Al-Qadim : The Genie's Curse

                   Review by Vic Horsley

This is an American DOS game that dates back to 1994, however it
is now appearing on the British shelves. Electronic Arts produce
the game though their British counterpart knows nothing about it
as I found out when I rang them recently and cannot help with it
in any way.

System requirements are:- 386/33 MHz DX PC, 4 megs RAM, MS-DOS or
higher, an uncompressed hard drive with 16 MB free, VGA colour
monitor, Microsoft compatible mouse.

This is an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons engine, though a little
different in that its setting is the Arabian Nights. It's very
colourful, has great graphics and is a joy to play. A
pre-generated character, whose first name is your choice, gives
you quick entrance into a game world where magic and dark deeds
abound!  Encounter genies, sorcerers, wise men, hermits and more
mysterious beings, each with their own challenges and secrets.
Choose from a number of magical items to solve challenging puzzles
in real time, following a tightly woven storyline to which you
must play close attention or you may get lost; try to save your
family and restore your name from forces unknown.

There are two arenas in this. First the puzzles which become
harder as you proceed through the game. In these you are not
pressed for time and do get several retries if needed, though the
more tries you make, the less advancement points are made. The
trick is to save just before starting the puzzle. Secondly the
action arena, it is in real time so there's no time to hang
around, either attack or run. Fighting is not hard though and
various levels can be set depending on how demanding you want it.
Fight you must so go to it - no fight, no points.

Control is either through mouse, joystick or keyboard. It is easy
with the mouse, left button for using sabre, opening doors or
throwing switches, right button for walking and space bar for
firing magical weapons.

The music and background sounds are in keeping with the storyline
and very enjoyable, though enabling them is a little tricky. I
have a SoundBlaster 16, I was told I didn't, however Adlib did the
trick.

One last thing, I realise we have a whole new outlook to games now
and this may seem old, but it's really worth a go and will even
surprise some.

Electronic Arts, Code SSI 53, PO Box 7530, San Mateo, CA 94403,
USA

@~If you have problems getting hold of this game, you could try
@~contacting Richard Hunt in the States - see his advert in this
@~issue's Adverts section ... Sue



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