<!--
	Title: (Quest of the month!) King Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
	Author: Steven Payne
	Source: QuestBusters, v6(9)
	Date: September 1989
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<div class="article-sidebar-box float-left" style="border: 3px solid;">
<strong>Type:</strong> Illustrated Text Adventure<br>
<strong>Systems:</strong> Apple (128K), Amiga, IBM (memory requirements unavailable)
	Macintosh (color on Mac II)<br>
<strong>Version reviewed:</strong> Macintosh
</div>

After slogging my way through DataSoft's *Lancelot* and Artworx's *GrailQuest*
for the last few months, I was beginning to fear that playable adventure
games based on the legends of King Arthur were more elusive than the Holy
Grail itself! Even Merlin's magic didn't seem able to help the game writers in
their quest for such an adventure. But my perseverance finally paid off-on my
third try, I struck gold!

## *A Knight on the Town*

This time you get to play Arthur (surprised?) as a young man, from the moment
Merlin reveals the secret of your destiny, to the point where you pull the
sword from the stone and become King of all England. In a churchyard late one
night few days before Christmas, you observe the local chieftain Lot and his
flunkies secretly stealing the legendary sword in the stone.

Wielding an Excalibur look-alike, Lot shows up the next morning and claims
heavenly messengers directed him to the churchyard the night before, told him to
draw the sword, and then disappeared miraculously with the stone; therefore he is
the rightful heir to the kingdom. He gives others till noon on Christmas day to challenge
his claim and his honor on the field of battle. Of course everyone suspects
he's lying, but you're the only outside person who actually witnessed the old
switcheroo.

So you have a little over two days to explore the land, rescue the Lady of the
Lake from the enchantment of the evil demon Nudd, recover the real Excalibur
with her help, throw down the gauntlet (literally) to King Lot and earn the wisdom,
experience and chivalry points that will prove your worthiness to be king.
Fail to complete your task in time, and you fail in your quest.

<figure class="float-right">
<img src="/public/img/articles/questbusters-arthur-review/arthur-screen-shot.jpg" alt="Arthur screen shot">
<figcaption class="center bold">Mac II version</figcaption>
</figure>

First you need to find Merlin, who'll give you a magic spell and
explain that your best bet is to start by rescuing Lot's prisoner (a smithy who
fashioned the phony Excalibur) from the castle. This early rescue sequence is fairly
long and self-contained; the smithy then bids you farewell with a clue to the
location of the sword, which you'll need later to fight the Black Knight and Lot.

Aftewards you can explore other areas. The meadow enroute to
Merlin's cave is patrolled by a pesky invisible knight who likes to play pickpocket [the
latest incarnation of *Original Adventure*'s Pirate in the Colossal Cave?]. So you may want
to drop certain things before crossing his domain; you won't be able to track him
down until later in the game.

Time is this game is measured not by clocks but by the liturgical cycle of local
monks. The game package comes with a beautifully illustrated Book
of Hours, which contains a medieval-looking picture and poem for each of the
eight times of prayer during the day. Every so many moves, the game announces
that "you hear the monks chanting vespers in the distance," or
something similar, to remind you that time is passing. This Book of Hours also
provides copy protection, since you need a changing password from it to escape
Lot's castle. (The documentation also tells you what to do with the hawthorn
sprig to win the game; the software itself, however, is not copy protected).

## *The Return of Floyd?*

One highlight of *Arthur* is the character of the village idiot Named Floyd in
honor of *Planetfall*, he offers cockeyed comments on anything you care to ask
him about: "Wherever I go, there I am," or "Hubba-hubba! Hotcha-cha! Hot diggity
dog! Don't spare the horses! Remember the Maine! Exact change only!
What were we talking about?". His ramblings, though wildly anachronistic,
sometimes turn out very helpful.

An even brighter highlight is the spell Merlin gives you, which allows you to
transform yourself into a badger, owl, turtle, eel or salamander; with this spell
you can take to the air or water, or even burrow underground when necessary!
The program makes numerous clever adjustments for whichever particular form
you happen to have assumed.

An intermediate-level game, *Arthur* still offers plenty for both the beginner
and the experienced adventurer to enjoy. For one thing, the puzzles are varied.
Some are the typical "do or give something to someone in order to pass or gain
information," or "find the key to unlock the door" type. There are also a few verbal
puzzles (unscramble letters or complete a series). This being Infocom, there
is also a maze, though not one you can map by the standard method of dropping
inventory items. My favorite puzzles, though, are those that can only be solved
by changing into another form and relying on the skills of your animal alter-ego.

The puzzles are generally fair, though the jousting was a bit tricky and the few
word puzzles seemed unusually difficult to me. From time to time, the parser
seemed a bit too finicky about some solutions. As an eel, for example, I wondered
why I couldn't "bite" instead of "zap" an opponent to get the desired effect,
since the game never indicates I'm an *electric* eel—and "zap" isn't in the
traditional Arthurian vocabulary).

Or why, in another place, must I "withdraw" rather than "hide" my head
inside a protective cover? Negative responses in these situations made me look
elsewhere for the correct solution—even when I was on the right track. Luckily,
there's a "smart" hint menu: smart because it provides clues only for puzzles
you've already encountered, so there is less temptation to read ahead (this is a
first for Infocom's online hints, except *Journey*, though its clues *appear* after an
unsuccessful conclusion, not during the game), Also included with the hints are a
number of background notes by the author, reassuring Arthurian purists about
some of the game's details.

The game's look and feel are up to Infocom's usual high standards. As usual,
you progress through the game by typing commands in a text window situated toward
the bottom of the screen. The rest of the screen layout, however, represents
a radical departure, at least for Infocom. Above the text window is status bar
across the center of the screen; it keeps track of the day, time and location.

## *Spinning Windows*

The greatest innovation, though, is at the top of the screen, where you find a
series of six "rotating" windows that you can toggle through using function or control
keys. The default setting is a graphics window; while *Zork Zero* and
*Shogun* offered only occasional illustrations, *Arthur* has a new picture for each
scene. They're not interactive [you can't click on things in the picture to use, get
or etc them], but they look wonderful on a Mac II color monitor [and the Amiga].

Option two is a compass rose and on-screen map you can use by clicking on a
direction or location with your mouse. This is particularly helpful in moving
through a treacherous swamp, where the correct route shows up on the map after a
certain character has identified it for you. The third option is an inventory listing.

Another such window holds numbers and bar charts representing your overall
score and points for Chivalry, Wisdom, Experience and "Quest" The fifth window
thoughtfully doles out a description of your current location without charging
you the usual extra turn incurred when you "look room" in most adventures.
The final option is for diehard text adventurers, for it turns the whole screen
into a text-only window.

Infocom's latest release, *Arthur* is perhaps the last game completed before the
breakup of the old Infocom team—and ironically, one of the best of its recent
products (though it lacks the sound, animation and truly interactive graphics already
found in adventure games from other companies). The abundance of
whimsical humor makes it especially enjoyable, and will remind loyalists of Infocom's
former glory days. Author Bob Bates, who seems to favor classical
themes, also wrote Infocom's *Sherlock*. That was good, all right, but this is better!
Bates has said that he would like someday to expand *Arthur* into a trilogy, with
later games on the legends of the Round Table and the search for the Holy Grail. If
this product is a promise of things to come, I hope he completes his project!

<hr style="border-top: 4px double;">

**Skill Level:** Intermediate<br>
**Protection:** Key Words<br>
**Price:** Mac, Amiga, $49.95; others, $39.95<br>
**Company:** Infocom/ Activision
