Not sold in cognito ALONE IN THE DARK 3 For starters, you can adjust the diffi­ Hartwood, whom you rescued from the culty level for combat. Alignment to use Derceto Mansion two years ago, in ne of the most innova­ an item at a location still presented Alone in the Dark. tive animated graphic minor problems, but it didn't seem to· be So, you remove your trusty .38 adventures of 1993 was as precise as Special Alone in the Dark. It set required in from your polygonal characters Alone in the . desk and set against a beautifully rendered back­ Darkand off for ground, music illustrating the mood, Alone in the Slaughter great sound effects and an absorbing sto­ Dark2. Gulch and ryline. Hitting whatever Utilizing a 3-D rendered, 360-degree the Tab key horrors it rotational view, Alone introduced us to a brings up a,n may hold. multitude of camera angles. These overhead 3- Upon ranged from top-down views to close­ D view of your arrival. ups, from floor level shots to reverse the game you cross a angles and "looking up" pans. Alone area and a ii&..----....1 bridge into went on to become one of the best hits flashing red arrow points to where you town, only to have it blow up behind of 1993. are. you. There is no going back now. You A year later we had Alone in the In this 3rd - and hopefully not last must forge ahead and solve the mystery Dark 2, again starring Edward Carnby. - chapter in the saga of of Slaughter Gulch. This one was bigger and involved a Edward Carnby, you find There is no mouse support, as in the garden maze, a mansion and a haunt- yourself in Slaughter previous two episodes, and all move­ Gulch, a haunted ghost ment and actions are controlled by the ~========~ ed galleon crewed town founded in the days of arrow keys. Type Graphic by dead the gold rush. Your perspective is a full view of Adventure ghosts. The story takes place in your surroundings and menus are California, the year is 1925. System IBM This It seems that "The Last Continued on page 14 Required IBM (Required Ranger," a western movie, is 386/33+, 4 MB RAM, being filmed at Microsoft-compatible Contents . Slaughter mouse, VGA, CD drive. Gulch in the Supports VESA, Sound Adventure Road .......... .. ... 2 Mojave Desert. Blaster, Awe32 , Ad Lib, However, the Heretic ............... ... ... .... ... 3 Roland MT-32 and RAP-10, crew has not King's Quest VII ............... 4 General MIDI) ·reported in to the Bureau 13 ............. .... ...... 6 Company: I-Motion· studio in two days, BioForge .................. ... .... 7 was heavier and Greg Saunders, on combat and less puzzle oriented. I the producer of the Clue Book Specials ......... 9 made it through, but it was an effort. movie has hired Walkthru: Star Trail ........ 10 you, for $1200, to Thankfully, Alone in the DarkJ has Keys to the Kingdoms .. ... 12 improved in several ways, investigate. making this the biggest and Included in the Swap Shop ................... 15 best of the trilogy by crew is Emily Infogrammes/I-Motion. by Fred J. Philipp dvenruRe load Adventuring this Summer Me:tzertzky, whose name, according to Dear QuestBusters:· independent investigations, is misspelled I haven't seen an issue .in quite some Where will you ge this summer, and how more often than any other game designer, time. Have you lost me? Have you gone will you get there? You might start off at has launched his own software company, belly up? Have you died and gone to Full Throttle, with a ride on LucasArt's Boffo Games. heaven? I hope not. biker adventure. For a lengthier trip, visit Boffo's first game was Hod} 'n 'Pod]; Daryl Dally Discworld, a Psygnosis game that is which Virgin released this spring. It c;on­ e~ceptionally difficult. Look for Jewels sists of a board game with a fantasy set­ We have run out ofexcuses (or at least ofthe Oracle, a Myst/7th Guestquest­ ting, which ties together 19 other games. amusing ones). So far this year, we've alike, along the way. Bolder travellers Mzkzxxee says Boffo is currently put together three books rather than the can join the Jagged Alliance, Sir-Tech's " ... building and adventure game engine customary one, and have not been able hit combination of role-playing and strat­ called Bagel (Boffo Adventure Game to get an issue out since#I I 5. (One of egy. Feel like doing a good deed? Help Language)." Mzzlwosky says he has these is Keys to the Kingdoms 2, which find Virgin's Lost Eden. already signed up to do adventures for is now in stock.) But QB is as strong as The Daedelus Encounter, Virgin's lat­ Rocket Science and Time-Warn~r with ever and in no danger ofgoing