The Prophecy

The Good
The game actually is the closest one to the Coktels' famous "Goblins" series, both in the stile of gameplay and in the style of artwork. And, while being far less known, it is not just remains the same quality, but at some points it acts even better, then the games in the series mentioned above.

Not the obvious fact, but the game is the sequel to an awful game of late 80th, that was made by Tomahawk and published by Coktel, - Legend of Djel. That game is even less known then The Prophecy, and, apart from rather original plot, it has nothing interesting to offer. And that's a big surprise that Coktel managed to change this situation in the sequel, so that it became one of the companys' greatest works.

The kingdom of Blue Rocks is in danger, and you, as a grandson of powerful royal wizard, have to save it from another powerful, but this time evil sorcerer, Kraal. Kraal has stolen the Revvus, the sacred sand watch of the kingdom, and kidnapped the Princess. Your mission is quite obvious - find the princess, defeat the sorcerer, save the kingdom.

The interesting touches of the game are a great number of different interactions with the game world. First of all, during your adventure you'll be followed by several characters, such as your trustful servant Petroy (who will give you information on different subjects you'll come across), two silly gnomes - Uki and Orbi - who are supposed to carry your luggage and help you in different ways, but they cause more trouble, rather then help you. And finally there is a cute bat, Urm, which has ability to produce gold in return for feeding him strawberries (it will help you in some other ways for other kinds of berries, though).

The other nice touches are the use of several sacred jewels and of several potions. From the very beginning you have a copper ball in your possessions. There will be three sacred jewels scattered around the world of Blue Rocks, and after you'll find them, you may combine them with copper ball, which will turn into a cauldron, long pipe or a sword (depending on the jewel). As for the potions, there are two main types of them: Venom and Pollen. Plus you'll come across some other potions. Each of them has its unique abilities, and by mixing them in your cauldron you'll get knew potions. See how many opportunities you are given?!

There is also one non-typical for Coktels adventures feature presented in The Prophecy: twisted passes. There are two occasions were you can choose among to ways to go (one is obvious, the other has to be revealed first), and one were you can reach your aim by different methods. A very nice touch.

The game has a variety of good and memorable characters, some of them appear to help you in your quest, while the others are just sent to you by evil Kraal. All of them are very well drawn, just like the all in-game graphics. There are some FMV scenes, though, which were the part of almost every game of that period by Coktel, but, IMO, they are out of place here.

The Bad
Well, the game suffers from the same symptoms as any other Coktel game: pixel hunting, non-obvious puzzles, bad ending. The game also becomes extremely difficult near the ending, so not many will finish it without some help.

The music in the game is also not top-notch, and the variety of melodies during the game is rather small. Also, the mentioned above FMV scenes are somewhat out of place.

The Bottom Line
Despite those tiny, almost non-existent downsides (OK, OK, I'm actually the one who really likes the Coktel games :)) The Prophecy is a very enjoyable experience. It may suffer from the cruel pixel hunting or some illogical moments, but it is a true gem and it is the second better puzzle/adventure from Coktel Vision (after the Goblins series, of course, which I present as a one game). Two thumbs up!