![]Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online](../images/EAGonline2-inverse.gif){kind=small}
|
|
|
MAIN PGM version: 6.0 Extra Commands: RESUSCITATE (not working) Deleted Commands: none Special Features: hi-res intro screen Playing Time: 30 minutes Reviewer's Rating: 3
Description: Trouble is brewing on Deneb III. You receive a message from the crown prince, a personal friend, which asks you to rescue his daughter who is being held by the Deneb Liberation Army, a terrorist group dedicated to overthrowing the ruling families of the Deneb system. The terrorists are hiding in an office-warehouse complex in the seedy section of town. The building is surrounded by royal marines who want to avenge the deaths of their comrades at the hands of the terrorists. Your strike team must first enter the complex and rescue the prince's daughter. There is a side door which is not equipped with an alarm, booby-trap, or guard. It is time to strike.
Comments: This adventure is a simple walk through - visit all of the rooms until you rescue the princess. There are no puzzles to solve, no hidden objects to find, no embedded artifacts, nothing to be found by opening containers, and no significant modifications to the POWER command. The monsters are neither tough nor numerous. There are many typos and mistakes; apparently no serious effort was made to edit this adventure (the RESUSCITATE command wasn't even available, not being in the command list). Line counting is not properly implemented. The OPEN command didn't do anything. There was nothing to drink. There was no reason to put anything into something. There was one funny bit with the HEAL command. The premise and setting were interesting, but the implementation didn't live up to the early promise. This adventure is suitable only for younger and/or inexperienced players. (See this issue's Bug Fixes to learn how to install the RESUSCITATE command - Tom)
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: CAPTURE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 10 directions Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Average Rating: 5.0/2
Description: "You have been chosen by a group known as "The Students" to capture an evil king known as -- Mr. Roessler!
"They will give you 5000 GP for his capture, not assassination. They then give you a rope to tie him up with and send you out."
Comment: In case you are wondering, Mr. Roessler was Nathan's computer-education high school teacher. I understand that the poor gentleman was somewhat bemused by Nate's tendency to cast him as the villain in his Eamons!
This is actually a pretty well-written Eamon, even though the concept is silly to the point of bordering on stupid. You explore this 60+ room computer club that has all sorts of computer crazies and unlikely stuff laying around. I got somewhat worn down by the silliness, and didn't greatly enjoy the Samurai Cat references, but there are many clever bits that I found pretty funny.
This would be a harder Eamon, but there is something wrong with the combat code, and enemies won't attack you if you simply leave the room. But stay and do something, and they jump you. Even so, it's not a big deal, as you will probably find plenty of companions. You might not want to hang around the Picts, though.
Watch for hints in the room descriptions, and you won't even have to bother to LOOK in every room for the several secret exits.
Here are a couple of hints: first, the Computer Clubber has a key you need; if he becomes your friend you will find yourself stuck if you don’t know this. Second, Mr. R. is a real heavy guy; you'll need a bit of magic to get him out and get your reward.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: MUTILATE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1.5-2 hours. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 4.0/2
Description: "You were playing a polite little game of poker with Hokas when you were dealt a ROYAL FLUSH, SPADES. Having the temper he has, he yelled, 'Why you little cheat!' and casts a spell at you.
"You awoke in the Desert of Sands, a place as terrible as its name is stupid.
"You wandered for months, and now..."
Comment: The above is the complete introduction to the adventure. there is no quest or extra money at the end; just the standard treasure and weapon selling stuff. Some of the monsters are a little tough, but not super tough. I used a standard character straight from the Main Hall. I took no spells nor weapons but was able to find a weapon near the start.
It's a Hack'n'Slasher's dream--if it ain't nailed down, go for it. There was one easy puzzle. I had some good laughs with the different monsters and descriptive locations. There are some death traps! Look for friends, as they will help in your struggle to kill monsters.
My rating is low because there was no quest, the poor screen pausing allowed stuff to scroll off before I could read it, the death traps slowed me down, and the one puzzle was relatively simple. I observed no profanity, although there was some implied stuff. Those who are tired of GUARD1, GUARD2, etc. will be pleased to know that there are no GUARDs.`
The ending, for me, wasn't cute or fancy. It was different, but nothing to write home about. I would recommend this one for the young Eamonaut.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Hi-Res splash screen Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 7.0
Description: "You are on your way to your 50th high school reunion at Fort Scott, Kansas. On the way you have been commissioned by the Adventurer's Guild to look into the strange happenings in and around the Mulholland Tunnel located in the Santa Monica Mountains. There have been reports of strange creatures appearing and of people disappearing in the area.
"A famous dancer named Amanda is among those who have disappeared. Your main quest is to find Amanda and her cousin Matthew and return them to their home. Some who supposedly escaped have mentioned being transported in some weird way to Civil War times. The police have dismissed these stories as hallucinations of weirdos and have given up searching. You don't believe the stories are true but........"
Comment: This is a nice, little adventure with some fun and interesting stuff happening. It is a simple foray with no mental heavy lifting. I found it to be a relaxing play. However, Dr. Trent isn't kidding about it being for advanced characters. Some of the bad guys are really powerful, so there is something for the hack'n'slash crowd, too.
The map isn't the most clear and coherent that has ever been seen in Eamon, but the dungeon is only 52 rooms, so it's not a serious detraction. Much of the special events and developments are fashioned in a way that young Eamonauts will probably enjoy, while still being entertaining for adults.
The time shifting into the past comes and goes rather abruptly, and may seem poorly crafted unless you remember that the introduction specifically described this type of activity.
It's a pretty easy adventure, with no mental heavy lifting. The worst of the bad guys can be safely bypassed if you know where they are, so it's worth doing an occasional save. I give it a (4) for difficulty.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Hi-Res picture during intro Reviewer Rating: 4 Average Rating: 5.0/2
Description: You have been asked to help a Transylvanian city defeat a vampire located in an abandoned cave in a mountain behind a cemetery.
Comment: This adventure consists of 80 rooms, or so I have read in an Eamon catalog from a PD shop. I was only able to hit about 65. This is version 6, which means that hidden passages are located by LOOKing, and I got tired of doing it in EVERY room that I went into, and it eventually made me quit the game. Yes, I did not complete the adventure (shame on me, eh?). The map I made showed a better-than-average go at making a good map, but some of the monsters in it shouldn't be in abandoned caves; the guards for one. There is a trace of humor in a couple of the monster descriptions, which kept it from being a totally serious game, but not enough to make it a funny game. Also, quite a few of the rooms have incomplete descriptions, lacking which directions can be moved from it. One of the rooms has no description at all! One just says HALL, etc. You are warned at the beginning of it that it is not 'The Beginners Cave', and not recommended for beginning characters, and that you are to know all of the spells. I dunno, I only needed to use POWER twice; maybe the rooms I missed required the other three spells.
I have to give it a 4, but that is only because of the too many hidden rooms and the sparse text in some of the rooms. Maybe if Dr. Trent were to get version 7.0 and redo it and take care of these problems would it be a better game, but until then I stand by my rating.
(Counterpoint: I personally feel that Rob is coming down a little hard on this adventure, blaming it for the same obsolete methods that 65% of all Eamons in existence use. It is well-known that you must keep careful track of LOOKs in rooms while playing a version 6 Eamon so that you don't miss any; in my view that's just part of the game, much like the fact that very early Eamons don't permit abbreviations. We discussed this point, and Rob feels this way about all adventures that lack the sophistication and user friendliness that we have come to expect from modern, top-rated Eamons. He is not inclined to allow for the standard of the time but feels that old stuff should be upgraded to allow for evolving standards. So I advised him that I would probably follow his review with my own opinion, and he had no problem with that.
I gave it a 6 rating, and like Rob I might have given it a higher rating if some of the descriptions were better. If Dr. Trent would like to comment, I would be happy to publish it - TomZ)
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Hi-Res picture during intro Reviewer Rating: 6 Average Rating: 6.0/2
Description: You have been asked to help a Transylvanian city defeat a vampire located in an abandoned cave in a mountain behind a cemetery.
Comment: First off, I would like to apologize to Dr. Trent for the "bad" review of this game in the Dec'90 issue. When you trade disks with as many people as I do, you don't have much time to make sure that everything is as it should be. That is how I got a bad copy of this game. After performing the bug fix in the same issue, I discovered that this was the cause of a lot of my gripes. I would like to withdraw my comments and rating in the Dec'90 issue and offer this instead.
The map was well thought out. I had a copy that was sent to me by Dr. Trent and compared it to the one I came up with. Pretty much the same, with the exceptions of hidden (LOOK) passages and those which didn't show up on my first copy. The bad descriptions were replaced by full sentences.
In short, this was a lot better once the bug was fixed. I rate it an overall 6 for the thought-out map and the relatively difficult yet simple puzzles. The clues are there, you just have to look at them!
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 20-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0
Description: "Way to the west, in a dark land called Death, is the lake. A dark place, with darker monsters and glittering treasure. Deep in the middle of the lake is Fred's Island, rumored to be a lair of several disgusting orcs... and worse.
But ye beware of the terrible dragon, Anglacion! He's as big as the world and as black as midnight. Beware of him, but behold his treasure for no mine mines as much gold in several years as he steals in a day!"
Comment: This adventure consists of a survey of a very large lake (about 50 rooms) punctuated by the island and the dragon's lair. The lake is, as you might expect, pretty boring to explore. Every few rooms you run into a giant this or a ticked-off that to fight, but I found them all to be light one-or-two-round combat with Fresh Sam. Even Anglacion isn't that tough to kill; the catch with him is that he can kill you with just one or two blows.
