Previous Next

Concealed in unpromising packaging, The Jewel of Power turns out to be an excellent animated graphics adventure. As you'd expect, doors open by means of redrawing the picture for each location - and in some places there are animated effects.

Having explored my house and discovered the purpose of my quest (look for fragments of a wand), I was walking in the countryside when a goat suddenly appeared at one location, only to disappear again almost as quickly. It emerges every time you arrive there, but I haven't yet figured out why. Elsewhere I got caught by a giant and placed in a cage to await my fate, the giant's face appearing to leer as he did so.

There is a picture for each of the 120 locations, and with the animated touches as well, it's astounding to see how it's all been squeezed into the memory, with the pictures appearing instantly rather than drawn.

But this does have its snags. For instance, one way of saving memory is by restricting the parser that analyses the commands, and this does prove a nuisance in places. When you see a box of matches you can't GET BOX or GET MATCHES, but must GET BOX OF MATCHES, and similarly in one place OPEN TRAP DOOR works, but OPEN TRAPDOOR doesn't.

You have to study the objects in each picture, not only the text, so having spotted mirror in the bedroom I tried EXAMINE MIRROR. I was told "All that is here you see," implying there was nothing more to be found; yet if you STUDY MIRROR, something happens, and this was only discovered by studying the solution provided.

The other major fault is that there's no automatic restart to the game. You're told you must reload the data, yet when loading the game you're not told where the data files start so that you can mark it on the tape and rewind. This is soon overcome by saving the game as soon as you've started, but it is still annoying.

Complaints apart, I enjoyed Jewel Of Power thoroughly, especially trying to figure out the Escher-like monument I ventured into, where you can continually go up or down in a never-ending circle. It's perhaps best to SAVE your achievements before you step into here, believe me.

With castles, desert, forests, prison cells, lanterns, dungeons, mazes, and even trolls on bridges, this is definitely for the traditional adventures.