HERO'S QUEST (a.k.a. QUEST FOR GLORY): SO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO

 I loved HERO'S QUEST, from Sierra On-Line, although I wasn't sure why at first.
It combines characteristics of both adventure and role-playing games, but its
puzzles are much easier than those of the average adventure, and the game is
much smaller than the usual CRPG. Most of the puzzles are either simple, or
variants of classic adventure game puzzles. (Indeed, one puzzle is straight out
of COLOSSAL CAVE, the original adventure game!) As a CRPG, HERO'S QUEST (HQ) is
dwarfed in complexity by a game such as MIGHT AND MAGIC II, which has 96 magic
spells and 250 types of monsters, and takes place across an entire continent. HQ
has only eight spells and twelve types of monsters, and confines its action to
one small valley. In the end, though, the game won me over with its excellent
animation, amusing details, and a feature that allows you to replay the game
with different solutions to many of the puzzles. HQ's appeal, then, lies not in
its size, but in the rich and detailed way it creates its own fantasy world.
(This review is based on the IBM-PC version; Atari ST and Amiga version notes
follow.)

 HQ is unlike any other Sierra game, in that you can play different types of
characters. You can choose to be a magic user, a thief, or a dumb but strong
fighter. Your character's statistics represent his basic attributes, such as
agility, intelligence, and so forth; an additional set of statistics represents
special skills, such as climbing, weapon use, and lock picking. Which type of
character you choose affects your statistics: Thieves have no magic skills,
magic users cannot pick locks, etc.

 The plot of HQ will sound familiar to CRPG players. You're a novice adventurer
just starting out in your job. You arrive in the valley town of Spielburg ready
to make a name for yourself as a hero. Fortunately for your career, the valley
is in dire trouble: An evil witch has placed a curse on the local Baron and
kidnapped his two children. To make matters worse, brigands are terrorizing the
countryside. Your job is to stop the brigands, rescue the children, defeat the
witch, and remove the curse.

 Before you can do that, however, you must develop your skills, acquire the
correct equipment, and solve some puzzles. Within the town of Spielburg, you can
purchase goods and gather information, but sooner or later you must venture out
into the monster-filled forest. You can gain experience there by fighting the
monsters. If you are too weak to face the monsters, you can simply run away.
Thieves and magic users will do a considerable amount of running, until they
build up their battle skills.

 Combat is an arcade sequence. You control your character's sword thrusts,
shield blocks, and dodges in real time. At first, the controls are extremely
sluggish, and your character tends to stand still as a stone. As your skills
improve, though, so does the responsiveness of the controls. Eventually your
character will dodge without even being told to. But even at high skill levels,
the controls do not respond very quickly, which means you'll have to be careful
when fighting. Anticipating your opponent's actions turns out to be a much more
effective strategy than continuously hitting the control keys.

 Fairly soon, your character will be tough enough to face the witch and defeat
the brigands. I was able to finish the game as a fighter in three days of
playing. HQ, therefore, appears to be a short game, but this is somewhat
misleading. Once you finish the game, you can start over again with a different
type of character. The basic plot of the game remains the same, but some of the
puzzles have different solutions. I'm currently replaying the game as a thief,
and I find that it's still enjoyable the second time around. My thief can't
attack the nastiest monsters head-on as my fighter could, but using his
lock-picking skills he can get into locations my fighter never saw. And I can
still look forward to the magic user and his spells.

 The animation in HQ is especially noteworthy. Sierra has stated that its goal
is to produce motion-picture quality animation, and HQ comes closer to meeting
that goal than any of their games. Characters move in a more realistic way than
in previous Sierra products. When the main character runs, he doesn't just walk
fast, he _runs_. There is also special animation when a character throws objects
or climbs. If the character is a thief, he can sneak -- a maneuver that has to
be seen to be believed. The game is full of excellent animated effects, ranging
from graceful centaurs, flickering spirits, and lumbering trolls to more subtle
touches, such as a horse eating hay, or the sun glinting off a gold ring. The
combat graphics are outstanding, with full-screen animated portraits of the
monster you're fighting. The trolls, cheetaurs, and bears are particularly
fearsome, although it's a little difficult to appreciate the graphics while
you're battling for your life. HQ also features a full day-and-night cycle, as
did last year's KING'S QUEST IV. Indeed, the overall atmosphere of HQ is very
much like KING'S QUEST IV, with one exception: The world of HERO'S QUEST is even
more detailed and magical.

 In addition to the improved animation, HERO'S QUEST introduces some nice
changes to the Sierra game system. Instead of always typing "LOOK AT," the
player can simply click on an object with the mouse to get a description of that
item. Also, various commonly used commands, like "ASK ABOUT" and "FIGHT," have
been assigned to control keys. These features save an enormous amount of time,
and I hope Sierra includes them in its future games. The music on the PC speaker
is also improved over earlier Sierra games. The score makes good use of
pseudo-polyphony and more frequent low notes to avoid the dreaded "touch-tone
music" quality that has plagued other Sierra scores. (HQ also supports a variety
of add-on sound cards for the IBM PC.)

 As with any other game, there are some drawbacks, as well. In addition to the
sluggish combat noted above, the parser in HQ is quite limited, even by Sierra
standards. There are numerous cases where only the exact wording of a command
will work. And when you type something the parser simply doesn't understand, it
responds with the maddeningly vague "I'm not sure what you're trying to do."
This gives you the impression that the game _might_ accept the command if you
were to reword it -- an impression that's usually false. Finally, in early
versions of HQ, there are two fatal bugs that'll send you back to DOS. You can
easily work around these by saving your game when entering the Thieves' Guild,
and not clicking on a Meep.

