The King of Dragons

"Oh!!!"

The scene is a verdant forest, where the animals scamper about nervously, knowing far more powerful creatures with hostile intentions lurk in every shadow, looking to snuff out their tiny spark of life. Into this beautiful but dangerous place a figure stalks bravely, then pauses, raising his arms to the heavens and letting out a mighty cry of ''Oh!!!''

This is the world of The King of Dragons. Ye play one of five warriors: a mighty fighter, an elven archer, a hardy dwarf, a cleric or a wise wizard. An evil dragon is terrorizing the land, and only ye, brave, daring and mighty adventurers, may hope to end his reign of terror. As if thou didst suspect anything else.

But before ye can hope to topple thine scaly foe, thou must venture through various lands, caves, castles and forests, to best the forces of darkness and increase thine own strength and that of thy weapons by accumulating points from finding gold and slaying ghastly monsters. But beware, brave heroes! For though thou art brave and skilled, thine awesome enemies must be seen to be believed, from the horrible minotaur to the gigantic hydra!

But thou need not face thine enemies alone! No, two brave allies can join thee, lending their strength to thine own efforts. And thou may change identities at certain points on thy quest! But beware of opening the treasure chests along the way on your quest, daring heroes, for some are trapped, and others still are monsters in disguise waiting for a careless warrior in hopes of finding a trove of gold and jewels to get too close!

Thine control is steady, if in spite of thine limited options. One warrior ist nigh indistinguishable from the next besides his outfit. Wizard and archer attack from a distance but the rest are nearly the same! Magic is not thy ally in this game, with no spells available to either wizard or cleric! The quest doth falter in terms of character diversity, which, sayst I, is the entire point of five available warriors.

But, in spite of that, thine surroundings and the eerie music trailing in on the wind are beautiful. The ancient castle ruins and tunnels which be the hiding places of dragons and other inhuman miscreants are nearly brought to life by the cooperation of image and sound!

An effective pass time is The King of Dragons, says I, the mighty Manx! Beest though interested in swords and sorcery, playest this game today!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/04