Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves is the second offering from developer Stuart Smith. In many ways it is an improvement upon and a spiritual successor to Smith’s Fracas from 1980. Ali Baba has many of the same things that made Fracas so original and a delight to play. The game allows for cooperative play so that multiple players can sit around the computer and participate. All of the NPCs and creatures that you encounter in the game are unique and original. The NPCs also act independently of one another and make their own choices during their turn, even electing to turn on one another.
Ali Baba’s environment is much bigger than the Fracas landscape and the graphics are greatly improved. The controls and movement are quick and fluid. Combat descriptions are much like those found in Smith’s previous game and you can tell how successful an attack is by the description. For example a “jab” and a “poke” are sometimes described as just a scratch while a “smites” and “wallops” are tremendous hits. These are just a few of the descriptive adjectives that Stuart uses.
Ali Baba may take it’s name from the short story found in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights but other characters from other stories in the book can also be found in the game. The task of rescuing the sultan’s daughter, Princess Buddir, is the main quest of the game. However Princess Buddir is a character from the Aladdin folk tale. Aladdin can also be found within the game’s landscape. There are quite a few other literary references to be found in the game. It became a Who’s Who treasure hunt of social pop culture that I found to be very enjoyable. My favorite was the owl known as “Doctor Who” who keeps appearing in many of the panels. Celegorm from Lord of the Rings and Scheherazade from One Thousand and One Nights were two of the NPCs to be found. I’ll let you discover the others on your own.
Once you find the Thieve’s Cave in Ali Baba you’ll discover Cassim as well (Ali Baba’s older brother from the story) and there’s a pretty good joke that Stuart uses there which I won’t spoil. I literally laughed out loud.
The landscape in Ali Baba is huge and can be very confusing. One of the more difficult elements of the game is traversing through the maze of rooms in order to find Princess Buddir. There are runes scattered throughout the game and when you come in contact with them they provide hints to help you in your progress as well as helping with plot device. Some of the “clues” provided by the “friendly mage” are particularly tricky and useful. Many of the rooms have hidden passages, slides, and rooms. They are riddled with teleporters and traps as well to confuse and confound. I would suggest taking special care to note the names of each room as they contain clues as well. To make matters worse, all 40 thieves from the story move about the labyrinth and stalk you. Each of the thieves has his own unique name, ability scores, and equipment.
Combat can become extremely chaotic and deadly very fast. Your two attributes are strength and dexterity and the formula for hits and damage is explained in the manual which comes with the game. There are four different kinds of armor and four different kinds of weapons which you can purchase from multiple areas of the map. You can tackle the game solo or you can call upon allies, in which you control all of the characters, or you can play with friends and each of you control your own character. You can also choose to avoid combat and try to quickly sneak your way through the landscape as the NPCs can choose to ignore you and turn on one another. I chose the former strategy. You can also choose to hit R for rest and this will heal you during the game.
Once you find the princess it is a simple matter of taking her back to the sultan. This should not prove to be too difficult as by this time you have likely dispatched most of your enemies. The game took me a little over four hours to complete.
I’ve really enjoyed both offerings from Stuart Smith so far. It looks like we’ll encounter another offering from Smith in 1983; The Return of Heracles. Stuart Smith is best know for his Adventure Construction Set from 1985. If you enjoyed Fracas as much as I did you’re going to love Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves; a quality offering.