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PUBLISHER: Imagic RELEASED: 1984 PROGRAM: Mark Voorsanger FORMAT: Cartridge

Rob Fulop's Fathom was never a big seller for Imagic, but over the years it's garnered a reputation as being one of Imagic's most unique and creative game releases among collectors and nostalgic gamers.  Fathom ended up being released on quite a few of the platforms from the time period and even saw a release on the Colecovision console courtesy of programmer Mark Voorsanger, who also programmed the TRS-80 Color Computer version of Demon Attack. This Colecovision version of Fathom is probably the second best release of the game, with only the speech-infused Texas Instruments TI-99/4A version being a little bit better overall. In Fathom, you take on the role of Proteus, faithful servant of King Neptune. You are given the task of locating the missing pieces of the king's Trident and using it to free his daughter Neptina, who's frozen inside the hull of a sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean. You'll have to fly high in the sky as a seagull or turn into a dolphin and swim the depths of the ocean in order to locate these Trident pieces. Once the Trident has been reassembled, you must then swim to the bottom of the ocean where Neptina is held captive and free her. Of course then the process starts all over again. The visuals in this Colecovision version are among the best the game has seen and show a good amount of color and detail. The sunken ship and volcano screens are particularly impressive. The sound effects are fairly basic, but carry the theme of the game well enough. The control is where this rendition of Fathom really shines, with its outstanding and responsive play control, even when using the slightly clunky Colecovision controllers. All of these things coupled together make this release of Fathom one of the best out there and a must-have for any fans of this unique Imagic title. Of course this game is fairly rare, so be prepared to do some looking for this one.

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