Simon the Sorcerer 3D

aka: Szymek Czarodziej
Moby ID: 6401

Windows version

Swampling Stew. Swampling Stew. To your bog, your swamp be true. Swampy be true. Swampling Stew.

The Good
Simon the Sorcerer 2 ended with Simon being separated from his own body and placed into Sordid's, thanks to Runt, Sordid's evil apprentice. That was way back in 1995. Now Simon the Sorcerer 3D, made seven years later, continues where the last episode left off. So what took Adventure Soft a bloody long time to make it? Well, they were sick of Simon for once and went on to produce The Feeble Files. How did they remember how Simon 2 ended? They must have written notes on how it ended or just referred back to their saved games.

Simon 3D begins with Runt announcing that he has just made Sordid a new body suit, as appreciation that his last experiment was successful. Meanwhile, Simon is knocked out while his friends put his lost soul back into his body. But when he wakes up, Simon must prove himself worthy by solving a series of obstacles. Simon 3D consists of six chapters, and the first one outlines how Simon overcomes these obstacles.

In each of the six chapters, you have missions to complete. These missions range from getting to the town of Poliganis to finding a way to gain entry into Sordid's fortress. All of the chapters feature stunning graphics. In the second chapter, I enjoyed walking around the meadows, while exploring sights like the waterfall, lonely hut, and the many rivers. From chapters three through to five, I enjoyed walking around town, seeing what there is and whether I can enter the establishments. The chapter opening, where the chapter that you are about to begin, is well done. Of these, chapter one features Indiana Jones-style graphics, while chapter two has graphics similar to Forrest Gump (but instead of Forrest sitting on the seat, it's Simon).

You will be interacting with a lot more characters than you did in the previous two episodes. Most of the characters from the previous two episodes make a return in this game. Some of the characters are hilarious to listen to, especially Coneman the Barabrain (obviously, a parody of Conan the Barbarian), where he plans to knock the living daylights out of Simon because Simon is always rude to him. Then there's S.I.G.N., the Signal Integrated Golem Narrative, who is one minute happy to give directions to lost travelers, but becomes an aggressive drunk the next. One of the most memorable moments for me is learning the “Swampling Song”. I always found it funny to hear Simon screw it up.

I loved the mini-games that you can play in the fifth chapters, which you can only play at the carnival. Most of these mini-games are easy to win, but then there's the Shooting Gallery, where you don't use a gun to shoot the targets, but your little yo-yo. To make matters worse, I got in the situation where I was “too close, but not close enough”. But with a little bit of practice, I manage to hit all the targets. You win a prize if you manage to win a game, and that prize helps you in your adventure.

The musical score is so wonderful and is easy to listen to. They reflect the environment in which you are walking through. I enjoyed listening to the music that is heard when you are traveling on a rainbird, that enables you to fly between lands faster. I also like the music while you are exploring the meadows and Poliganis. And I forgot to mention the music while you are running to another area within a strict time limit.

As with every adventure game, you have the option of saving and loading games. You can save up to 42 games, and when you load each one, the game tells you what chapter you are on – useful if you are in the middle of one and have forgotten what chapter you are playing. After having whinged about it for so long, I can understand why adventure games like Simon 3D no longer use the mouse for game control. Clicking on various commands or icons is time consuming, whereas you only have to press a key or two to perform actions. According to the game, you use the “Action” key to pick up or manipulate objects, and “Use” to combine objects, both inventory- and non-inventory-based. [Caps Lock] and [Left Shift] keys are reserved for “Sprinting”, “Jogging”, and “Walking”.

The Bad
If you already have heard the same dialogue before, you press the [Backspace] key to bypass that dialogue. The problem with this is if you do press [Backspace], the dialogue still goes on and does not stop unless it is cut-off by sound effects or other dialogue.

At some points in the game, you have to combine inventory objects by selecting one object, and then double-clicking another. This does not always work, and you have to repeat the procedure until they are actually combined.

The fairy godmother appears and tells you how to accomplish a task. The first instances that she pops up, she tells you some useful information that is already outlined in the manual, as if people can't read manuals at all. It didn't help when her information just confused me.

From time to time, I pointed out the fact that different actors are always playing the same roles, and that just does not sound right if it is this way. Except for the swampling and Simon himself, nearly all the original actors, including Calypso, Goldilocks, and Sordid, are voiced by different people.

The Bottom Line
Simon 3D is a much, longer game compared to the first two episodes. It will take you more than an hour to complete each of the six chapters. It will take you at least ten minutes to explore the meadow in chapter two fully, and another ten minutes to get through Poliganis, without the use of a phone booth, which you can use to travel between places faster. Still, you have to get there on foot before you can use the phone booth to travel there faster.

The short ending of the game makes me hope that there will be a Simon 4.

by Katakis | カタキス (43092) on November 10, 2005

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