The Fool's Errand

The Good
Almost everything about this game is excellent! The game combines great, challenging puzzles with an interesting story. Each component helps to develop the other, as you have to solve the puzzle to move further in the story, while you can find some answeres to the puzzles by scanning the story as well. As for the puzzles, most of them are word challenges, though there are enough of other types of puzzles, from very traditional (making a picture from pieces) to very original (the card game is a true masterpiece!). There are a great amount of challenges, going from rather easy to very hard, so the game will keep you playing for a loooong time. You can choose from several puzzles at a time (though most of them are hidden at first), so that if you can't solve one, you can go and solve some others. Each solved puzzle gives you a piece of a picture, which you have to construct as far you have all other pieces, which means when the all other puzzles are solved. It represents a map, and to make it out you may have to reread all the story, as it gives you the hints of how the pieces must be combined. What I said - it is a great game!

The Bad
Some of the puzzles might be very hard to solve or to figure out. The game also might work very fast on modern systems, so that you might have to install some slowdown programs.

The Bottom Line
The first game by puzzle genius Cliff Johnson, and, by so far, the best ever created. If you're a true puzzle lover, you MUST play this game! And, by the way, Cliff Johnson put it for freely distribution on his site, with some other of his classic puzzle games!! What are you waiting for - go and get it now!!!

The Good
There is something here for everyone. The game tends to follow a story line of a fool walking along a path looking for treasure. Although there is little plot to the story it is a fun read and does offer clues within the text to solve some of the puzzles.

The puzzles themselves range from very easy to rather difficult but the variety of puzzles and the originality is amazing. Some are simply word searches or jigsaw type mixed images. Others require you to unscramble phrases without clues or to trace a path on screen based on memory. The variety here keeps you coming back for more and looking for other types of challenges.

In addition, the overall scope of the game is rewarding. The puzzles are not only inventive but the knowledge gained in one puzzle can be used in others. For instance, you may find a couple of words scrambled in one puzzle and these words show up int he word search for another puzzle. In addition, the final puzzles require knowledge gained through out the Fool's journey.

The Bad
This is an old game and as a result, the interface can be a little unfriendly. Amazingly, the game has little trouble running on modern systems but some of the puzzles do seem to run fast on faster systems. However, there every puzzle can still be solved no matter how fast your systems is.

Some of the puzzles offer no clue as to how to solve them. This can be entertaining for some but other players may find this frustrating. Also, a beginning puzzle solver may have great difficulty with some of the hard puzzles - specifically those toward the end of the game.

One of the worst things about this game is that it does end. It seems like many more puzzles could have been included. As a result and as a nature of this puzzle type game, there is little replay value. Once the puzzles are solved and the game completed, there is little reason to try it all again. There are other similar games by the same designer and if you feel this game is short, I would recommend trying those as well.

The Bottom Line
If you like puzzles and mental diversions, you will love this game. The diverse range of puzzles, from word scrambles to pattern matching, tax a wide range of knowledge. The variety of challenges also makes the game fun for all skill levels.