56 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
56 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
|
||
LANCELOT
|
||
|
||
LANCELOT is an illustrated adventure game from Mandarin Software and Level 9,
|
||
Datasoft, and Electronic Arts, and was released with TIME AND MAGIK (also
|
||
reviewed in THE ELECTRONIC GAMER). The game offers a three-part story, fine
|
||
graphics, a good command processor, a RAM SAVE option, an UNDO function, and a
|
||
hypertext clue book. The Commodore 64/128 version is the basis of this review.
|
||
|
||
LANCELOT is a three-part adventure based on the classic "Le Morte D'Arthur," by
|
||
Thomas Malory. It is the wonderful story of King Arthur, the Knights of the
|
||
Round Table, Lancelot, Guinevere, Merlin, and the Holy Grail. Although Datasoft
|
||
took some liberties with the story in order to translate it into an adventure
|
||
game, the results are excellent.
|
||
|
||
The three parts of LANCELOT are titled "Camelot," "Logris," and "The Quest for
|
||
the Holy Grail." Unlike TIME AND MAGIK, which allowed you to play the three
|
||
games in any order, LANCELOT will let you start at the first part or the last
|
||
part. The three stories tell: 1) of Lancelot's arrival in Camelot and hi rise to
|
||
become the best knight in the land; 2) the formation of the Round Table; and 3)
|
||
the search for the Holy Grail. Playing the games out of sequence would ruin the
|
||
story, but you can go for the Grail immediately and not waste any time messing
|
||
with knighthood or Guinevere.
|
||
|
||
The C64 screen consists of graphic displays, below which are several lines of
|
||
text. Pictures load quickly and can be adjusted to reveal more text. Once the
|
||
program is loaded and you've selected a game to play, you can bypass the
|
||
graphics by not turning the disk over.
|
||
|
||
The command parser understands complicated sentences, and works fairly well.
|
||
Occasionally, though, you'll get a goofy response. UNDO will cancel previous
|
||
commands, taking you back one step, and it can be used repetitively. RAM SAVE
|
||
will save your current position in memory. The "Up" cursor key removes a
|
||
horizontal line of the picture. Pressing this key repeatedly will eventually
|
||
remove the entire picture. Pressing the "Down" cursor key brings the picture
|
||
back onscreen, one line at a time.
|
||
|
||
The clue book includes maps for "Camelot." Numbered clues refer to other
|
||
numbered clues that, in turn, refer to still others. The game package contains a
|
||
double-sided disk, the clue book, an instruction manual, and a parchment map.
|
||
The manual also offers a condensed version of the story of King Arthur.
|
||
|
||
Like TIME AND MAGIK, LANCELOT is reasonably well-written. The pictures are more
|
||
or less unnecessary, but they do make a good game look a lot better. The decent
|
||
command parser upchucks a weird response every now and then, but when commands
|
||
are kept simple, the game moves right along.
|
||
|
||
Good story material is always a boon to an adventure game and goes a long way
|
||
toward circumventing the limitations of the interface. In the case of LANCELOT,
|
||
there's more than a good story: There's a good game here, too.
|
||
|
||
LANCELOT is published by Datasoft and distributed by Electronic Arts.
|
||
|
||
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
||
|