Old man gamer
Reviews
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (DOS)
Sierra's game interface takes a turn for the worse.
The Good
King's Quest V boasted beautiful VGA graphics, and was one of the very first games to have voice actors. The cosmetic upgrade really benefited Sierra's graphic adventure genre, but the game was desperately downgraded in my opinion. But this is one of computer gaming's great debates: the switch over from keyboard text parser - driven games to mouse-driven games. Did it help or hinder the genre? I'm of the opinion that the old text parser system was better, smarter, and more interactive.
The Bad
With King's Quest V the level of interaction became so -un-interactive, as you wandered around and were essentially told what to do. There are plenty of puzzles which are extremely simplified compared to puzzles of the previous king's quests. And the first CD version with the voice actors should have been edited better, as every time a voice was played it would sound like a door was opening; this could have been a sound card problem at the time. For me, the King's Quest series ended with this sub-par title because of its low interactivity level. In many ways King's Quest V would be an omen for what was to come a few years later in CD-ROM interactive movies, where players shelled out too much money to watch bad actors and bad scripts complain about their system requirements while they did little to interact with the game aside from buy a better graphics card so the game might look better. It began here, folks, and whether that is good or bad is entirely your own opinion.
The Bottom Line
Don't play King's Quest V as your first King's Quest. the first four are much better an introduction.
By Old man gamer on June 15th, 2000
Ghostbusters II (DOS)
Lots of disk switching and hard to play.
The Good
The graphics for Ghostbusters 2 were good for the time, and some of the arcade sequences were fun. Others were downright tedious.
The Bad
Like a lot of games based on movies made in this era, they tried to do too much. Each part of the movie is a completely different game, not nearly fleshed out enough and coming off as half baked.
The Bottom Line
It's a classic late-80's 'movie' game - meaning that each part of the movie is treated with a different game, where you need to relearn skills as the game advances through often tedious parts. Like most games of this type, you'll find parts of it fun, and parts of it annoying. The first one is much better.
By Old man gamer on June 15th, 2000
Sorcerian (DOS)
One of the most unique RPGs to come out for the PC.
The Good
First of all - Sorcerian had the best music of any game I ever played from the 80's on the PC, period. And the graphics were excellent at the time, and will still hold, because of the unique high-res EGA look. The ability to play your characters over their entire life was another romantic approach at roleplaying and getting to become attached to your players. It was an absolutely beautiful game for its time.
The Bad
Trying to enchant stuff into items was quite confusing, and painstaking, as well as the fact that your party was essentially just a walking howitzer wandering around the countryside in a line once you had some enchanted artifacts. There was a lot to be improved in gameplay because of the two dimensional platform-like way that the game was played. And I never did finish the last mission, it was just too hard.
The Bottom Line
Sorcerian stands out as a very unique RPG for the PC, and is definitely worth taking a look at. I just get so sentimental thinking about it.....
By Old man gamer on June 15th, 2000
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (DOS)
Definitely the best of the lot.
The Good
Ultima V is in my opinion the absolute pinnacle of Ultima. The system that it designed, being the tile-based system, reached perfection in this game(no, didn't think 6 was perfect). And in my opinion, the graphics still stand out as being good by today's standards - solid, not dated, and they created a motif that is still hard to bash. Everything that began in Ultima IV was made better in Ultima V, and it got me hooked. Of course no one will ever believe you when you admit these things, but just try it.... and you might just agree.
The Bad
Nothing. Absolutely nothing bugged me about this game. I have always thought, and still think, it's a perfect roleplaying game.
The Bottom Line
It's the most quintessential of the Ultima series, and shows you everything that made the Ultima worlds so detailed and made the game design groundbreaking. And the graphics are still bearable, even today. Perhaps it's not an immersive enough experience for people brought up on the 3D revolution, but for those of us who began before that time, this is a classic roleplaying game. Absolutely my favourite, and still the best of the Ultimas.
By Old man gamer on June 15th, 2000