Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail

The Good
Everything from the music to the graphics (though limited to 16 colors, the game had real artistic talent behind the sprites and the animations) was fantastic.

The game features a lovely mix of action and adventure. The action elements aren't a main focus in the game and aren't too involved (think Space Quest), so people who love adventure games shouldn't be turned off.

The puzzles in the game can be challenging but I managed to get through the whole game without being really stuck more than once. The only time I got stuck was a part that involved yelling, which was an action you didn't have to do at any other point in the game.

The game also has multiple endings based on some of the decisions you make, just like with Conquest of the Longbow (another exquisite adventure game).

Someone mentioned the riddles in the game as a bad part. For me, they were some of the most interesting puzzles in the game. The riddles are masterfully written in a way that anyone should be able to solve them given enough time and thought. I first played the game when I was 13 and managed to solve every riddle I encountered, and I played the riddles section multiple times to see every riddle. Anyway, some people might be turned off and may want to immediately progress to the next section. For those people, the riddles might have been pretty frustrating.

The Bad
I didn't like the part in the game where I got stuck. Like I mentioned earlier, it involved yelling which was something you didn't have to do throughout the whole game up until then, so I never even thought to try it. I imagine lots of people got stuck on the same part for the same reason.

Every single puzzle is still very logical. Unlike too many games, there's no brute force strategy to figuring out what to do where you run into parts where you have to just try every single action you can think of with no sense of direction. Looking around each environment gives clues as to what you do, and just about everything should be obvious. If not, you'll probably hit yourself on the head when you figure it out because the game really does a great job of filling you in.

The copy protection puzzles are probably the most annoying thing. I didn't even think to look in the manual when I first played the game with the riddle of the flowers.

The Bottom Line
I would say this is one of the greatest adventure games ever made, not just for aesthetic reasons (though it certainly is among the best in this department as well), but for the straight-forward adventure gameplay with some entertaining action moments.

To me, Quest for Glory, Conquest of Camelot, and Conquest of the Longbow offer the best Sierra has to offer when it comes to the adventure department because they offer some of the most straight-forward (but not necessarily easy) puzzles, often with multiple approaches.

The Good
The feature that most distinguishes Conquests of Camelot from other Sierra games of the period is that you (via King Arthur, your in-game cypher) are required to partake in many more challenges than simply solving item-manipulation puzzles. At one point you must slay wild boar; at another, you're dueling with a saracen; at still another, you're jousting. This, coupled with a fairly logical puzzle system, makes Conquests of Camelot a gem worth seeking out if you can configure your system to support it.

The Bad
The one feature that is guaranteed to irritate a fair number of gamers are the riddles. At one point, Arthur must solve a number of riddles to advance. If you cannot answer even one, you're stuck. Luckily, the riddles themselves rotate, so if you're stuck on one, leave the screen and return to get a new, possibly easier one.

The Bottom Line
King Arthur must venture out to recover the Holy Grail. Along the way, he undergoes a variety of challenges, physical, mental and spiritual, that make up the core of the gameplay. Imagine King's Quest with combat and a semi-historical flavoring and you've got the core of Conquests of Camelot.

The Good
It's more mature than Roberta Williams' King's Quest games, including the slightly adult comedy, which I think is often quite clever (to get the comedy you sometimes have to be clever or lucky enough to think of the correct line to type). I like the semi-historical, semi-mythological/religious content and that it's set in the "west"(England) and "east"(Israel), there doesn't appear to be much bias, though part of the ending arguably shows a Christian bias. I'd say that the problem solving and battles are challenging, but not excessively so(except for the Saracen) and to balance the difficulty, the game is quite short.

The game has a serious feel, but is balanced by Merlin's comedy and the history, mythology and religion being sometimes taken lightly. Christy Marx has arguably put a kind of feminism in the game, as King Arthur you often have to prove yourself to females, including the goddess Aphrodite, to progress in your quest for the holy grail. Whether it's really feminist or not, it makes the game stand out, especially in its time. I also like that there is a blurring of good and evil, friend and foe e.g in Guinevere, Lancelot, The Lady of the Lake, Aphrodite and her servants etc.

The Bad
The Saracen knight, who serves as the game's final boss, and the battle system you have to learn to beat him. I like the knight himself, he's presented as an honorable foe, but I can't say I enjoyed the challenge of learning the attack and defense, swordfighting system, defeating him was just too long and draining.

I think in the main, the game isn't preachy, though you're told that you must be "perfect" to acquire the grail ("perfect" is revealed to mean a strong fighter, clever and charitable/sacrificial) I think the game's story is presented as mythological, not too serious and there's some suggestion that the gods themselves aren't perfect. But there is one part that I think crosses the line, the part concerning the thief of Jerusalem and the way you or the grail itself deals with him. The thief appears comedic, he's dressed in only a loin cloth and turban, but his fate isn't very comedic even though the way the grail deals with him should be expected, the grail is supposed to expect perfection. But I think this part leaves a particularly bad taste right at the end, you appear to be serving a rather cruel and unforgiving god.