My impression from the way Nate designed the clues is that you are intended to find out how to steal some of the dragon's treasure without actually having to face him. It's up to you: you can steamroller the place with a strong character and tactical nukes, or make it interesting with a "normal" character and Main Hall grade weapons. Difficulty of (3) unless you choose to do it with Main Hall equipment.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: FIRE, USE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: "While having a real blast last Friday at the annual Adventurer Day bash, someone yanked you aside. It was a short skinny Dwarf with a black beard and a name tag which read "Sledgehammer". He said to you...
"'The evil tyrant Mr. Roessler has built a small outpost in northern Eamon. It is believed to be nothing more than a small hideout, but who knows exactly the power he has in his grasp. Your goal is to stop Roessler by destroying his fortress.'
"The Dwarf takes you on the North Road to the Really-Big-and-Scary Forest, where Roessler's outpost is suspected to be."
Comment: This is another of Nate's early juvenile works. It has lots of general silliness, out-of-narrative descriptions, and in-jokes relating to his high school. In general, it is an example of the kind of lightweight Eamon typical of those written by young boys.
Yet this is in many ways a sophisticated Eamon and there are flashes of the brilliance that Nate gradually developed and finally demonstrated in "Kretons". There are many specials of various kinds, and some of the humor is pretty good. While there are several items to work out, the flavor here is primarily Hack'n'Slash.
I am bumping up the difficulty to (7) for several likely-death traps. Along those lines, here are some hints: if you enter the secret room off the tunnel with the stalactites, you will probably die. There is an antidote for the poison, but you may have to replay that segment several times before you find it in time. There is no way to honestly survive an encounter with a Balrog. You get exactly one turn to escape after using the detonator. That's a lot of hints, but there are a lot of ways to die here.
You most likely won't find a way to open the steel door without cheating. If you do open the door, you will either be amused or annoyed, depending on your sense of humor. I thought it was a pretty good joke.
MAIN PGM Version: 6.0 Extra Commands: STATUS, USE, EAT, MAKE Deleted Commands: SAVE Special Features: Status Cmd Playing Time: 1-3 hours Reviewer's Rating: 7
Description: 'One day when you went to the Main Hall, your good friend P'tin Kan wasn't in his usual seat. The burly Irishman told you that he had been investigating a case of sabotage in the King's castle last Thursday. P'tin Kan found a trail of horse-hooves leading directly to the sabotage, indicating that it had been the work of that renegade stallion, Mr. Ed!
Nobody saw P'tin Kan after that night. His chambers were searched, and all that was found was a trail of horse-hooves! It is almost certain that Mr. Ed has captured P'tin Kan, since he knew too much.
Infuriated at Mr. Ed's evil deeds, you set out at once to find the whereabouts of this Mr. Ed guy. It turns out that he dwells in a heavily guarded fortress in the middle of a thick forest. And so you set out to rescue your friend and destroy the diabolical Mr. Ed!
Comments: This is by far Nathan's most successful Eamon to date. It was quite amusing, as his adventures usually are. There were a number of good puzzles that interlocked to some extent that had to be solved in order to gain entry into Mr. Ed's castle. The overall effect was very coherent. I also thought it was a real hoot the way Mr. Ed, that talking horse of TV fame, was presented as an evil mastermind.
Two regular features of Nathan's adventures are armed animals (eg: Ninja Carp) and his computer club moderator, a Mr. Roessler, and both were present in this adventure. The animals were only simple 'orcs', that is, common sword-fodder, and the ever-diabolical Mr. R. took Wilbur's place as Mr. Ed's prime confidant.
The STATUS command was a small feature that printed out your character's current abilities in the same way that the Main Hall does. I very much missed the SAVE command, though.
All in all, I was quite entertained by this one, and would recommend it to anyone.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: DEFLECT, SCRALET-TAPEWORM, PROPELLOR-BLOW, PRIME, THROW Deleted Commands: POWER, SPEED, TAKE, GIVE Special features: multiple monsters Playing Time: 2-3 hours Reviewer's Rating: 6
Description: Several years ago your brother moved to Japan. Lured by his success, you went to Japan, but your adventurous spirit led you to become a samurai for the local shogun, the noble Tokugawa Nobunaga. He recognized your fine skills as a warrior and decided to train you personally. He gave you two fine swords and magnificent armor; special training that improved your dexterity, hardiness, sword skill, and bow skill; and taught you Bushido, the way of the warrior. You became Nobunaga's fiercest warrior, and easily handled battles, secret missions, and adventures. After a fierce battle in which you eradicated the renegade Takeda clan, Nobunaga granted you three months vacation. You visited your brother for three days but grew bored and returned to Nobunaga's castle only to find it in ruins with dead bodies everywhere. You find Nobunaga's severed head in the debris. Clutching the head, you mutter with bitter rage, "If any of the butchers survived, may God deliver them to me!" Then the head said, "Don't drag Him into this. I bet you want revenge? Well, here's the list of names and addresses." He gives you a huge list of villains of all descriptions. So that's how you have ended up outside of Catzad-Dum, the lair of Fugu-Otoko, the blowfish who never smiles, organizer of Nobunaga's brutal murder.
Comments: This is an adventure for tough characters since there is more than enough combat to satisfy anyone. Even intermediate characters will find it to be rough going. In this regard, powerful weapons aren't the answer because the adventure provides sufficient firepower. Your character must have high hardiness, agility, and weapons and armor expertise. Some of this is provided by the author in the MAIN PGM so your character will be leaving the adventure stronger than when he entered.
The adventure is absolute lunacy, disguising mild satirical jabs at several targets. If you are new to Eamon, the inside jokes will escape you, but there is plenty of humor remaining. For full appreciation, you should play Sam Ruby's and Tom Zuchowski's adventures set in the worlds of Tolkien. Familiarity with Dungeons & Dragons (c) helps, too. The adventure is long and well-detailed. There are some typos and grammatical errors remaining but not overmuch in comparison to the body of text material. Some programming problems still crop up in this latest version, but hopefully these can be corrected in the near future by the efforts of the author and the EAG. I am unfamiliar with the Samurai Cat stories (the genre used in this adventure), but I had a good time playing this adventure anyway. I would recommend it over other hack-and-slash offerings because of its tongue-in-cheek attitude.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: BUILD, USE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: See caution below about SAVE Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Average Rating: 7.0/2
Description: MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL MONTE PYTHON UND DA HOLE GRAIL by Nathan Segerlind bie Nathun Segerlund Inspiration by Monty Python Inspurashun bie Monte Python Technical aid from the Bug Stomper How about da holidae in Sveden? Eamon game system by Don Brown See the loveli lakes V6.0 MAIN PGM by John Nelson See lots of furre animals Distribution by the Eamon Adventurer's Guild Inkluding da majestik moose Dumb comments by Ryan Brown A moose bit my sistur once Animation by John J.J. Schmidt Reallie! She was trieing to carve hur initials in da moose with a knife when
Comment: And so on. If you've seen and love the movie, you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this adventure. It's one of Nate's earlier Eamons and doesn't work nearly as well as it might for many of the sophisticated things it tries for, but it does pull them off for the most part without too much awkwardness. If you are familiar with the movie, you will do best if you try not to deviate from the movie script any more than you have to. If you don't know the movie, you may miss some specials and may die a bit more often before you win through to the end.
There are about three death traps, and odds are you will get nailed by a couple of them. But overall the puzzles and combat are not that bad; the difficulty rings in at about (6) if you've seen the movie and maybe a point or two higher if you haven't. When you get killed out by a trap, you will find that you can get back where you were pretty quickly, for usually there isn't much reason to repeat stuff you have already done, and most of the stuff is on side-paths.
This being one of Nate's early Eamons, much of the text assumes that you have done everything in exactly the order that he visualized it. But that isn't very likely, so some text will read a little strangely, but it won't mess you up.
There was one item that I couldn't solve. Saint Xavier has the Holy Hand Grenade and the Book of Armaments, and isn't inclined to use or share them. This leaves you with the choice of murdering one of your companions or slugging it out with the bunny. I slugged it out and did OK, but that meant I missed that special. (I went back and replayed the game to see that special, and it does work. But I find it distasteful to murder loyal followers.)
HERE IS THE "SAVE" WARNING that I mentioned above: the disk is full, and there is not room to save a game. If you try to save a game, the program will crash with a DISK FULL error. However, the game isn't that complex and it will cost you very little extra aggravation just to start over if you get killed out.
MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 (heavily modified) Extra Commands: USE, ARM, ENTER, RELOAD, CLEAR, WAIT Deleted Commands: TAKE, BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED, SMILE, WAVE, SAY, LIGHT, OPEN, DRINK, FREE Special Features: 3-disk adventure, 183 rooms, lower-case intro available, automatic weapons Playing Time: 3-10 hours Reviewer's Rating: 9
Description: The war with the Breakers is bogged down on the Eastern Front, though they are advancing on the South Front. Word is received that the Breakers have deployed a long-range missile, equipped with a nuclear warhead, and have installed it in a mountain fortress that is impervious to air bombardment. They are waiting until their southern forces cross the river before using it. Fortunately, they only have enough weapons-grade plutonium for the one missile, but one will be enough to smash our industrial base. There is only one option: to send in a Special-Forces Team to blow it up.
Priority 1...the mission must be accomplished at any cost. Operatives may take steps to assure their escape only if there is no interference with the mission. Once the mission is accomplished, operatives must find their own means to assure their survival.
