King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder

"Lacks the atmosphere of other games in the series"

In King's Quest V, King Graham is the main character of the game. It starts with Graham going for a walk in in the forest near Daventry. When he returns to Daventry, he finds that his castle has disappeared. An owl named Cedric appears on the branch of a tree and explains that a wizard named Mordack has taken the castle, along with Graham's family, back to his island on the other side of the snowy mountains. Mordack is friends with Manannan, the evil magician from King's Quest III, and he needs Graham's son, Alexander, to transform the cat back to the wizard. Cedric takes Graham to the land of Serenia, where they prepare to journey across the mountains to Mordack's island.

For the first time in the series, an icon interface is used. Whereas previous games had the players use the arrow keys to move and typed commands to interact, now the game is entirely mouse driven. Clicking on an area in a location causes Graham to walk to the specified spot, while icons in a toolbar at the top of the playing area are used for interaction. Selecting the eye icon (look) and then applying it to an object on the screen will give a description, the hand icon (get) is used for picking up objects, and so on. Objects that are carried by Graham are stored in the inventory, and these objects can be combined with each other or used with other objects and characters in the playing area.

The game first begins in the land of Serenia, a beautiful place filled with flowing waterfalls, villages and forests. North of Serenia is a dark, gloomy forest where an evil witch lurks, while west of Serenia is a vast desert where a secret temple can be found. Much of the first part of the game is based on exploring these areas, talking to various characters like Cedric the owl, the king of the ants, and the inhabitants of the village. Later locations see Graham crossing dangerous snowy mountains, visiting a small beach, and navigating a large ocean in search of Mordack's island. Though the locations are well designed and fun to explore, in some parts of the game it can be very easy to get lost.

Which brings up the point of mazes, of which this game has three in all. Mazes in adventure games are good to an extent in that they give players a brief rest from puzzle-solving and exploration, but should not be overused to the point of frustration. The three mazes in this game consist of the large desert in Serenia in which players must frequently find an oasis to drink from while exploring, an ocean on the way to Mordack's island in which all areas look the same, and a labyrinth below Mordack's castle. All mazes in the game are far too long and generally ruin the atmosphere, and only players who have the patience to create their own maps will sucessfully be able to navigate them.

Puzzles in the game are simple and significantly easier to complete using the new icon interface. Many of the puzzles simply involve picking up an item in one location and using it on another, and none of the puzzles should be too difficult for any player to work out. One of the most annoying parts of the game is that it will let you progress through an area even if you have forgotten a vital item. An example of this is when Graham falls into a large birds nest, where a tiny locket is barely visible. Only a few seconds are given before Graham is rescued by an eagle, and if the locket has not been found in these few seconds then it will be impossible to progress further in the game later on.

Most of the puzzles involve helping the friendly characters in the game. A stick must be given to a dog to save some ants, a boot must be thrown at a cat to save a rat, a heart must be given to a tree to help a princess, and so on. A small amount of puzzles defy any reason whatsoever: An example of this is in the forest, where Graham has previously found some emeralds conveniently hidden in a pouch found in the witch's house. There is no way out of the forest, and the game gives no hints: Only when the player decides to drop emeralds on the path in a seemingly empty area of the forest does the game progress further. These small annoyances aside however, the remaining puzzles in the game are well thought out and fun to solve.

Whereas the previous games in the series were all in 16-colour EGA, Kings Quest V is the first game in the series to use 256-colour VGA, which makes things look far more colourful and clear. The beautiful forests in Serenia; the cold, distant ice mountains, and dark, gloomy rooms in Mordack's castle are all superbly designed. Some locations do seem to be lacking in detail and variety, though this usually takes place in the mazes. The vast amount of people and creatures in the game are all animated well: Especially in the cutscene of the wolves leading Graham to the lair of the yeti. The atmosphere generated by this scene is superb, as are many other of the well made cutscenes in the game.

Though the game does have many good points like a new icon interface, well designed puzzles and far superior graphics when compared to previous KQ games, it also has many flaws. For the most part, the characters in the game seem false and unrealistic when spoken too: They're either far too polite or way too unhelpful, and it almost seems as if they are only there to be helped in some way. Items are frequent, and the game has the annoying habit of letting players pass through a location even if they've left an item behind. The three large mazes are also unnecessarily complex. Overall then, this is an average Kings Quest game, which lacks the atmosphere of the previous four games in the series.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/03, Updated 07/30/03