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There's
no doubt that we have a lot to bless the Quill
for -- Hampstead and Terrormolinos and
a couple of good examples of Quill orientated
games -- and of course it's brought pleasure to hundreds
of DIY adventurers. The real value of the program, however,
has been to demonstrate that it's ideas that make a
good adventure, not fancy programming -- so if you're
going to go out into the street (as the Eighth Day are
doing) you've got to be pretty sure they're overflowing
with original material.
The
three games mentioned here are a pretty mixed bag, however.
I didn't get much satisfaction out of Ice Station
Zero -- even considering the budget price. The plot
is a bit half baked and has you zooming off (or struggling
off, rather) across the Arctic ice cap to stop a terrorist
from blowing up the world. Some of the puzzles are quite
original and some of them are also extremely tricky,
however, I was conscious only of a distinct lack of
thrills when playing the game. You might disagree, and
I don't suppose for £2.50 you aren't risking too much
to find out. Don't of course, expect any graphics, or
hundreds of locations -- but then you're not paying
for them are you?
Faerie
is a bit more interesting -- it's a whimsical combination
of Midsummers Night's Dream, Ancient Magic and Middle
Earth, and has you escaping from bulls, waving wands
and tripping in and out of Fairy circles in your search
for treasure. As a Wizard with an eye for all that glitters,
I found this one more to my liking. It also seemed to
have a bit more to it than Ice Station Zero,
and the puzzles, while tricky in parts, were more logical
and better devised.
Quann
Tulla throws you into a far off where you must juggle
with Limpetbombs, Droids and Speaktalk machines as you
attempt to strike a blow for freedom against the usual
malevolent Empire. There seem to be a large number of
puzzles in this game, though most of them were concerned
with using objects in a certain way, as opposed to Faerie,
which did have a bit more emphasis on how you behaved.
On
balance, I reckon Ice Station Zero is the weakest
of these three, and probably not really worth the pennies.
However, if you've got three pound coins in your pocket
then you might be tempted by Faerie or Quann
Tulla. I certainly wouldn't complain if I found
one in my stocking on Christmas day.
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