I decided to stick with Ken & Roberta Williams and play their second major graphic adventure which they released in 1980. Gone are the wire frame graphics of Mystery House to be replaced with color graphics with slight dithering to provide some texture.
The documentation which accompanies the game explains that Princess Priscilla of the land of Serenia has been captured by the evil wizard Harlin. Her father, King George, offers half the kingdom to any soul who can bring her back alive. King’s Quest V also takes place in Serenia and while the King’s Quest series is not a sequel by any stretch it could certainly be considered a spiritual successor. The maps of King’s Quest 1-4 do not have the land of Serenia labeled on any of them but Daventry has been identified as the continent.
I have to admit that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this game. The land of Serenia is very large and when you finally stumble upon an NPC or major destination there are moments of cleverness and originality. Unfortunately these moments are irritatingly punctuated with one maze after another.
This is a game that starts with a major puzzle that needs to be solved before the game can progress. There is a rattlesnake which blocks your way to the north of the village and you need to find a way to deal with this obstacle. I probably spent two hours wandering through the desert and using Trizbort to map it out. The key to getting past the rattlesnake is to find a rock that you can throw at it to kill it. You can find this rock in the desert. It took me quite awhile to reach this realization. Each desert scene looks alike. There are large rocks in some scenes and small rocks. The large rocks cannot be moved. When you attempt to pick up a small rock you are bitten by a scorpion which was hiding behind it and instantly killed. In almost every scene each of the small rocks have a scorpion hiding behind it. Except for ONE of the screen locations. Once I had my “aha moment” I had to painstakingly move from desert scene to desert scene and look behind every small rock. I finally found the desert location which allowed me to pick up a small rock unmolested. I was then able to use it against the snake and move ahead in the game. I found this type of puzzle to be extremely annoying. I did not feel a sense of accomplishment but rather felt a bit cheated. The desert was basically one gigantic maze which needed to be correctly mapped out with a dose of Where’s Waldo thrown in for good measure. I am not sure if this was done to extend the playing time and longevity of the game or if it can be chalked up to experimentation within a new medium. The entire process left a bad taste in my mouth but I still continued with the game. There are a couple of puzzles involving snakes as you move forward and a chasm which provides a diabolical obstruction. The solution to crossing the chasm was quite clever.
Once you successfully make your way over the chasm you experience some interesting encounters and by this time have obtained some rather unique items. The locket, magic word provided by the King of Snakes, harp, sapphire ring, vial of liquid, and horn are all bits of foreshadowing for the beloved King’s Quest series which would come later.
You eventually come upon a rowboat and make your way off of this continent or island to another. The journey from one land mass to another is another maze which needs to be solved. Once you make landfall one of the more ingenious and original puzzles involves trying to get into a treehouse found in the jungle. Once you obtain the items that you need; you must figure out how to move forward in the game from here. The solution is again one of the endearing qualities of this adventure because it serves to immerse you further into this idea that you are indeed a wizard or at least an aspiring one.
Once you find yourself in the final third of this adventure you have to deal with a rainbow, a grumpy giant, and a process of elimination experiment involving a peddler. You finally find yourself just inside a castle only to discover that you once again have to navigate a maze. Ugh. Upon exiting the maze, the encounters with the bird and the frog are again endearing and clever.
I mentioned at the beginning of this review that I had a love / hate relationship with this game. There are clever, endearing moments sprinkled throughout the game that hint at the greatness of what the King’s Quest series would soon become and be known for. The seeds are there. The game itself is actually rather large and there are many items that you have to use in order to pass several major obstacles. The unique items you find and discovering how and when to use these items lends to creatively immersing the player in the role of fledgling wizard. Unfortunately these endearing moments are marred by several mazes which have to be mapped and traversed which prove to be tedious rather than entertaining. Two or three of the puzzles within the game were not easy and require some thought and experimentation. I am glad I was finally able to experience this early game. I remember seeing it advertised in Computer Gaming World in 1981 and the cover art still looks amazing.