Comment: The above is only a small fraction of the wealth of background offered in the intro program, which is a little 5-act playlet in itself. The MAIN PGM continues this intense detail, having a great deal to see and do. The detail is even carried into parts of the Breaker installation that a successful mission will never see. These extra rooms give a added dimension of realism when you realize that you really are trying to sneak through an enemy base, and randomly opening doors to see what you can find will promote neither the mission nor your life expectancy.
Sam has done some great things with modern weapons. The automatic weapon fire is well done, and the player must occasionally reload at most inconvenient moments. Knives are carried for the silent dispatching of sentries, and your team carries a variety of lethal hardware for use in any situation. There is an array of special equipment such as climbing gear, mine detectors, remote detonators, medi-kits, and more, that must be properly utilized to succeed AND survive. Your teammates will occasionally offer opinions and can take a small amount of independent action. (For example, they will use their medi-kits on themselves when badly wounded.) They also can do anything you can do if you GIVE them orders to do so.
This is a very subtle and a very dangerous adventure. It is virtually certain that you will die a number of times before you finally work out the right moves. It may sometimes feel like Sam has blindsided you with a no-warning deathtrap, but when you regain that spot, a careful reading of the descriptions will always show that the clues WERE there, after all. And always easonable, once you think about it. For example, if you leave a dead sentry out in the open where he will be seen, it should come as no surprise when the base goes on alert and you are found and killed. Just the same, the SAVE command gets a workout here. SAVE has been modified so that you can perform a save and continue playing. This speeds things up a lot when you miss a clue and go down, for all you have to do is insert disk 1 and type RUN to resume from the saved location.
This adventure is loaded with scores of special effects and other Good Stuff. One of them is that the Intro program is in lower-case text but is automatically converted to all-upper-case for old II's by a small machine-code program. (Note-this is one of two M-C programs available for LC-to-UC conversion on the 7.0DDD.)
When I first played this adventure, I was appalled by how easily I was wiped out. But as I learned the capabilities of my Special-Forces Team, I got better, and I learned to watch for subtle clues and to choose the correct course BEFORE I got nailed. And when I finally pulled off a successful mission and escaped with most of my team, the satisfaction was tremendous! This is one of a very small number of Eamons that I have replayed once I had successfully completed the quest, and it seems to get better with each replay.
This is a very advanced Eamon and is one of the most difficult. It is very sophisticated, and you will see clues that may not be needed for hours. There is a fairly high frustration factor at first, but the rewards when you get the pieces together are correspondingly high. Highly recommended to advanced Eamonauts.
MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-15 min. Reviewer Rating: N/A
Description: "You have been sent by the Irishman to investigate a modern Eamon that he has heard about. You are told that there will be many subtle changes, and you promise to try many things, and to be on the watch for new stuff. Among other things, you suspect that the old spells may be completely new, that the battles surely have been extensively reworked, and that the 'LOOK' command no longer will find hidden doors. You can INVENTORY your friends now, and HEAL them too. You set out, eager to see what can be seen!
"This adventure is designed to show this version's features. There are 18 rooms, 141 artifacts, 2 effects, & 763 monsters. Most of the artifacts and monsters are 'dummies' that do not exist within the adventure, but were added in order to demonstrate the speed of the search routines. The vast majority of the monsters are in the form of 'group-monsters', including a 750-man army. Among the things that you will want to check out are examining, inventorying, and healing monsters. Your spell ability decreases with use, but will regenerate over time. A monster now knows which weapon is 'his' when he drops it. Some artifacts have new fields, and the monster fields have been redone. There is a new artifact type: 'wearable'. This includes clothing, shields, and armor. Note that the special fields for this type are in place for the sake of standardization, but are not presently implemented."
Comment: When I wrote my first Eamon, I had a simply awful time figuring out how stuff worked. The method I used to learn it all was to analyze John Nelson's "Temple of the Trolls" and thus learn from example. When I wrote the v7.0 MAIN PGM, I wanted to save people the trouble that I had, so I wrote this demo, which as far as I know demonstrates everything you can do with a standard v7.0 Eamon MAIN PGM and database. Most of the artifact and monster descriptions give programming and database info, for easy reference.
Note that this Demo uses the very earliest v7.0 MAIN PGM. You should not use this program with new data files, but should always use the latest MAIN PGM available on the v7.1 DDD.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 (heavily modified) Extra Commands: VANISH, MATERIALIZE, SUSPEND Deleted Commands: None, no Save Special Features: Runs in 'real time'; single-key commands Playing Time: 1-3 hr. Reviewer Rating: 8.0 Average Rating: 5.7/3
Description: As you leave the Main Hall, you are challenged by a guard who could only have come from the Red Planet. He speaks - 'The Martians are looking for a few good men. Be all that you can be. Join us.'
You accept his challenge, and follow him to an odd shimmery area where your eyes waver and you can't quite make out what lies beyond. The Martian says, 'Remember to pick your friends well. You'll meet two groups, the Green Meanies and the Rowdy Reds. You must choose between them. Your choice will guide your destiny through your stay. And whatever decisions you make, make them fast! Mars waits for no man.'
He pushes you into the shimmering field. Your guts twist and then...
Comment: This adventure is 100% unique in that it runs in 'real time'. That is, combat continues to happen whether you do anything or not. The other guy will attack you every five seconds or so even if you don't type anything. This is very disconcerting at first, but you quickly learn to hit the bad guy as soon as you see him. It has been modified so that you only need to hit a single key to enter all commands so that you can keep up. To make the single-key thing possible, some commands (such as the spells) are typed in through the SAY command. There is also a SUSPEND command that pauses the 'real time' feature; it resumes as soon as you hit any key.
The map consists of 95 rooms that contain two castles and a battlefield in the middle. The map is a perfect mirror image; that is, the Green castle has exactly the same floor plan as the Red castle, but reversed. I picked the Red side since they are the good guys in Burroughs' 'John Carter of Mars' books, but it doesn't matter which side you choose to join, as the map, monsters, and artifacts are identical on both sides.
Like many early Eamons, this one isn't extremely sophisticated in its puzzles. In fact they are rather difficult to reason out, but if you persevere in trying directions and doing LOOKs you should be able to find all the pieces. Here's a few hints: the book can be opened; read the inscription over the exit (which isn't in a castle); and don't enter the enemy castle until you can VANISH (unless you enjoy heavy combat).
While I gave this adventure an (8) because I really enjoyed the 'real time' feature, the other two people who have rated it didn't like the feature and rated it much lower. To be sure, the bad guys are plenty tough and the good guys don't help much. Bring your heavy armor and big guns for this one. You may or may not enjoy the novelty; all you can do is try it and see for yourself.
I originally gave this a difficulty of (4). This is somewhat misleading, as some combat is heavy and the puzzles might be a bit obscure if you miss a step. While the difficulty isn't bad for a heavy-duty character and a player who is careful to cover all the bases, it will be much tougher for children. They will undoubtedly enjoy the 'real time' combat, but they probably won't solve it.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: GRAB Deleted Commands: no Save Special Features: GRAB used in real time Playing Time: 1-1.5 hours Reviewer's Rating: 6
Description: 'As you leave the Main Hall you notice an abnormal number of large eagles circling as if on a hunt. Suddenly one swoops down, grabbing you in his talons. He begins to gain altitude, carrying you up the gorge. Your fear of heights soon gives way to admiration of the powerful bird. Circling between the east and west walls of the gorge, you see the Main Hall dwindle in size and finally disappear in the mists.
'The eagle flies toward the tallest promontory on the east cliff and jarringly deposits you on the top. With a screech of victory he flies off into the eastern sky.
'You find yourself alone on the top of a rocky plateau. Realizing your desperate situation, you look about.'
Comment: This adventure is nicely written and laid out. It is has a fair number of puzzles that are not extremely difficult and tend to reward benevolent action towards others. There are several traps that start out very weak but grow more dangerous, and they all are preceded by a special clue so that the player can learn to avoid them. The special effects are well done. The real-time special effect using the GRAB command is fun.
This adventure may be well-suited for use in grade-school computer classes, and merits a look from teachers who use Eamon for such purposes. It is not that difficult, promotes benevolent actions, and the special effects make it fun. The (6) rating that I gave it comes from its being a little simple for my advanced tastes, and from its lack of a true quest other than the one of simply getting off the promontory.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: SALVAGE, DISARM, UNLOAD, RELOAD,DIG Deleted Commands: POWER, BLAST, HEAL, SPEED, GIVE, LIGHT, OPEN, PUT, DRINK Special Features: 2-disk adventure; 3 Quests possible, map Playing Time: 1-3 hours (depends on quest and player's character Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Average Rating: 6.0/2
Description: OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM STOP E-I-E-I-O STOP AND ON THIS FARM HE HAD SOME BRAVE PATRIOTIC SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARY PIGS STOP E-I-E-I-O STOP WITH AN OINK OINK HERE AND AN AK-47 THERE STOP NOW THE PIGS HAVE THE FARM STOP E-I-E-I-O STOP AND WE WILL DEFEND OUR WORKER'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC TO THE DEATH AGAINST CAPITALIST IMPERIALISM SO GO SUCK EGGS STOP
Comment: The above is just a part of the intro text (a short intro text compared to some of Sam's other works). The basic premise is that you have to go in and complete 1, 2, or 3 objectives: free Old MacDonald, blow up a windmill, or go for broke (the first two plus some other stuff).
