EXCELSIOR
                  (RPG, part of Disk 984)

                   Reviewed by C.G. Raven

My first impression was that the game was easy to install, unlike
some I could mention.

Similar to Ultima 4 in many ways but better. I enjoyed this game
very much, until that is I reached the silly question stage. "I
am three dimensional in a four dimensional world, and I cannot
exist in a one dimensional world," so said the signpost. I can get
along with talking signposts okay, but each and every answer I
tried to this riddle failed miserably. Another riddle posed
elsewhere involved various compass directions, and once again I
hadn't the faintest idea what the answer was.  All other quests
were acceptably difficult but achievable, but the riddles had me
beaten! I suppose the idea behind the riddles is to get you to
send the registration fee in dollars to the author, and get a
handy hint manual in return which might throw light on the
problems. I have to admit that it was too much hassle arranging to
get hold of the dollars and after many futile attempts to solve
the riddles I gave up in disgust.

I really enjoyed the game up to that point. Creating and
developing your character was fun, and solving quests and learning
skills helped give you a sense of achievement - just what you need
to keep your interest.

I liked the over all style of the game, it's hardly `state of the
art' in terms of graphics, but `state of the art' graphics never
did make a good game on their own. Personally I quite liked the
simple images which represented the various characters in the
game. They were crude by modern standards yet allowed your
imagination greater scope. I've seen many supposedly `better'
graphics which have a distinctly cartoon element about them, which
to my mind is actually worse than a crude figure with no
distinguishing features.

Perhaps a tad on the simple side, but still any enjoyable game
which should keep you amused for many hours.

















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