Polarware (Penguin Software)
Requires Colour Monitor
£39.95
First take a look at Garry Francis'
Adventure column in this issue. He mentions that Transylvania has
a sequel called The Crimson Crown due for release and sure enough
here it is - but on the ST!
The Crimson Crown is subtitled
'further adventures in Transylvania' and Garry's column will give
you sufficient background to know what to expect. Billed on the
package as a spine tingling interactive novel which understands
full and multiple sentence commands with a vocabulary of over 100
words, it is an interesting adventure but it is not in the class
of Infocom. The package is nicely presented with a journal and map
and a few other bits and pieces and the program has some nice touches.
It uses the mouse, with keyboard alternative, for movement by clicking
on the appropriate compass point, and for loading, saving and quitting
games as well as listing the last few moves. The pictures can be
switched out to reveal more text and the mouse control makes it
very comfortable to play. The keyboard is of course used for all
other instructions which are accepted as in a conventional adventure.
I haven't played too far through
the adventure so I cannot comment on its complexity or otherwise
but it is certainly enjoyable with puzzles that are definitely not
as complex as Infocom's Expert level! The most disappointing aspect
is the graphics. Don't get me wrong, they are good, but no better
than on an 8-bit system and hardly live up to the box description
of 'beautifully detailed'. They are essentially line drawings in
colour with the appropriate colour fills and the only difference
between them and an Atari 8-bit Graphics 8 display is that true
colours can be used instead of artifacting.
If you are looking to buy this
for some stunning graphics then you will be sorely disappointed.
As an adventure it is sufficiently interesting and slightly better
than on the 8-bit systems. Certainly the mouse control adds that
little bit of finesse. Definitely one for Adventure addicts but
Graphics freaks should wait awhile.
top