The map is well planned, and a copy is available to the player (READ MAP), though understanding the 'sector location' is a bit difficult. The puzzles are minor, which makes it play smoother; there are enough new ideas here to comprehend without having to deal with major puzzles.
There were some spelling errors and the location of the reinforcements didn't seem to correspond to their sector on the map. If you want to cheat, you can kill all your opponents in a room if you SAY DIE; this is apparently a development line that didn't get removed.
(Ed. note: Sam never really finished this adventure. He lost interest while polishing it and used the experience and knowledge he gained from working out 'Animal Farm' to produce 'Operation Endgame'. It sat around for a year or two before being released 'as-is'. Even so it is better than a lot of other Eamons.)
Because of the level of the puzzles and monsters, I give it a 7 for difficulty. If you like modern military adventures and George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', or have a strange sense of humor where it concerns Eamon adventures, you will enjoy this one.
MAIN PGM version: 6.2 (with 7.0 search routine) Extra Commands: SHOW, BUY, USE, XTINGUISH, WEAR, RESUME Deleted Commands: BLAST, SPEED, HEAL, POWER, TAKE, SMILE, WAVE, OPEN, FREE Special Features: 3-disks; author's notes; hints program; 3 simultaneous saves permitted Playing Time: 5-10 hours Reviewer's Rating: 9
Description: You had finally reached your home continent. You went up the coast, looking for a sea port, but for 3 days you found none. On the morning of the fourth day, you awoke to find something else. A tremendous storm had set in, the likes of which you had never seen. The clouds were black and threaded with crackling energy. Huge waves and strange currents tossed your ship about. Finally, a port was sighted, and with great hardship, you made it in safely. The captain says that sailing is impossible under these unnatural conditions and that the best thing to do is to wait it out. You agree, and as the crew secures the ship, you step out onto the docks. - - - - - - - - - - Centuries of sleep ended. He awoke. Gradually his awareness returned...and he remembered. Then he looked outside...a city surrounded him - it had been built around his tower! But by whom? They were men, and for a moment he feared that his enemies of long ago had survived...but no, these that surrounded him were weak; unlike the others, these could be controlled. He felt power surging through him, recharged after a millenium of rest. Aye, he would rule them, and they would worship them, for was he not a god?
Comment: This huge Eamon has 195 rooms and 125 effects. Much of the action takes place within the city, but you must make several forays into the countryside for a variety of reasons. The puzzles are many and difficult, interlocking and evolving as the plot progresses. Usually the danger is not too high as you can FLEE to safety; the emphasis here is puzzles, not combat. The SOLUTIONS program offers hints for each puzzle that progress to outright solutions, and chats about what is happening around you just in case you are not sure. Sam offers his usual author's notes to clarify command modifications.
The above description is the introduction. Several things happen right off that leave you stranded without gold or weapons in a city that is undergoing a grave supernatural pounding. It is up to you to figure out what to do about it. Things are confusing at first as you wander about a large city with dozens of shops, but gradually you hit upon clues that put you on the right track. There IS a detailed, complex story here, but you must discover it a piece at a time while playing. Besides the above-mentioned god and sundry citizens, there are giants, dwarves, undead, evil cultists, dangerous animals, and even a dragon to overcome, and it all fits together within the framework of the story that Sam has wrought here.
This adventure is a sequel to #149 'Elemental Apocalypse', but the two stories stand alone and you do not need to have played #149 first. The difficulty rating will range between 5 and 10, depending on how much you use the SOLUTIONS program. If you require 'Hack & Slash' combat, you won't find much here, but it is highly recommended to puzzle fans.
MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 Extra Commands: DIG, CAMP, WEAR, REMOVE, ASK Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 10-directions, camping, buried items, magical artifacts Playing Time: 3-8 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Average Rating: 5.0/2
Description: "Several of the town's children, seven to be exact, were abducted by marauders from the Darkwoods last night. Those attacks were only the most recent in a series of many and different evil-doings that have been going on for about two months. All of our best Adventurers have been slaughtered within moments after they disappeared into the Darkwoods."
And thus you join a company that includes a wizard, fighter, and thief. Your mission is to find the children and put a stop to the evil.
Comment: This Eamon was written as an entry for the NEUC's "Life Orb" contest of many years ago. I don't think it was submitted in time, even though there are some comments towards the end that indicate that the author was cutting his vision short because he was up against a deadline.
It is a real mixed bag, with lots of very well conceived specials that are for the most part poorly executed. The poor execution was an unfortunate result of Greg not getting the feedback that the EAG has given to new authors. Simple things like having to type exactly what the program is looking for go far in piling much frustration on an otherwise fine offering.
There is a goodly amount of combat, and you will do well to bring your better weapons. But there is also quite a lot of puzzling, and the puzzles are the more difficult for being narrow in their interpretation of your actions while dropping few hints along the way. For this, it garners a difficulty rating of (9).
When I originally played it many years ago, I was put off by the poor spelling, death traps (I HATE death traps!), and the tedium of trying LOOK, DIG, and SAY in virtually every room of a large dungeon. There are also a lot of companions and events, and this coupled with version 6.2's truly awful screen pausing, resulted in a personal rating of (4). Pat Hurst, who has a real thing about sloppy spelling and programming, rated it even lower. But this time around, I found myself getting into the Quest, and I made a real effort to work it through rather than dismissing it as a poor work. I think it was worth it, and I am upgrading my rating to (7).
If ever there was an Eamon that rated a hint or two, this is one, so here they are: first, the dragon has something you need. You can't beat him, but you can reason with him; SAY TELL and SAY HELP are useful there. And here's a more cryptic hint: when looking for a conductor, think of Ben Franklin's famous experiment. Finally, to save you some aggravation, the ravine is a "Gotcha!" death trap. Hopefully these hints will lower your difficulty to something more like a (7).
Having taken the time to really wring this Eamon out, I found several minor bugs that were missed before. The only one that perhaps rates a fix before play would be to add a PRINT statement after the GET in line 204, but even this one merely clips one effect record out of a special event, and I had no trouble getting the gist without it.
In spite of the combat, this is definitely a puzzler's Eamon. Those who enjoy taking the time needed to sift through everything they can find in order to assemble the nuggets of puzzling will enjoy it the most.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: OPEN, CONSUME, READ Deleted Commands: None, no SAVE Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 3.5/2
Description: "You find yourself at the entrance to a very old high school: St. Marquis de Sade. It has no windows or other exits that you can see. The only door is the one before you. You recall that you've been told that the Senior class is missing, a guest speaker gone, and the whole school overtaken by horrifying creatures.
"Feeling a sense of duty, you enter the school. A cold shiver runs up your spine as you realize the doors have locked behind you. Your adventure has begun. Good luck, you'll need it!"
Comment: Here we find ourselves locked in a very boring, nearly empty high school building peopled by a handful of incongruous monsters and bad men. I personally find it rather poorly done to run into, say, Adolph Hitler with a machine gun without ever seeing an explanation for what he is doing alive and well in a modern U.S. high school.
You will almost certainly achieve the dual Quests of freeing the class and the speaker in the normal course of exploring, so your real goal here is to find an exit. This bit is somewhat clever and almost raised the rating all by itself.
Here is a hint that may allow you to see a special without really spoiling anything for you: "time."
Difficulty of (5).
MAIN PGM version: 6 Extra Commands: RETREAT, SALUTE, SURRENDER, COMPUTER, MISSILE, COMMO Deleted Commands: FLEE, BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED Special Features: 10-direction adventure; character's personal weapons not used Playing Time: 2-3 hours Reviewer Rating: 7 Average Rating: 7.8/3
Description: After a struggle of nearly 300 years, Sol system has been devastated, but the fight continues between the two empires. It is now 5688, and the Star League and Procyon Confederation are locked in mortal combat on the planet Apollonia in the Epsilon Indi star system.
The special forces team of the 101st (the Black Phoenix) has been reactivated, and you have been called up under your old commission. After six months of intensive training, you find yourself orbiting Apollonia in the troop carrier Sulu Sea, receiving final instructions before you drop to the surface. As you step into the drop capsule the technician gives you a thumbs up sign. You are on your way to hell with the Black Phoenix.
Comment: The introduction is much longer and more detailed than the above description, outlining galactic history and describing your reinstatement in the Black Phoenix. Roger's galactography is rather hazy (he admits that he was more interested in how it sounded than an accurate map), but it is a treat to read the historical section if you are a science-fiction fan.
This adventure has many of Roger's science-fiction trademarks: personal computer, menu-driven options for special commands, and so on. The adventure does not have a single quest but has 6 missions that must be performed that begin with a simple reconnoiter of an enemy position, progress through various rescue and covert activities, and end with a very rough 'hold until relieved' firefight.
You command a team of on-the-bounce fighters. You keep track of your mission requirements and progress through your computer, though you actually receive each from your commander. You periodically receive fresh equipment and replacements. The COMMO command is great fun; you can call in an air strike or artillery support, or a med-evac if required. Each option brings up its own special screen, and the responses are well timed for realism.
There are some minor puzzles to be solved with each mission, but the main thust of this Eamon is space opera, and it is well done. There are 40-odd special effects, and they cover a lot of special events. Highly recommended to fans of military science fiction.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: DEFLECT, SCARLET-TAPEWORM, PROPELLER-BLOW, WAIT, USE Deleted Commands: GIVE, SPEED, POWER, WAVE, PUT, FREE Special Features: Animated HiRes screen at startup Playing Time: 2-3 hours Reviewer Rating: 8.5
Description: Long have you been in search of Ketil and Halfdan Jormunreksson, two Viking brothers who had participated in the murder of your lord, Nobunaga. You now find yourself in Sweden, knowing that you will find them somewhere to the northwest.
