EcoQuest 1:The Search for Cetus - Sierra
      (Icon-driven graphic adventure for PC and Amiga)

               A golden oldie reviewed by Sue

Sierra's EcoQuest is a 'green' adventure aimed at the young or the
young at heart. Like the other Sierra games which aim to be
educational, such as Gold Rush, it tries to teach facts - whether
they be historical or ecological - in a way that will be fun. It's
an ideal way of getting information across without making it seem
a chore and also seems to make in facts stick in a way that
reading them from a text book might not do so well.

The hero of the game is young Adam. His father is a marine
scientist and they have recently moved to the island of St Julien
in the Caribbean.  The reef off the island is dying and Adam's dad
has to try to find out what's causing the problem.  This is just
the latest in a series of moves that they've made since Adam's
mother died. It's a shame for Adam because it means he will have
to make new friends yet again and he's a bit shy of doing so. His
father suggests that he might like to join the kids playing
volleyball outside their house, but Adam would rather stay indoors
and help with his dad's work. A sea bird has just been brought in,
covered with oil and, following instructions, the young boy helps
clean the bird. His dad has a meeting so Adam is left to his own
devices.

After doing a few chores, he wanders into the Lab where a dolphin
is swimming about in the pool. He'd got tangled in a fishing net
and rescued. A certain amount of work needs to be done with
the dolphin before he can be released into the sea again. Adam's
dad had suggested that he could help with this so, reading the
instructions on the board in the Lab, the boy sets to work. Taking
care not to scare the dolphin, he goes through the routine step by
step. Gradually the dolphin starts to trust him and the two of
them swim about, playing in the water. Imagine Adam's surprise
when he throws a Frisbee to the dolphin and, suddenly, the dolphin
speaks to him!  It turns out the dolphin's name is Delphineus and
when he got caught in the net, he was on an urgent mission. His
king, a whale called Cetus, has gone missing and Delphineus was
meant to be looking for him.  In all the excitement, it had
slipped his mind!  Knowing that his dad had planned to release the
creature soon anyway, Adam makes the decision to let Delphineus
go. With a wave of his flipper, the dolphin swims away, leaving
Adam alone once again ...

... But not for long. A few days later, Delphineus reappears.
There's still no sign of Cetus so Adam decides to help his new
friend find the missing king. The two of them swim out into the
ocean, then dive into the depths - their first stop, the
underwater kingdom of Eluria.

What a magical kingdom it is! The marine inhabitants can talk,
just like Delphineus. But Adam can see at once that all is not
right ... oil is polluting the coral gardens, killing their plants
while rubbish is strewn amongst the ancient statues and buildings.
It's a good job he has his trash recycling bag with him!
Delphineus swims off to the fish apartments, suggesting Adam
visits the Oracle who will be able to help them in their search
for Cetus. Finding the Oracle is a task in itself; she's an
elusive creature and somewhat enigmatic. Not only does Adam have
to answer some riddles, he'll have to prove that he has earned the
trust of the citizens of Eluria before she'll tell him a useful
prophecy.  From here the game progresses at a steady pace. Having
proved his worth to the citizens to the Oracle's satisfaction,
Adam will have his work cut out for him if he is to save Cetus and
Eluria.

EcoQuest is a real treat to play. Though aimed at 10 year old
children upwards, it certainly isn't a doddle to play. On three
occasions I thought I was completely stuck. Once it was a case of
not reading the documentation properly (Sierra don't provide all
those booklets for nothing! Though I must admit I felt it a bit
tactless to provide quite so much paperwork and packaging for
a 'green' adventure). Once I was held up through missing an exit
and the third time by just being dim - and even then I didn't
finish with full points.

The game is certainly educational but it does it in a painless
way. You find yourself absorbing information and, the more you
know, the more points you'll score. For example I forgot that you
should cut through the rings of plastic six-pack holders before
trashing them. That fact is noted in the booklet 'I Helped Save
the Earth' provided with the game. Because I didn't cut them, I
didn't get full marks when putting them in Adam's trash bag. No
doubt more of the points missing from my 683/725 score went the
same way.  Delphineus will tell Adam facts about the different
creatures they come across in their travels and point out areas
where man's thoughtlessness is causing problems such as the use of
drift nets and oil pollution from undersea drilling.  He'll also
tell the most appalling 'fish' jokes at times!  Sierra have put
humour into the game in other ways with little extras that add to
the fun. In the first location, Adam's living room, a periscope
will emerge from the rug in the centre of the floor; Adam's
hamster will do a 'top hat and tails' routine when he's given
water (and until then will rattle a small spade along the bars of
the cage); if you walk Adam along the front of the screen, he'll
bob up and fire a water pistol at you. You can even see the first
screen of King's Quest V on Adam's father's computer.

As you'd expect, the music, graphics, animation and sound effects
are good quality. The clicks of Delphineus' speech and the whale
song from Cetus add to the atmosphere as do the dolphin cursor and
scallop shell shaped frame for close-ups. Fish swim smoothly and
effortlessly through the water while Eluria and its surrounding
coral reef are depicted in brilliantly glowing colours. The music
is appropriate to the story throughout and I'm sure I read
somewhere that it was written by the composer of the score for
Disney's The Little Mermaid. It certainly sounded familiar ...
I've been singing 'Under the Sea' ever since playing it!

I was far more impressed with EcoQuest than with the previous two
Sierra games I played (King's Quest V and Conquests of the
Longbow). I didn't even get ratty with the icon system which is
unusual for me as I normally find it very restricting. EcoQuest 2
is also available on budget and well worth playing too.

If you've got children of school age I'd recommend you get this
game for them. If you haven't got kids, get it for yourself!
                              - o -