The Bottom Line
So it's fantasy like King's Quest, but more mature and adult and quite a bit better in my opinion. It has faults, but probably an above average Sierra adventure.

The Good
I always loved Arthurian themes and this game was a great discovery, everything is very accurate and remains very faithful to the Arthurian myth. The use of Olde-English in the dialogues is also a great point. The fact of having to achieve certain actions and good deeds to obtain the Holy Grail was also very interesting to me. The graphics were real good for being only 16, i liked a lot the maps of Europe and Britannia and some of the backgrounds.

The Bad
Maybe there were too much dead-ends like in a lot of Sierra adventures, the copy protection puzzles were a bit annoying (i hope we see an amateur-remake in VGA someday and this could be removed and changed to some similar puzzles)

The Bottom Line
If you are an adventure game enthusiast and enjoy reading King Arthur adventures this is definitely your game.

The Good
There are quite a few games that focus on the Holy Grail, and Sierra's Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Holy Grail is one of them.

The game starts off telling the player of the decline of Camelot as a result of the love triangle between King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. The other inhabitants of Camelot, Gawain, Lancelot and Galahad, had a vision of the Holy Grail and searched for it, never to return. King Arthur goes on a quest to find the three men and return with the Grail.

Arthur is assisted by Merlin to give him help and advice. You can ask about anything related to Greek or Roman mythology, and he will give you a lot of information regarding the subject. Furthermore, asking about objects in a particular location causes him to tell you about things that are related to Roman or Green mythology.

The adventure takes place around real locations in England, such as Glastonbury Tor and Southampton, as well as a few in the Middle East. Each of the game's locations look good, even in 16-color EGA, and this was at the time when VGA cards were not commonplace yet. If you have ScummVM and happen to have this game, you can load it up and select the undithered option. That way, the graphics don't have that checkerboard feel to them.

There are alternate solutions to puzzles, with some of these solutions leading to consequences. For example, much earlier in the game the player can decide whether to defeat the Black Knight in a joust match. If the player refuses to do so, then the Black Knight kills one of the knights you are meant to find. So, Conquests of Camelot is good on a replayability scale. Speaking of the jousting match, it is difficult to defeat your opponent, but it can be done. The animation of the Black Knight falling off his horse look excellent.

Since the game has a medieval setting, the music blends in well with both the setting and what you are doing. It sounds more realistic coming from a Roland MT-32 than an AdLib. The sound effects are well designed. I like the sound effects coming from the aforementioned sound device, especially when Arthur rides around on his horse.

The Bad
I don't like are those death messages that allow you to Restore, Restart, or Quit. Whereas death messages in other Sierra games are often informative and humorous, this one just says the same thing. To make up for it, there is an image of worms crawling out of your skull which looks nice.

I also didn't like the amount of copy protection in the game, which requires you to get out your Liber Ex Doctrina that came with the game to solve all of the game's puzzles.

The Bottom Line
So, for anyone who enjoys researching Greek or Roman mythology, or the evolution of Arthur and the Holy Grail, I would recommend this game. If you just like playing adventure games, especially from Sierra, then also give this game a try. Conquests was popular enough to warrant a sequel – from the same developer who brought you this game.

The Good
A review I read before buying, said the game was the best production of Sierra for 1990. I realised why.

The game can stand next to each other Sierra games and be judged as superior, almost for all its aspects. It's a real, serious, epic production, encompassing many elements that will satisfy the player. There is much travelling to many places, battles, choices to be made (affecting the course of the play), and much lore.

The graphics are really exceptional compared to the main corpus of Sierra. The sprites are richly animated, and there is much interaction with them (eg. you can kiss Gwynevere before leaving). The introductory scenes are well drawn, and resemble those that will be used in the cutscenes, much later in the Sierra VGA games.

The game is really atmospherical. Not only due to the graphics (I noted some anachronisms), but mainly because of the descriptions and dialogues. The messages are not the 'narrator's speech', but Merlin who communicates with you telepathically. All descriptions are supposedly personal views and knowledge of Merlin. Some scenes contain many objects and if you examine them, you will get immersive folkloric knowledge.

Interactivity is also rich. Almost everything you will try (like the F... word to people) will give you Merlin's appropriate reply. The designers have tried to predict as much of your thoughts as possible, often surprising you.