You have heard tales of Ragnarok, the end of the world, and it seems that you see many of the Signs in the land around you. You fear the strange and supernatural things that you see happening, but your fear is replaced by wrath as you finally sight your goal!
Comment: Like Nate's earlier "Samurai Cat" Eamon, your character in this adventure is Samurai Cat himself. You live by the code of the Bushido and are peerless in combat. Your quest this time is to find the murderers of Nobunaga and avenge his death. But other events intervene...
This adventure is unlike anything else in Eamon. It draws heavily from the "Samurai Cat" comics, and if you aren't reasonably familiar with the style of these comics, it will probably seem pretty bizarre to you. Such things as Vikings, Apaches, Nazis, spears, cannon, guided missiles, and even land-traveling battleships are routine to see in the same room or battle.
At first glance, this seems like a smallish adventure, with only 44 rooms and 25 monsters. However, there are 87 special effects, and they are used very skillfully to depict a number of special events which range from a single effect to scenarios that run on for many screens and require player participation.
While there is some minor puzzling, a Samurai's strong point is combat, and there is plenty of it to be found here. And no ordinary combat, either; many if not most of the combat encounters are special events that include much more than the usual simple melee printout. Many know that I am no fan of mindless combat, but it is well-done and varied here and kept my interest quite well.
My favorite aspect of this adventure has got to be the special combat commands DEFLECT, SCARLET-TAPEWORM, and PROPELLER-BLOW. I never got tired of attacking an opponent and seeing WITH PRETERNATURAL FEROCITY YOU LASH OUT THE DEADLY SWIRLING SLASHES OF THE DIVINE WHIRLING OUTBOARD MOTOR PROPELLOR BLOW. It didn't hurt that this command is a savage attack on the bad guy, either!
Unless you are somewhat familiar with "Samurai Cat", you will probably be put off by all the incongruous and often downright bizarre things that you see. Don't let that stop you; this is a topnotch, very complex adventure and deserves a play. I also suggest that you play it through a second time after you have successfully completed it. You will enjoy the special effects and events much more once you have seen it and know what to expect. I have played it 5 or 6 times, and it is one of a very few Eamons that get better with replays.
There are several combat situations that require careful reading and quick, correct action or you will die. While there is an amusing resurrection sequence, it is not always easy to see right away what you need to do to defeat this or that supernatural opponent. For this reason, I give it a (9) for difficulty.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: "'To speak the name of the Dead is to make them live again.' - inscription on wall in King Tut's tomb -
"It has been many months since you have left the Guildhall. You have traveled far to reach . . .
"The Pyramid of Cheops"
Comment: I think that the intro, printed above in its entirety, does a pretty good job of summing up this Eamon: simple.
There's not a lot to see and do here, even though there are 71 rooms to explore. This is primarily a "mapper's dungeon", as there are a couple of unmarked secret passages that can only be found by trying every direction.
This is a really easy foray. The mapping is straightforward and the bad guys are tuned for Marcos' standard weapons. Difficulty of (3). Probably a good pick for the Young Eamonaut. My overall rating is for that target group. Advanced campaigners will likely be bored.
One very minor hint: don't ignore the signs.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: RETREAT, ESCAPE, DRINK, WAVE Deleted Commands: NO SAVE Special Features: Hi-Res title screen with music Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.5 Avg. Rating: 5.2/2
Description: "While relaxing at the tavern one day, a man in black informs you that you are the 16th in line for the throne of the Land of the Sister Mountains. To prove yourself for such honour, you have to rid their countryside of a warlord who calls himself 'Master'."
Comment: That about sums it up for the intro, though why they called on number 16 to prove himself for the throne is beyond me. Why not someone a bit closer to number 1, or are you the 16th to try? This particular Eamon has a spot in my heart, as it was the first Eamon I ever played. So I felt I should review it.
It clocks in at about 80 rooms, and most of the descriptions are of the N/S HALLWAY type, which gets used about 19 times, one-quarter of the rooms! Add hallways and bends, and you only have 24 rooms, with only 11 actual rooms. The rest are bridges and caves. There are a fair number of monsters here. The intro warns that this disk is for the strong, but the character I used kicked the Master's butt in 3 rounds. It's not a Monty Haul when it comes to treasure, but I still walked away with over 2,000GP.
I had to rate this adventure a 5.5. The over-abundance of N/S hallways coupled with below-par punctuation brought it down. The only thing that kept it at 5.5 was a puzzle, which I don't want to give away.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 2.0/2
Description: "You are the fighter that:
Found the infant that cried insistent- Saved Sammy-Jo Faire, with the really nice pair- That fought skeletons five and barely survived- And found all the treasure beyond measure- All in the house that Jack built.
And boy, is Jack pissed..."
Comment: This is a fairly good-sized Eamon that has very little content. All you do is wander about a very large house. The tone is light and the descriptions mildly silly. If it had more content I might have given it a better rating, though I must note that Pat Hurst gave it a (1).
You'll enjoy it more if you set yourself to do all the things listed in the intro. But as for "treasure beyond measure," my take was 203 GP.
I found two unmarked secret passages not found by LOOK. There are a large number of movement-related death traps, but they are mostly well marked and make sense if you think about it.
Difficulty of (2).
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: DRINK, READ Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 5-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 3.5/2
Description: "A man approaches you and says, 'I need a brave volunteer to escape from my place of dwelling; a sort of test of my security.' “ 'And where do you dwell?' you ask.
“ 'I dwell at Granite Hall!'
"You reach for your weapon but never get it out in time to strike. You never saw the blast spell that knocked you unconscious. All you think is, 'This is the feared mage Ajakstu, arch-mage to the demons of Hades...' If half of what you have heard of Ajakstu is true, you are in deep trouble..."
Comment: Well maybe not all that much trouble. This is a mild Hack'n'Slash romp with a difficulty of (3). There are several keys and lamps and stuff, but I never saw any use for any of it. The exit was cleverly done and I predict that you will find it only by chance, but that you will not have difficulty stumbling onto it. But the overall content is low, diminishing the rating.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None, has SAVE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0
Description: You have volunteered to be shrunk to microscopic size and injected into a human body on a mission to destroy cancerous growths, tumors, and bacteria. White blood cells will aid you in battle. You are given a special 'zap gun' to use in killing the diseases. For your trouble, you will be paid 1000 gold pieces. Also, you get to keep the zap gun.
Comment: This adventure was Rob's first attempt at a "Fantastic Voyage"-type adventure. His main purpose was to write an Eamon adventure that would also help educate the player about human anatomy. Unfortunately actual anatomy is almost non-existent, as most of the 'rooms' of the map use terms like "lower-head", "mid-arm", and so on. The monster-like attitudes of the bad guys was rather unrealistic, also.
If you want to use Eamon as an anatomy teaching aid, take a close look at #185 "The Body Revisited". It has a MUCH better and more detailed anatomical map. I give this adventure a (2) for difficulty.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 15-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0
Description: "Greetings, you fools. I am the Games-Master, Dirtie Trix. So you thought my other games were easy? Well, it's safe to say you've never gone to my fun house ...
"... up till now you've had it easy ..."
Comment: This is a straight mapping exercise with no combat. It's not even much of a maze, by Eamon standards, with no diabolical twists that I saw, although the room names tend to be very, very similar.
The drill here is to wander around until you find the exit. If there is anything else, I missed it, although I must admit that I only saw about half of the 96 rooms before stumbling onto the exit. Difficulty of (2) for the large map.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-20 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0
Description: "One day, while taking a break from adventuring, you decided to go to the docks. It is refreshing, watching the ships sail in and out of port, to see the billowing of the sails. To see the dock workers loading and unloading the ships.
"A sinister man slides up beside you. 'Ever want to sail?' he wheezes between rotted teeth. Before you can answer, he hits you over the head with a blackjack..."
Comment: You have been shanghaied and your quest is to find a way off the ship. Other than that, this is a straight combat scenario with no other content whatsoever. Nine out of ten enemies you meet will be named PIRATE. No companions. Difficulty of (3).
The ship seems rather nicely appointed for a 17th-century pirate vessel and feels more like a small castle than a ship.
One hint: there is no obvious way off the ship. Look for something a little mysterious to find your exit.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0 Average Rating: 3.0/2
Description: The adventure starts out with a distress call from MOON BASE to Mission Control. A Russian Top Secret experiment escaped and is headed towards MOON BASE.
Comments: If you are expecting some one-eyed, seven-legged creature that trashes the base, forget it. I found no such creature in the adventure. This is a short hack'n'slash grab-the-loot scenario. The mapping was rather unique and could cause problems if you are not paying attention. I got lost a couple of times, but was able to recover when I found myself back at the start. The author is actually trying to get you lost, so carefully read what is on the screen. The monsters are not very original, either. There are no sudden death traps, or much of anything else special.
I liked the way that the monsters just showed up at random; I played it several times, and the monsters moved around. There are a bunch of friendly monsters, which I didn't like, because they caused the text to scroll off the screen before I could read it. You could probably take a weak character and not die because of all the friends. I used a regular character from the Main Hall with no spells and a Main Hall weapon.
