Quest for Glory Anthology
Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by Sierra

Age Group: Age 8 and Up, Adults Type: Puzzles/Memory Price: $29.95

Description:

Quest for Glory is a very popular series of adventure games from Sierra. In fact, Quest for Glory 5 is slated for release this summer, but will be the last in the series. This anthology includes the previous 4 games, and gives you the option for the first game of installing either the original version, or the revised version. Quest for Glory is a blend of traditional adventure games that are inventory based and certain elements of role-playing games. Basically, they have taken the best of both worlds and combined them into a winning combination! In each game, you are given the option of choosing as your character either a Wizard, Thief, or Fighter. You can then assign points to certain areas of skill like climbing, magic, throwing, sneaking, etc. As you progress, your character can build up his skills and become proficient. When you finish a game, you are given the option of saving your character and transporting him into the next game along with his earned skills! You are also given a choice then of a new character, a paladin.

Ater you've chosen what you want to be, then it's time to set out on your quest! So You Want to be a Hero is the first, and you can play either the original, the revised, or both. You have recently graduated from the Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School and now are ready to becom a hero! To become the Hero of Spielburg, you must rescue the Baron's children, get rid of the evil ogress, Baba Yaga, and defeat the brigands. After this is accomplished, it's time to move on to the next adventure, Trial by Fire. In this quest, your hero has traveled with his friends the Katta to their homeland, the ancient Arabian desert city of Raseir. Here he must rescue the deposed Emir Arus al-Din and restore him to power. The third game in the series is Wages of War, and here our hero must prevent war between two mighty tribes in Africa. The fourth and last game is Shadows of Darkness, which is set in the land of Mordavia. An ancient evil is taking over the land, and it is up to our hero to defeat this wickedness.

All four of these games are excellent! There is so much to do in each one, solve puzzles, help people, fight, steal, build up skills, get game points, the list goes on and on. And in each one you can play the game three different ways, since choosing a different character will enable you to use alternate skills! It is hard to say which game is the best, but the third is the weakest in the set, though still good fun. Humour abounds, mixed in with the thrill of defeating opponents and solving puzzles.

Technical Aspects:

Installation is very simple, in Windows just insert the CD, then choose Run, type the letter of your CD-ROM drive, as in D:\setup, and follow the instructions. In DOS, go to your DOS prompt, type the letter of your CD-ROM drive followed by a colon, then press Enter. When your Cd-Rom drive letter prompt appears ("D:\>"), then type Install and hit Enter and follow the instructions. You are given the option of which games you wish to install from the CD, you can install all of them, or pick and choose. Remember, the graphics are outdated, especially on the original QFG 1, and Trial by Fire, which is the original version. In both, you must type in commands, also. However, this does not detract from game play whatsoever!

Report and Conclusions:

Our family has enjoyed these games! My husband played as a Magician, while I opted for the fighter, as did my 11 year old daughter. Its hard to say what is more fun, solving the puzzles, or building character points! I spent much time practising climbing, throwing, and fighting until I could beat up practically everything in my path! My daughter is no fan of blood and gore, but took much pleasure in going around fighting brigands and goblins in the first game. She especially liked it when there was money on the dead bodies. If I had to say which was my favorite, it is a tie between the fourth one, Shadows of Darkness, or the second one, Trial by Fire. (A word of warning about Shadows of Darkness, there is a practically naked female in a lake, but it is in just that one part of the game, you may not see it at alll. Because of this fact, I wouldn't let my daughter play it 1.5 years ago, but will probably let her play it later). Actually, Trial by Fire was my first introduction to typing commands in games, as I am relatively new to gaming, but is still very enjoyable. These games are excellent for kids ages 10-up, with the exception maybe of the fourth one, which I urge parents to check out first before letting their kids play. I am awarding this anthology a Gold for its timeless capacity to entertain, which is what gaming is all about, after all!

If you have any problems when using Kids Domain then please contact Cindy, who will be happy to help where possible.

[A-Z Index - Beginners - Ages 2-5 - Ages 4-8 - Ages 8 up - Grownups]

[Subject Indexes - Kids Home - Online Games - Grownups Place]

Copyright ⌐ Kids Domain, 1998.