In Qabbalah you take the part of an aspiring accolyte of the ancient Hebrew esoteric doctrine of the same name. You seek the ultimate truth and the only way to achieve this is to undertake a quest that will traverse backwards along the paths of the Tree Of Life. There are many paths that lead here but in this game your route has been pre-ordained by higher powers. Each part of the game has objects that are hidden from view, crammed into corners or hidden in houses which must be collected before attaining the sphere for that section. Once loaded a choice must be made of which of the three levels of difficulty you want to attempt before starting. The screen shows the present level of the cowled crusader's energy which depletes if the merry monk accidentally wanders into one of the negative forces that populate the pathways and, needless to say, if the energy level becomes zero the quest has failed and being proved to be unworthy of true enlightenment, death comes swiftly. These negative forces are represented by skeletal skulls some of which potter gently around the screen and mimic the monks movements by chasing around after him whilst other, less nimble nasties looking very much like more skulls or flowering bushes will just sit around waiting for the adventurous accolyte to wander into them. Both the static skulls and the fatal flora will deplete energy if touched.   
Movement is by joystick or keyboard with the usual four directions being supplemented by space or fire which is used to climb the various rocks, trees and even leaping the walls into houses that are dotted around. Some houses have the very Western luxury of swimming pools. A quick dip in one of these and your character is lost from sight and will start to loose energy so get out quickly. The majority of the game is spent with the priest pottering out of sight to search for an object, whether it be scampering along the side of a wall, climbing conifers or sub aqua searching and if contact should be made with a nastie during one of these exploratory expeditions then a nasty beeping will draw attention to the fact that the priest is being purged of energy. To achieve true enlightenment, ten spheres must be attained by collecting the necessary objects in each level before being awarded each sphere. CRITICISM: Amsoft once again have produced a piece of software that, although it benefits from being under the umbrella of a large organization, comes out as being a game that no-one in their right senses will beat a path to buy. The graphics are colourful with a respectable 3D effect but the game is uninspiring and dull to play. The objects that you must collect are so well hidden that, after forty minutes of fruitless and objectless play, I decided to give up. I think that most people will do the same and find something more interesting to do with their time. - Presentation 50% : Nice inlay, shame about the game.
- Graphics 10% : Some of the nastiest yet.
- Sound 20% : The odd sort of squelchy bit.
- Playability 30% : There's probably a game in there somewhere.
- Addictive qualities 15% : O.K. if you like that sort of thing.
- Value for money 15% : Steep at half the price.
- Overall 15% : Really nasty.
AMTIX | 
