Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail

Ah Sierra, some people dislike their adventure games but others swear by them. I must admit that some things are really dislikeable about Sierra adventure but many of them are very good. Conquest of Camelot tells the story of the Arthurian legend. In this game you play Arthur himself and you must find the grail and the three knights who have not returned from their quest. The search for the grail began because the kingdom is falling apart and it is the only thing that can save your people. The story is told in the intro and the game begins when you are about to prepare for your journey inside Camelot.

Although you must quest on your own Merlin is always with you by using his magic and he gives you clues and advice on what to do so it's only wise to visit him while you can see him in person. There are other things you should do like get money, your armor and to say farewell to your wife Gwenhyver. Finally when you pray to the gods they show the three knights who were on their quest to find the grail and all of them are in grave danger and need your help if they are to survive. With a final gift from Merlin and some words of wisdom you leave Camelot in search of the grail. The first part of the game takes place mostly in old England and you can travel around on a map, not all destinations are useful so you should take care in what information your people gave you about the last location of the three knights. Later on you will travel to the east where the grail is supposed to be and only if you find it can you save your kingdom.

The games uses EGA graphics but they are of extremely high quality and there are many cinematic scenes and sequences in the game that look far better than any other EGA game out there. Music is also excellent and there are plenty of medieval tunes to sooth the ears as you play through the game. The interface had not been changed to a point and click interface yet so you must type in commands to interact with items, the syntax can be quite complicated as you can type in long sentences and the game will understand them. Unlike most other Sierra adventures this game has plenty of arcade sequences and although most are not too complicated it can be very distracting especially since you cannot skip them. You can change the difficulty level but some of them can still be quite hard. The controls change for every sequence but they are clearly displayed onscreen when they start.

Ah the bad, they never really learned and this game is no different. Death lurks around every corner and can come from not being able to complete an arcade sequence to simply forgetting something and paying for it. There are dead ends as well and some things you do early on change something later on, the trick is to do the right thing and most of the time you'll be alright. Saving often is a must because if you don't you'll hit yourself over the head for it trust me. Dispute that the medieval setting is nice and overall the game is enjoyable if you are prepared for the regular Sierra problems.