IFReviewed by
Tom Zuchowski on 2006-05-13 09:52
MAIN PGM Version: 6
Extra Commands: FIRE, USE
Deleted Commands: None
Special Features: None
Playing Time: 1-2 hours
Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: "While having a real blast last Friday at the annual Adventurer Day bash, someone yanked you aside. It was a short skinny Dwarf with a black beard and a name tag which read "Sledgehammer". He said to you...
"'The evil tyrant Mr. Roessler has built a small outpost in northern Eamon. It is believed to be nothing more than a small hideout, but who knows exactly the power he has in his grasp. Your goal is to stop Roessler by destroying his fortress.'
"The Dwarf takes you on the North Road to the Really-Big-and-Scary Forest, where Roessler's outpost is suspected to be."
Comment: This is another of Nate's early juvenile works. It has lots of general silliness, out-of-narrative descriptions, and in-jokes relating to his high school. In general, it is an example of the kind of lightweight Eamon typical of those written by young boys.
Yet this is in many ways a sophisticated Eamon and there are flashes of the brilliance that Nate gradually developed and finally demonstrated in "Kretons". There are many specials of various kinds, and some of the humor is pretty good. While there are several items to work out, the flavor here is primarily Hack'n'Slash.
I am bumping up the difficulty to (7) for several likely-death traps. Along those lines, here are some hints: if you enter the secret room off the tunnel with the stalactites, you will probably die. There is an antidote for the poison, but you may have to replay that segment several times before you find it in time. There is no way to honestly survive an encounter with a Balrog. You get exactly one turn to escape after using the detonator. That's a lot of hints, but there are a lot of ways to die here.
You most likely won't find a way to open the steel door without cheating. If you do open the door, you will either be amused or annoyed, depending on your sense of humor. I thought it was a pretty good joke.
Used with Matthew Clark's kind permition.
Original review available at Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online website.
