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Something Wicked This Way Comes

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: March 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In the simplest words I can think of I will say my thoughts on this game. It was crap.
First, I will talk about the good parts in this game.
Now, I'll talk a little bit about the bad.
Sierra's remake of the first King's Quest was the first game I ever played. This series holds a special place in my heart because of this. I remember getting really excited about this game when I first heard about it. To put it simply, it did not live up to my expectations.
The first thing that stands out about the game is its gameplay. THEY TURNED A WORLD FAMOUS PEACFUL ADVENTURE GAME SERIES INTO A HACK AND SLASH CRAPSHOOT. Ecuse me for my outburst.
I am still a bit confused over the development of the "plot" of the game. I can just imagine the development team meetings.
"You know how wer'e making KQ8?"
"Yeah"
"Remember all the loose ends and teasers that were in the previous games about evil societies and big things going on?"
"Yeah"
"Lets just forget about all that and give it an even simpler ending than KQ1 had back in 84"
"Okay, sounds good to me."
"And you know that royal family being the central characters in KING'S Quest?"
"What about them?"
"I never liked them, lets just put in just enough of them to call this KING'S Quest, and replace them with a randomly selected peasant who just happens to be extremely proficient with all kinds of weapons."
"Sounds great."
In short, there is just not a lot going for this game. I only recommend this if your'e a competist, or want to witness one of the greatest follies' of our time first hand. If you are not one of the above, stay as far away as possible.

*An insult to previous KQ games

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: March 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am not one to hate, but considering Roberta William's humble beginnings and her breakthrough titles such as previous King's Quest serious... I feel like this is a betrayal to adventure gaming in general. I could not believe that she would put her name to something like this until I read one of her interviews back in 1999 (http://www.justadventure.com/Interviews/Roberta_Williams/Roberta_Williams_Interview_3.shtm)

Apparently, she was trying to bring adventure gaming to a larger audience. However, as a King's Quest game, this is just a bad title. A few facts rather than rants:

1. This game features little to no connection to the original King Graham family and even less character development of the main hero. What is his name again?

2. The landscape does not resemble Daventry at all, and the overall game is usually pretty dark (no sunlight... dark corridors)

3. As a 3D action game, it gets tedious and repetitive shooting arrows and hacking monsters. Without a viable plot, there is nothing that really stands out from this title. Granted, the game had superior graphics and arguably sound at the time of its release, it terms of game play it offers nothing innovative.

4. There is very little humor, puzzle solving, or "adventure" aspects at all. The only adventure you will get is from going from level to level hacking monsters. Long gone is the excitement you feel when you enter a new colorful room and must talk to NPCs and explore items to assist you in your quests. It's like taking the orgasm out of sex.

5. The ending sucks, the title produced inferior sales compared to its predecessors, and either due to management change issues or this title, after KQ8 the franchise has effectively been killed off.

Sometimes I wonder if Sierra was developing another action game and just decided to add a few cut scenes and package the title as KQ8 for the sake of money. Because it definitely seems that way; this game ranks a negative -10 on my scale, even and as an action game it is mediocre at best.

Good job killing off a ground breaking series and brought the enjoyment of adventure gaming to millions.

A lower score than 1?! Tis beyond my reach!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: March 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What a load of rubbish. If you are buying this expecting a King's Quest game, then please, save your money.

King's Quest was a loveable adventure title, made in the eighties by a woman called Roberta Williams. It revolved around a man called Graham, who in King's Quest 2, became King of Daventry. The story evolved through seven King's Quest games, each one a delight.

This "Mask of Eternity" should not be allowed to be considered a King;s Quest. Many people bought it for the fact that it says "King's Quest". Many people were bitterly disappointed. This wasn't the game they wanted. Gone was the elaborate storyline of King's Quest games gone by. Introduced was a random man by the name of Connor. Where was our beloved Royal Family? Condensed down to a mere cameo of King Graham.

