Previous Next

Heroes Of Karn is a graphical adventure with music, in which your mission is to rescue four heroes held captive by spells, and to return treasures of the realm. Each Hero has his own special abilities which come in very useful - you will certainly need all the help you can get!

The game starts among pleasant springtime fields, which lead to a stone barrow, a monastery and a castle - among other places.

Now I can take or leave graphics in an adventure, but I did like these graphics, particularly one of a castle by the sea.

After the main blocks of the pictures are drawn, sprites are promptly dotted about the screen to add the finishing touches - the long tufts of grass, a tree, birds or a sailing ship.

The pictures are displayed the first time at a location, unless otherwise requested, but because the overall display is rather slow, for repeated attempts at the game it really pays to SAVE.

Is the game worth saving? I would say yes, but with one or two reservations.

The structure of the vocabulary is unusual and gave me some difficulty. Multi-word sentences are allowed, such as 'Say to (someone) "attack bear with sword"', but these will go unrecognised if one of the words is not known or if the punctuation isn't as expected.

For example, if you say something to someone, their name must begin with a capital, yet the first word spoken, which must be inside quotes, must not. This inconsistency was rather annoying and somewhat time wasting, for many variations had to be tried before being sure a command was not a valid one.

The range of vocabulary is rather limited and the replies give no indication as to which word is not understood. I found myself a little disorientated until I got used to the command format.

A useful way to check out object words when playing an adventure is to type TAKE followed by the object you want. If it is not known or not present, usually the form of the reply will give an indication as to whether or not it exists. Not being able to pass a bear on a narrow path up in the mountains, I thus tried TAKE HONEY and was told "The pot of honey is not here".

That summarises some of the problems in this game. It seems there are many existing objects that are needed - but where are they all?

I have to admit to being currently incarcerated in a dungeon with a guard immune to bribery with companion and self short of a key. But I do know it is a gold one!

I had great difficulty in getting a copy of this game that would load correctly - it takes eighteen minutes! - but full marks to Interceptor Software for service. They were most helpful to me.

The music is nicely done, but so far I have only heard 'Greensleeves'. I am hoping there will be more when I find Haldir, the minstrel.

Clues are scattered everywhere in this game so remember to read all the descriptions very carefully.

Heroes Of Karn is from Interceptor Software for the Commodore 64, priced £7 for cassette and £9 for diskette.