03 Nov 07
Simon The Sorcerer Gaming
Simon The Sorcerer was a series of point-and-click adventure games created by Adventure Soft. The series follows the adventures of an unwilling hero of the same name. A modern day teenager by the name of Simon, is plucked from dull suburban life, by the evil wizard Sordid, into a fantasy world filled with goblins, giants, witches and sorcerers. The game consists of a jumbled collection of mini-quests that can be solved by patient searching and talking to other characters, with the ultimate goal of defeating Sordid and returning to the human world.
First released in 1993, Simon the Sorcerer is a classic point 'n' click adventure, in the Monkey Island vein, and indeed uses the LucasArts game controls of icons at the bottom of the screen with action verbs written on them such as Open, Pick Up, and Move. The games combined intelligent humor, and fiendish complex puzzles.
Fundamental to the success of the series is Simon's frustration of being stuck in a fantasy land is made perfectly clear and he insults, belittles, and is insensitive to the plight of anyone but himself. Simon is voiced by Chris Barrie, (Red Dwarf), however in later games he was sadly recast. Apart from the dumb jokes, funny characters names, and childish animations like a nose-picking goblin the game contains some rather intelligent parodies of Narnia, Disney, McDonald's, Treasure Island, The A-Team, Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future... and a whole host of Grimms fairy stories.
The real reason that this game continues to stand the test of time however, is the absolutely amazing graphics. Remember this game was released in 1993, yet the game's 256-colour pallet captures the beautiful landscapes of the fantasy land, which remind you of old oil paintings.
The attention to detail is astonishing for the age of the game, with ambient background animations like butterflies, stags, flowing streams, and billowing mist, coupled with the sounds of birds singing and waterfalls add to the rich, deep... and yes a magical, fairy tale quality.
The game world is surprisingly large, although a map is provided to zap back to previously explored areas with a simple click. Over 600,000 copies sold of the first game have been sold worldwide, followed by a second game in 1995. The third game was released in 2002, and added a 3D element which killed the series stone dead, for years this was a sad end to an excellent series. However, in 2007 a fourth game was released, this time in Germany from a different developer. My poorly translated readings of German reviews seem overwhelmingly positive, and it is reported that a fully translated version is due to be publishing in North America in early 2008, with a later release in the UK.
You can play the original two Simon The Sorcerer with ScummVM, which I reviewed a short while ago. The games can still be found for sale, and as yet have not been made freeware.