 This version of HQ runs on IBM-PCs and compatibles, and requires 512K of RAM.
It supports a mouse or joystick, as well as the AdLib, Roland MT-32, and other
sound cards. Both 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" diskettes are included in the game package,
and neither set is copy-protected.

 While this game is definitely a CRPG, it's unlike other fantasy CRPGs currently
on the market. Instead of being difficult, it's detailed. The typical CRPG game
world is huge, but sketchy: The towns and dungeons all look essentially alike.
However, the world of HQ is filled in with fine graphics, excellent animation,
and the most non-linear storyline yet from Sierra. It's a fairly easy game,
making it a good introduction to CRPGs for adventure players, and a good
introduction to adventures for CRPG players. But there's enough here for
seasoned gamers to enjoy, as well. HERO'S QUEST may not be as difficult as other
adventures or CRPGs, but it's what some difficult games are not: It's
entertaining.

 ATARI ST VERSION NOTES

 The Atari ST version of Sierra's HERO'S QUEST looks, sounds, and plays more or
less the same as the IBM-PC version described above. The graphics are excellent,
the animation is inspired, Roland and Casio synthesizers and monochrome monitors
are supported, and there's no copy protection. You'll need 512K and a 720K disk
drive.

 HQ does more than combine adventure game puzzle-solving with the character
growth process of an RPG. Thanks to graphic details, animated sequences that
rank with Sierra's best, and a superbly-realized environment, the game stands
all the typical RPG elements on their heads. HQ does away with multiple
characters, continents, time zones, planets, and galaxies; it also drastically
reduces the number of spells, monsters, and dungeon levels...and I mean
drastically: There's one hero, one quest, one town, and a handful of spells and
monsters.

 HQ on the ST is controlled via mouse and keyboard. Click the pointer on a
screen position and the character will move; alternatives are the arrow keys or
the keypad. Objects and other characters can be examined by way of text entry or
a right button click. Function keys and control-key combinations are available
as command shortcuts.

 The arrow keys control your hero's offensive and defensive moves during combat:
thrust/swing, dodge, duck, parry, and shield block. Control-E performs a
retreat, an action useful when role-playing the thief and magician, both of whom
are less skilled in combat than the fighter.

 The HERO'S QUEST package for the ST comes with four 720K disks, an instruction
manual for all versions, Quick Reference Card, and a booklet from the Famous
Adventurer's Correspondence School. The disks are unprotected; they can be
backed-up to floppies or copied onto your hard drive. Sierra had nothing to say
about the availability of 360K disks: With over 2.5Mb of data, only those whose

patience resembles a stupor would want to play HQ with eight disks and a 360K
drive. HQ is an introductory level game; when you've finished it, you can use
your saved character in TRIAL BY FIRE, the proposed second scenario in the HQ
series.

 The trend of adding layers of realism to a fantasy world is well-handled in HQ.
You'll have to eat and sleep, converse and consume, and function as if you were
a regular person, but all of it comes across as normal. You'll meet up with
goblins and witches rather than muggers and drug addicts, but even this feels
normal: Real life with a different face. Multi-layered CRPGs go too far: You can
decapitate the troll, cast the fireball, pick the lock, steal the treasure, and
kiss the grateful maiden (multiply these actions by a zillion), but first make
sure you go to the bathroom, tuck the kids in, and get your clothes ready for
tomorrow. HQ nicely integrates the mundane and the fantastic -- a contrivance
that's obvious, but also natural.

 HQ offers classical RPG and adventure game elements. Spielburg is a wonderfully
realized small town, and the cinematic graphics, occasionally exceptional
animation, and strong sense of place more than make up for the lack of multiple
everythings so common in CRPGs. The animation is most notable -- especially the
sneaking of the thief, the magic-induced forest dancing, and the rock-throwing
episode -- and might be some of Sierra's best work to date. HERO'S QUEST is an
excellent piece of work with a fine sense of humor, and I'm already looking
forward to the next installment.

 AMIGA VERSION NOTES

 HERO'S QUEST I is everything a computer enthusiast could ask of a game that was
designed originally for the IBM PC and subsequently ported to the Amiga: The
colors are rich and full, the sound effects and music are terrific, and the
animation is delightfully smooth.

 But now the bad news: There is a price to be paid for this slick adaptation.
The Amiga version of HQ comes on five floppy disks, which makes for enough
disk-swapping to test the mettle of even the most patient gamers -- including
those who have two drives.

 Chances are, however, that the average player will be so impressed by the
magnificent story line in HQ, and the brilliant graphics and sound, that the
floppy-swapping will become only a minor irritation. Of course, Amiga owners who
have hard drives need not worry: The game isn't copy-protected, and can easily
be installed on a fixed disk.

 It's the little touches that make a conversion great, and Sierra On-Line
appears to have paid attention to every detail. The sounds are a joy. As you
enter Spielberg Valley to begin your quest, you hear the sweet chirping of
birds, and later there is the creaking of a hoisted iron gate as you venture
into the Castle Courtyard. Gamers will no doubt thrill to the sound of the
deadly beer ("Dragon's Breath") that flows from a tap at the Tavern, and to the
hooting of owls in a darkened forest.

 There are great little sound bites like this throughout HQ, and these added
touches alone are enough to make the game a first-rate conversion. HQ runs on
A500s, A1000s, A2000s, and A3000s with at least 1Mb of RAM. Kickstart 1.2 is
required.

 HERO'S QUEST (a.k.a. QUEST FOR GLORY): SO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO is published
and distributed by Sierra On-Line.

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