Zzap


Jewels Of Darkness

Author: The White Wizard
Publisher: Rainbird
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #17

Jewels Of Darkness

Well, there's not a lot I can say about this one. Level 9's 'Middle Earth Trilogy', featuring Colossal Adventure, Adventure Quest and Dungeon Adventure, has provided adventurers with untold hours of entertainment over the last few years.

At £9.99 for each text-only game they were essential purchases. Now, thanks to a new marketing deal with Rainbird, you can get all three for only £14.95 plus graphics plus the new Level 9 parser that gives you a vastly enlarged vocabulary and allows you to enter commands while the pictures are still drawing.

The only point I would like to make here is that, having already played these games, I did not think that the new versions were sufficiently different to warrant purchasing them if you have the originals. That is in no way intended to be a criticism of this new release, but simply a testimony to the excellence of the original games. Of course, if graphics matter a lot to you then those alone might lead you to disagree with me, but the Wiz has never had much time for Level 9's pics - they're colourful but they're not great works of art. And the location descriptions and scenarios have always struck me as being good enough on their own.

But all this is nit-picking. This is the best bargain currently available for adventurers, and unless you can't beat the thought of going underground, you just have to get out into the shops and spend your £14.95. Nuff said.

The White Wizard

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