Review scoopings 4/5 · Mar 4, 2023
Cute, To-The-Point Text Adventure With Endearing Music And Engaging, Approachable Gameplay
Look: 8/10 Great colors, great font that added a nice touch. Nice to finally experience a Speccy 128k game. I do wish the top parts were a bit bigger... or more interesting... or clearer... not really sure how to explain it lol. Here's an example (tho I can't deny I love the colors and overall look, mind you--the initial absurdity …
Look: 8/10
Great colors, great font that added a nice touch. Nice to finally experience a Speccy 128k game. I do wish the top parts were a bit bigger... or more interesting... or clearer... not really sure how to explain it lol. Here's an example (tho I can't deny I love the colors and overall look, mind you--the initial absurdity and overwhelming/clunkiness was actually charming tbh, kinda trippy lol) 
I did really like this screen, and much of the Part 3 Look (plus I better understood what the hell was going on with the Inventory half lol) 
Sound: 8/10 What a great rendition of the tune! And luckily the game wasn't toooooo long that it got super annoying. Yay. And I love how it fades out and comes back heh, for some reason that helps with the potential repetitiveness. Tho if I didn't have a Solution to refer to, I'd probly get sick of it eventually heh exploring etc.
Play: 8/10 Forgiving enough for my taste--I hate when text adventures are full of petty rng-based deaths. I wish the examine/look aspect was better, but I can't really complain. It was very approachable (probly meant for kids to an extent heh..). Great, terse descriptions, I love when I get an image in my mind without it becoming a chore of reading a whole novel and clicking space nonstop to scroll through paragraphs heh... I do wish the parser were a bit more advanced tho, considering how high-budget and top-of-the-line this feels overall (unusual for a movie-tied game for this time heh, ironically those always seemed low-budget and half-assed in the mid-80s).
Feel: 8/10 I loved having Falkor fly you and I especially loved how it felt almost action-adventure-y when you had to pass the Sphinx (I wont spoil it for you :-p I'll just say be patient heh). Cute, to-the-point, and an enjoyable text adventure: probly my go-to for this era of mid-80s text adventures. Not many others have stood out!
Attachment: 8/10 I've had less and less patience with text adventures as I get further along in this chronology project; I'm nervous and hope I still love my early 90s point and click adventures I so loved as a kid. But as action-adventures become more and more common and more and more well-made, it takes a lot (or a little) for text adventures to stand out. This was short and cute enough; doesn't rely on the "you wont even guess how many ways you can die!" gimmick that plagued 80s text adventures; has a kid-ish vibe and I like that lol; has solutions available nowadays and back in the 80s for that matter; and is based on a fantasy plot that I may not know well (haven't seen the film or read the book in years... possibly ever :-X ) but that I know I appreciate. Plus, it always helps when there's a jingle at all, let alone a great one, and colors that are nice on the eyes. Anyway, cute text adventure worth playing, especially if you're new to text adventures and don't want to deal with the niche kind that celebrate frustration and hours of trial and error. Not that I will return to text adventures often, especially not super important/historical ones, but this one would make the list--definitely for mid-80s ones! It's been a while since I could give a 4 star rating--feels nice!
Completion: 100% / Main Story Playtime: ~30 mins