King's Quest: Collection Series (King's Quest I-VII / The Colonel's Bequest / The Dagger of Aman Ra / Mixed-Up Mother Goose) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a collection of the first 7 King's Quest game covering a history going back to the mid-80s.Therefore the earliest of these games are quite primative, but have a nostalgic charm to them, and all the games have fun fantasy stories with a wonderful, light sense of humour.
When the first King's Quest came out it was at the vanguard of game design.Unlike the text adventure games common at the time (some of which had a few static graphics), here you could see your character moving around an actual environment and interacting with objects.The games themselves are quite simple (basically, they are just treasure hunts where you have to find the right object and take it back to the correct character to trade for another object, etc.) but charming.The interface on these earliest games are parser, as opposed to point and click, meaning (with the exception of movement by cursor keys) you have to type in commands in order to tell the character what to do.This had its disadvantages (at times, you know what to do but not how to say it), but it also had its advantages (there was less room for guessing by just clicking your inventory objects on the hotspot one at a time).
In KQ1 and 2, the puzzles are mainly based on remembering rhymes and fairy tales (e.g., you know Little Red Riding Hood needs a basket to take to her Grandma's house), but with KQ 3, the storylines start to become more complex and original and interesting, and actual problem solving starts to come into play. And with KQ4, the graphics start to become more artistic (although still primitive by today's standards).
KQ5 is the first one with a point-and-click interface, and suffers from the problem that it is easy to solve puzzles by just clicking inventory items at random instead of by thinking, (and many of the puzzles are obvious at any rate, especially when you find the right object) but the enjoyable storyline makes up for this.KQ6 (designed with the help of Gabriel Knight's Jane Jensen) is clearly the best story-wise, and has some challenging puzzles (save often to avoid frustration).KQ7, the first designed for release exclusively on cd-rom, has the best graphics of the series (even better than the 3D crap in #8) and includes a world straight out of a Tim Burton movie that is especially fun to explore, but is geared towards a younger audience (even then, I enjoyed the story and interesting puzzles with multiple solutions).Unlike Lucasfilm games, the characters in KQ can die and, if this happens, you have to restart from a saved game, but it is sometimes fun to see how many different ways they can die (for #7 it is the most entertaining part of the game).
Included is the newer version of Mixed Up Mother Goose where young players help to recreate mother goose rhymes by reuniting characters with lost objects (no death in this one).The original MUMG had a certain charm, but only toddlers will fail to find this one annoying. Also included are both Laura Bow mysteries (about a girl detective in the 1930s), which are fun to play but are convoluted and very frustrating to solve (especially since they are in real time, so while you observe something important in one room, you often miss something else important in another room).Several text games that came out pre-KQ1 are also included (which will help newer players understand why KQ1 was so revolutionary).
Most of these games would no longer be worthwhile on their own except as nostalgia (KQ6 and 7 (and maybe 5) being the exceptions), but as one package this is a wonderful buy and leaves one hoping that a KQ9 will come out and repair the damage caused by that travesty, KQ8.

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Product Description:
A collection of seven games in the classic King's Quest PC game by Roberta Williams. Also includes several bonus games.

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The Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Turbine did a great job with this expansion.

They added two new classes: the warden and the rune keeper. I was happy with concept behind the classes.

The warden is a mix between the champion(melee AOE DPS), and the guardian(tank). Great solo class! They are officially a tank class, but again, they have decent DPS as well. They have a "gambit" system. What this is, is when you click skills in a certain succession, you will come up with a certain special skill to use. It's good to memorize the gambits and what skills get them to pop up. Some heal, others do extra damage, still others give better blocking, etc...

The rune keeper is a fairly advanced class. I thought it was a lot of fun, but there is a bit of a learning curve - especially if you are new to the game. That said, once they come into their own, they can be great ranged DPS(second to the hunter), and great healers(second to the minstrel). There is a range bar that goes both ways. The more it climbs one way, the more the skills get powerful. The reverse is true as well though. If you are blasting things with your DPS skills, your heals will be weaker(some will not even be available) - and vice versus.They overhauled the graphics a bit. I noticed they looked sharper right away.

I like the new legendary items. Even if you are one who likes to race to the max level, you can still continue to advance because the items also level up as well. As they level they get more powerful.

Next is the new areas themselves. I have only been playing a few months, so I am not an authority in this area. That said, many of my kinsmen(guild mates) have been there. They say the graphics are really awesome, and give you a real sense of being in an underground ancient civilization. They also commented on how enormous and how epic the place felt.

As far as PvP - or PvMP in this case, They revamped and did some balances to the Moors. The moors, for those who don't know is the Ettinmoors. There is a instanced area where players fight against monster players and also do quests/objectives in a very large valley. The valley is a lot bigger than AV (Alterac Valley from WOW).

I want to point out one thing that was true before the expansion, and continues to be now: the crafting. The crafting in this game is very well thought out. It's not perfect(besides we all have different definitions of that anyway), but it is fun and relevant. I can buy items that were crafted that are pretty much in the same ball park as PvP and raid items. This makes for a decent player economy. It's not as complicated as EQ2, but more so that WOW, IMHO. A good happy medium if you will.

Anyway, as a long time 3+ year WOW player who recently moved on, I can really appreciate this game, and the great job they did on the expansion.
If you are a fan of the Lord of the Rings, or simply love MMO's with a good but not stiflingstory, then this is a good place to invest some time into.

*edit 2/27/09*

I still love this game. In fact the soon to come book 7(free content update) will open up all of Lothlorien! They wanted to release this content with the expansion, but decided to hold off as they only wanted to release it when it was refined and done well. I can really respect their attention to detail.As for Moria, I am loving it! It really is epic and well done. There are many different "environs" in it so you don't get bored with the same ole same ole. If you haven't yet gotten it, or were thinking of getting back into the game, now is a great time to do so!

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Product Description:
The 2007 PC MMO Game of the Year returns with an all-new breakthrough title! The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria drops you into the dark majesty of the world beneath Middle-earth. Explore a truly vast underground environment like you've never seen before. Battle the terrors of the Nameless Deep with new legendary items that evolve and grow in power as you do. Experience the dread and wonder of Moria as one of the new Rune-keeper and Warden classes. Achieve greatness as you seek to claim the knowledge and power lost for generations! This Complete Edition includes the original title Shadows of Angmar, all content updates, plus the Mines of Moria expansion.

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