Please, if you buy this game, I recommend you get a fat black permanent marker and cross out the King's Quest part of the title, because it isn't a King's Quest. It's nowhere near it. If you like this sort of game, buy it. If you're looking for another act of King's Quest genius, you won't find it here. Avoid this game. Please.

Nowhere Near King's Quest

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: March 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I understand Sierra felt the need to venture into the 3d action part of gaming, but they didn't have to soil the noble King's Quest series in order to break into the market. It was a stupid trick to pull, I am glad that when I purchased this game it was only for 10 bucks in a bargain bin. I played the whole game through, and was thoroughly disappointed at each step. After running into an annoying bug on an old computer of mine after finally reaching close to the end, I replayed it again on a new computer more recently, and was annoyed to see the disappointing and short ending. They didn't even have the decency to put in a nice, long, conclusive ending like other King's Quest games. And the excess violence and poor excuses for puzzles are a disgrace. If you should buy this game, please do not mistake it for a true King's Quest, it is only a mockery. And play the other seven *real* King's Quest games instead.

Not a true King's Quest

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: March 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I agree with oldbushie and mangomercury in their reviews. This was definately not a King's Quest game, at least not the one I remember. I love the puzzles and fairy tale creatures in King's Quest 1-7. And they are SO bright and colorful. Mask of Eternity has none of this. It is extremely dark, not just in plot but in color. When playing the game, I would have to struggle and strain my eyes to see where I was headed next. I have never been good at action games either...never have done well in trying to kill everyone around. I have no strategic ability, so I had an extremely difficult time with this game.

If you are looking for a game like the previous King's Quests, do not buy this one, you will be disappointed. If you love action games, buy it, you will be satisfied.

I must say that Sierra made a huge mistake in changing the King's Quest line with this last game, which is not worthy to be called King's Quest...it is simply, Mask of Eternity.

A bastardization of a once-great game series.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 23 / 27
Date: August 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What was once a great adventure series was essentially turned into a bad Diablo clone when Cendant took over Sierra Online. In King's Quest 8, you play a Daventry peasant (which, unlike in King's Quest 3, has no relation to the royal family) who curiously speaks like British royalty. As the game begins, the Mask of Eternity is shattered, resulting (among other things) in a bunch of monsters appearing and everyone in the human world turning to stone. Everyone except you, that is; you managed to grab a piece of the Mask as it was happening (alternately, a piece of it scarred your face when you were born - they can't get the story straight). The rest of the game comprises of you fighting monsters and occasionally using various objects to try to get all the pieces of the Mask to restore the worlds.

The graphics are mediocre, even when you take into account the time the game was made. The gameplay is horrendous. Between this, the badly thought-out plot, and its overall betrayal of the series, I wouldn't recommend getting KQ8 except in the interest of completeness (and of seeing the end of the series).

Not an altogether poor game, but not a King's Quest game.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: March 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The final game of the King's Quest series is definitely the worst installment. I am hesistant to even call it a King's Quest game, due to the fact that it fails to adhere to almost all of the fundamental rules of the series. It is not even the same genre as all the previous games. King's Quest 1-7 were all adventure games. With King's Quest 8, Sierra decided to take the series in a different direction, and make it a hack-n-slash action game.

Despite the fact that in every previous King's Quest game the protagonist was a member of the royal family, Mask of Eternity begins when every person in Daventry (the land in which the royal family dwells (actually, just King Graham and Queen Valanice)) prompty turns into stone, leaving only a peasant named Connor to save the world. While all other KQ games have awarded the player for finding non-violent solutions to problems, Connor must carve a path through the corpses of his many enemies, mutilating them all in gruesome ways (certain foes are only defeated by decapitation, etc.)

But I go on. Mask of Eternity is not in actuality a terrible game. I'm sure it could appeal to many people. But for it to bear the coveted "King's Quest" title is borderline blasphemy. Don't hesitate to purchase if you like the Doom-esque "not much plot- kill everything that moves" genre. But don't ever mistake it for a King's Quest game.

