginning of the game, you have no weapons, no spells and no harp strings. So, you jump down the nearest dungeon hole and soon get a piddling throwing dagger, and a neat heal spell that you'll be using one hell of a lot throughout the game. Oh, and damage is a bit weird in this game; when you get hurt and your character does his little scream, he then explodes and his turban floats into the air. Then he appears back at the door of the room, with all your hard work their undone and his health half a ball smaller. You die quiet alot, and having to redo a room fall of twisters and blobs in particular can get hellaciously frustating, esspecially since all the magic you use before you die remains drained afters, resulting in several annoying forays back to the overworld so you can slaughter some innocent giant bats and get magic potions for your plundering.

The hazards in the game really have only 6 varietes, so here they are.
Gates; Grey things that lift up, then fall down. If an enemy is under it, it bounes up and down off their head with a metalic tink sound. If your under, you get adorable scream and flung back to die. Go figure.
Ghosts; These things float around, bouncing off walls and anything else in the room except you. Die quickly, but if there are several fast ones you can get overrun.
Guards; they're armoured all over except the back. They must have been hit by the greatest con artist/salesman to have walked the Equinox. fairly easy to kill, but some of the more advanced ones change direction randomly.
Twisters; Spin, spin, spin. Get dizzy and stop for a while. When paused, they're blucky, naked men with frog heads. When spinning, they're a coloured twister. They can be seriously annoying as they move faster then your characters lesiurely stroll pace, which is his only option. They also change direction lots. Throw things from a distance.
Blobs; Small, your weapons fly right over them. Wait till they jump to attack, or use Zap instead. Annoying.
Spiky balls of horror; Your greatest nemesis! Spiky balls of horror do not need to move, they are so awesome and mighty. Simply brushing an errant sleeve upon these results in a cataclysmic cream exactly like all the other times he does it, but somehow much worse. They lie in packs, or hide behind tall pillars snickering. Spiky balls of horror also clump underneath invisible platforms you must navigate, form small but unjump-overable walls to frustrate you and occasionally will lie at the end of a sliding floor, giggling as you helplessly fly towards it. More dangerous then any boss, as the Spiky ball of horror cannot die.

There are also some bosses, but most of their tactics are "lets slide around the floor using various projectiles and turn redder and redder as we get killed!". Spiky balls of horror far outclass them. Anyone, time for ratings!

Graphics: 7/10 Aside from some occasional graphic jumps (Your head suddenly getting bored of your shoulders and the like) it looks very neat. It also lost points for things being hard to determine as part of the forground or middleground. Do I jump to the left, or straight down? ... nope, it appears it should have been straight down.

Sound: 6/10 Frankly, it would have done much better if the dungeons were discounted. As you wander through them, its as if the music gets selfconcious, and it stops for anywhere between 10 seconds and half an hour. But boss battles sound cool, bats and ogres sound cool, when playing the dungeon music suits the mood, and sound effects like the afformentioned addorable scream, the metalic tink and also the "ping!" Whenever you eat an apple to see the word delicious appear are all cool.

Gameplay: 7/10 Ehh... its iffy. Very doom like, in a way. Red key! Blue key! White key! Greeeen keeeeey! Color coded keys, damnit! So its lots of exploring different rooms. But then theres weird fights between you and a giant collum made of different blocks, that becomes awesome when the last one grows swords to spin around with, the odd "You can only walk diagonal" thing and the assaults by spiky balls of horror. Depending on what you like, it could go to 4 or 9.

Replayability: 3/10 Well, you win. Cool. Want to explore everything? Nah, you already did while searching for the last of the 12 shiny purple orbs and a green key in the dungeons. Want to get the ultimate weapon? There isn't one, every weapon upgrade can just be thrown more often or flies faster through the air then the last. There are only 5 spells, 2 of which do the same thing. After you win, its a sign your done with the game. Pack it up and move on.

So, its an okay game. Good for wasting away 20-30 hours depending on how resolved you are before eventually giving up at the swamps or throwing your control through the screen at the "Spiky ball of horror end of game gathering party". Fun, I suppose. But in a non committed, "I'm content but not elated" sort of way. Not whee fun, but eh fun.

Well, that dayily post scheme lasted ages. Hm. Propably shouldn't have tried setting that up when my home computer is a molten pile of crap. Expect to read that complaint alot until it is replaced. I have to deal with it, SO DO YOU! *cackles* Ahem. Well, maybe I'll just go for 5 a week. Possibly 4, depending on how lazy I get.

I can't think of what to write here, so I'll just go with whatever comes to mind. Right now I'm at school, on a very, very cold day. So I'll start with that. My school is called CBC, or Christian Brothers College if you like talking. Well, its a Jesus loving establishment, obviously, and the only reason I came here was because my brothers did. Given the choice, I'd have gone for Footscray city, which is much closer to home, has no uniform and is cheaper. My parents seem to think that larger class sizes mean its a terrible place, but if they had a day of lessons here I think I could go there. It's amusing actually, when I'm doing badly they threaten to send me there. Last time it happened I snapped and screamed at them to send me there, because my best friend went, and if they think she's going to end up working for a fast food joint for the rest of her life I'd be happy to do it beside her. Now they don't mention the place.

CBC is like most high schools; badly funded, crappy facilities, and some good teachers mixed in among a million bad. Its an all boys school, and of course for a nerd like me that can spell trouble. I'm lucky in that I have two older brothers with a penache for violence, I suppose. It keeps me fit enough to at least fight back against people trying to walk over me. Across the road from CBC is an all girls school, PCW. (Presentation college windsor.) In years 11 and 12 (VCE, here) students will go between schools so they can do their elected subjects without timetables clashing. I have half my subjects there. Other then the students, its a much better school then ours. Their lot is as bad as ours though.

Anyway, I think that consititutes a fair post. Now the bells going for home room. I'll leave you lot to your own devices. See you tommorow, or if I'm really bored, after school today.