Ten Little Indians

The Good
Ten Little Indians is the tenth game in the ”Mysterious Adventure” series (coincidence, much?) designed by Brian Howarth and Wherner Barnes. It is said that the late Major Johnstone-Smythe has hidden a mysterious gold figurine inside his mansion. Its whereabouts are only revealed by finding other figurines that are of different colors. Some of them are easy enough to find, while others are rather difficult. Locations you will explore include the railway station, riverside wharf, and the mansion itself, as well as its surroundings.

The game is presented in much the same way as every Mysterious Adventure, with the game split between text or graphics and command input. The illustrations look fantastic, and I enjoyed watching the game draw and color in each scene; it bears a striking resemblance to the 1984 version of King’s Quest. If you don’t want to see them, you can press [Return] to be presented with more detailed information including a one-sentence description of the scene, the objects in that scene, and the available exits. This is ideal for moving between a lot of scenes quickly without seeing the game redraw the graphics.

Commands are usually in the verb-noun format, but directions and the inventory can be shortened to one letter (e.g. E for east, I for inventory). What I like about this parser is that if you happen to make a typo, the game will know what you mean and accept your command. This happens in other Mysterious Adventures that I have completed, not just this one. A maximum of five items can be stored in your inventory, and at some point you will have to drop some items to make way for any that you need right away, then come back for the dropped items later.

Like many adventure games, it is important to track where you have been and the objects in a particular location. The game world is huge, and it is quite easy to go around in circles without a map of some sort. It is also possible to die in the game, from certain situations like waiting too long on the railroad tracks until a train runs you over and spending too much time underwater. In which case, an illustration appears with a black background and a gravestone in the middle.

The Bad
When you switch to text-only mode then change back to graphic mode, the illustrations re-draw themselves. This can be frustrating especially if you have to move between a whole lot of scenes.

The Bottom Line
Ten Little Indians is game number ten in the "Mysterious Adventures" series, presented in the same way with a split between text/graphics and command input. Two-word commands need to be entered, but certain abbreviations can be entered as well. I enjoyed this game since you do not have to deal with obstacles as much and can explore your surroundings as long as you like.