Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
| Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Cyberlore Studios | ||
| Publisher | SSI | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1994 | ||
| platform | MS-DOS | ||
| genre | Computer role playing game , action adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse & keyboard , joystick | ||
| medium | Floppy disk , CD-ROM | ||
| language | English | ||
| copy protection | Manual query | ||
| Age rating |
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Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse is a computer game by the US game developer Cyberlore Studios from 1994. It is the first and so far only computer game that is set in the Al-Qadim campaign world of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons RPG set of rules . The game is a role-playing game with action-adventure elements. It was distributed by the US developer and publisher SSI .
action
The events take place on the continent of Zakhara in the fantasy world Abeir-Toril and are similar to an Arabic-inspired scenario from the fairy tale collection 1001 nights . The pawn is the offspring of the aristocratic Al-Hazrad family, one of the two leading houses in the city of Zaratan. There is a longstanding feud between Al-Hazrad and the rival Wassab family. But just as peace is emerging between the divided parties, the ship sinks with the caliph and his daughter, the future wife of the player character. Survivors accuse the Al-Hazrads of being responsible for the shipwreck. This is corroborated by a confession of Muliban, the family's house spirit, and with the exception of the player character, all family members are detained. The player's task is to free his loved ones from captivity, restore family honor and free his future bride.
Game principle and technology
In contrast to the AD&D role-playing games previously published by SSI, Al-Qadim does not have any character creation . The player can give his character his own first name, but the remaining character values and the character class as a corsair are given. The game is presented from a bird's eye view , the player controls his character directly through the game world. As usual in role-playing games, the player takes on tasks (quests), for which he receives experience points. These can include armed conflicts, but in some cases can also be solved in a peaceful manner, including some skill puzzles. In combat, the player can choose between melee attacks, ranged attacks and magic. The armament of the character is not usual for the genre with the family sword of the Al-Hazrads and a slingshot. However, the usual collection and upgrading of equipment is no longer necessary.
reception
| publication | Rating |
|---|---|
| PC Games | 78% |
| PC player | 74% |
| Power play | 74% |
| Computer Gaming World | 3.5 out of 5 |
| PC gamer | 76% |
Editor Michael Hengst from Power Play described the combination of 1001 Nights with the action-packed gameplay of Zelda as successful. Both the stallion and the main tester Volker Weitz described the level of difficulty as low.
John Terra from the US magazine Computer Shopper certified that the game faithfully captured the Al-Qadim scenario and praised both the graphics and the sound as "a typical SSI high-quality offer". He also praised the handling and presentation of the topic of honor, which did not seem trite.
Allen Rausch described Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse in a GameSpy retrospective as an example of the competition between game consoles and the PC. Al-Qadim is SSI's answer to the success of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda . The result was a game that ultimately neither console gamers nor role players could inspire, among other things due to numerous simplifications of common role-playing principles.
In a similar retrospective for GameSpot , the authors Andrew Park and Elliott Chin described the game as "a simplified role-playing game that has been abbreviated in many ways," which hardcore RPG fans may not appeal to, but whose accessibility-oriented gameplay also found some followers.
For the MMORPG Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands , developer SSI resorted to graphics from Al-Quadim in order to be able to finish the title on time despite scarce development resources .
Web links
- Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Volker Weitz: At the Beard of the Prophet - Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse . (Article scan) In: Power Play . No. 08/1994, August 1994, pp. 34-35.
- ↑ Petra Schlunk: year = 1994 & pub = 2 & id = 121 Adventures in Role Playing . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 121, August 1994, pp. 38-40.
- ↑ John Terra: Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse Review. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. In: Computer Shopper . July 1994. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
- ↑ Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part III ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp. . August 17, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
- ↑ Andrew Park, Elliott Chin: Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . Archived from the original on August 26, 1999. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^ Andre Vrignaud: Postmortem: SSI's Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . October 24, 1997. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
