They really cut a lot of corners on SW Fireworld

[Mountain King]

The other day I sat down with the solution to Earthworld and went through the whole game. It was actually a lot of fun even with the solution. I would sit there and look at my sheet, "okay I need to get the grappling hook to Virgo, Shoot I left that in Taurus." And the items have enough of an effect on the game to make it fun. I started to do the same with Fireworld and it was more tedious than anything. Both Earthworld and Water world have better graphics, and music that Fireworld. What did they do to that poor game?

[Tempest]

Earthworld was programmed by Dan Hitchens (sp?) who also did wonderful games like Gravitar and Elevator Action. I thin he paid a little more attention to detail than Tod Frye who programmed Fireworld.

 

Fireworld almost seemed rushed, like it was a prototype that needed some polishing. The mini-games are very buggy and they clues don't seem to relate to anything in the comic book (what does the 01, 02, 03, etc. mean?). Also the difficulty ramps up as you go along making a tough game nearly impossible at the later levels. I also I have to question Todd's choice of colors in the game, sometimes you get a very bright background with very light colored enemies making it impossible to see where you are.

 

All in all I think Fireworld needed about another month of bug fixes and polishing before it should have been released. Atari may have needed the game right away so they may have rushed it (like ET). But to Todd's credit, the game itself is amazingly complex. Try doing something with a complex kernal like that on the 2600 and you'll drive yourself insane. I still don't know how he managed to do it.

 

Tempest

[NE146]

Wait a minute... Earthworld was fun? I thought all the swordquest series games sucked.. But then again, all I've ever played was Fireworld (My sister bought it for me when it was new and let me tell you... it stunk). So that may have colored my perception.

 

Maybe I should give Earthworld a try eh? (solution in hand of course)

[+Cafeman]

I've only tried the Stella roms of these games. Got 'em here at AtariAge. I can't really get into any of them -- they baffle me!

 

Take Earthworld for example. You have this great looking sword on the title screen, something that would look at home on the 5200. Then the game starts and you are this stick figure walking forever through squarish rooms. When you press your button, you go to another room and must maneuver thru ascending and descending walls, thru the hole. Playing with a keyboard, I've never made it. So I stopped trying.

 

I expected more from the games, I suppose. I mean, Adventure seems pretty fun still. So does Haunted House and Raiders, and Riddle of the Sphinx is okay too. But these Swordquests baffle me!

[NE146]

well exactly... I mean what do you do in swordquest fireworld except

 

1. Walk a stick figure around. press button.

2. Go through some really baffling/goofy minigame... and if you're successful (lord knows how that's determined btw)you;

3. enter a room where you can either pick up, or deposit various icons.

 

And that's about it! I could never figure out whether placing the icons in rooms had an effect or carrying them had an effect. I did notice some hallways opened up after doing something, but who knows what it was. There was really no clue to me as to how your were supposed to know what items to drop and where...

 

well... maybe the fact that I lost my Fireworld comic book the first week probably contributed to my lack of understanding of the game or how it could be fun in any way

[StanJr]

Sadly without the comics, these games hold little fun. They end up being a fascinating puzzle where all the pieces look the same. I have always been intrigued by the games themselves simply because of their RPG aspects, but they do not stand alone without the comics very well and can be daunting solve. The mini-games were better in Earthworld, Fireworld was super-sloppy.

My big complaint is that the room screens (or inventory screens where you drop and pick up objects) were hard to mover your cursor in. Push left: nothing. Push left: nothing. Push left: finally move 1 space left or 3 spaces left. AAAARRGGHHHH!

The mythos of Swordquest was incredible, the execution was a little rougher.

 

Swordquesting Stan

[Mountain King]

All I have to say is play Earthworld with the solution in hand. They were on to something with these games that they never fully realized. The games' flaw is that they don't have a clear direction, this was intentional, unfortunatly it made the games difficult and tedious. But when you play with the solution (Earthworld namely) it gives you a direction. Now the fun is not finding the solution, but getting to the solution without screwing yourself up. ie: some objects will allow you to get passed certain rooms. But say you need to get the "Food" to Aquarious, but you left the "Food" in Libra and you can't get to libra beacuse you left the "Key" in Taurus and you sure in hell aren't getting through Taurus because you left the "Leather Armor" in Sagitarius. And you can't even find Sagitarius because you are still holding the friggin "Amulet" that make the rooms appear randomly. Thats where the fun is. If these games had a clearer direction and the objects affected the game play more, then these games would be great.