True Faith

Review of TRUE FAITH by Dean Nicholas from Fred 46

Contact: Elyzium Software, <REDACTED> cheques to Mr.D Haire

This is an adventure written using Sam Adventure System, and one of the first I've seen using it. It tells a rather strange story of you unwillingly and unknowingly being dragged into this far land, in somebody elses shoes. You are Marrakhesh, a person who has unspeakably amazing powers.

However, you have been fighting a monster known as Bai El, and you have been left weak and powerless. To regain your powers and protect your world from the Bai El, you must pass a test known as The Enlightenment. This game is about the first part, so presumably there will be more parts.

The first test is the Test of Faith. You must journey to the land of Bragnon, and recover the 3 items of faith: Book of Truth, Cross of Virtue and the Chalice of Healing.

So, there's the background, but what is the game like? First, I must say the accompanying booklet is very good indeed. It includes a very long description of what has happened previously, and a beginners guide to adventures. After reading this, I loaded up the game and started playing...

At first, everything was going fine. I was progressing quite nicely, finding loads of new places. Then, after a while, I came to this problem. A wolf was blocking my path, not letting me pass. After about a half hour of combatting this problem, I gave up. I couldn't get past this stupid wolf. The clue for that screen said to frighten the wolf. Ah, I thought; with fire! I could burn those twigs I found, and light them with the camp fire.

Then came up the even bigger problem. The parser. Not at all good.

The game accepts very few commands, and at times you get very frustrated with the whole thing. I don't know whether this is by fault or non-commitment of the author, or because of certain limitations of using SAS.

If the authors are to plan another game, Enlightenment II, then I would suggest improving the parser and making the game easier.

                     DIFFICULTY: 90%
                    ORIGINALITY: 80%
                          STORY: 90%
                   PRESENTATION: 87%
                         PARSER: 36%
                        OVERALL: 70%

Quite a good game, but too difficult with a bad parser.