From TES issue 52 (July 2008)

Series 4. Level 1/2.
THE CONVEYER BELT

This particular challenge has also been called the Corridor of Blades without the blades, and that’s exactly what it was. The Conveyer Belt made several bladeless appearances in series 4, sometimes presenting a different challenge of its own. It was never seen without the blades after series 4, though, which made it a unique obstacle for the series. You might think that the Conveyer Belt without the blades would be much easier to deal with than its deadly doppelganger, and you’d be right, but this challenge, as we shall see, wasn’t always a walk in the park.

The Conveyer Belt’s first appearance was in the second episode of the series, when Helen used it at the very end of level one. Treguard commented that it was “powerful magic” but there was no real challenge to overcome, aside from a skull ghost to slip past on the way into the corridor. During Alistair’s quest, the Conveyer Belt made a similar appearance in level two; Gundrada was on hand for a chat this time, making the process of travelling along the corridor slightly less monotonous. Interestingly enough, both Helen and Alistair actually reached the conclusion of the corridor, travelling through a large portal at its far end, whereas all subsequent dungeoneers to enter the corridor, whether or not it had blades, used one of the side exits.

When Simon boarded the Conveyer Belt in level two, it was fair enough to assume that there would be no blades to dodge, seeing as this was not level three. Strangely, there were a couple of blades this time, but Gundrada was present and did all the guiding, which was undoubtedly a good thing, considering the somewhat inadequate skills of Simon’s directional guider. The bladeless corridor had to wait until Jeremy’s quest, much later in the series, to make its next appearance. This time, there was a further challenge involved – Jeremy had to turn over an hourglass in order to stop the Conveyer Belt moving, as it seemed that the corridor was now endless, and a safe exit needed to be found along the way.

The Conveyer Belt made a similar and final appearance in Giles’s quest, when a spanner was required in order to bung up the machinery driving the contraption and allow Giles to make a swift exit. In all, then, the bladeless corridor appeared four times, only really providing a challenge for the last two, but it was a nice bit of computer animation, and provided a couple of memorable moments.

Difficulty: 3 Maybe an object required, but nothing too taxing.
Killer Instinct: 1 In this form, the corridor was unlikely to kill.
Gore Factor: 1 Without the blades, there could be no mess.
Fairness: 8 A nice piece of computer wizardry, with a couple of little challenges thrown in for good measure.

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The Knightmare computer game from Mindscape features a corridor with a conveyor belt, referred to by Treguard as the Conveyor of Life. As in Team 8 of Series 4's quest on Knightmare, a spanner can be thrown down the passage to control the movement of the conveyor belt.

[Previous version: 2008-07-25 15:17:20]

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