Retro Arcade Review: Valley of the Kings
In this action-adventure, set in ancient Egypt, you guide an animated character through a maze of passages, picking up objects of value, and fight or manoeuvre around an array of guards, trolls, and other beasts. The documentation is well written. No one should have any trouble knowing what to do. The adventure consists of three distinct phases. In the first phase, you pick up all the valuables and weapons that are to be found in the adventure. In the second phase, you travel through a maze of crossroads that double-back on themselves. And, in the third phase, you try to out-manoeuvre a couple of crazy critters that want to zap you back to first room in phase three. This game has a number of features that make it interesting and a little different from most adventures. First, the character that you move about has internal animation (even though he's only one colour).
Next, the game maker has devised a clever way of revealing clues and the identity of objects to you: just pass the character over the object and its identity appears in the text window. The text-window message continues to re-appear, even if you don't want it to, until you are clear of the object. If the object is of some use or value, it is automatically added to your inventory.
Through a programming technique called "page-flipping", the rooms, passages, and other locations appear fully drawn. Just move your character off-left and blip! He's on the right side of the screen in a brand-new location. Of course, this also works with right, up and down. The locations and characters do not adequately convey or carry the Egyptian theme of the adventure. For example, what's a troll on a bridge doing in Egypt? With a little more thought, the author could have used appropriate mythical characters. And, he could have decorated the borders of the rooms with Egyptian motifs, such as palm fronds and hieroglyphs. As is, there's nothing on-screen to really reinforce the theme of the Egyptian setting for the adventure.
The game begins by offering you an option to read a brief scenario summary. Once past that, your character appears on a road with two signs; and you're off on your adventure! You read the signs, and then move your character along the roadway, picking up coins, rings, and swords. Unlike most other adventures, there's no limit to how much you can carry. Also, many of the objects have point values (such as rings and coins) that will help your score at the end, but are of no particular use in the adventure. Curiously, you gain all the points that contribute toward your score in the first phase of the adventure.
From there on, you can only loose points. It's a matter of holding on to what you've got. The author provides a number of tips for adventuring and scoring high. These include waiting and watching the movements of each villain before attempting to out manoeuvre him, never fighting with a villain unless told to do so (or you'll get zapped back to an earlier room) and, if the bad guy gets too close, running out of the room. You can see your inventory, your score, a listing of the characters in the adventure, or even light a match, under joystick control or by typing an appropriate letter. Accessing these features with the joystick is a little difficult, the game does not require you to type-in directions or commands and there's no "save game" feature (nor is there a real need for one).
This is not, I repeat, not a heavy weight adventure. In fact, it can be completed in less than an hour. But this doesn't mean that it isn't fun. It is, and it's probably especially so for new or younger adventurers. Adventure conventions, such as finding matches (or some other light source) and using them to light dark passages, are not treated as puzzles.
The instructions clearly tell you that you've got to find matches. And, at least one of the places where you use them is clearly labelled. However, since its play-value is not derived from solving riddles and puzzles, but rather from manoeuvring the on screen character, there's plenty of fun to be had by replaying the adventure to try to beat your last score.
Questions and Answers
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