Sierra King's Quest: Collection Series: Never Gets Old for Me

I don't own a lot of computer games as I prefer PlayStation games. However, I grew up playing King's Quest, and when I found the Kings Quest Collection Series (also known as King's Quest Collection 2) I had to buy it. I bought it years ago and now see it priced at around $35 on Amazon. That's a great price for the hours of play time and the variety of games, it's worth it!

System/Platform/Technical Stuff
Before I waste time telling you about the collection, you'll want to know if it will work on your system. These games were designed for older computers, but have been put on CD for use on Windows 95/Windows 3.1. I know what you are thinking, Windows 95 is so long ago! But as with a lot of computer games, the better systems will also play these games. I have installed this on Windows 2000 computer and a Windows XP computer with no major problems. The game recommends you use 256 colors and 480x600 resolution. However, on newer computers you might not even have those options. On Windows XP, I couldn't change the resolution or the colors that low, so I didn't. Despite the warnings I got when installing the games, they still played just fine - although some took more effort than others. You might want to have someone technically savvy help you install these if you can't figure it out yourself.

The collection is on 3 cds, and installation can be a tricky. It's "old fashioned". Sierra games run tests on your computer to make sure things are compatible with what is needed, but even when my settings FAILED a few of the test, the game still ran. I don't know if you can install the full thing so that you will never need the CDs again, but it seems the choices I made only partially installed it and I need the CD in order to play. This is not such a big deal if you always play on the same computer, you can just leave the cd in.

Games/Playing/Fun Stuff
In King's Quest, you are a character walking around exploring a "Scene". You just see part of the scene at a time. To explore, you walk off the screen one way or the other, or up or down, and the next scene appears. There are no moving cameras, just a static scene until you go off-screen. The areas are huge, and sometimes you could walk miles and get nowhere. There's no end to most areas but there is usually a point where you can go too far off course to survive. So save often!! You will wander castles, grass, lakes, desserts, and towns, and that's the gist of the areas. You'll find things as you go, and collect them to help you in the future. Then there will be puzzles that you must figure out in order to get past certain parts of the games. On top of the adventure, the games have a lot of silly qualities that will make you laugh.

Now here's a little bit about each game I've played in the collection:

1. King's Quest I - This game was originally made in 1983 and reflects the time. You don't use a mouse, you just use the keyboard and type commands such as "talk king" or "open door". It's slower moving and the graphics are quite bad (people look like Lego's) but I still enjoy this classic game! The plot involves Sir Graham who has been told to find a magic mirror, shield and chests and return them to the king. If you do this, you will earn the throne. Once you start playing, you'll think that the patience people had in the 80s must have been amazing...this guy walks slow. This is more of a mental challenge than some of the newer games because you have to try and figure out what the right command is, as opposed to the later versions where you can just click on things. It's fun for nostalgia, but gets dull otherwise.

2. King's Quest II - 1985 brought a few improvements on the old game, but you've still got the same structure of typing commands and using the keyboard. As a continuation of game I, Graham has returned the three items and now he's in search of a wife. He sees a girl in his magic mirror, but she needs rescuing first! And that is the goal of this game. My thoughts on gameplay are basically the same as #1.

3. King's Quest III - You will play a slave in this 1986 game. He works for an awful mean wizard who kills every slave before 18 so they won't grow up and overpower him or leave him. Can you escape the evil wizard? There's more secrets in this game than that, but you will have to play to see it all. The story will connect back to Graham eventually! Although a little more advanced design wise, its still about the same as games 1 & 2. Game play is a little more interesting and challenging - it takes a lot of thought to figure out what you need to do!

4. King's Quest IV - 1988 is the year when I really got into computer games. I may have only been 7, but KQIV was my first computer addiction! You will now play Rosella, King Graham's daughter, who's taking her turn at adventure. Two great things about this game: 1) you are a girl! 2) you can use the mouse. You still will type commands, but you can use the mouse to move which helps a lot. I loved this game and probably got further in this than any others since I played it my whole childhood. You will notice better graphics, but it's still the 80s of course.

5. King's Quest V - 1990 brought my favorite game of the series! You'll have to be creative, or change your computer settings, to get KQV to play but it's definitely worth it! This game got rid of the descriptive text bubbles and instead you actually hear the characters talk, or the narrator describe the scene around you. Make sure you have your sound on! You can now use the mouse and there is no need to type commands as you can look, walk, talk, and take inventory all with your mouse. The graphics are much better. The plot of this brings King Graham back to the adventure, and this time he has an owl friend to help him. His castle has disappeared! and the Owl was the only witness. Can Graham get his castle back? You'll have a lot of work and mystery ahead of you in this game. I just love the narrator and how he describes everything you ask about, it's fun to listen and play!

6. King's Quest VI - 1992 brings you another opportunity for creative installation! But I found much help online as others have also had problems starting up KQ6. Once you figure it out, you can play a game that seems slightly worse than KQ5 as far as graphics and controls are concerned and honestly I haven't played this one as much. I was too busy being addicted to 5 to bother, and once I got to playing 7 in this set, 6 kind of got left behind. I'm telling you this because if you are having a lot of trouble getting it to work, than skip it for now and try it out some other time. There are plenty of other games to keep you busy. In this game, you will play Prince Alexander, Graham's son, who's on a quest to find the love of his life.

7. King's Quest VII - The last KQ game in this collection was original made in 1994. I fell in love with this game the second I started it! The graphics are so much more advanced, like a 90s animated movie. In this story, Rosella is not too excited about getting married and instead seeks adventure. She finds a magical pond leading to an adventurous place and decides to jump on in! Her mother dives in after her to save her. Now we have Rosella, seeking adventure, and her mother, seeking Rosella! You get to play both characters throughout this story, starting as the mother. There are different controls but the overall gameplay remains the same as the last few games.

I have never played these next two games, but they are here if you are interested:
8. The Colonel's Request - a Laura Bow Murder Mystery
9. The Dagger of Amon Ra - a Laura Bow Murder Mystery

10. Roberta Williams's Mixed-up Mother Goose Deluxe - This game is awesome for kids. It involves all your favorite nursery rhymes and takes you on an adventure to find the missing characters from the poems. It's not too complicated, just cute.

Extras
So you think that's it? Just 10 games! Nope, there's more! You also get 4 Apple mini-games just for kicks. These are simple games that aren't real complex. I used to play Mystery House all the time but haven't gotten around to the others yet.

1. Mystery House
2. Wizard and the Princess
3. Mission: Asteroid
4. Time Zone

For Who?
Sierra games are kid friendly. Every Sierra game I've played includes learning, adventure, and fun - without violence. In most games you don't die... well you die, but it's not violent. And you aren't shown being killed, you just kind of float away or disappear and you can restore to the last time you saved and try again. You should save before you do anything that might be dangerous.

Kids to adults will enjoy these adventurous games. It gives you a mental challenge as well as providing cute little plots and characters. Play with your children so that you can both go on the adventure together.

Conclusion
These games will keep you or your child occupied for hours. Even simple tasks in the game will take a while to complete and this helps your memory skills as well as problem solving skills. The games may not be top of the line, but they provide more substance than some newer games. You are learning as you play, but not in a boring way. If you like fantasy, kings, adventure, fairies, fairy-tales and a little bit of silliness, check this out.

Go to Amazon now and pick it up before they are all gone. Enjoy!