Dragon's Keep

The Good
After developing seven Hi-Res adventures for the Apple ][ as well as a few arcade games in the early Eighties, Sierra thought that it was time to start creating educational games, and a few of them taught children basic navigation. Dragon's Keep is one of these educational games, and according to the box, it is a "junior adventure game for ages seven and up". So I'm guessing that after reading the game's instructions, anyone will have no idea what an "animal" or "dragon" is.

The game looks like an adventure, with a graphic illustration of the scene taking up more space then the text prompts below it. These prompts are in the form of such commands like"climb up the ladder" or "go inside the house". You only need to press two keys to get through the game: [Space] to cycle through each option, and [Return] to make a selection

The player is encouraged to find sixteen animals that are scattered throughout the game world and be aware that the dragon will show up anywhere and at any time. This dragon will prevent you from collecting the animal if it is present, so you have to leave and then re-enter the screen. The dragon is similar to the soldier from Cranston Manor, one of Sierra's Hi-Res adventure for the Apple ][, in that the soldier who appears on screen will stop you from collecting items. Another element pulled from Cranston are the messages that you find in a specific location.

The game world is quite large, and children will enjoy exploring every bit of it. You have the house which you stand outside of at the start of the game, and it's where half the animals can be found. You also have the zoo, mountain, train station, and school, which are the major ones. There are no people around, so it is deserted. I like how the game draws each object in the scene as it teaches you how to draw them if you have trouble drawing them before.

There is hardly any music in the game, except for the piece that plays when you just get an animal, as well as the sinister one when you attempt to get one if the dragon is present. There are no sound effects in the game, but I think a children's game can be enjoyed without them.

During the game, you can press the [F7] key to keep track of how many animals you saved and how many you need to find. Also, the game records how long it takes you to do this, and lets you know when you get the last one. By doing this, the game encourages you to be a little bit faster this time. The longer you take will depend on whether you meet the dragon. Dragon's Keep took me thirty minutes to complete, and I got to meet him twice.

The Bad
When it comes to Dragon's Keep, I just don't see how it can be replayed. The animals are in the same locations in each game you play. But playing this game as an adult, this would put me off from playing it again.

The Bottom Line
In conclusion, Dragon's Keep is an adventure game aimed at children. Instead of having them enter commands at a prompt, children are given simple options which can be selected just by pressing two keys. By reading each option, they can expand their own vocabulary which is required to play normal adventures. Part of the fun as a child is exploring the huge game world and try getting all the animals without the dragon popping up. If children manage to find all the animals, they can play the game again if they want to complete it in a shorter time than they previously did.