Software:Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
| Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse | |
|---|---|
 Cover art by Jeff Easley | |
| Developer(s) | Cyberlore Studios[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Strategic Simulations[1] |
| Designer(s) | Herb Perez |
| Programmer(s) | Ken Grey |
| Artist(s) | Garrett MacArthy Herb Perez |
| Series | Al-Qadim |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
| Release | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse is an action role-playing game for the personal computer set in the Al-Qadim campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The game was developed by Cyberlore Studios and published in 1994 by Strategic Simulations (SSI). The game combines role-playing game and adventure with a simplified interface; the player's character is a young corsair trying to clear his family's name, rescue his betrothed and determine who has been freeing genies from their masters.
Plot
A genie becomes freed from his master's control by mysterious forces which are liberating genies for the Nameless Masters.[2] As the story begins, the player character (the son of sultan Zubin Al-Hazrad of Zaratan) is a young man who has just finished his training as a corsair.[2][3] The corsair is betrothed to the daughter of a caliph.[2] The caliph and his daughter are involved in a hurricane-induced shipwreck, which sweeps the girl overboard.[2] The corsair and his family are blamed for the shipwreck;[2][3] he must find his bride-to-be and restore his family's honor.[2][3] The character can interact with his family (including his parents and sister), working to save them from execution;[4] they must also explore the mystery of who has been unleashing genies on the land,[3] and investigate the Genie's Curse.[5]
Gameplay
Unlike the games in SSI's Gold Box series, character generation is greatly simplified. The player chooses a name, by which they are known throughout the game. There is no race, class or skill selection, and play begins immediately.[5] The single player character begins as a 2nd-level corsair, whose statistics are predetermined;[2] the player also cannot change his weapons or armor,[1] although he can eventually improve his starting sword.[2] The character earns experience points by answering puzzles and completing quests, some of which do not involve combat.[3] The character gains levels after accumulating sufficient experience points; gaining levels improves his hit point total, and grants the ability to master new skills for combat.[2]
The game features a simple interface,[3] with icon menus instead of text.[5] Character movement and most object manipulation are controlled by mouse, although the player may use a keyboard or joystick.[2] The player chooses all actions (except movement and projectile weapons) by pressing a single action key (or mouse button), which causes the character to automatically take the correct action with an object; the character either automatically picks up significant objects or can choose to take an object that the character looks at.[2] To talk to characters, or attack monsters with the scimitar, the player moves the character towards the target and clicks.[4] The player selects the difficulty level of the game, which determines the how powerful the monsters are.[2] At the beginning of the game, the player learns how to maneuver the character by moving quickly through a trap-filled dungeon hallway.[4] Al-Qadim features simple, real-time combat, with the character using either one or two weapons simultaneously.[2] The character can use special objects to increase the power of the scimitar, and his ranged weapon is a sling or magic shards which cast various spells.[2] If the character is injured, he can regain hit points with healing potions or be magically healed at special locations.[2]
The game places less emphasis on typical role-playing game elements (such as exploration, combat and magic), favoring adventure-game elements (such as problem-solving and object manipulation)[2] and featuring a smaller world to explore.[3] Travel is shown overhead, including using ships and flying carpets.[2] The character is visible in three-quarter view, but the character and monsters are shown in side view when moving.[4] In many areas, travel is one-directional.[2] Conversations are shown on the screen as text, and the player clicks on which sentences (or phrases) to use.[2] The game includes puzzles and mazes which are important to advancing the plot.[2]
Development
Developer Cyberlore hired a team to create The Genie's Curse shortly after the company was founded in 1992, and it took the company fourteen months to develop the game.[6] It was designed by Herb Perez and produced by Lester Humphreys; the lead programmer was Ken Grey, the art was by Garrett McCarty and Herb Perez and the SSI producer was Bret Berry.[4]
Publication history
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse (1994) was one of several games published by SSI from 1992 to 1994 in TSR's settings on a number of game engines,[7] and was later included in the 1996 AD&D Masterpiece Collection compilation set.[8]
For the MMORPG Dark Sun Online the developer used images from Al-Qadim to finish the title on time despite a low development budget.[9]
