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A large, solidly built game with a promisingly starting plot. And even if the
latter finally doesn't live up to the expectations, turning into a treasure hunt; the
parser is rather primitive by modern standards; the player is treated most unfairly
(not to mention such trifles as sudden deaths without the possibility of undoing the
fatal action, and landing in a "cul-de-sac" without warning, this is the only game
I've ever encountered that can be made unwinnable by simply saving it! As the authors
explain, that's done to avoid "brute-force" solutions to some of the puzzles; still,
it'd be nice if the players at least received a warning about it); and the game
requires from you to slay a few people for no apparent reason, this work still remains
admirable in several respects. Among them are the clever Shakespeare references (the
game starts with the player character being magically transferred to Shakespearian
time), the odd humour, and, of course, the fulcrum of the whole game, the puzzles
(to tell the truth, the ones in the last of the three structural sections of the game
appeared to overuse the "try a random object in a random situation and see what
happens" kind of approach, but most of them were logical and elegant). Thus, if you
are a puzzle-lover, and the aforementioned issues don't scare you away, you should
give it a try. In 1999, it was made freeware. |
