Steer clear of this sorry mess
Adventure fans might be tempted to check out this intriguing game, with its promise of a mix of Arthurian legend and complex puzzling, but unfortunately a brief time spent with it soon reveals a myriad of problems which reveal its shortcomings. The game starts out promisingly enough, thrusting the player into the role of a Knight of the Round Table, charged by Arthur himself to locate the legendary Holy Grail and which promises to set in motion an exciting adventure. There are some mild RPG additions, such as sub-quests to solve along the way, stats, and combat alongside the expected puzzles, while the world is brought pleasingly to life, with vibrant use of colour and good detail in the various locations to be explored. However, the problems are significantly greater than the good points. The interface, which takes a similar style to the King's Quest or Monkey Island games, is awkward and clumsy, while the puzzles are all the same, being generic quest-type missions. They are made worse by the sheer size of the gameworld, with traversal being time-consuming, tedious and just plain annoying. There are also plenty of frustrating moments where you realise that you have used up an item which you needed to give to a character, thus turning your epic quest into a pointless waste of time. There are also some wildly inappropriate (but not entirely surprising, given the developer's history) moments of an adult nature which are just not required and which take the player right out of the game. If you are looking for a well done piece of Arthurian gaming, then stick to Arthur or Conquests of Camelot and avoid this sorry mess.