I rated it low because there is no mission or plot, the monsters were boring and mundane with repetitive names (ALIEN, ALIEN, ALIEN). If you are a stickler for spelling, you'll find some errors. On the other hand, I liked the way that the monsters showed up differently on each restart, the unique map, and absence of death traps. I probably would have rated it higher if the monsters were more interesting, there had been a bit of plot or quest, and even one simple locked door puzzle or special effect.
It is probably a good choice for a beginner or young Eamonaut to play right after the Beginners Cave.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 4.4/2
Description: "There exists an evil wizard by the name of Izurath. He is a cunning and smart wizard, but very evil. He has sent a letter to the Main Hall stating that he will open up his doors to bold and brave (and somewhat stupid) adventurers to gain practice. Now you seek to beat the Wizard's Tower."
Comment: This is a straightforward Hack'n'Slash foray. You can enhance the play a bit by making it your quest to find and kill Izurath. This Eamon is more sophisticated than Rob's earlier ones in that it has several LOOK-type secret passages to discover.
Difficulty of (4). Izurath is a bit more difficult to find than it might at first appear.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: RADIATION COUNTER, READ Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Sound effect when enemy dies Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 3.5/2
Description: Dr. Hoosenfire hires you to test his time machine. It will send you into a parallel dimension. You will be paid 1000 GP if you survive.
Comment: Apparently where you are sent is Earth after a nuclear war. You find lots of mutant zombies and a few refugees and friendly guards.
The entire adventure takes place in some kind of underground bunker, so you have your standard indoors dungeon-type map to check out. I found a couple of keys laying in corridors, and if they did anything they did it transparently.
Straight Hack'n'Slash fare, with no secret passages and no puzzles. Difficulty of (3).
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-15 min. Reviewer Rating: 1.0
Description: "We need a volunteer to help clean out the sewer system. It's plugged again. The last 37 helpers never came back, with the exception of Slasher, who came back through a toilet pipe when someone plunged too hard. I have 2,000 GP for the volunteer.
"What the hell, adventuring is in your blood. You raise your hand to volunteer.
"Oh, by the way, you can't leave until your job is done. You are to clean out the sewer system of rats, bums, alligators, and oh yes, the sewage monster!"
Comment: To be precise, 16 rats, two alligators, two bums, and the aforementioned monster.
Thirty-six rooms. No doors. No hidden anything. Straight combat. But if you enjoy mapping, the place is a bit of a maze of similar passages and would be a minor challenge to map completely.
The monsters aren't tough. Difficulty of (2).
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-20 min. Reviewer Rating: 1.0
Description: "Oooo-boy!!! You shouldn't had drinkin so muchh. Yer hed sure duz hurt. But thatz not the problim. The problim iz, your in farmer Brown's woods. And wee all no how much he hates trespassserss..."
Comment: Yep, that's the intro. You got drunk and woke up on private property. Now you mission is to wander around and kill everything you meet until you find a key to unlock the gate.
Well, you don't kill everything. You randomly make friends and enemies of sundry deer and squirrels, and it's pretty stupid to be in a battle where you have one enemy deer and two friendly deer and you have to kill them all to get the bad one because they all have the same name. However, you do get to kill about a dozen hands and a big truckload of dogs, not to mention the good Mr. Brown himself.
Wander around a huge compound where every room has a nearly identical description until you stumble on a key. Yawn. Difficulty of (1).
MAIN PGM version: 6 (heavily modified) Extra Commands: SWITCH, USE, WAIT, PLAY, ENTER, RESUME Deleted Commands: TAKE, BLAST, HELP, POWER, SPEED, WAVE Special Features: musical instruments; can READY artifacts in either or both hands; 2-game SAVE; can RESUME a saved game at any time; uses a special character; reusable containers Playing Time: 2-5 hours Reviewer Rating: 8.5
Description: You were orphaned at an early age, and were taken under the wing of the village Bard, who taught you wonderful stories and gave you musical instruments, and taught you how to play spells on them. The Bard was a powerful musical magician who often aided the King's men. He braved many dangers but was finally killed by the evil Kroger. Enraged, you set out to avenge his death, though you were but a small boy. Kroger's men captured you, took your instruments, and laughed as they sent you away.
Six years have passed, and one day you overhear two of Kroger's men talking in a tavern. One of them mentions where each of your magical instruments was cached. Older now, but still desiring revenge, you resolve to recover your instruments and kill Kroger.
Comment: Sam Just keeps cranking out Eamons with amazing detail and overall high quality. The feature of readying artifacts in either hand is novel and makes this Eamon special. For example, you need to READY a torch in order to light it, but you will want to carry it readied in your left hand in order to keep your sword ready in your right. Sam adds realism to the player's inventory by severly limiting the number of items that can be carried loosely but adding a backpack, pocket, and scabbard to store things in. The musical instrument spells are another new feature in Eamon, and are well executed. Besides the new commands, many of the old ones were extensively reworked to accommodate new features; the commands are well explained in the introduction, and the command descriptions can be dumped to a printer if desired.
As usual, Sam's puzzles are tight, tough, and often fatal. To compensate for this, two simultaneous SAVEs are allowed, and either can be RESUMEd at any time during play, or after a fatal move. There are approximately a half-dozen major puzzles, and they are good ones, new to Eamon, and made up of lesser puzzles.
The player's character is not used but is returned unharmed to the Main Hall. Instead, Sam supplies a 'boy' character to be used that has exactly the qualities and abilities that are described in the introduction. There is a fair amount of dangerous combat, but it involves semi-random denizens of the forest; the puzzles can NOT be bulldozed past using brute strength, but must be solved.
Puzzle fanciers will love this one. Fans of Sam's work will be well entertained by the detailed story and special stuff. Fans of the 'Hack&Slash' genre and those who enjoy using a super-character to smash all opposition will be disappointed. I give it a (9) for difficulty, because of puzzle difficulty and the good chance that wrong choices will be fatal.
MAIN PGM version: 7.0 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Playing Time: 60-90 minutes Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Average Rating: 5.7/3
Description: All of the animals in the Kingdom of Eamon have disappeared. You, the most famous adventurer of all time, are enlisted to find the animals and return them to the kingdom. Any delay will be deadly to the pets and animals. Your quest begins at a cave of unknown dangers. You quake with fear but realize you cannot back out now.
Comment: The descriptions of the cave rooms are interesting and realistic with stalactites, stalagmites, drop-offs, and pot holes. You will find the usual cave creature inhabitants, such as bats, spiders, lizards, and crabs, with a few others not often found, as well. But what else would you expect to find in a cave, after all--hummingbirds?
This adventure is pretty much straightforward as to play: fight the bad guys and hunt the animals. There are no hidden traps that kill you without warning. The few hidden rooms are easy to find and lend credibility to the storyline. The story is unique, interesting, and well thought out as well as clearly presented. It is fun to play for a number of reasons: 1) there are few extraneous rooms tacked on to take up space; 2) the few puzzles are easily solved; 3) it has an easy and sensible map; 4) it is interesting to follow the plot development.
This is the author's first adventure and is a good example of good, clear, above average Eamon programming. It bodes well for additional adventures in the future and I look forward to playing them. The rating would have been higher if there had been more puzzles and rooms and a more complete storyline, but extra credit certainly should be given for the plot uniqueness and smoothness of play.
MAIN PGM version: 7.0 Extra commands: none Deleted commands: none Special Features: emergency exit Playing Time: 2-3 hours Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating:5.0/3
Description: Your doctor friend, S. Fraud, enlists your help. It seems that a VIP has been shot and has a slow acting poison pellet in his body. You are shrunk to microscopic size to run around in his body, banging through organs until you stumble on the pellet, which you are to put in a lead container, after which you will be retrieved and returned to normal size. You enter the body at the left elbow in the brachial artery. To the north is the radial artery and south the left forearm. Get the picture? You travel through 193 organs, veins and arteries, such as: Jugular Vein, Common Carotid Artery, Posterior Tibial Vein, and my favorite, the Inferior Vena Cava. If you get tired of looking for the pellet, just SAY CHICKEN and you are rescued, but be ready for insults. You can also exit through the Urethra.
Comment: My God, 193 rooms- much ado about nothing. I gave up trying to map it after reaching room #85. There are so many rooms that seem to have no point other than to round out a very complete internal map of the body. It is very difficult to map without getting mixed up because of the difficult anatomical names and because the body's organs aren't laid out in a very orderly fashion. One of the things I enjoy doing is making good, clean and understandable maps, but not this one.
The pellet is randomly placed and the quest consists of stumbling about until you come upon it. The ending is unsatisfactory because you are not recognized nor thanked for your enormous effort in killing cancer cells, tapeworms, and tumors and bringing out the pellet. The small reward gives little satisfaction. The monsters were very monotonous, being mainly an endless succession of cancer cells and white blood cells.
I reluctantly rate this a 4. I say reluctantly because I know the author must have spent a lot of time learning the proper names of the parts of the human body and getting them in the right places. He set out to write an educational Eamon adventure that teaches the body and probably deserves more credit for that alone, but I was turned off as I don't have that kind of interest. This is a perfect example of an adventure that has too many rooms that don't go anywhere.
MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Special Features: none Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 1.0 Average Rating: 2.0/2
Description: This Beginner's Cave was set up by the Warlord as a service to all free adventurers giving them a chance to try their skills in a not-too- dangerous setting. However, it is really a get rich quick scheme.
