Obscure but enjoyable graphic adventure
This highly obscure cartoon-style graphic adventure is a charming and enjoyable excursion into a fantasy world that is well worth seeking out. It was originally planned to be the first part of a series but this never planned out so all we are left with is this single game to hint at what might have been. The plot is standard enough, and sees players embarking on an epic quest to defeat the evil Colnar who, in traditional fantasy style, has plans to conquer the world. This translates into a sort of text-based adventure that throws in real-time puzzling elements along with monsters and traps. The player explores a set of environments that includes temples, underground lairs and frontier towns and which are described via written text and graphically, with some scenes animated. Progress is made by typing in nouns and verbs to explore and interact with objects and characters, with the numerous real-time puzzles offering up a nice twist on the usual genre style. While Questmaster is no classic and is far from being a must play, for adventure fans and those who enjoy the likes of obscure games like Lane Mastodon, then it does make for an interesting experience. The story is nothing special but is reasonably compelling, while the game world is also quite an intriguing one to explore and which presents a few delights. The unusual nature of the puzzles also provides something a little different and while they are not overly challenging, they are quite imaginative. Graphics and text descriptions are simple and not as well written as those of interactive fiction games like Countdown to Doom or Zork but are certainly passable enough and help to make this an entertaining, if short-lived diversion.
