IFReviewed by
Frank Kunze on 2006-05-06 11:46
MAIN PGM Version: 4
Extra Commands: None
Deleted Commands: None
Special Features: None
Playing Time: 15-45 minutes
Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Average Rating: 3.0/2
Description: "While sailing the Great Lake Eamon you are caught in a dense fog. After several hours of aimless wandering you land upon an island in a strange land."
Comment: The above is a brief summary of the actual into text. The variation in playing time stems from the fact that I played it on the ApplePC emulator at a very fast speed. This is an old Eamon with no speed-ups and would run slower on an actual Apple II. I felt that this adventure deserved a modern review after reading Bob Davis' harsh review and rating. Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a masterpiece, but I found it to be amusing and pretty well written. Other than some obvious typos, I found few spelling or grammar errors.
The map is large (100 rooms) but laid out so simple that mapping is unnecessary. The descriptions are interesting and pretty funny at times. The theme is based on the "James Bond" adventure series and it features several classic Bond villains as well as 007 himself.
Where it really falls down is its lack of special events. The ONLY modification to the standard v4 MAIN PGM is a REM statement dedicating it to Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond). My theory is that the author, while having some decent writing skills, knew little or nothing about Applesoft programming. Still, the story moves along remarkably well through the use of some one-way passages and doesn't stray from the theme at all.
This is a version 4, so you have to type complete names and commands for everything. There is one empty secret room that can only be found by moving in an unlisted direction and a deathtrap room that has been permanently sealed off (I'm assuming the author didn't know how to implement it). One of the monster descriptions has been accidentally wiped out with a carriage return. The text is still intact on the disk and I fixed my copy using the Copy II Plus sector editor. (Track $10, Sector $03 change: A2 8D A2 to A2 D9 CF)
One final warning. Some of the descriptions use stormy language and/or adult suggestions. This isn't inappropriate if you consider the theme it is based upon. I didn't find anything obscene or profane in what I saw, just some stuff in the PG-13 area.
Difficulty of 4.
Used with Matthew Clark's kind permition.
Original review available at Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online website.