Comment: With John Nelson as author, I was expecting an improvement over the original Beginner's Cave but was disappointed. The warning sign read, "For Beginners Only," but I was able to enter with an armor expertise of 10%. The monsters in the cave consisted of the usual rat, troll, and snake, but the wild boar and bull were out of place in a cave. Treasure was misspelled. The Power spell caused an OUT OF DATA error. The action was dull with no exciting Trollsfire type weapons or hidden surprises. The treasures were give-aways with little hazard for the taking. The original Beginner's Cave remains the better of the two for me.
(Editor's comment: the OUT OF DATA error is a bug resulting from an incomplete conversion from Eamon II to version 6.2. See 'Bugs 'n Fixes', this issue. Likewise, non-beginners can enter even though it says "Beginners only" because I did not add any code to the basic 6.2 MAIN PGM to check for it. In other words, These two items are my fault and not John's. Tom Z)
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: USE, OPEN, READ Deleted Commands: None, no SAVE Special Features: None Playing Time: 20-30 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0
Description: A wizard leaves you a bizarre outfit that turns you into Batman on Earth. As the adventure opens, you find yourself in the Batmobile, headed for the Joker's hideout.
Comment: This Eamon is pretty low in content and is very unsophisticated. You will see about 30 rooms of the total 48. The rest apparently aren't used, except for one mostly useless unmarked secret passage that LOOK doesn't see.
Young Eamonauts who really like Batman will enjoy this Eamon the most. That group might well rate it considerably higher than I did. Difficulty of (1).
Three hints: first, Robin won't follow you unless you go E then W again to set up his friendliness. Next, you can't READ anything unless you are holding it, and the READ command may not recognize the full artifact name (e.g.: you must type READ FILES to read the POLICE FILES.) Last but far from least, you will do well to pick up everything you find.
MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: HINT, XTINGUISH, SUICIDE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Average Rating: 6.5/4
Description: Hokas takes you to the Eamon Public Library. "Inside the library, you see books thrown about, as if vandals had broken in and ransacked the place. Picking up one of the books, you see a three-inch hole through the center of it. Opening it up, you discover that all of the pages are now completely blank.
"'This is the fifth library to have this happen to it.' Hokas says. 'We have to stop this madman before all of the books are destroyed. Luckily, these books are easy to replace. However, if this had been a library of rare manuscripts...'
"'Who did this?' you say.
"'The Bookworm.' Hokas hisses through clenched teeth. 'I shall never be able to thank you enough if you defeat him. I have found out a bit about him for you. He plays an odd sort of savoir-faire. His hideout, I am told, has many "clues" or "hints" built into it. I do not know any more, so pay close attention to anything and everything.'"
Comment: This is a very decent Eamon, arguably Rob's best work. It doesn't rate higher because it is a bit low on content, but the writing and mapping are excellent, and it has several novel room ideas. I came very close to revising my old rating upwards after replaying it for this review.
One thing that knocks it down a bit is that it has a few minor glitches in presentation. One is a very long special with no screen pauses that occurs at one of the "entrances". The other is that it displays resumed saved games in 80-column mode regardless of the screen setting when it was saved. (If you want or need to use 40-column mode when resuming a saved game, delete line 29065 before beginning the game).
Difficulty will run 3-7 depending on how much you use the HINTS command, which pretty much gives away all of the puzzles if you use it regularly.
SUICIDE is a perfectly useless command that kills you and ends the game. I don't know why Rob thought that was better than simply using Control-C or reset. XTINGUISH is merely a way to snuff your torch without having to drop it (which is the standard Eamon method to put out torches).
Here's a warning of sorts: the can will mess with your character's stats in an amusing way. If you feel strongly about that, don't fool with the can. But if you are using FRESH SAM or don't mind having to "repair" your character, you may get a chuckle out of it.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: SEARCH, SLEEP Deleted Commands: None, no SAVE Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-40 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0
Description: "You teleport into the near future, surrounded by the gathering clouds of war." To war-torn Ireland.
Comment: This Eamon is set in some part of Belfast that has been devastated by the fighting between the two Irish factions. What isn't war-torn is poor and abandoned. In other words, this is an icky Eamon to play. It has nineteen rooms, and I didn't even bother to map it. You meet a small handful of characters, most of which are "not right" in some way. I can't imagine what I was thinking of when I gave it an earlier (3) rating. I almost gave it a (1) this time around.
SEARCH is only useful in the hayloft. SLEEP is an aggravating though harmless "Gotcha" trap that scatters your stuff all over the map.
There are three puzzles, all of which are obscure to the point of absurdity. One is that you get a machine gun if you find and pick up the scattered parts in the correct order. The other two give you one (1) chance to get it right, and then you fight. The first expects you to somehow know to give a needle you found to a Leprechaun. The other expects you to know that the secret password is "The luck of the Irish", even though you aren't told that anywhere I could find. If you know the password, you get sent back home again. If you don't, you apparently fight forever.
I guess I'll leave the difficulty at (7), even though a higher number could be argued.
MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: OPEN, PUSH, THROW Deleted Commands: none, no Save Special Features: no killing Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0
Description: 'As you leave the Main Hall, a dark gentleman sidles up to you. "Arrgh," he says. "There's them hereabouts that would pay plenty to know what goes on at the back building of the Grimmwax Waxworks! I wonder, are you man enough to go find out? Of course, getting past the guards will be your first problem. And your last! Har! Har! Har!" His cold, sardonic laughter lingers in your mind as you close the door on the Main Hall and step out into the mid-afternoon sum.'
Comment: The above is the text of the introduction. It doesn't exactly give you a quest but does charge you to find out what is going on at the waxworks. This adventure has quite a few puzzles of medium difficulty which must be solved to progress.
An interesting variation on combat is that no one is ever killed, but is knocked unconscious instead. For your purposes this amounts to the same thing because they do not revive during the adventure. However, the player DOES revive if knocked out, and once he finds where his stuff was stashed, can continue.
There definitely are Things Going On at Grimmwax to be discovered. The emphasis is on puzzles, not on combat. Recommended for puzzle fanciers.
MAIN PGM Version: 6.0 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Special Features: for beginner-level characters only Playing Time: 30 minutes Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: This is an expanded version of the original 'Beginners Cave' adventure on the master disk. This it the adventure that is offered on the Expanded Master by John Nelson & John Heng. Besides the contents of the original Beginners Cave, it has 11 more rooms, 11 more artifacts, and 10 more monsters. It uses the version 6.0 MAIN PGM which accepts some abbreviations and has a larger command set than the version 4 original.
Comment: I thought long and hard before assigning this adventure its own number, but one-third of the database is new and it has a completely new MAIN PGM, and in the end it seemed that it would be easier to track bugs and revisions if it was listed separately.
If you have seen the original, you haven't missed much if you haven't seen this one. It is after all an adventure for beginners and is very simple. The rating reflects this; if it was judged as a normal adventure it would not rate quite as well. I give it a (3) for difficulty.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: RIDE, VERBOSE, BRIEF, OPEN, READ Deleted Commands: None Special Features: short EAMON.ROOMS record lengths, no DOS on disk Playing Time: 60-90 minutes Reviewer Rating: 3.0
Description: "Welcome to 'Mean Streets' Your task is a valiant one. A pimp has moved into our fair city. He has full intention of making it his own. To insure his wishes he has kidnapped my only daughter 'Tina'. He intends to turn her into one of his prostitutes.
"As mayor of this city I give you full power to rid our city of this vile man(pimp) by any means you see fit. Also it is rumored that a huge thug is hiding out in the subway killing people at any given chance. We would very much appreciate his extermination. Also be on the lookout for thieves, they are know to be lurking when you least expect them."
Comment: This is a very large map of a small 5-block by 5-block city. It has 97 rooms, but there is no need to map it because it is so orderly and because there isn't much of anything to go back to after you've entered a room.
I was very much reminded of "The Shopping Mall" while playing this, as most of it's "rooms" are empty streets, and most of the buildings are uninteresting one-room affairs with no more to offer than a touch of combat, if that.
This is an icky city, showcasing the warts and problems that any city has without offering any countering uplifting content. I found myself wondering if Thomas was a high-school student (or perhaps dropout) who was no stranger to run-ins with the Law.
Having said all that, I have to add that it didn't get a higher rating for a two-pronged reason: it uses no screen pauses at all, and you will pick up as many as two entire screensfull of companions. Thomas addressed that with two new commands. VERBOSE prints everything (as if you had typed LOOK) at a slow speed that is easy to read and takes quite a while to print. BRIEF prints at normal high speed, prints just the room name, and omits the normal space between monster names. Either method will drive you nuts, though for different reasons. I found that the best way for me was to leave it in BRIEF, and to liberally use the control-S key to pause printing so I could read stuff before it was shot off the top by the companion listing or the combat text.
There are so many characters that I almost always had to do a SMILE to find out which one was the enemy when I entered a room, because I couldn't remember all the names of my companions.
One cute special is a thief who will steal everything you have (except your ready weapon) every 10 moves or so. It got terribly annoying to see the accompanying "OOOH NOOO!" message, and almost pushed me down to a (2) rating all by itself. Don't worry about your stuff; enter the dumpster at 3rd & Tyler, and you'll get it all back and do away with the thief as well. But be sure to READY your best weapon as soon as you start the adventure, so it won't be stolen.
I was not able to get past one door without cheating. Thomas used a brute-force programming approach that gave nearly all of the artifacts no location until they were actually needed (for example, if monster X dies, then change weapon Y's location from zero to the room number.) I could not find any code that made the door key available. But all you will find behind it is one enemy and one treasure.
One very elaborate and rather stupid death trap. Difficulty of (3) if you're using high-grade weapons.
