Review of 'The Quest'

                      by Graham Raven

The Quest is a turn-based role-playing game with an emphasis on
tactics and strategy. Ha! My foot! What this actually means is some
of the stick monsters are easy to kill, and some of the absolutely
identical stick-monsters are very difficult to kill. Sure there are
also some different stick-monsters who appear to drain you of energy
simply by your being in the same screen as they are (Sheer joy!) I
suppose this is in order to give you a challenge? Well try banging
your head against a brick wall for half an hour; that's also a
'challenge'! The game is completely free (overpriced in my
opinion!), and you can give the TheQuest.zip file to anyone you want
(especially if you seriously dislike them!).

'You MUST read the Manual.doc file to understand how to play and
enjoy the game' allegedly. Now that statement I must take issue
with. Reading the manual will ensure that you enjoy this game?
Dingo's Kidneys! "Hey!" says the author "This is an original game!"
Hmm, 'Original' is it? The author admits to getting LOTS of emails
from players who run out of money during the game. Well I started
running out of money right at the start of the game, and I think
that the 'strategy' label simply means that you are supposed to take
ten minutes endlessly dodging backwards and forwards whilst trying
to kill every monster, simply in order to make the game last longer.

Whilst it is true that there are no complex button configurations or
settings to memorize, this 'original' and very simple game really
should take you no more than half an hour to complete, but it has
had its gameplay extended by making half the monsters difficult to
kill, and above all, sufficient gold very hard to come by. You will
struggle to find enough gold to buy the cheapest healing potion, and
even when you do manage it, it won't last long. You will also spend
a large chunk of your time endlessly travelling back and forth to
the nearest potions shop.

An infuriating little game which is simple, basic, annoying and
whilst not utterly impossible, it is a sheer grind. Just because a
game is difficult does not make it good! Your character will die a
LOT playing this game. This is usual at the start of many games but
in this one, you will continue to die a lot for as long as you
continue to play it! Sometimes it may take a whole minute to die,
and other times it will take a mere ten seconds. Progress will be
VERY slow.

The manual is the most 'advanced' part of the game, being well
written and quite thorough. In fact reading the manual without
playing the game will give you impression that this might be one
decent game to try out. It's not! Some of the detailed info in the
manual however can be skipped because not all of it seems to really
apply. For example this potion or that potion may well be better or
not so good as a different one, but I for one never managed to get
enough gold together to buy anything but the very cheapest potion
available.

I played a knight for most of my efforts, it being the character
which seemed to last the longest between an endless number of
deaths. A rogue didn't last nearly so long and as for the monk, he
seems to invariably die during his very first encounter. I'll admit
that I didn't try the Mage character, I was getting beyond caring at
that stage.

This game reduced me to swearing out loud and wanting to throw the
computer through the window! The graphics are somewhat short of
'Poor', as are the sound effects and music.  Whatever you do, don't
play this game yourself, but give it to someone you don't like.

Rating:Head-banger!










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