King's Quest: Mask of Eternity

The Good
We had a lot of fun playing it. The graphics are nice, the music is good: general atmosphere is drags you into the game. Puzzles are sometimes difficult, but never impossible, as is the fighting.

The Bad
There was barely anything wrong with it. In every aspect it lives up to what you might expect from a 3d action/adventure in 1998. It never excels and there is nothing astonishing or renewing about this game. I never played another kings-quest before and while playing I didn't feel I should have. Most maps / levels were fine. The last on (realm of the sun) was not to exiting and lacked the inspiration the rest of the has.

The Bottom Line
Mask Of Eternity is nice action adventure game, well worth playing.

The Good
The character graphics are bad but the backgrounds are perfect. (With the poor map designs) The puzzles were designed perfect. Scenario is not bad but not good.

The Bad
Map designs are too bad. The first level is not that bad but later they become horrible. I think the designers don't have any creativity. The good graphics that gave a good atmosphere to the series were destroyed. The game's graphics are made with a new graphic engine and that destroys the good atmosphere of King's Quest series. It gives an atmosphere like an action game... ...And it is, this game is mostly an action game with too little puzzles. There are always fights. And the fights bore you quickly. To kill a monster? At first click on the weapons picture and click on the monster repeatedly. To kill a boss monster? Click on the weapon's picture and click on the boss repeatedly but this time do it much faster than a crazy person can. And this time Roberta Williams didn't think much about the scenario this time. The scenario is too bad for an adventure game (well, saying action only is better than saying adventure) There are many bad things to say about this game but it will take your life to read this review if I tell them.

The Bottom Line
This game is a dirt and it must be cleaned.

The Good
I liked the idea that it was an attempt to bring a first and third person perspective to the game. Running around trying to find the broken masks pieces fighting blocky enemies was different.

Being able to fight creatures with your sword and bow added a bit more, entertainment to the otherwise dreary boring scenarios.

What I liked about this game is that it probably encouraged better RPG games to follow (such as Ultima IX Ascension) which was way more exciting and entertaining.

The Bad
It was not the Kings Quests we are used to. Very dreary, sometimes difficult to follow the plot line at all, and extremely linear.

The original release was very buggy and often things weren't where they were supposed to be or events did not trigger when they should have.

The levels were boring, especially running down similar corridors or same looking areas within a scene. Climbing up steep walls etc..

Unfortunately this is a game that you cannot really replay. Even after the game has sat on your shelf for a couple of years, you will still be reluctant to want to pick it up again.

You will probably use a walkthru or a cheat just because of sheer frustration in trying to figure out what exactly you are supposed to be doing, often leaving you running around a scene for hours encouraging mental irritation and heart burn in the process.

The Bottom Line
This was probably a failed attempt to bring the King Quest Series into a semi quest adventure/ RPG game.. lacking in most of the important aspects of each of these type of games.