The Colonel's Bequest

The Good
Anyone who grew up playing computer games in the Eighties may have played the first four KQ games, and may have fond memories of playing them. Roberta Williams, the series' creator, said that she likes mysteries, and this should have been more apparent when she released Mystery House, Sierra's first game for the Apple II. So, just before she started work on the fifth KQ title, she released The Colonel's Bequest but she wanted her detective game to be huge.

The game is set in the Twenties, and we are introduced to Laura Bow, a student studying at Tulane University, right in the heart of New Orleans. Laura's friend Lillian comes and invites her to a family reunion at the old plantation house by the bayou. There, she gets to attend the family reunion and to hear what Lillian's friend, the Colonel, is doing with his will. She is also given the chance to meet the other guests staying at the house.

The game is, in some ways, similar to Mystery House, in that the game opens up by introducing each character, who are murdered one by one during the course of the game. But there's a lot more involved. You get to see characters interact with one another and eavesdrop on their conversations, as well as looking at objects up-close with a magnifying glass. All these things are important because the game gives you a rating on how well you performed, and you will see that rating when you completed it. The game is split into eight acts that last for one hour, and certain events only occur in that act.

I admired the game's copy protection, which kicks in at the start of the game. You see, it requires you to identify a fingerprint belonging to one of the game's characters instead of looking up a word on a certain page. Unlike most copy protection methods, this one is slightly difficult since all the fingerprints are too similar to one another. However, I found that the easiest way is focus on the center of the fingerprint, and see what figures you can make out. A bird can be seen in Clarence Sparrow's print, for instance.

You spend most of the game exploring the plantation house, noticing anything unusual like objects being transported from one location to another. Graphically, the plantation house is laid out nicely, with the different rooms on the ground floor, and the bedrooms on the floor above them. You have to do some tasks outside, which is a gloomy environment complete with dark clouds and lightning. To add to the dark atmosphere, wind, thunder, and insect noises can be heard in the background.

As I said, The Colonel's Bequest rates how good of a detective you were, and you can read notes based on the conversations you listened into, objects being transported from one location to another, whether or not a character has a crush on somebody, etc. Anything you have missed will how up as an incomplete list. but the game doesn't tell you what you missed. The game can be replayed by anyone who just wants to find everything.

There are a few moments that I like, including watching the fight between Rudy and Clarence near the end of the game. I also like the way there are two endings to the game, so if you viewed one ending already you can watch the other one by loading the game to a point before them.

The Bad
One thing that annoyed me was trying to unlock something with the only key you find in the game. You have to be very specific at what you type in the parser if you want Laura to unlock it, otherwise the game would complain that it's the wrong key when it is not.


The Bottom Line
In conclusion, The Colonel's Bequest is a well-done murder mystery, from the creator of the King's Quest series. It has everything a good detective game should have, such as investigating crime scenes, eavesdropping on other people's conversations, and looking at objects up close.

The game is split up into eight acts, with certain events only occurring in specific acts. Each act gets more intense as you discover more and more dead bodies. Nearly all the guests are murdered, which makes you keep thinking that you are next.

The gloomy atmosphere blends in with the detective nature of the game, and the copy protection is superior to the other methods Sierra used in the past. The points system is replaced by what I call the 'performance monitor', in which your actions are recorded and written down in a notebook that you can view at the end of the game. It provides you with hints on what you missed, so if you feel up to it you can replay the game to achieve a good detective rating.