Perseus & Andromeda

The Good
Perseus & Andromedia is an adventure game set in ancient Greece. You are Perseus, a God sent by King Polydectes to search for and destroy Medusa, then rescue the lovely Andromeda. As mentioned in the description, the game follows the Perseus mythology story closely, as seen in the film “Clash of the Titans”. In this adventure, you will bargain with three witches, help your fellow Gods, and fly in the clouds courtesy of the horse Pegasus.

The screen is split into two parts, with a beautiful illustration of each scene at the top, and the text parser at the bottom. I enjoyed watching the game draw each scene; it reminds me of playing the original version of King’s Quest from 1984. Pressing the [Return] key switches you to text mode, where you get an actual description of the scene as well as the available exits. This mode is also ideal for moving between different scenes quickly without letting the graphics get in your way. I like that utilizing this mode brings back memories of playing Zork or any other Infocom title.

To progress through the game, two-word commands - usually a verb-noun sequence – must be entered, and if you enter a word the game doesn’t recognize, you will get a response along the lines of “[command] is a word I don’t know.” Perseus & Andromedia features an intelligent parser; you can simply enter directions by their first letter (E for east and U for up, for example). Likewise, your inventory can be called up by entering I.

You can save the game at any time, but make sure you have a blank cassette handy. Like many adventure games, it is important to make a map of the game world, as well as any characters that inhabit each scene. It is huge and quite easy to go around in circles without one.

The Bad
Each of the scene’s graphics is not stored in memory, so when you’re in Text mode and switch back to Graphic mode, the game redraws the same scene, even though it did it once.

The Bottom Line
Perseus & Andromedia is a graphic adventure game set in ancient Greece.
Like others that were released around the same time, two-word commands need to be entered to progress through the game. Although you are originally presented with a nice illustration and the text parser, you can switch to Text mode at any time during the game to access more information like a description and a listing of the visible exits. You also have to perform actions that were not possible in other Channel 8 adventure games, such as helping people and getting items in return. If you don't mind playing these types of adventures in your spare time, you might enjoy this game.