Game Review: Castle Adventure (Dragon 32, Virgin Games)

Even though I’d been gaming since the 70s, thanks to getting a Pong clone when I was quite young, along with a number of LED systems like Astro Wars, my passion really kicked in when I got my first computer – a Vic 20. The first game I ever bought for myself was Adventureland by Scott Adams… and so my love of text adventures began. So it’s no surprise that I was eager to check out Castle Adventure by Virgin Games, one of only a handful of their releases for the Dragon…

Story? What Story…

Most text adventures I’ve played over the years have some basic plot that drives the quest forward and gives some fundamental meaning to all of the puzzles you encounter. But not in Castle Adventure. In this instance, it couldn’t be more vague leaving you completely in the dark as to the whole purpose of what your quest is and what you’re meant to be doing, as the inlay explains…

“A humorous (and insane) adventure game – set in and around an old castle.”

Yup, that’s it. The entire description for the game in a very short sentence. That aside, it does claim to be quite a large game with 120 locations and over 100 items you can find and use to complete the game. Quite an impressive boast, especially when you learn more about the programmer…

Schoolboy Whiz Kid

Almost everyone visiting this site knows about Richard and David Darling, the brothers who were developing games while they were still at school and went on to form Codemasters. The reason I mention them here is that the developer of Castle Adventure – Conrad Jacobson – was the same age at the time the game was published. What was more interesting in this instance was that Virgin Games made it known in the inlay (he was 14½ at the time) so this was potentially released around the same time the Darlings were releasing games through their own labels – ACE and Galactic Software.

Getting Started

As with all text adventures, everything is presented on a plain screen with commands being entered via the keyboard in a verb/noun format. Most of them can be abbreviated to 3 letters to speed the flow of the game but getting there is a little bit of a mess so for those with the original (or even running under emulation) just hope you have the instructions! It needs a string of commands just to load the game and feels quite cumbersome so before you even start to play it can be offputting.

Playing Castle Adventure

As I said, playing the game is simplicity itself with commands being limited to one or two words. Single letters can be used for directions (N for North, S for South for example), but some of the more common abbreviations used in many adventures (I for Inventory and L for look) are missing. There’s also no help function and frustratingly there’s no option to save the game so you’re going to have to complete it in a single sitting!

That’s actually Castle Adventure’s biggest downfall if I am honest. A lot of the locations are quite similar so you’ll need to have pen and paper to hand when you play to keep track of your progress, especially as there are a lot of locations that you can wander into and face unavoidable permadeatth. And to say that the game isn’t particularly polite about it would be an understatement…

Illogical Puzzles

As with most text adventures, solving most of the puzzles depends on finding the right items and taking them to the appropriate locations and using them and Castle Adventure is no different. You can only carry so many items at any one time so it’s often a case of trial and error to carry the right item to the right place. Some of the puzzles don’t need you to use an object as such, but just use the right command though and that’s the biggest problem I found.

For example, at the start you have to get into the castle itself. You’re carrying a key and a grappling hook and you’re told you’re standing outside the main gate in front of a portcullis. If you try to use or throw the hook nothing happens, you can’t open the gate or the portcullis… To get in you just climb the portcullis and you use the grappling hook automatically.

Playability

I have to be honest and say that playing this without mapping it left me utterly bewildered and lost on more than a few occasions. It was mildly entertaining, but certainly not the “humorous” game it claimed to be on the inlay, although I’d put that down more to the developer’s age than anything else as that does come across in some places, especially the attempts at mocking the player every time you die.

That aside, it offers some entertainment as long as you can get past the limited vocabulary and chaotic nature of some of the puzzles at times. Kudos has to be given to Conrad Jacobson though for managed to release something at such a young age though, and creating an adventure that runs quickly and smoothly even though it’s written in BASIC.

Overall

Castle Adventure isn’t a particular bad game although understandably there are much better text adventures out there. It’s still worth giving it a go but just make sure you have plenty of time, patience and paper – you’re going to need it!

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