The Colour of Magic

Baf's Guide

A poor adaptation of the Terry Pratchett novel. Much of the game is spent simlpy waiting for things to happen, and the rest is spent fighting with the parser. The story model is unusually fragile, too: you can put in an unwinnable state by leaving a room when something is about to happen. Pratchett's humor shines, but if you've read the book, you've seen it all already. If you're enough of a Pratchett completist to still want to play this, I strongly suggest following a walkthrough from start to finish. The conversation system is a little odd: before you can speak by using the "SAY" command, you have to indicate who you're addressing by using the "TALK TO" command. Uses Discworld directions (Hubward, Rimward, Turnwise, Widdershins) instead of normal compass directions for travel. Features occasional area illustrations that frankly don't add anything.

-- Carl Muckenhoupt

Crash

"The Colour of Magic is a super book (a Corgi paperback) and therefore the Quilled and Illustrated computer game was always going to be something worth playing. But the Delta 4 team of Judith Child and Fergus McNeil have done a really competent job of coding the concept. The text, like the plot, is very close to the book. The pictures are quite good and the presentation (I particularly liked the full moon which parts to accept your input) is very neat. The game comes in four parts which makes the asking price seem very reasonable. Any money spare should certainly be directed towards purchasing the paperback as without it the game, I'm sure, could appear a little mysterious."
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Your Sinclair

"This four-part adventure begins with Rincewind sitting in a dark corner of the Broken Drum (the pub you can't beat). Rincewind's flat broke and the beer's just flat. Enter Blind Hugh followed by a four-eyed creature, which in turn is followed by a wooden chest trotting in on hundreds of tiny feet. The creature is Twoflower, a tourist, and the chest is his luggage. A certain confusion arises when Twoflower tries to speak, his language being straight out of a phrasebook. Naturally you step in and offer your services, though the landlord tells you the Discworld equivalent of 'Bog off!' Persevere, though, adventure players, as this is where the story really starts.

As this adaptation of Terry Pratchett's fantasy novel has been done for Piranha/Macmillan by Delta 4, you can imagine the results. The combination of Judith Child, Fergus McNeill and Colin Buckett has come up with an adventure that's probably one of the closest I've seen to being truly interactive fiction rather than just problem-solving. I admit to disliking the game the first time I played it, as nothing much seemed to happen, although it did give me a chance to map out Ankh Morpork. On loading it up a second time, however, the story really began to take off."
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