Cranston Manor box art

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Cranston Manor

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Cranston Manor

Dec 31, 1981

Main game

3.33 average rating based on 3 ratings

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You break into the mansion of the late millionaire Cranston in order to steal sixteen treasures which are said to be hidden within its walls.
Developers
On-Line Systems
Publishers
On-Line Systems, StarCraft
Series
Hi-Res Adventure
Platforms
Apple II, FM-7, PC-8800 Series, PC-9800 Series
Genres
Adventure
Themes
Mystery
Release Dates
1981 (North_America)
Apple II
Oct 01, 1983 (Japan)
PC-8800 Series, PC-9800 Series
1983 (Japan)
FM-7
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User Stats
11
In Collection
4
Wish Listed
0
Playing
3
Backlogged
How Long Is Cranston Manor?
Main + extras: 5.0 hours
Total completions: 1
giopep
giopep gave Jul 22, 2023
giopep gave Jul 22, 2023
giopep's review of Cranston Manor

Cranston Manor is the first Sierra adventure not developed by the Williamses and it’s also the “graphical” conversion of an already existing text adventure. Which is probably why it feels so old school and Adventure-like, with all the treasures to find, labyrinthine maps, hostile creatures spawning around and such. It’s a bit messy and clunky, in part because of stuff cut and/or streamlined during the conversion process, but it’s still a fascinating game, very immersive and with some innovation in how it graphically presents stuff. But what really amazed me is the number of things, ideas, puzzles, objects feel like they where taken from Resident Evil. It makes you want to force Shinki Mikami to confess that he didn’t just copy from Alone in the Dark,

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scoopings
scoopings gave Feb 10, 2022
scoopings gave Feb 10, 2022
Another Great Hi-Res Adventure From Early Sierra / On-Line Systems

Look: 8/10 Tho the city streets were kinda boring, the General Store had a nice graphic to it enter image description here

Hm, and sure enough, as start venturing to the manor, it got more interesting enter image description here

While a maze of hedges is a way more reasonable concept than most the mazes in text adventures heh, that part was kinda boring graphics-wise.

Play: 8/10 Here'ssss my kind of Apple II text adventure, probly just cuz it has graphics (and probly thank goodness the last text adventure I played didn't heh). Wait... why do I feel like I played this game before? Cranston.... what else is that in? Anyway, as usual with these, the graphics can be turned on and off which is especially nice on replays, quick plays, or running back through areas. With online info and easily accessible solutions online, this game is fun for sure, for whenever you get stuck along the way. But back in the day, completely on my own, I can only imagine getting some of these puzzles! Same with even parts of Softporn Adventure! I like the puzzle of the Triangle item simply fitting into the triangle shaped hole in the door, gives me the kind of point and …

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Look: 8/10 Tho the city streets were kinda boring, the General Store had a nice graphic to it enter image description here

Hm, and sure enough, as start venturing to the manor, it got more interesting enter image description here

While a maze of hedges is a way more reasonable concept than most the mazes in text adventures heh, that part was kinda boring graphics-wise.

Play: 8/10 Here'ssss my kind of Apple II text adventure, probly just cuz it has graphics (and probly thank goodness the last text adventure I played didn't heh). Wait... why do I feel like I played this game before? Cranston.... what else is that in? Anyway, as usual with these, the graphics can be turned on and off which is especially nice on replays, quick plays, or running back through areas. With online info and easily accessible solutions online, this game is fun for sure, for whenever you get stuck along the way. But back in the day, completely on my own, I can only imagine getting some of these puzzles! Same with even parts of Softporn Adventure! I like the puzzle of the Triangle item simply fitting into the triangle shaped hole in the door, gives me the kind of point and click and even Resident Evil puzzles from my childhood that I liked heh. Cuz I could solve them :-p The game definitely gets a little too navigation-y after a while, which is something I often bemoan in the early text adventures. As usual, I'm not a big fan of the purely RNG-based occasional, sudden-death "enemies" in some early text adventures, which this one allegedly has but I fortunately didn't wind up having a hard time with. (The Tin Soldier appeared, then dipped, for my experience.)

Feel: 9/10 Yay I was excited for my next Apple II Sierra On-Line Hi-Res Adventure! Wizard and the Princess was great, after all. Kinda sketchy that Larry Ledden didn't get credit in this graphic version. I was hoping to like Sierra/On-Line Systems heh. But I know I always get crabby at every thing. (Oh, and it turns out that they produced that Softporn Adventure game I just finished too heh, they have a... peculiarly diverse set of niche games.) The "plot" definitely got more interesting as the plot went on, rather than just simply a straightup robbery the whole time lol tho it really is. Like we went from simple hedge maze to, well, whatever this is enter image description here

Anyway, lol the mouse to scare away the suits of armour to rob the crap out of this manor.. And wow some parts gave heavy Crimson Room, etc., vibes, which is something I expected more of in graphic text adventures enter image description here

Oo Cat Fountain, nice heh. enter image description here

Attachment: 8/10 Definitely on my list of early graphic text adventures that I would replay. Not that it was that special or anything, but I just am a sucker for this era of Apple II graphic text adventures that are pulled off well like this one.

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