SAGA No. 1 - Adventureland

Whether you like adventure games or not, you owe it to yourself to look at this one. Unlike the "pure" adventures, this has graphics (pictures) along with the text. About half the screen is filled with graphics, while the lower half gives you a printed description of where you are, what you see and which escape routes are open to you. If you don't like to read, the game disk is also programmed to run a Votrax speech synthesizer.
This is not the sort of game for the impatient. You have to learn the limited vocabulary that the program can understand, but once you do, you can start your treasure hunt in earnest.
The simple vocabulary consists of two-word commands such as "GO HOLE" which really means, "Go into the hole." As you explore, you acquire tools and useful items along with your treasures. With your axe, you chop down a tree, whose hollow stump becomes the storehouse for all your collected items.
You use these items in some interesting ways-such as the mud to keep you from getting stung while you collect the swarm of bees-presumably to sting the dragon. You collect a pot of honey which you can feed to the jumping bear.
There's no time pressure during this game, and you can save it on the disk to resume play at a later time. The directions tell us that one game can easily take five to ten hours to complete.
In the course of your explorations, you collect some swamp gas in a wine bladder which you later ignite to blast a hole through a bricked-up doorway so you can get into the mysterious caverns, where you have to light your lamp so you can see. At times like this, you discover that all those items really do come in handy. If you're a string saver, you'll especially like the packrat that you have to become. In the caverns, you stumble on a royal anteroom, and then a throneroom, and all the time you're busily scooping up such treasures as the crown, a diamond ring, and others.
One other special feature: in the Atari version, you can print out a record of your adventures to record inventories and transactions. This is the first game I've seen that lets you do that. Overall it's fun, engaging and interesting, and is a good choice for your first, second or tenth adventure game.

Adventureland Saga #1 is Adventure International's re-release of its original all-text adventure game which has been spiffied up with Hi-Res graphics, and much improved documentation. Several command option keys have also been added: the "Z" key toggles the graphics mode on and off, speeding the game considerably and producing an all-text version identical to the original release. They've added a four position save-game option, as opposed to the single position on the original version. It is a bit messier to use, however. The documentation is complete with at least a partial list of recognizable key words - a major breakthrough in adventuring.
As before, the object is to resolve the puzzles so that you can find and retrieve thirteen treasures, only some of which are easy to locate. A significant novelty (not evaluated), is that the "V" key toggles a Votrax (if you have one), to provide spoken feedback from the game. The same key was used, however, to toggle a printer and get a running hardcopy of the game text. A dump of the graphics is also possible, provided you have a Grappler or Microbuffer card and an appropriate printer.
The graphics are pleasant and colorful, but are often painfully slow if a number of shape-table objects must be drawn and filled in. "Inventory" is a particularly slow process, after the novelty of watching a graphical "bag-dumping" wears off. This recalls the old expression of "Z" before "I" (or is it "I" before E"?). The two-sided disk boots off one side, and eventually plays the game there. The flip side of the protected disk, through which one must pass, carries a plethora of AI promotions, including long demos of three games and a multi-screened graphical statement against pirating/unauthorized copying, complete with a dour-visaged Scott Adams staring balefully from the CRT.
If you have played the lower priced text version, you'll find the graphics add little to the enjoyment of the game. Personally, this reviewer preferred the original, as the graphics detract from the degree of imagination that is needed to be successful. If you haven't played the classic AI text adventures, then you'll have a treat in store - graphics or no, these games are a must for any serious adventurer.

Overall rating :	B	Difficulty:	C+	Originality:	B
Puzzle quality :	B	Ease of use:	B+	Documentation:	A
Text quality:	B	Vocabulary:	B	Holds interest ?:	B
Graphics quality :	B	Save/restore:	A-	Value for money:	C