~Simon The Sorceror 2 (CD)
3
SIMON01.PCX
SIMON02.PCX
SIMON03.PCX

Animated Adventure by ADVENTURE SOFT.

Review by Lu Richardson



I must say I enjoyed Simon the Sorceror very much - I loved the 
excellent graphics, perfect animation and easy interface.  Above 
all, I found the puzzles in the game highly refreshing.

Well, as was to be expected, the sequel turned out to be of the same 
quality but with the added bonus of speech throughout.  This being a 
CD, though, there had to be some padding.  For instance, the intro 
for Simon 1 was quite brilliant, but the one for Simon 2 was 
unnecessarily overlong and I was bored half way through.  It took 
around 7 minutes, give or take, before I could get into the game.  

Worth the wait, I can tell you.  Although the plot is flimsy and 
merely an excuse to get you scurrying here, there and everywhere 
getting yourself out of jams, nevertheless the whole thing was quite 
fun.  The problems presented to you are quite clear; solving them is 
another thing, and I dare say that frustrated players will complain 
that the solutions are highly illogical - and they will be quite 
right.  For instance, would you think of wearing a puppy to sneak 
past a beast with acute hearing?

I guess there has to be a challenge to the experienced player, but I 
feel rather sorry for the not so experienced.  Thank goodness for 
Cheet Cheats!

You'll like the graphics, the brilliant animation and the rather 
limited but sufficient interface.  The whole thing works with the 
mouse - one thing I found was rather inefficient was that the label 
for the items on the screen appeared below the play area, and very 
briefly, at that.  So that if you were staring intently at the top 
right hand corner of the screen, for instance, you might well miss 
the message at the bottom.

A touch of humour always helps this type of game along, particularly 
when it is as frustrating as this one.  If you have played Discworld 
the similarities won't have escaped you - and, indeed, the character 
actually makes a direct reference to it; personally, I think 
Discworld was funnier and Simon 2, a better adventure.

I think you'll enjoy it, even if conversations tend to be overlong.  
I warn you, though, that having laboriously completed the whole game 
you are in for a disappointment - just as you were getting warmed 
up, you get the message "To be continued..."  I hope they won't keep 
us waiting too long.


Review Copyright (c) 1995 Eurowave Leisure Ltd.
