I did a little research on the web and found a review written for Pool of Radiance in the greek gaming magazine Pixel no. 54 (circa April 1989). The review is actually a compilation of 8 short reviews of the most popular CRPGs of that time (at least according to the magazine), Dungeon Master, Phantasie III, Pool of Radiance, Alternate Reality, Bard's Tale, Moebius, Fairy Tale and Heroes of the Lance. Unfortunately it's all in Greek.Pixel was my main source of learning about new games. Actually it was the only source for greek gamers. There was no internet back then. At least not in Greece. Later, another equally successful gaming magazine, called User, surfaced. Games reviewed on those magazines were idolized by me. Especially those that I could never get my hands on (such as Phatasie III). Years later, these games reached a cult status for me. I am afraid to play them, because I am afraid the mental image I have of them will shatter once I gaze at their outdated graphics. Nostalgia glasses tends to have that effect on me.
Pixel tended to exaggerate on a lot of things, and these games seemed so epic when you read about them and saw the pictures. The reviewer was astonished by the fact that the game consisted of '..3 game disks! 3 double sided game disks! That means that the game has 3mb of data!' (his words, not mine). I am pasting below the scanned pages of the review just for old time's sake.The pictures might be unreadable, but clicking on them will redirect you to a larger and readable version.
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5 comments:
I loved PIXEL and I also liked PC Master even when PCM was still in its early phases. But what really annoyed me was Andrew-Friday Adventurinakis obsession with Myst. Sometimes it felt as if he mentioned this game as the ultimate standard of game design and experience every month!!
Hehe while reading the above mini-review for AD&D: Heroes of the Lance, I found it funny that I can actually substitute the words "Heroes of the Lance" with "Dragon Age 2" and have a perfectly acceptable DA2 mini-review! Hahahahaha!!!
I liked Paraskevas and I really miss him. Even though I don't read computer magazines anymore (we got the net for that), I was saddened when he was fired from PcMaster couple of years ago.
I am not sure he was obssessed with Myst though. I think he was obsessed with 'The Longest Journey', but that was a more recent game.
I, too, didn't like how he used to say he only had time for (text) adventures. He said that in the 80s, and then again in early 90s. But later, when RPGs started gaining a large following, he made a 180 degree turn and started saying how he always liked RPGs, started making reviews for them and giving hints. I always thought that he copied hints from other magazines. I am sure he finished a lot of adventures on his own, but I also can't believe he solved all those by himself. But I will always like him. After all he even mailed me -real mail- the solution to 'Colonel's Bequest'.
Jokes aside, Tsourinakis has always been my favourite contributor on both Pixel and PCMaster. He was a real oracle of knowledge on adventures and RPGs. As for his uncanny ability to solve adventures, I think this is a trained and acquired ability one can grow slowly. The more you play, the better and more experienced you become. I remember when I started playing text adventures I sucked big time but eventually I learned to pay attention to things beyond standard stuff, like for example how you can combine words to sound like something else etc. Same thing with point & click advs that sometimes need pixel hunting and so on.
Recently I had the pleasure of noticing that while my girlfriend was playing Drawn 2. When she started playing adventure games a few months ago she didn't understand the way the game worked and what was required of her. She got stuck almost on every other step. Then fast-forward a few months and suddenly she managed to finish Drawn 2 (which is harder than 1) on her own! I was honestly impressed!
Oh and by the way, what an awesome game Colonel's Bequest was! One of Sierra's finest in my memory!
Wait, we must be talking about a different adventure. You couldn't possible have liked THAT adventure. I meant the one with the submarine.. let me google it.
Ok, it was Codename: Iceman. Argh. Codename, Coloner. They sounded alike.
That adventure was terrible. I still have nightmares plotting the submarines course. And this was with the Tsourinakis' solution help.
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