King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

"A classic tale of a Princess's quest to save her father..."

First, let me start off on saying why i chose to review this game...It was mainly because no one else has reviewed it, and i believe that people should know what an awesome game it is. I remember playing Kings Quest IV, the Perils of Rosella when i was a young boy. Back then, being the size of 9 Five and a quarter inch floppies big, this was the largest game of its time. It was the first in the Sierra serries to go from the blockiness of the original 3, to replace it to something that contained many new textures. It was also the first one that did away with the beeping sounds of an internal PC and be replaced by the smooth midi sounds of the Roland MT-32.

This game deserves a 9 in every aspect, and in my opinion is one of the best in the Kings quest series. The story and interface was great, and it was full of challenging puzzles and mystery. To start out, you are introduced by King Graham being so happy that his son Alexander had been returned to him after being kidnapped by the wizard Manannan. During the celebration, Graham turns horribly ill. The only thing that will save him is a special magical fruit from a forbiden tree. Getting the fruit is no easy task either. Princess Rosella finds herself on the coast of a magical land. In this land lies the fruit that will save her father.... I really liked exploring this because there were so many mytheological things to find and discover... From cupid to pan to the seven dwarves, to even the 3 blind witches, there is alot to see.

Getting around is pretty simple, but rather hard at the same time due to the fact that this is a rather primitive game. the character moves in either left, right, up, down movements and doest swerve to avoid objects. (example, if you are walking on a jagged stairway, you had to manually maneuver around it, or fall to your death. The Typing interface still exists like in the last 3, but became more user friendly. This time, the game pauses while you type, and it isnt as sensitive.

The graphics have deffinately improved over its predicessors. It went from blocky pixelated graphics to a more textured look. There is more detail in the characters, their faces and the surroundings. When Rosella moves, her dress waves behind her...Sierra spent a little more time working on the animations here.

The sound is GREATLY improved. i say greatly with force. Before, you had beeps and bops...Kings Quest 4 utilizes the Roland MT-32, which was a state of the art midi synthesizer at the time (i would love to get ahold of one now that i have my own computer). The 32 means thats how many different voice channels it had. There suddenly was depth in the game, from a gripping music track, to realistic sound effects. Even for those who couldnt afford the (then) $400 MT-32, the game also supported pro-audio and soundblaster compatables (for a cheaper sounding midi, of course, but it was still better than the standard beeps of the past.)

Replay value is a plus. this game had so many things that you could do, you obviously couldnt do them all in one try. After you beat the game, you will find yourself going back another few times trying to solve all its secrets, and puzzles, or even some of the easter eggs left by the designers. There is more than one way to win, but only one of them is honerable.

Kings Quest IV is a game that is now long forgotten, but if there were ever some how you could land a copy of it, i would suggest you look past its (now) bad graphics and typing interface and look into how fun games used to be (and a game that paved the way of adventure games as we know it). Hands down, this game deserves a 9. Its not perfect, but back when this game was King, it was...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/01, Updated 01/12/01