Alert: Princess trapped in a dungeon below a castle; hero needed to rescue her! Castle Adventure delivers exactly what it promises: An old-school treasure hunt set first in a forest (where else?), then after a brief interlude in a cave going into a castle and its dungeon where you will encounter a mildly amusing, because completely politically incorrectly portrayed princess. Along the way, you will encounter predominantly undescribed or at least underdescribed locations which you have to map, nice and logical puzzles, mazes and lots of dead ends. To put it another way: It was a delight to play, because it did everything right – if you like this sort of thing which was heavily in style in the 80s.
The House at the End of Rosewood Street is a game which has raised quite a few eyebrows with its players. It includes an interesting plot, it is stylistically well written, but it does not work as a game at all. I guess we agree this far?
Well, unless you have a very lose definition of what constitutes a 'game' and what is rather cumbersome work, I can fully agree with this. As with every work, something can come to fruition from it. However, the question to ask is, whether it is really worth it.
Manual and box already catch the eye of the mystery fan, as – using a lot of dark colours – they summon up a story of magicians in parallel worlds, about magical portals and about a hub called Nietoom. The aura of the phantastic genre is there. The manual also helps understanding the game's starting screen. You find yourself in the bedroom of your late grandfather who, until his death, researched the location of this portal of worlds. The room is shown with a crooked horizon line and the player's avatar is actually nowhere to be seen. Maybe the now missing grandfather is supposed to be symbolic for a world in turmoil. In order to leave the room and to really start your task, you have to – as described in the manual – search the side of the screen until you find a door in the back of the viewpoint. It is only in the next room – the upper staircase of the mansion – that you can actually take a look at the protagonist: a youthful figure neatly dressed in a kind of dressing gown, sporting full, perfectly groomed hair. Though is this prissy grandson the character a Lucas Arts afficionado would like to identify with?
