Product Review

In 1984, Roberta Williams of Sierra On-Line designed King's Quest, the world's first graphic adventure. A huge step beyond the text-oriented games that preceded it, the genre took the world by storm, and proved immensely popular with computers over the next decade. A combination of storytelling and puzzle solving, they provided the ability to explore a world and experience a narrative without the need for twitchy reflexes demanded of arcade games. This nearly comprehensive book includes reviews for over 250 games from the golden age of the graphic adventure genre, running from 1984 to roughly 2000, focusing on promiminent publishers such as:

-LucasArts (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango)

-Sierra On-Line (King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight)

-Legend (Spellcasting, Eric the Unready, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon)

-And several other popular and not-so-popular series and games (Zork, Myst, Broken Sword, The Longest Journey, Simon the Sorcerer, The Last Express, and dozens of others) -Also includes interviews with several adventure game developers, including Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry), Corey Cole (creator of Quest for Glory), Bob Bates (founder of Legend Entertainment) and Josh Mandel (writer and designer for Sierra).