Enchanted Castle, The - Review

I decided to review this game because I saw that it had already been reviewed and scored 0/10. A closer look showed that this was just the author leaving his own comments (This has since been corrected, thanks Jacob). Anyway, I wanted to give the game a fair assessment anyway so broke out my adventurer’s kit. The basic premise of this game is to escape the castle whilst avoiding classic nasties: elves, goblins and vampires. Graphics are basic but effective and there is even a nice little animated sequence after a meeting with the goblins… It’s only a small game, 16 locations, and this feels a bit on the small side considering that there are a palace and great hall belonging to warring factions included! The puzzles included are logical enough and not overly challenging making for an hour or so at best of gameplay for a reasonable adventurer. Although a little lacking in atmosphere, mainly due to the descriptions, it’s interesting enough and I’m glad I gave it a go, I wouldn’t encourage others to go out of their way to play it however.

---

Parser/Vocabulary (Rating: 4/10)

Very weak, there is an instance of a four word input, but I could find no way to look at my inventory or check the score. It took me a fair while to work out how to open the safe! At a couple of points it provides you with two options. It works is the best I can say.

Atmosphere (Rating: 5/10)

Vampires, goblins and elves but they aren't really used to develop atmosphere.

Cruelty (Rating: Tough)

Lots of sudden and unavoidable deaths meaning starting afresh.

Puzzles (Rating: 6/10)

The best part of the game, logical and quite interesting, if a little simple, puzzles.

Overall (Rating: 5/10)

The author said he was 13 when he wrote this and it's a pretty decent first effort. I can't see that he wrote anything else though sadly.