Roberta Williams' King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride

The Good
King's Quest 7 takes the series to even more accessible and charming levels, eliminating the most frustrating aspects of other adventure games and focusing instead on a Disney-esque style elements that truly live up to the lofty comparison. The character animation and background detail are gorgeous for what they are, and the voice-acting is top notch. The two-character dynamic, a first for the series, is pulled off very creatively, and there's always a sense of urgency as Valanice and her daughter Rosella criss-cross paths attempting to find one another and protect the quirky and diverse realm from annihilation at the hands of an evil sorceress. This game is all about fun for everybody, from the novice to series veterans.

The Bad
As an entry in the King's Quest series, the Princeless Bride provides little more than a vague connection, forsaking series veterans for genre novices, and crushing the momentum the franchise had built up with the fifth and sixth entries. What it provides in Disney charm it lacks in challenge -- anyone with a moderate knowledge of the genre will find it a breeze to complete. The KQ series references were left out of the game in large, developers claim, to make the game accessible to all; an argument that falls crucially flat on its back when a character from an early entry materializes out of no where as a vital plot element.

The Bottom Line
Serious gamers and fans of the franchise may have to suppress a chuckle at the Princeless Bride's opening musical number, but if you can forgo your pride and overcome the pervading atmosphere of Disney cheese (or even learn to appreciate its outright charm), you may find that this is one of the most fun entries in the series, and great game in its own right.

The Good
It has the King's Quest name and it cost me less than 20 dollars.

The Bad
First, the graphics are pretty bad. The "Motion picture quality animation" (I'm quoting the box here) is kind of choppy and seems like it's missing several frames when anything moves quickly. Second, the music really gets on your nerves. Next, instead of the look, pick up, talk, and walk buttons, they now just have a "magic wand" for a cursor. Just put it over something, if it sparkles, click. Speaking of the interface, the bottom part of the screen is the inventory menu instead of the full screen action you get in the other King's Quest games. Also, often, when you click on an item that "light's up" the magic wand, you character (who is very slow, even in version 2.0) will stroll over and say, get ready for the deep, profound statement, "amazing!" she will exclaim. Nothing else. Just that. Why they had that item light up the wand in the first place is a mystery. Also, gone is the simple save screen. instead, you have to enter your name, then you "bookmark" a chapter. (more on chapters later) No simple save button. You have to go through a boring menu to save. The game is divided into chapters. You can play any chapter at any time. This eliminates the sense of progression. Why not just skip to the end. ALso, the begining cutscene, unlike in previous King's Quest games, isn't interesting to watch. 50 percent of it is watching a poorly animated Rosella singing some lame song. Then 45 percent is Rosella and her mom talking about how Rosella must be married. WOW! That's original! Then, at the end, she dives into a pool?? and is caught by an arm that pulls her into another dimension as her mom falls downward. No explanation. no reason why she jumped in the pool. She just, did. Then, the puzzles are lame. They fall into three categories.

1. Ridiculously easy
2. Stupidly obscure
3. Ridiculously difficult

No more experimenting with items. Instead, if you put an item over the other, and it doesn't light up, then it won't even let you try. The whole game holds your hand the whole time as if four year olds are playing this game. The talking is boring. There is no lip sync, and practically no body language or expression in their voice.

The Bottom Line
If you are a fan of King's Quest, don't get it. You'll feel bad afterwards.

The Good
King's Quest VII (1994) features some impressive, cartoon-inspired animation and voice acting. It is clear that a tremendous amount of effort went into making the game look and sound like a Disney cartoon.

The game switches between two women; Valanice and Rosella as the attempt to escape from a magical kingdom.

It seems that a Troll King wants to marry Rosella, while Valanice finds herself trapped in a desert. As the game progresses, you switch between the two heroines, until finally facing off against the Troll King and an evil witch.

Actually, I think that the witch is a fairy. But in any case, she has been kidnapping royalty.

Generally, this game is shooting for a kinder, gentler, "family-friendly" atmosphere. The cartoon graphics are clearly set up to appeal to the younger audience.

As is the case with other Sierra adventure games, the player must explore his or her surroundings, interact with characters, pick up items and solve the various puzzle.

In comparison to previous games, the point and click interface has been made simpler to use. People new to the adventure game format should have no problem using the controls or figuring out what is going on.

If you have not played the previous Kings Quest games, then this game takes great pains to ensure that you do not need to be familiar with past events.

The Bad
Kings Quest VII feels like a rushed job, and with good reason. Cuts were made to ensure that the game was only on one disc, and the original release of the game was marred with severe glitches that made the game unbeatable.

Most of the glitches were fixed via a patch, but some still remain. Even without the annoying glitches, the game feels like it should have been longer and more epic than the final product.

The game has a few some dark, creepy moments, despite its kiddie, cartoon graphics, and the oversimplified gameplay mechanics take some of the fun out of the adventure gaming genre.

The Bottom Line
King's Quest VII (1994) features breathtaking, cartoon graphics and a large fantasy world to explore. Fans of adventure games, including newbies to the Kings Quest franchise should give this game a try.