| Review: | A large, solidly built game with a promisingly starting plot. And even if the latter finally doesn't live up to the
expectations, turning into a treasure hunt; the parser is rather primitive by modern standards; the player is treated
most unfairly (not to mention such trifles as sudden deaths without the possibility of undoing the fatal action, and
landing in a "cul-de-sac" without warning, this is the only game I've ever encountered that can be made unwinnable by
simply saving it! As the authors explain, that's done to avoid "brute-force" solutions to some of the puzzles; still,
it'd be nice if the players at least received a warning about it); and the game requires from you to slay a few people
for no apparent reason, this work still remains admirable in several respects. Among them are the clever Shakespeare
references (the game starts with the player character being magically transferred to Shakespearian time), the humour
(admitted, it may appear odd to some people, but fortunately for me, I seem to share the authors' preferences in this
regard), and, of course, the fulcrum of the whole game, the puzzles (to tell the truth, the ones in the last of the
three structural sections of the game appeared to overuse the "try a random object in a random situation and see
what happens" kind of approach (at least, to me), but most of them were logical and elegant). Thus, if you are a
puzzle-lover, and the aforementioned issues don't scare you away, you should give it a try.
Rating: ***
Reviewed by Valentine Kopteltsev (01 Jun 2005)
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