Shannara Adventure Game (DOS)

If you've ever read Terry Brook's Shannara series, you know that his favorite thing to do is make you feel sorry for the main character. Although this game was not written by him, it does the same thing. 'Shannara' is built to fit in between 'Sword of Shannara' and 'Elfstones of Shannara.' It is a very fun and addictive game; although the graphics are a bit dated, but still about as good as you can expect from something from the 90's. If you have ever played anything from 'The Adventure Company' or 'Her Interactive,' you know exactly what to expect. You hardly ever use the keyboard, mostly the mouse, as it makes manuevering much easier. While not 3D, it fills the gap quite nicely with the in-game engine; it has no tile-sets, so dont expect to see the same repeating picture for every set of 5 books in a bookcase. If, like me, you read 'Wishsong of Shannara,' and thought it mean to kill off most of the main characters (Elfstones, too, but not quite as much,) don't get too excited. Your party of companions generally consists of anywhere from 1 to 6 people; generally 5, since the sixth slot is left open for partial characters (people that you have to rescue, or agree to acompany you to a certain place.) Because you spend the majority of the game with the same 5, well 4, since you can't really count Jak Ohmsford, the character you are playing as, you get really close to them. When they suffer a personal loss, or are injured, you feel the pain along with them. Back to the reference about Wishsong, and not to spoil any of the plot twists (which there are ALOT of, believe me,) by the time you have finished all your quests and goals, there are only 3 people, counting yourself, left in your party. The situations of these losses (some are deserved,) hit a little close to home, as, generally, the main character has a personal hand in them. The finer points of the game, as well as some of the basic ones, such as how to perform certain actions necessary to the story (how to reach something that is hanging from a tree limb across a river you can't cross, for example) make the game alot more fun to play. On the downside, it takes you quite a while to gain full control of the... well, the controls. By the time you learn, the game is mostly over with. Many a time, when haste is required, you will find yourself pausing to decide exactly how to perform a certain action. What is mentioned before wouldn't be so bad, if only the game had a higher replayability factor. It is based more along the lines of a movie, or book; there are no side-quests or optional objectives. Everything you did the first time, you have to do a second time. In simple terms, the game is only entertaining the first time through. It is not very challenging, as its strongpoint is solving puzzles that do not vary from game-to-game, unlike most computer games, which focus on hand-eye coordination. Most 'battles' consist of just clicking the 'attack' button over and over again. If one of your companions is struck down during the battle, no biggy, he or she is there for the next one, with full hit points. While it is nice not to completely loose them, the game really looses its challenge, as it turns away from being a computer game, into being a click-along-movie. But the main problem is that, by the time you fully 'master' the controls (if you ever do,) the game is Nearly, VERY nearly over, and about the entire last 1/2 hour if the game is entirely cinematics with 5 to 10 second pauses. The voice acting leaves quite a bit to be desired. Since it was made for older computers, the music doesnt really work, and the dialogue, which, unlike Neverwinter Nights, is all narrated by actors, no matter who you are talking to or when (this is the bulk of the game's size, which, today is entirely unimpressive, 600mb,) is always a bit fuzzy and has many clicks and stutters, but not enough to interfere with your entertainment or understanding of what is being said. A very good game story wise, the puzzles can take you a while to figure out. Get this is you have a day to yourself that you just want to sit back and enjoy a story that, while it may not have what you could call a happy ending, will keep you entertained and, like all Shannara books, philosophizing about certain events or quotes. Don't let this discourage you, it is probably one of the better games of '96, although it probably wasnt all that popular. Not a good one for graphics, but it comes from the golden age of gaming, when gameplay and enjoyment were top priority. A MUST-BUY for any Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Eragon, or, obviously, Shannara fan.

Generally a good game with some light-hearted music(the elf lady's flute in particular). You play a cousin to Shea Olmsford(second cousin of the mother's side I suppose). This takes place only a few years after the Shea incodent with a certain magical sword. Your(play character) has no V/O talant and really no id as far as appearence or back story, this is good as it means he's you. You get vague glimpses into your past via your friends and comrads dialogue the elf girl archer in particular has a intrest in your character. You are a no-talent nerdy sort of half-elf(as Shae was) who, as Frodo is reliant on his luck and friends more than special talents. Your only wheapon, you ask a lot of questions and get into a lot of trouble with tresspassing, this is all you have to enable(the player behind the screen) to solve the game. As in Ben Holiday, and the Olmsford clan, you are so much dogmeat without your magic items and a good support team. But it gets interesting later and Terry Brook's way of telling these tales makes this(otherwise wimpy role) more interesting as the centeral reluctant hero. As in King's Quest, you have no more than your wits and maybe the occasional dagger and brawl(as in Ben Holiday's Sward castle jaunt). The acting is not that bad, as in King's Quest the actors are professional. The main key roles are played by vetrens and the others are just comical and fill in the gaps. It is doubtful it will work on XP or new OS's but it definitely works on Win 98 and 95 with the 256 640x480 config and a down-sized vid card. Sound is great with a DOS driver based sound card with windows capablity as the Audigy 1(and it's DOS counter) or SBLive.Game veterens(who played in the 80's) and aging hippies(who crafted this stuff) will love it, everyone else is too young to appreiciate it.