Not what I expected

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Having followed the King's Quest games as they were appearing late 80's/early 90's, I have become a huge fan. The fact that the games did not fall into the fantasy cliche of the dark sword and sorcery junk that floods the market made the games truly a treasure. However, as others have noted, King's Quest 8 was a step in a different direction. They move away from the Royal Family (a mistake in my mind; why should we care for these characters, having only seen a short introduction?). The entire game feels like a fantastical version of Doom. Gone are the witty remarks and likeable characters... everything that Conner says is hugely (over)dramatic, that is when he is not being attacked by punch-throwing mummies (??) or some other hybrid monster. In closing, I would much rather have the early two-dimensional adventures of Graham than the sophisticated graphics of Mask of Eternity.

I'm editing this to give it two stars. I was feeling far too generous when I first wrote this.

KQ fans, skip this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game when it first came out, excited that there was another game to the King's Quest series. I've played all the games except 2 and 3, and love the story of King Graham and his family.

So this game introduced a new character. That's fine. But other than a brief appearance by King Graham in the intro and a flash of him in the finale, and the fact that the first "chapter" of the game takes place in Daventry, this bears no resemblance to the series I loved.

Ambiance - a large percentage of this game takes place in a dark, hard on the eyes environment.

Animation - People say this is good animation, but compared to the easily flowing cartoon quality of KQ7 and the animation used in Quest for Glory 5, this is pathetic. Most of the time your character is half walking in a wall. Yes, I downloaded the patch. But still when you walked alongside a wall or mountain, your foot or shoulder would go through it.

Controls - clunky and hard to manage. You have to use your arrow keys. Manipulating the character's movements is difficult. Then to fight, you have to use the mouse. Also the character doesn't seem to have any automatic avoidance of obstacles, particularly corners and protruding walls. To pick up an item, you have to put your weapon away. Then you have to take it out. To get things out of urns and barrels, you have to smash it with a weapon, put the weapon away, take the item, and then take the weapon back out. Also, gone are the shortcut keys to save as well as autosaving.

Interaction - what interaction? Half the fun of the earlier KQ games (especially 6 and 7) was interacting with other characters to find out hints and clues. Here you mostly wander around mazes to find the right rooms to find the right items. Even the monsters are limited. Kill them from one area, and you don't get any new ones next time you pass that way. In the first 2 levels there is minimal interaction - 3rd level you start to get some more.

Humor - except for some comments by some characters near the end, none. This is basically a dark story.

Plot - minimal. The basic concept - Daventry (and the world) is plunged into dark times by the destruction of the mask of eternity. Connor has to battle through several levels to find the pieces of the mask and return them to their proper place. That's it. The first 7 games could be turned into novels with rich stories. Until levels 5/6, you're really not interacting, not doing anything but fighting and finding what you need.

Music - it's OK. That's it. Nothing spectacular. Nothing memorable.

Sound Effects - annoying. Every time Connor pulled out the war hammer, there was a loud "oof". The same noise came every time he ran into a corner, a wall, or protruding item.

Overall - if you like the kind of game where you run through a maze, shoot baddies, and find objects, this is your game. If you're looking for a sequel to the rich history of the King's Quest series, skip this.

Personally, as I played this I kept comparing the game to Quest for Glory 5 and found that KQ8 paled in comparison. They tried to copy many of the game elements and failed miserably.

A very mixed uneven game.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is the last Kings Quest game to ever be released and it recieved alot of bad reviews from game fans.

This game has both ups and downs.

Ups - Great Graphics! stunning Nintendo 64 quality graphics.
- Alot of fun action in the game with alot of violence and enemies to kill.
- A new take up the realm of daventry.

Downs - Really has no relation to the royal family at all.
- Dosen't seem like a Kings Quest adventure game at all either.
- It appears that this game has really no story thats any good to speak of.
- The fighting isnt really a Kings Quest style game.

So all in all its a very fun game, and a very good game for what's inside of it.

But its a terrible Kings Quest game.

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