Games Computing
1st January 1985Fame Quest (Braingames)
This is described as a strategy game but really has closer links with adventures, except that in this case you are provided with the map. The basic idea is that you start out as the lowest grade of Knight and have to establish your right to promotion by earning fame and fortune in the big wide world. This world is conveniently mapped out for you showing forests, houses, castles and sanctuaries.
In these sanctuaries you can exchange your hard won wealth for weapons with which to face the many enemies that await you. Each encounter with an enemy offers you the opportunity to fight, talk or run. Choosing the fight option enables you to see the encounter actually battled out in miniature, accompanied by suitable sounds of clashing swords and clanging shields. Taking produces interesting responses from some characters while others have little to say. Running will sometimes prove the widest course although you may not always escape and will often lose some of your face.
Not all encounters are unfriendly, however, and some characters will aid you in times of need or offer you the chance to gamble for fame. This seems a somewhat dubious concept but chivalry is upheld in that refusing requests for aid from maidens in distress and the like will seriously damage your fame balance. Indeed you can easily end up with a negative score. But beware, all is not as it may seem and honesty is undoubtedly a virtue. As you progress, so you must earn increasing fame to ensure promotion until eventually you become the mightiest warrior in the land and receive you well deserved acolade from the assembled inhabitants of the castle.
This game has some good ideas and is initially quite absorbing. Once you have discovered all the attributes of your opponents, however, it becomes much more routine and attainment of the highest grading becomes more a matter of time than luck or skill. Having once completed the quest you will probably not want to play it again. On a final note, this was a highly reliable fast loader which worked every time.