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Nine Princes in Amber (Picture/Text Adventure/Novel)
Compatibility: 64K Apple II series
Requirements: One disk drive; second drive optional
Granted, ther is nothing especially bizaar about about waking up in a hospital room with a cast on your leg. But when you subsequently smash a hypo-wielding killer senseless with a single punch, rip off the cast, and walk out as good as new-- well, that's a different matter. In Telarium's adventure game production of Roger Zelazny's first two Amber stories, you begin as the victim of an auto "accident" which jogs long dormant memories of an amazing personal history and of a place called "Amber".
A jewel of a city shining in medieval splendor, only Amber is real; other "realities" are but reflections or "shadows". As Corwin, a prince of Amber, you have many gifts (such as extrodinary strength); but most important is the ability to 'walk through shadows'-- in effect creating alternative realities.
Your brothers and sisters, alas, are similarly gifted; and, with the throne vacant, all are engaged in a deadly, cutthroat competition for power. Now you will return to Amber and 'walk the Pattern' to fully restore your memory and powers. Then, just maybe, you can manage to sieze the throne for yourself!
Nine Princes in Amber is an attractive presentation offering good artwork, music, adequate save/restore, and elaborate prose. However, except for a clever little puzzle to challenge your pattern-walking savvy, the game is slavishly faithful to the original story line, hardly qualifying as an "adaptation" at all. That Telarium would bother to claim "...there are forty possible final endings" is as good a tipoff as any: this is a highly structured, low player initiative piece of gaming software. I've tried numerous deviations from the original line; and, so far, all have led quickly to unfavorable endings, usually fatal.
While there is some attempt to simulate the bargaining, making and breaking of alliances, and other wheeling-dealing (i.e. the real 'meat' of the Amber series), anything remotely involved is beyond the program. More often than not, a non-committal "SHRUG" is sufficient to move things along in the right direction. With minimal parsing operating mainly as a page-turner, Nine Princes is one way to explore the world of Amber; a better approach is to read the books.
Available from Telarium: One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. (617)-494-1200. $39.95
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