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About the StoryThe Pawn is an adventure game set in the magical world of Kerovnia during a period of tremendous social upheaval. Game Details
Language: English (en)
Current Version: Unknown License: Commercial Baf's Guide ID: 1322 IFID: MAGNETIC-1 TUID: a3ege93gjofe5q0m |
Crash
"Getting quite a way into the adventure there are some areas which suggest some largess on the part of the instructions. I have already mentioned the occasional relapse by the program when it chooses to ignore the second part of a complex sentence. The examine command (where, like most words, EXAMINE must be spelled out fully, along with long words such as floorboards) can be helpful, as in EXAMINE GRAVEL, 'The gravel is small pieces of black stone', can miss entirely as with 'What black stones?', or give a reply which may or may not be comical, 'The arms are quite long for the time of year.' It's worth noting here that EXAMINE and LOOK IN are subtly different commands, bringing about fundamental changes in your fortunes should you learn how to use them properly. On another occasion you are told how you cannot see a tree when you are in a forest while, despite the instructions boasting many weird and wonderful adjective recognitions, the program does not comprehend LOOSE in the command EXAMINE LOOSE FLOORBOARD. Let's stay with this one to lead me into one or two misgivings I have with the plot. EXAMINE FLOORBOARD replies 'large and very solid' yet levering the board with the hoe achieves nothing but doing something a lot simpler gets the result. However, more worrying in terms of a credible plot is the pouch which doesn't seem to exist until you have fetched the guru his water, an act totally unconcerned with the appearance of the pouch. Such inconsistencies pull the plot into an ever tightening feel of linearity."
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SPAG
The parser is quite good but has its niggles. Especially in reference to English and some objects. The most noticable bug is the "white" one: you have in your inventory "you are carriny a white" which turns out to be a white light. Kinda dodgy and should have been picked up in bug testing.
The puzzles are very crafty and logical. Hands up those of you who got stuck trying to move the boulder!
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SynTax
Here is a text adventure of the highest order. Now don't switch off because I mentioned that awful word "text". Magnetic Scrolls adventures are well-presented with good graphics to accompany the words. And it is the words that raise their games above the others in the field. The quality of humour is not strained. I mean you don't get the forced humour of some other games I could think of. And there is plenty of drama and excitement thrown in.
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Page 6
I first heard of The Pawn about two years ago when our illustrious Editor told me about a great new Adventure for the ST that had unbelievable graphics (I think he was just trying to get me to buy an ST!). Computer & Video Games previewed The Pawn in April 1986. The article was chock full of superlatives and the accompanying review gave it full marks. I could hardly wait for the 8-bit version to be released.
As The Pawn became available for more and more machines, the computer press gave it rave reviews and glowing comments. Imagine my disappointment when I did eventually buy the game and found it to be a bit of a dog! What had happened? How had the computer community been so thoroughly conned?
When I re-read all the reviews, I realised that some reviewers had been hoodwinked by personal demonstrations from the staff of Magnetic Scrolls. They had obviously been shown how 'clever' the program was without being shown all its shortcomings – not to mention its bugs! Of all the reviews I read, only one of the reviewers had actually completed the game! The others had wandered about the countryside and hadn't even solved any puzzles! This is disgraceful. The end result was (in my opinion) the greatest marketing swindle in Adventure history.
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v.11: 18-Jun-2022 12:32 -
Garry Francis
(Current Version)
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v.10: 02-May-2018 16:28 - DonaldJohnson Changed license type | |
v.9: 02-May-2018 16:06 - DonaldJohnson Changed Web site URL | |
v.8: 09-Jul-2016 09:36 - necromancer Changed download links | |
v.7: 17-May-2013 20:05 - Eq Changed description | |
v.6: 03-Mar-2013 15:08 - Edward Lacey Changed external review links | |
v.5: 20-Nov-2010 14:13 - cas Changed IFIDs | |
v.4: 06-Sep-2009 15:53 - Rob Changed author | |
v.3: 13-Jan-2009 14:03 - Fredrik Changed external review links | |
v.2: 21-Feb-2008 19:16 - Emily Short Changed cover art | |
v.1: 29-Sep-2007 20:49 - IFDB
Created page |