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The
plot, just in case you're among the millions who missed
this cinematic epic, concerns a planet called Fantasia
which is under 'attack' from an all-consuming 'Nothing'.
Just what this Nothing is, isn't very clear, although
it's obviously something to be reckoned with. The hero
of the game is a boy called Atreyu, who alone can find
the saviour so desperately needed. Although the White
Wizard didn't manage to complete the game before sitting
down to review this masterpiece, he is willing to hazard
a guess that the saviour in question is none other than
yours truly, but only time and playing the game will
tell!
The
screen display is really quite impressive. At the top
you have a narrow graphics window with an attractive
landscape background that is periodically overlaid with
small cameo portraits of objects you are carrying, people
you meet, or locations you visit. The pictures are very
pleasant, and when combined with a well-designed character-set,
give the program's display a very professional appearance.
If only other companies spent as much time over the
appearance of their games -- many a good program has
been seriously marred by poor screen design. There is
a price to pay for all this glitter, however, and that's
a poor parser. The program only understands about 40
words, and of these most are direction commands and
the usual GET/DROP/LOOK variants. One important omission
is of an 'Examine' command -- particularly sorely missed
since on many occasions you will be confronted with
an object, or even an individual, about whom you know
very little. The cassette cover blurb says, for example,
of your potential companions that you will have to judge
for yourself whether or not they will help or hinder
you in your quest -- but this isn't easy when you can't
look at them! Is Artax, for example, a horse, a bird,
or another human being? Such questions have to be answered
by referring to the program notes -- a practice that
the White Wizard frowns on, since program notes have
a habit of disappearing with the passage of time.
Time
appears to play a part in the game -- if you sit back
and do nothing, the program prompts with 'You wait .
. .' Hobbit-style, but the other characters don't
seem to take advantage of this, and remain static, which
is a pity. In fact the characters, although obviously
significant, don't seem very interactive -- which is
just as well because there isn't enough of a vocab to
communicate with them anyway.
Whatever
the shortcomings of the parser, however, the Wiz reckons
this is a very attractive program. There's a considerable
atmosphere to the game, which is supported (and not
detracted from) by the graphics. I think the game would
be particularly welcomed by younger players, but don't
let that put you off if you're of more advanced years
and have a chance of loading it up.
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