The game design also presents some differences. Here it's not easy to overlook something needed much later. Some choices you can make (Eg. not saving Lancelot, or giving the hag money instead of the artifact she wants) will affect something much later, but they are things that you know they are wrong, made only deliberately. In cases you will overlook or lose an artifact, its use would be only to make your life easier. The point where you will need it, you can also pass by trial and error

The soundtrack is one of the first I loved in games. I remember myself recording medieval melodies in my tape recorder!! So atmospheric that will put you in the position you should be. Medieval Britain, or the oriental Jerusalem, themusic is what you want to hear to put you in Arthur's shoes.

Last but not least, the package of the game is also one of the best I have seen. The box is beautifully drawn. It contains an also beautiful map of Europe (I am not not to decide it's historical accuracy), and an also beautiful manual, book of lore with information both educative, and useful (copy protection is based on it).

The Bad
People seem to dislike only one thing in this game: The riddles. Indeed the creator is overconcerned about piracy. Not only she gives a moral lecture on it in the manual, but there are also 3 points in the game where you will need to consult your manual for folk lore. Personally, after I grew up, I could solve them without help, because of my personal knowledge but the problem exists.

There is also a point where you must solve 'guess what' riddles, not with knowledge of the manual. This is indeed a hard part, and sometimes even today I get stuck. However you can exit and re-enter the screen to try for an easier random set of riddles.

There was another thing I didn't like. The game is called Conquests of Camelot. Not only Camelot is seen only in the start, but the game has nothing to do with the conquests, the reign, the history, enemies or victories of Camelot. After a point the game changes feel and atmosphere, and you forget the Arthurian concept altogether and start learning lore and explore catacombs. The game for the most part is not more Arthurian than any other medieval game is. It could be called 'Medieval Indiana Jones' and still be credible.

Well, a tiny part that I didn't like are some historical inaccuracies. AFAIK the labarum was never a symbol of Mithras.

The Bottom Line
This game is an ideal travel to the middle-ages, a taste of the spirit and folklore of those times, when the old and new world coexisted. Just 'look at' everything you see.. Travel many places, battle with foes, read about legends of medieval england, and you will experience a rich, full and satisfying adventure.

The Good
"Can't you see, all around you, the Dragon's Breath?"...

The Bad
That last Skill Point that I still can't find after all these years. It's probably a bug, or you have to defeat the Saracen without getting hit, which I gave up trying ages ago! :-D

The Bottom Line
Out of Sierra’s golden age comes this somewhat overlooked, but memorable to those who have played it, adventure. The game takes us in the court of Camelot, where the secret lust of Queen Gwenhyver and Sir Launcelot has placed a curse upon the land. All will turn to ashes and dust unless the Holy Grail is retrieved. The kingdom’s greatest knights, Sir Gawaine, Sir Launcelot and Sir Galahad left to fulfil the task. Alas, they never returned. We, as King Arthur, now have the duty to take over the quest of finding the Grail, and also rescue the three knights. Arthur’s mentor, Merlin the wizard, will assist us from afar through a spirit link. During our search we will travel to enchanted places of mystery and dark secrets, face grave dangers and interact with extraordinary personalities.

“Conquests of Camelot: The search for the Grail” is one of the last games by Sierra to utilize the parser interface. We have to type short commands in order to do things. Conveniently, there are some shortcuts that save time (e.g. ctrl+a is ‘ask about’). The graphics were great for the time and they are still tolerable today. This is because they are well drawn, sharply defined and colorful. The game also features an inspired musical score. Melodious themes, for several occasions and places, play a supporting and sometimes dominating role, adding a lot to the atmosphere.

This adventure uses an interesting triadic score system. Skill points reward correct actions and successful battles, wisdom points are offered for knowledge use and enrichment. Finally soul points benefit ethical integrity and generosity. To make progress in all of these sectors we have to thoroughly inspect the areas we visit, inquire answers from Merlin and the characters we meet, and make the right decisions. The playing length is not very large, but it is definitely satisfying. Also, striving for missed points amplifies replay value. The manual is necessary for playing without problems, as it contains answers to basically copy protection questions that will appear during the game in the form of trials.

The weakest aspect of the title is the quality of the puzzles. Unfortunately, they lack the necessary complexity and challenge and can be characterized as shallow. When they are solved, they rarely cause that, well known to adventurers, special feeling of accomplishment. This is one the few areas where more effort and thought should have been applied. The game does its best to make up for this through some brilliant arcade sequences. In these we get to use our spear, lance and sword to vanquish our foes. The highlight is the final duel with the awesome Saracen. There are three levels of arcade difficulty that yield a different amount of skill points accordingly.

The game deals with the Arthurian tale in a deep and serious fashion. Designer Christy Marx researched myth, history and religion issues during the making of the game. The combination of various legends and traditions, along with the persistence to detail make an authentic and involving environment for the player. “Conquests of Camelot: The search for the Grail” deserves a place in our collection. Everyone with the desire for a nostalgic glance at the past of adventure gaming should unreservedly try it.