Another Quest for the Best
A Review of King's Quest VII
by Craig Majaski
One of the most popular adventure games on the PC has got to be the King's Quest series. The original game was released way back in 1984. Eleven years later, Roberta Williams (creator of the series) still manages to captivate gamers with Sierra's latest release, King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride.
The King's Quest games have always utilized the technologies available at the time they are being made. King's Quest VII is no different. In fact, this marks the first King's Quest game to be launched exclusively on CD-ROM, truly a sign of the times. This is one game that truly uses the CD for good use. Had it not used CD, it wouldn't be anywhere near the graphical masterpiece it is.
The first thing that is going to impress most gamers are the graphics. The
introduction is absolutely amazing! The animation in the intro could have
easily been done by Disney themselves. The graphics continue to dazzle
throughout the entire game as well. The characters animate flawlessly,
making the game seem like your controlling a cartoon.
Breaking the mold set in previous King's Quest adventures, the player controls two main characters; both of them women. As the game begins, Princess Rosella is tired of her boring life and wishes she could go to a magical place. As she gazes into a nearby pond, a strange flying creature pops out of the water, and then back in. Rosella is intrigued and plunges into the magical pond, following the creature. Her mother, Queen Valanice, is startled and jumps in after Rosella to save her. Both of them are whisked away in a giant whirlpool. They get separated and the first chapter of the game begins when Valanice is teleported to a strange desert. Her only concern is finding her daughter and getting back home.
The basic adventure game-engine resides underneath all of the fancy graphics and nice voice-overs. The interface, however, has been made simpler than past attempts. You simply move your cursor (in the form of a magic wand) around on the screen. Valanice will walk to the place you click on the screen. If the wand becomes highlighted when you place it over an object, you can interact with it. By clicking your mouse button, she will either look, pick up, use, or talk with the object.
The story line is broken up into chapters and there are a total of six of them. As mentioned above, you control Valanice in the first chapter. When you solve the many dilemmas of the desert stage and reach chapter two, the scenario switches and you gain control of Rosella. It should be noted that you never control both characters at once, as in the popular LucasArts game, Day of the Tentacle. As the story continues to unfold, you learn that you must save the land of Eldritch from an evil witch who will stop at nothing to destroy anything or anyone that gets in her way.
Veterans to the series know how difficult some of the quests tend to get. King's Quest VII won't let you down. I found myself stumped on many occasions. Compared to King's Quest VI, I believe this one is a little more difficult, despite its cartoonish graphics.
Overall, the game is presented very well. The beautiful graphics did cause
some slow down on my Pentium, but it didn't detract from the game in any way.
The voices are top notch, except I was annoyed by Rosella's high pitched
voice. I missed the calm and serene voice of the main character from the
previous King's Quest. The story flows along like a fairy tale book with
many enchanting characters. From the evil witch to the mischievous little
boys who live in the pumpkin house, all are memorable and full of
personality. The quest is rather lengthy and has plenty of twists and turns.
While King's Quest VII is a great game, I still liked part VI better. Sure the graphics are better in VII, but I felt the story line and characters were better done in the previous game. Part VI also had a more conservative and dark look to it when compared to the cartoonish King's Quest VII. Still, whether you are an experienced King's Quest fan, or a newcomer, get ready for one of the best adventures to come along since...well, King's Quest VI! This game is highly recommended and really should not be missed.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: |
King's Quest VII |
| Company: |
Sierra Online, Inc
|
| Cost: |
n/a |
System Requirements:
n/a
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 5
Graphics 5
Sound 4
Interface 4
Replayability 3
Overall Score:
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