Summary
You think that KQ is outdated, little man? Ha! Let Sierra show you a thing or two
The Good
Back in
King's Quest III, Graham's son Alexander defeated Manannan by turning him into a cat. The game's conclusion saw the last dialog box appear with the words “The End ???”, which means “Was that really the end?”. KQ5 answers that question in its introduction. You see, on a beautiful sunny day, King Graham decides to take a walk in the woods. Meanwhile, the evil wizard Mordack comes by and uses one of his magic spells to wiz the Daventry castle away, along with the entire family.
Graham is shocked to see his castle gone. Fortunately, an owl called Cedric flies into the scene and tells Graham what happened while he was gone, and offers to take him to the land of Serenia where his employer Crispin gets him started in finding Mordack. Crispin gives Graham some white snake that would allow him to communicate with animals, and asks Cedric to go along with him. The reason for this is outlined to Graham later, because of what Alexander did to his brother, Manannan.
One noticeable different is the 256-color graphics that give KQ5 a lot more detail than the previous KQ's. When you walk through Serenia, you will notice how beautiful that the scenery really is. One thing that I admired was the cottages that you have to enter – they are just your ordinary English-style ones, along with a “Ye Olde” sign out front. Your next stop from Serenia are the mountains. Just looking at these mountains reminds me of those days when I hiked with my sister in Switzerland. Even the ice castle that you enter looks amazing, the way that ice castles should look like. Harpy Island, the island which you are shipwrecked on, even has amazing views of the ocean. Those are the three locations in the game that I was interested in. Bad places to go look dark and haunting, and are often inhabited by evil people. Examples of this include the dark forest and Mordack's island/castle.
Another difference is the transition from the text-parser interface to a point-and-click one. Having this interface gives you full control of the mouse. You just drag the mouse cursor toward the top of the screen to bring up the interface, click on any icon, and then drag down and click on a character/object. Right-click to cycle between available cursors. Having this interface also reduces the risk of RSI from entering tedious commands. Some users have argued that having the text-parser allows you to enter anything to receive a stupid response from the game, but I think that it is the same for the point-and-click interface.
Some of the music and sound effects are good, especially if played through the Sound Blaster. I rather enjoyed listening to the tunes in all the locations. These include the dark forest and crystal cave scenes, confronting the yeti and blue beast, when I explored both Harpy Island and the labyrinth under Mordack's castle, and when I am locked in a dungeon in Mordack's castle.
I have played both the disk and CD-ROM versions, and it is the latter that has the advantage. You see, besides full speech, you also have the stereo soundtrack that accompanies the game's introduction, and ambient sound effects can be heard throughout the game, not just in the intro. For instance, I could hear the sound of real water flowing through a stream in Serenia, and the sound of the waterfall near the beach, along with the little bits like doors opening and closing, and animals making real noises. There are even a couple of songs, one of which I remember quite well. (”We're the ants, led by King Antony. We're coming to help King Graham.”)
In the disk version, there are far too many icons in the interface that were confusing even for me, and this is rectified in the CD version. You will also have to suffer the stupid copy protection dialog box, where you are asked to use a number of symbols to cast a spell that will let you continue the game. With this mighty trick, pirates could not copy the game and give it to people without lending them the manual.
The Bad
Although these are not present in the CD-ROM version, even this version comes at a hefty price. You see, you have to put up with Cedric's voice from beginning to end. Sometimes what he says is pretty funny, but most of the time, I found his pointless speeches annoying that I ended up abandoning him on Harpy Island, which was a move that I regretted at the end of the game. Also, just before each cut-scene, a warning came up, asking me to watch or skip the scene. If I decide to skip the scene, I had to check my inventory to see if any items were given to me anyway. Very annoying.
The Bottom Line
KQ5 is a massive upgrade from the previous KQ's, due to its 256-color VGA graphics and point-and-click interface. It is a game that links itself back to KQ3. With help from Cedric, you must find and defeat Mordack, and restore Castle Daventry back to its original state. To accomplish this, he must do business with the townspeople and animals, as they might give him something if he does a good dead.
If you want to play KQ5, I suggest that you play KQ3 first, as this will tell you why Mordack messes with King Graham's family. I also recommend getting your hands on the CD version of KQ5, since there is a lot more to experience in this version, like the ambient sound effects and full speech. It is even useful if you do not want to be faced with copy protection.
