The Dark Crystal is a two disk Hi-Res fantasy adventure, the sixth from On-Line and Roberta Williams. The game is based on, and generally faithful to, the movie produced by Jim Henson of Muppet fame, who also wrote the story. The plot is exceptional, but having seen the movie is neither a help nor a hindrance in solving the game.

Jen, our Gelfling hero, is your alter ego. You control his actions in his quest to find and replace the missing shard of the Great Crystal, a deed which must be done at the instant of the triple conjunction of the Three Suns. The great prophecy states that only a Gelfling can accomplish this task, and Jen is one of only two who escaped the slaughter of his race by the evil Skeksis. Failure means that the Skeksis and their robot-like killers, the Garthim, will control their world forever. Success means both the end of the Skeksis rule and a return to peaceful harmony in the world of the Gelfling and Pod people. If he succeeds, Jen will live happily ever after with Kira, the female Gelfling, whom he meets halfway through the game.

The game's disk-interactive graphics, which employ two novel and exciting techniques, are good but not overwhelming. In the beginning, Jen appears a bit too often. In each frame, he is the starkly white character against the colorful, detailed background. Later, after Kira is found, she and Jen neatly overlay the same backgrounds that he had previously traveled alone. Other figures, also all white (presumably due to the overlay requirements), can also occupy the same backgrounds with Jen and Kira on certain occasions. Despite the large game area, mapping, while recommended, is not mandatory. There are no tricks or mazes in the regular, symmetrical layout. There are approximately ninety-four mappable locations at which actions are possible. Also, about a dozen scenes, which automatically appear as a consequence of a previous action, serve as intermediates to the next location. This technique adds materially to both the flow of the story and the fast-action, "animated movie" feeling that comes through in the later phases of the game.

Some liberties had to be taken regarding the movie in order to improve the game's puzzles, which, while not particularly interactive or difficult, demand that you read the text very carefully and use a degree of imagination normally only demanded by an all-text adventure. Some objects and actions are neatly concealed. While you are not too likely to get killed off in the first half of the game, matters get stickier and more dangerous later on. Often only one move is permitted before unfortunate consequences take place.

The syntax permits only two words, but the need for involved expression is not necessary. Similarly, the vocabulary is quite adequate and has good synonym recognition. Only in one spot-toward the end of the game, where several minor glitches are found-is specific word usage a problem (try "Use Hook"). Fifteen different Save-game positions may be made to a scratch disk, which must be initialized from the game disk. While a game may be recalled at any time, it is necessary to reinsert Disk 1B if you get killed off. Combined with the sudden demand to insert another game side, there are often five disk sides with which to contend in a disk-flipping nightmare. This program is sophisticated in many ways; it's too bad that On-Line hasn't learned how easy it would be to optionally permit two drives to be used.

The Dark Crystal has little deliberate humor, but it's lighthearted, done in good taste, and fun to play. The game anticipates your actions and commands unusually well. Quite a number of descriptive responses to the hardest things add materially to making the game playable and interesting, although they have little bearing on the game's solution. The game is easy enough for beginners and captivating enough for more experienced adventurers. Despite a few rough edges, it is one of the best Hi-Res adventures to come along for some time.