Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail

I remember seeing the game box and advertising for Christy Marx’s ‘Conquests of Camelot’ as a pre-teen. Being enthralled by Sierra’s signature ‘Quest’ games, not finding its cover art as whimsical or exciting, and generally not being a fan of Arthurian legend, I paid ‘Camelot’ no attention then. Now that I’m older, I find ‘Camelot’ to be a solid Sierra adventure game. As with many Sierra games at the time, it’s a linear game and is rather restrictive. Despite allowing you to venture out to different locations, you need to visit them in a specific order to be successful. Yet, what set ‘Camelot’ apart from its contemporaries was the seriousness with which Marx told her tale. Marx did extensive research for this game, and it shows. It helped with the world building, but the game seemed more keen on presenting research findings than being a fun game at times. It was ambitious of Marx to try awarding game points based on categories, putting in various types of arcade sequences, and using an in-game character as your psychic companion/narrator. Yet, they didn’t work out all that well given the technological limitations and her inexperience in game design. Puzzles in ‘Camelot’ are fair, and are telegraphed quite well if you had spent time on talking to characters and reading the manual. Marx stayed on-theme when incorporating copy protection. By presenting them as puzzles, they did not feel intrusive. I never found puzzle solutions in ‘Camelot’ to be illogical given the game’s premise. ‘Camelot’ may not be great, but it certainly paved way for a better ‘Conquest’ game. The graphics were drawn with detail, though almost too colourful in parts. The writing was interesting, making Marx one of the best writers (the other being Jane Jensen) for Sierra. Gameplay-wise, there were no particularly exciting moments in this mostly by-the-book adventure game. Fans of Arthurian legend and ‘Longbow’ should give it a try, but general Sierra fans could possibly do without ‘Camelot’.

This game's 8 years before my time, but I really love Arthurian Literature and Fantasy/Medieval settings as well as adventure. So even though this game predates me by almost a decade, I felt it was made specifically for me. And although I had a good time with the game, it sadly isn't much of a delight to play. Overall, this game is just... fine. There's a lot that this game gets right. The start of the game is great, I really loved walking around the castle, talking to Guinevere, Merlin, and some castle guards. The visuals, though clearly dated, really pop. You have to admire the fact that an artist was able to do so much with such a limited color palette, and at times the game is just beautiful. Also, the soundtrack is phenomenal. I also found that most of the frustrations that come with the point&click genre such as 'moon logic' and just outright getting stuck don't come into play at the start. There are a few puzzles, but most of the game revolves around riddles and general logic, as well as some action scenes. But the game really starts to fall apart once your adventure truly gets started. You'll get stuck because your solution to a problem isn't the developer's solution. There's one specific segment where you're effectively lost, and you're out of money. I thought about chasing down the thief which made away with my purse, but the game made it clear I couldn't reach them. I was stuck. It turns out the solution to my predicament was to shrug it off and sell my donkey. What? There are other parts of the game where solutions to your problems are just hyper specific. I would not have been able to beat this game without a guide, especially near the end. I would even get frustrated when I thought I had a perfectly reasonable solution, only for Merlin to call me an idiot. I feel the action scenes could've used work. The joust is fine, but the swordplay is truly horrible. However, I had a decently good time. This game's a fine adaptation of Arthurian canon.

Another installment from the wonderful age of Sierra adventure games. This one follows King Arthur in his search for the grail... with a twist. It feels like a short game, but it is definitely interesting and the manual even includes some history about myths and legends, which are the basis for many of the puzzles, so have your manual handy. The background art is nice and fitting, and the character art is diverse. The sound effects are there, but don't expect much. The music is well done for the time. The controls are like most standard adventure games, although this one is a combination of mouse (or keyboard) navigation and commands issued by typing them on the keyboard. Now for the bad. The action... is... AWFUL! No really, it's almost more guessing than even trial-and-error. I salute Sierra for trying to add this aspect, but honestly I think it detracts from the game. And a word of warning... the final action sequence, a fight, is one of the most rage-inducing, frustrating moments of any game I have ever played. There seems to be no pattern, logic, etc. to the combat. You can change the difficulty, but in my experience it made no difference. Be prepared to spend hours, yes, hours restoring your saved game and retrying to win the battle. Oh, and once you are in an action sequence, you can't restore, quit, etc. You can only sit through minutes of agony, or close the program and restart. Despite the awful action, I still recommend getting this game to any fan of Sierra games, or point-n-click (or command typing) adventure games. You'll have fun, but just keep in mind what you're getting into, and don't let frustrating action sequences detract from your quest to find the grail.

It may not be along the same lines as King's Quest or even Space Quest, but for fans of Arthurian legends and games that play similar to KQ4 or SQ3, this game is fantastic. I was thrilled when I discovered its existence, and loved every minute of it.

Such a classic. This is the original game by Sierra, Conquest of Camelot. Imagine the King Arthur story done in the style of Kings Quest and Space Quest!