belly up, est, is a star-studded trip with techo-over­ the Bagel engine. or going to heaven (though we reserve tones. And how about a side-trip to the right to go belly up to heaven, what­ Interplay's Kingdom: The Far ReacheS? Return of the Dornbeast ever that means). It's not too demanding in the puzzle And guess who's running the business The least we can do (which is the department, and the animated cartoon­ most we ever do) is offer members a style graphics are outstanding. side of the show at Merezzky's new Boffo Games? Only long-time Zorkers really great pn"ce on Keys 2 (see page 5 Later this summer, go on The Dig in for details). And assure you that the next LucasArts' long-promised adventure will recognize the name - Michael Dornbrook: Dornbrook was "featured" as issue is alieady in production, with a (which we hear has been "in the can" for complete run-down on all the upcoming some time, but has been held up for mar­ a monster in one of the last Zorks pro­ adventures at the El show in L.A. - keting reasons). In September, Legend duced at Infocom when it was still Entertainment's Mission Critical will Infocom. He also invented the classic ship. It's the first Legend product featur­ "lnvisi-Clue" hint books, which presaged ing actors filmed against a blue screen the computer game industry of today. and composited into 3-D rendered Dornbrook is president ofBoffo. · scenes. Ykzeterem sums up Dornbook's job Editor: Shay Addams description as: " ... in charge of wearing Managing Editor: Dora McCormick Madman Mandel tie when someone has to wear a tie." Editorial Consultant: Edgar Schrock News Editor: Hugh Grant Jumps Space Ship New Clue Book - Keys 2 Contributing Editors: Fred J Philipp, Clancy Josh Mandel, who did design work on Our latest clue book - with twenty solu­ Shaffer, Paul Shaffer, Russ Ceccola, Al Freddy Pharkas and Space Quest VJ, tions this time - is now available in Giovetti, Be;nie Yee, Ken St. Andre, Brian recently left Sierra to join Legend stores and directly from QB for only Smith, Duffy, This Reviewer Entertainment. This gives them a virtual $14.95. See page 5 for details, and the "Three Amigos" of multimedia humor, back cover to order. Remember, shipping Q!lestBusters, ye official journal of the with Steve Meretzky, Bob Bates, and is free to USA and Canadian members QuestBusters Guild, is published monthly by now Josh Mandell. Josh is now working who order two or more books. the Hugh Grant Escort Service. Annual dues: on a game taken from the world created $19 ($6 extra for Adventure Express). by novelist Spider Robinson in the Stonekeep - The Newsletter Canada/Mexico: $26. Overseas: $36. Callahan 's Crosstime Saloon series. Q!lestBusters, The QuestBusters Guild, Interplay's long-awaited RPG has become a legend before it's own time. In Adventure Road and Keys to the Kingdoms Meretzky Goes Independent anticipation of this earthshaking event, are trademarks of Eldritch LTD. TM is a Didn't we just say Steve Meretzy was QB is launching a special newsletter trademark of Shay Addams. Contents with Legend? Well, he may complete the devoted solely to Stonekeep. We'll have Copyright 1995 Eldritch, LTD. Copying with­ Sorcerer University series, but there is out express permission is prohibited and pun­ ishable by Elizabeth Hurley. nothing in the works right now. Continued on page 8 2 RE'V"IEW oom and Doom II fans lishes Heretic as separate from the neatest items is the Morph Ovum, which responded to id Software's Doom games. This is true in the on-line changes the next enemy you hit into a popu1ar games with a large community as well. You can already chicken. Unfortunately, the chicken still variety of. WAD files that find level editors and .WAD files for attacks you, but it is incredibly weak. transform them into entirely Heretic. Heretic's weapons offer a new different0 experiences, with new mon­ Heretic's interface is almost the assortment of blasters against the mon­ sters, weapons and environments. In identical to Doom Ifs with some notable sters, but they roughly line up in power turn, id Software released a completely differences. You still click on number to the Doom weapons. The Elvenwand new title with a Doom-like interface that keys to load a particular weapon and is equivalent to a pistol. The Gauntlets was developed by Raven Software. also use cursor keys, mouse or joystick of the Necromancer capture a monster in Heretic is as much an enhancement to move through the 30 levels. An your grasp and drain its power much of the Doom I/engine as it is an entirely inventory like the new game.