• Site: Armado
• Publisher: Tricky Software
• Developer: Tricky Software
• Genre: Action

By Brad Cook

From a young stable boy pulling a sword from a stone to a nondescript astromech droid bravely transporting the plans for a space station, unlikely heroes have been a literary staple for centuries. Now meet Armado, a young armadillo who lives in a land ruled by a wise queen eagle. He long dreams of meeting her, and one day he sets off to find her, hoping she will pass some of her wisdom to him.

As he journeys across the land, however, he soon learns that army ants are moving in from the south. They invade the eagles’ aeries and capture the queen, imprisoning her. Armado is dismayed, but he perseveres, hoping someone can free her.

He passes mountains swarming with vicious ants during his travels, eventually coming across an old fox sitting by a tree. The fox tells Armado that he is waiting for a great hero, and the armadillo becomes excited, wanting to know when that person will arrive. When the fox tells him the hero already has, Armado is confused.

Then the fox hands him a satchel containing seven magical eggs; if one could be placed in the nest at the top of each eagle mountain, the ants’ hold over the land would end. “How do you know I’m the hero?” Armado asks, his voice laced with skepticism. “Because they’re always late, but they always arrive just in time,” the fox replies.

You are Armado. You must carry out his mission and save the kingdom from the ants.

The Hero’s Journey

Each mountain presents Armado with a variety of challenges, from increasingly nasty ants to spiders that pop out of holes to rolling boulders and logs sent careening toward him. Luckily, he’s equipped with a few tricks of his own, including rolling and jumping, with the later also allowing him to strike his opponents and knock them out of the way, earning points in the process.

Armado can only roll for a certain amount of time, but he can quickly replenish that meter by picking up gems he finds along the way — those items also give him points. Multipliers double, triple, or even sextuple the points he earns by grabbing gems or defeating enemies, while magical rings give him special powers, such as super strike, improved armor, or faster movement. The effects from multipliers and magical rings last for only a short while, however.

Medical kits give back the health Armado loses every time an enemy or rolling object hits him, while clocks grant him more time to finish a mountain. Each instance his health bar completely depletes, he loses a life — he can also lose a life by failing to jump over a waterfall or ravine. He also has only a certain amount of time to climb up and down each mountain, so the clocks come in handy if you find yourself losing precious seconds during battles with those pesky ants. When Armado completes ascending or descending each mountain, he gets one extra life, although he can never have more than two in reserve.

The Finale

After you complete a session, you can publish your score and view others’ best marks during the past month, or since the game was released. Compete with your friends to see who can post the highest overall score.

The queen eagle lies imprisoned in a nest at the top of the final mountain, which lies deep in the fiery southern lands. Once freed, she will bring the old magic back to the land, but no one knows what will happen after that. We hope you can find out and tell us. Help Armado become a hero.

When Ants Attack. Just wait until you meet the red ones.

Over the Mountains and Far Away. Armado embarks on his quest.

One Per Nest, Please. A magical egg does its thing.

A Smashing Good Time. Luckily, Armado's armor helps soften the impact from logs.

If you liked this game, check out:

• Bugdom 2
• Nanosaur II: Hatchling

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X version 10.2 (10.4 for Intel Macs)
• Intel or PowerPC G4 processor