Dragonsphere

The Good
"Dragonsphere" (1994) has all the basic ear marks of a great third person perspective, point n' click, graphic adventure game, i.e. an original storyline, locations to explore, characters to talk with, items to pick up and puzzles to solve. For the early 1990's, the graphics and music are good and the game even tosses in some nice, unexpected, plot twists.

The Bad
Michael Bross worked on the music and has talent shines through. However, the other sound effects are largely forgettable. The voice talents are not bad, but they never go far beyond what one might expect from a B movie on the science fiction cable channel. While the storyline does demonstrate real creativity, it’s hard to avoid the homage’s to Tolkien and other well known sources of fantasy art and fiction. In terms of game play, the Microprose Adventure Development System provides for smooth point n’ click gaming. Time limits in adventure games generally bother me, although it is a logical extension of the storyline. This is not for novice adventure gamers as many of the puzzles are actually quite challenging and death is frequent.

The Bottom Line
"Dragonsphere" (1994) is a challenging point n' click graphic adventure game set in an original, but familiar, fantasy based world of monsters, might and magic. It may be too hard for novice adventure gamers, and it is probably not the best introduction to the genre. Yet, more experienced adventure gamers should give it a try.

The Good
Simple yet has great hand-drawn graphics. Good background music, while it's been out only at the begining of 1994. You don't get bored with this game. It's not too hard and not easy at all.

The Bad
What didn't I like? Umm, nothing? When I started playing it seriously I didn't stop before I managed to finish it. The ending was a bit disappointing but still, You can't expect a real outro for no CD games, could you?

The Bottom Line
If you liked the basic idea behind King's Quest series this one is kind of better since it makes a whole new world and doesn't use the Greek mythology and other things as in King's Quest.

The Good
In the old days, when adventure games were in their infancy, the plot lines were quite simple. Perfect example out of this would be Sierra's King's Quest Series, of which two first games were rather simple "hunt for the lost objects without any bigger plot".

When the games grew, so did the stories, and Dragonsphere is a good example of how the plot can be more complex than it first seems, for it is the plot, that keeps Dragonsphere above the gray mass of "hero needs to save the day" games.

There also are a variety of puzzles, that don't require any object collection. Speaking and paying attention is enough.

The Bad
As much I did enjoy the plot line, I really need to say, that there are some elements in the game, which I could have lived without. Actually, if those elements would have been removed, or totally changed, like those pesky, annoying elves, the game could have been a lot better.

There also are some amount of leap of logic puzzles, which make the player think "What in the name of all mighty were the designers smoking?". But that is the case with almost all old-school adventures.

The Bottom Line
Dragonsphere certainly is above average adventure. The art is pretty enough, animation is well made and the story is rather interesting. Music in the other hand isn't anything worth mentioning, as it just lingers in the background. There isn't anything to complain about it, but nothing to remember about either.

Voice acting is decent, when compared in some of the mid 90's games, which truly gave new meaning to the phrase "bad acting", but the game works fine either way: with or without it.

So if you are interested about a game, with some interesting plot elements and all in all okay quality, then go for it, if you can find the game some where. It certainly has its place on the shelf of any adventure fan.

The Good
I remember bits of the game from my youth, when my brother played it (I was 4 at the time, I think)...

I loved the graphic style, and when you bear in mind that this IS a 1994 game... it's brilliant. A bit kitsch, reminding me of Monkey Island 2.

Storyline? Great. Don't want to spoil it for anyone.

The Bad
Puzzles got a bit anally retentive at times, with the One Correct Way to do things. But it was worth playing with a walkthrough ready at hand just to continue.

My only major qualm in the game is the gambling sequence, when the character involved repeats the same line over and over again... It's a flawed "puzzle" concept itself, with the protagonist gambling for nothing and the other giving things of great value away as if there were several million in the world.

I found the fetch-take-fetch-take "puzzles" a little annoying. But the more experienced adventure gamer will be better at going through backgrounds to find that little item that you missed.

The Bottom Line
What's interesting is that despite being given a sword at the beginning, contrarily to many games of this sort, it is only ever used three times, and only once is it actually used correctly. :D

But the bottom line? Despite my apparent lack of description in favour of it, it's definitely not a game to be missed. I finished it in well under 12 hours, but still a fun way to pass the time.

And now it's free. Do you need further convincing?

The Good
Its a medieval fantasy point-and-click adventure. I like the genre and I liked this. I especially liked the butterfly king on the toadstool (see screen shots). The story itself is good, and takes an unexpected and interesting turn half-way through, when you turn out to be something other than you think you are.

The Bad
It's a bit murky - both graphics and sound. In one way this adds atmosphere, but on another it suggests that the developers were short of cash. It has the feel of an older game, as if it was a long time in development. For example, although released on CD, the music has the plinky-plonky quality of older games that fit on a couple of floppies, and the voice acting is pretty poor, to the point I had to switch it off.

The Bottom Line
Not the best introduction to the genre - but worth playing all the same.