The game was re-released in 2015 on GOG.com with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Reception
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Substituting for Scorpia,[12] Petra Schlunk reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World. Stating that "SSI has taken a decisive step away from" products like Ravenloft and Dark Sun, she reported that it was "not a standard role-playing game and it is not a standard adventure game. Al-Qadim is a story in which we get to play the main character". While decrying limited player options, Schlunk added that "the story is charming, graphically pleasing [...] of reasonable length [...] and worth 'playing'. In this game, elements of both role-playing and adventure games are blended cleverly with one of the most facile interfaces to date". Schlunk concluded: "Borrowing heavily from the Arabian Nights, Al-Qadim has captured the charm and wonder of those tales".[2]
Computer Shopper praised the game, saying that it "managed to capture the feel of the Al-Qadim setting". The magazine noted the graphics and audio, calling both "typical high-quality SSI offerings";[5] the game's use of honor ("portrayed in a way that isn't trite") was also cited.[5]
PC Gamer UK's Andy Butcher wrote that "Al-Qadim tries hard to be accessible, inoffensive and appeal to the masses, but ... it's unlikely to whet the appetites of either hardened role-players (it's far too superficial) or newcomers (it's got little of a really good RPG's appeal)".[10] In PC Zone, David McCandless summarized the game as "not very good", with "poor" graphics and "awful" combat.[11]
The Genie's Curse was reviewed in Dragon #208 (1994) by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game four (out of five) stars:[4] he called the game a "heaps of fun" with interesting and exotic environment.[4]
Allen Rausch wrote for GameSpy that Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse was "basically SSI's answer to Nintendo's Zelda games", but "it wasn't a very good answer ...as so often happens when a game tries to appeal to two very different audiences at the same time, neither element was entirely successful". He concluded that the game "had its moments, but it wasn't a game that ever approached the realm of 'classic'".[1] In a similar review for GameSpot, Andrew Park and Elliott Chin felt that the game may not appeal to serious RPG fans.[3]
Michael Hengst, editor of Power Play, called the combination of the 1001 Nights-style Al-Qadim setting with the action-packed gameplay of Zelda successful. Hengst and main tester Volker Weitz described its difficulty as low, and gave it an overall rating of 74 percent.[13]
The game sold in excess of 90,000 copies.[14]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rausch, Allen (August 17, 2004). "A History of D&D Video Games - Part III". Game Spy. http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/539/539722p3.html.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 Schlunk, Petra (August 1994). "Adventures in Role Playing". Computer Gaming World (121): 38–40. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=121.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Andrew Park, Elliott Chin. "Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse". GameSpot. CNET. http://gamespot.com/features/history_add/p4_28.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Petersen, Sandy (August 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (208): 64, 66.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Terra, John (July 1, 1994). "Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse Review". Computer Shopper. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-15506209.html. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
- ↑ Bednar, Joseph (September 1, 2001). "Making the Games People Play". BusinessWest. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-81972088.html. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
- ↑ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. pp. 21. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ↑ Butcher, Andy (January 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane (Future Publishing) (2): 80.
- ↑ Vrignaud, Andre (October 24, 1997). "Postmortem: SSI's Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands". Gamasutra. UBM, plc. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3235/postmortem_ssis_dark_sun_online_.php.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Butcher, Andy (July 1994). "So-So". PC Gamer UK (8): 65.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 McCandless, David (August 1994). "Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse". PC Zone (17): 52–54.
- ↑ Scorpia (August 1994). "Scorpia The Avatar". Computer Gaming World: 29–33. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=121.
- ↑ Weitz, Volker (August 1994). "Beim Barte des Propheten - Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse" (article scan). Power Play (8/1994): 34–35. http://www.kultpower.de/powerplay_testbericht_extern.php3?im=alqadim.jpg. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ↑ "Company Info". Archived from the original on January 10, 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/19970110042817/http://www.cyberlore-studios.com/company.html. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
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