Here's a hint: how do you find out if an open mailbox has anything in it? Also, if you get killed and want to restart the game, be sure to type SPEED=255 before typing RUN, or else it might take 10 minutes for the game to load!
MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: PULL, REST, SUICIDE, STATUS, REFILL, THROW, SEE, PRAY, ASSEMBLE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 10-directions, lo-res picture, HINTS program, 40/80 column display. Playing Time: 2-3 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0
Description: "The country of Rhyl has been beset nearly every night for many years by a terrible creature that flies out from the mountains near the city of Asereht. The creature soars over farmland, picking up livestock or an occasional unfortunate farmer and carrying the victim back into the mountains.
"Nearly a year ago the creature broke through the wall of King Namreh's castle and carried off the king's son, Prince Laechim, along with a large amount of the Royal Treasure. Since that incident, which did not seem like the act of an unthinking creature interested only in food, King Namreh has suspected that the creature is somehow under the influence of the mad magician Astylis.
"Your mission is to go to Astylis' complex, rescue Prince Laechim plus the royal scepter and the golden crown that were also taken, and kill the fearsome creature that seems to be under the wizard's control."
Comment: This is a very good Eamon, in many ways the best one Rob ever did. It is a mapper's Eamon, with 133 rooms, lots of nifty stuff and several door puzzles to conquer. The combat is sparse and not terribly difficult.
The problem with it is that he didn't write it. It is a "Dungeons and Dragons" scenario. The D&D people had had a long history of suing first and asking questions later, so I never gave it the publicity it deserved, nor did it get a conversion to 80-col. ProDOS. I buried it through neglect and hoped that people would find it on their own.
Several of the door-puzzles are pretty tough, and there are all those rooms plus 100 artifacts to keep straight. This is no outing for the Young Eamonaut, or for those looking for a quickie foray. Difficulty will ring in between 4-8, depending on how much you use the HINTS program.
MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: TALK Deleted Commands: PUT, LIGHT, POWER, SPEED, BLAST, REMOVE, WEAR Special Features: none Playing Time: 1.5-2.5 hours Reviewer Rating: 9.0
Description: 'This adventure is loosely based on the 'Groo' comic books by Sergio Aragones. I can't tell you much other then that they're the funniest comic books on the market and they are a good influence on young children, with lots of slaying and pillaging. Remember, the game is >loosely< based on them, so you can't buy them all in hope of some hints!
The most confusing part of the game is in the beginning, as you have no actual quest at this point. Well, you are in a nigh-helpless city under attack by barbarians. This should pose as a problem for any normal person. Just find out what you can do to help. That's the whole point of the game. It's important to keep your companions alive, also. Some play crucial roles in the game, then again, some don't.
The Saga Begins...
You've been searching for the villain who's been spreading carnage and death across the land like a plague for almost five months now. In an almost random fashion, towns and villages have been looted, burned, and some levelled to the ground. Nobody has seen any armies, and mages claim that no magic is at work in the land.
You finally wound up in the hick town of Oigres. You searched the town, but all you could find besides basic fare was the unusual dependency the populace had on cheesedip. In fact, the town was cheesedip mad. A bowl of cheesedip accompanied every meal and a watered version was drank.
You were on your way out of this bowl of stagnation when a horrified cry broke the monotony! "Barbarians! A horde of them! Storming the city walls!", cried a sentry. The ill-equipped guards barely closed the gates in time. Peasants scrambled in and many fell outside the gates. You lent your hand with a bow and shot several of the invaders. They were fat, short, and obnoxious. The dreaded Kretons of Kraut! The most bloodthirsty killers on the planet! After a short fight, the Kretons fell back and surrounded the city, closing off the only road out of this dump.'
Comment: The above contains selected portions of the introduction text. It does a pretty good job of summing up this adventure.
Combat has a minimal role here. There are many puzzles of medium difficulty that are well done. The plot develops nicely in a series of mini-quests as you work from one to the next, not really knowing where it is all going, but not really caring either. This is a very funny adventure and it is unquestionably the best Eamon that Nathan has ever done. I give it a (7) for difficulty.
One hint: don't proceed to the final confrontation unless you have *both* wands.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: You're an experienced adventurer, but you know how to listen and pick up some good info once in a while. When you heard that there was a place outside of town that gave beginning Adventurers a chance to hone their skills and pick up some loot in the process, naturally you jumped at the opportunity to make the most of the deal.
So you hitchhiked your way out there, and readied your weapons and yourself as you approached the main entrance.
Comment: The above is the entire text of the introduction. It's about par for the adventure itself. There is no quest of any kind and there are only 36 fairly simple rooms.
This adventure is for beginners who want to pump up their character's stats "honestly" instead of using the Character Editor. There are lots of goodies everywhere you look that enable the player to bulk up his character. The loot and weapons are really good, too.
Advanced and experienced players will find this one to be an unremarkable "Monty Haul" scenario of the "kill and loot" variety. But it is just the ticket for beginners who need a stronger character but don't want to "cheat". I give it a difficulty rating of (2). With its low difficulty and high rewards, it is probably a good candidate to use with children.
MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: (unprintable) Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10 min. Reviewer Rating: 1.0
Description: Explore Madam Dolly's Cat House.
Comment: This is a very simple, quite pornographic adventure. All you do is visit each room of the house, kill the generic customer, then have your way with the girl in the room. While it's not as gross as "House of Ill Repute", it has even less content.
Difficulty of (1).
I have to add that it would get the overall (1) rating even if it wasn't pornographic, being an awful Eamon from every possible standpoint.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 20-30 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0
Description: You find yourself in front of a temple that has been converted into an Imperial stronghold.
Comment: This is a very bare-bones Eamon. There is no intro text. The room descriptions do not ever list exits. The monster descriptions read like you already know the guy is in the room (As the game begins, the first description you see is COMPUTER TEACHER, WHO HAS JUST LOST HIS FALSE TEETH.) Many descriptions start out with nouns, they are so simple. All the names tend to have no relation to the description. Mapping is a bit of a chore because of the poor descriptions.
The actual adventure is pretty much just 20 rooms, followed by 15 rooms of aimless wandering in YOU ARE IN SPACE rooms until you stumble on the exit.
This is a straight Hack’n’Slash outing. The combat is tough enough that you will probably want a magic weapon or two, unless you like lots and lots of combat.
Difficulty of (4), partly for the combat and partly for the mapping tedium.
MAIN PGM version: 7.0 Extra Commands: PRAY, EAT, SUICIDE Deleted Commands: none Special Features: a couple of extended effect sequences Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Difficulty: 4
Description: This is a sequel to #188 'Encounter: the Bookworm'. Yes, that ol' bookworm is back with more mayhem! You are working for Hokas Tokas, and when he discovers that you had inadvertently released the Bookworm from his Aquarium prison, guess who gets the job of bringing him back!
Comment: This is a pretty funny adventure; not in the guffaw class but it kept me smiling as I played. It is done strictly for laughs and any resemblance to a 'serious' Eamon foray is inconceivable. Robert did some collaboration with Nate Segerlind on this, and Nate is a huge believer in humor in Eamon. It is set in Des Moines and lots of Eamon authors have cameo appearances in the adventure. I had fun figuring out who was who, and if you play much Eamon you should be able to do so, too. However, some of the pot-shots at Eamon authors are very close to being inside jokes, and it is possible that you might be put off if you can't figure out who is getting slammed.
There are few puzzles and they aren't too hard. The fighting is minor and besides the point of the adventure, which is to joke around and have fun. Lots of the descriptions talk to the player rather than to the player's character, much like Hope & Crosby used to talk to the camera in the 'Road' movies. Recommended to those who like funny Eamons and who don't mind silly descriptions.
MAIN PGM version: 6.0 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Special Features: none Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Difficulty: 3
Description: "You have been summoned to the palace and there told of a powerful magic wand that the city is in dire need of. The council informs you that the wand is composed of 5 parts that do not necessarily look like parts of a wand. The reputed location is known as the Dungeon of Death, given this name by the local widows and orphans. This due to some rumor that their husbands and fathers were lost in these catacombs.
"Your mission is to recover all 5 pieces of the wand (you need not assemble them as this will be done by an expert) and return with them to Sam Slicker. He will give you your reward. If you do not recover all of the pieces, all of the items found in the catacombs will magically disappear and you will not gain any benefit from your trip. Be sure to search everywhere as the pieces are thoroughly scattered about the place."
Comment: The above is the entire text of the introduction. It's a small dungeon, and all puzzles can be easily solved by doing a LOOK in every room. It has some pretty fair special effects as well. This adventure may be appropriate for the skill level of young Eamonauts. If you are wondering, this Robert Davis is not the same Bob Davis who wrote for the NEUC "Adventurer's Log" and authored the Eamon classics #78 and #121.
MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 4.0/2
Description: You overhear a conversation between a wizard and a mage about a lost island full of riches. You decide to go claim the treasure before they do.
Comment: The entire purpose of this Eamon is to be a Kill 'n Loot adventure, as the introduction might suggest. There is only one (rather simple) puzzle that comes to mind in this adventure.
You get two fairly strong companions from the start of the adventure, a dwarf and an elf. With them and a reasonably strong character, the battles which occur in nearly every room are not too challenging.
The main trick in this game is getting out of the island once you have entered. You need to map carefully - the room connections in this game are off the wall. Because of the mapping and the one puzzle, I give this Eamon a (6) for difficulty.
This page last updated on 01/29/2005.