King's Quest II: Romancing The Throne

"The underdog of the series joins the club and makes a move for the top in the process..."

I’m sure many people who aren’t completely new to the adventure genre still remember the King’s Quest series. The original King’s Quest is nearly 20 years old right now and the series consists of 8 games in total. The second game of the series, Romancing the Throne, isn’t really considered the best of the series. Seeing that part 1 received a remake treatment in 1990 (and another remake treatment by Tierra in 2001), KQ2 is currently the most primitive game in the series both plot-wise and technology-wise.

Most reviews on the internet won’t give KQ2 a very high rating. The game didn’t really add something new even though it was slightly larger than its predecessor. Like KQ1, KQ2 was a treasure hunt with some extras thrown in. Instead of lost treasures, you’re looking for keys to unlock three doors to the enchanted realm where the girl of your dreams is held captive. Many characters came straight out of the fairy tales, but didn’t have a real connection with the story, they were just there to kill you or give you an item. No plot twists, no dialogues, just straight-forward puzzle solving. Nice for its time, but people today won't put up with it.

The development group known as Tierra, who released a successful remake of KQ1 a year ago, decided to take a go at KQ2 this time and improve it. And improved it is…in every possible way. One can hardly call the new KQ2 a remake. It’s almost a completely new game that still manages to maintain the feel of the original AND the feel of the King’s Quest series in general.

For its time, the original KQ2's backgrounds looked fairly good. However, there were still a lot of screens that looked rather empty. That's definitely not something one can say about KQ2VGA's scenes. The backgrounds (either revamped or new) are lush and beautiful. Many screens are heavily modified versions of the original backgrounds, but there are just as many original backgrounds that never appeared in the old EGA-version. Whenever a character talks, a dialogue picture is displayed (in typical Sierra style) and those character portraits look detailed and beautiful as well. Finally, there are some well-drawn cut-scenes during important events. Needless to say, these scenes do a great job telling the story and while they’re fun to watch, they can also be skipped with escape as long as you have completed the game at least once.

KQ2VGA doesn’t just look nice, it sounds possibly even better. One complaint about the original KQ2 was the fact that it hardly had any tunes at all. KQ2VGA, on the other hand, performs really well in the audio-department. Of course there are plenty of sound effects ranging from chirping birds to waves crashing on the shore and the sound effects already do a fine job enhancing the terrific atmosphere of the game. But the part where KQ2VGA really shines is the music. Tierra released a digital music-pack as an additional download that’s worth every minute (or hour if you have a slow modem) you spend downloading it. The music perfectly matches the mood of the scene, whether it’s peaceful, mysterious or downright creepy. KQ2VGA's digital soundtrack is nearly 2 hours long and isn't just something you want to listen to while playing, it's the kind of music you want to listen to anytime.

Scenery and music are nice to improve the feeling of the game, but in the end it’s the story that counts in an adventure. Fortunately, Tierra didn’t simply improve the graphics and sound while leaving KQ2’s primitive structure intact. The story was completely rewritten and has been fleshed out significantly. Instead of a random collection of fairy tales, the realm where KQ2VGA takes place is now a true country with its own history, mythology and people. There’s a large amount of dialogue in the game now and characters no longer merely exist for the sole purpose of giving you item A after you gave them item B. Each character is tied to the story in some way and some character's roles have been drastically altered. (but for the better)

The KQ-series (especially KQ5) has been infamous for the many dead-end situations you could get yourself into. If you forgot to pick up that well-hidden little item near the start of the game, you might get into trouble near the end of the game and with no way of returning to the place where the required object was found, the only available option was restarting from scratch. Bummer. KQ2VGA is designed very well and there's one possible dead-end situation in the entire game. (and most people really won't get into that situation) The puzzles are also just right; not too easy and not too hard. All puzzles have a fairly logical solution, so it never feels like the game's cheating on you.

As said before, the atmosphere in the game is great and the scenes feel exactly like they should. The (new) town is peaceful and quaint, the ''dark'' part of the game can get downright creepy and the magical realm with the tower is both mysterious and enchanting.

The intro and ending in the original KQ2 were quite short and hardly impressive. Like all other aspects, the intro and ending were greatly enhanced, doing a fine job at starting and ending the story. (both are about 10 minutes long) And both contain some cool surprises as well.

Finally, in the spirit of the Sierra adventures of the past, there are many references to other adventures made by Sierra. There is also a nice amount of easter eggs in the game and some of them are quite funny. There are also a lot of references to movies if one keeps out a sharp eye for them.

All in all, the game is a true joy to play. The designers did a very good job maintaining the good points of the series while staying away from the bad points. Rent or buy is pretty much a moot point as the game is only obtainable as a download at Tierra Entertainment's site. (www.tierraentertainment.com) But if I had to rephrase things to: download or don't download, there's only one thing to conclude: DOWNLOAD THIS GAME! (AND the music pack for the full experience)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/02, Updated 12/03/02