Kingdom O'magic Review

8.2

Format PC

Developer SCi

Publisher SCi

Genre Unknown

Patrick McCarthy often entertains us in the office with his 'magic lump floating about behind a piece of shiny cloth' trick. Sometimes he even manages to write on the cloth with magic water. One day we'll work out how he does it.

With a confident wink and a swift nudge to our collective ribs comes Kingdom O'Magic, 'a comedy point-and-click adventure with an rpg engine running underneath'. Somewhat unusually it gives you, it says here, six games in one. This is based on the fact that there are three different quests to embark upon, and two main characters with whom you can play through each quest. Just in case your maths isn't too good, the formula is: three quests x two characters = six games. But does it, though? Eh?

Two characters = two games?

This doesn't stand up particularly well under closer scrutiny; if you play the same situation in the same quest with different characters, you'll often find yourself repeating many conversations word for word. Obviously at other times, through necessity, the conversations will vary. Other characters can't, for example, make any allusions to the size of your male character's breasts, which forces the writers to come up with new dialogue at these points. And there are occasions when you'll have to alter your approach to situations with each char-acter accordingly. The aim of each quest remains the same, though, and there are more similarities than differences.

Three quests = three games?

This almost scrapes it, although if the locations in one quest are also available in another (some aren't), many conver-sations are, again, identical - the one where you're trying to get a wig from the wig-maker springs to mind. You even get the same wacky interjections at the same point. So their formula doesn't exactly work. But then, since you get plenty to do without adding it up in this way, let's forget all about it.

Kitchen-sink drama

Kingdom O'Magic is unusual for a point-and-clicker, in that not just cut-scenes, but stock film footage has been added for comic effect. It can wear a bit thin, but given that the approach is basically everything-but-the-kitchen-sink humour, it will probably win you round. The script, when it's not being used to portray minorities in a less-than-flattering light, also has its moments, and made me laugh on a number of occasions. There are some nice touches - the idea of the Gorgon's photo album was one that I particularly liked.

The game moves through day and night, with cer-tain locations available at different times of the cycle. It's a nice idea in theory, but can mean waiting around while time passes - and the endlessly repeated night-falling, day-breaking 'joke' is guaranteed to drive you round the bend.

A dedicated follower of fashion

You sometimes feel that they're trying just a little too hard to latch onto some kind of trendiness, even down to using Perez Prado's Guaglione (aka That Music Off The Guinness Advert) in an intro sequence, and ladling on the Pulp Fiction references. The script is actually more entertaining when it stops trying to impress you with its cleverness - some of it is just downright peculiar. Speak to one particular elf, for example, and he'll say in a startlingly fey and high-pitched voice, 'I live in the Forest, I have no debts whatsoever and I'm incredibly well-hung. Every day is a lovely day to me...' and wander off. And some of the fiercely menacing wraiths come out with unexpectedly comic lines if you speak to them in a certain way.

As for the rpg stuff, what it amounts to is that the npg characters stroll about all over the place and have their own health and spell points (this can be a pain if you get something to give to one of them, and can't find the swine because they're wandering about so much, but that's the price you pay for an underlying rpg engine, I suppose).

Different races also have a healthy dislike for each other, so you'll often hear or see fights between them; you can find weapons to use on the buggers yourself if you get a bit tired of all the chatting and are sure they won't kick the shit out of you (which most of them will, given the opportunity). All in all, though, Kingdom O'Magic is essentially a solid game, well up to scratch. Z