SwordQuest Earthworld - What was the point?

[rheffera]

Just got this game, and all i see is empty room after empty room, some have items, but i cant take the left or right exits, just continously going up. Yes i have read the HTML manual on AA. no help there either.

 

Look at me im pressing up on my joystick for the next 1/2 hour. What great fun. NOT! Spider Fighter Time.

 

Im glad i just bought a CIB red label secret quest off ebay, it looks to be a promising RPG, unlike this piece of crap.

 

If someone can explain this game to me ill refrain from using it as a coaster after all.

Edited September 23, 2006 by rheffera

[rheffera]

Thats what i thought... No - one can give me a reason not to use it asa coaster

[SeaGtGruff]

Just got this game, and all i see is empty room after empty room, some have items, but i cant take the left or right exits, just continously going up. Yes i have read the HTML manual on AA. no help there either.

It didn't really have much game play (or replay) value, except as part of the SwordQuest contests. Aside from the contests, try thinking of it as a puzzle game rather than as an adventure game. The goal is to figure out how to trigger a series of numeric clue displays by leaving certain objects in certain rooms. Some of the objects will help you by letting you enter the rooms without having to get past the skill-and-action sequences first, or by making it easier to get past the skill-and action sequences, or by letting you take the side exits that you mentioned. And one object hinders you by randomizing the rooms as you move around (i.e., you can't predict where you'll end up when you take one of the exits). Other than that, you might have fun trying to master the skill-and-action sequences, which are sort of like mini-games, except you don't score points by "playing" them.

 

MR

[JacobZu7zu7]

I got this game recently also. I figured out how to play it,

without reading much of the HTML. As of now..

I mastered all the mini-games, ALTHOUGH! I am still clueless

on which Item belongs in which astrology sign room.

Argh, it could be more then 1 too. One time, I did put some items down,

and suddenly a set of two numbers appeared! was that a clue???

I have a question = "Does the game always have the same patterns

for what Items belong in which rooms?"

"Or is it random each time you power up and play?"

I'd really like this game if it wasn't for the minimal gameplay in the

empty rooms, If I could change some things,

I'd put live enimes lurking from room to room and some weapons to attain."

---

I don't like how difficult the item puzzles are.

This game could have been really cool if it had a way to lose,

and a better, easier way to win.

Edited September 23, 2006 by JacobZu7zu7

[Philflound]

Yes, personally I thought this game was useless. Putting items in a room is very boring. I guess it went downhill and that's why they never came out with Airworld. The best thing about these games are the comic books.

 

Phil

[Ranthulfr]

Thats what i thought... No - one can give me a reason not to use it asa coaster

 

The cartridge will look better sitting on a shelf beside Fireworld if it doesn't have a condensation ring on the label.

[Vic George 2K3]

Good for collectors, rather useless for gamers.

[Dirt Gherkin]

"Swordquest Earthworld - What was the point?" To Atari marketing execs, it was to sell a buttload of games. I remember getting this game for (I think it was my) tenth birthday. That was a bitter birthday. I read and re-read the manual, comic book, poster... anything to make me believe I was missing something. To Atari's credit it wasn't a terrible idea and a good innovation, but the games needed more playability than to be just a contest entry form. Still, that's just my opinion.

[DaveD]

Yep, I also remember getting this game way back when it first came out. I fell for the marketing gimmick. I was very disappointed when I actually got it. I convinced myself that I was just too dumb to figure out the game because I didn't want to think I just got taken for $30 of my hard-earned money!

 

Almost as disappointing as the BASIC programming cart I got back then. I was convinced I was going to make myself an Astrosmash clone once I got the cart. Talk about disappointing. Why would anyone even manufacture a custom piece of hardware (the keypad) just for that cart? Total waste. Was there any other cart that even used that keypad?

[+FujiSkunk]

Was there any other cart that even used that keypad?

 

Several, actually.

 

The Video Touch Pad and the Kid's Controller are really just keyboard controllers in fancier shells, so you can add Star Raiders and most of the Sesame Street games to that list as well.

Edited September 25, 2006 by skunkworx

[Godzilla]

The numbers refer to panels in the comic book that themselves have hidden clues to find relating back to the game. I thought it was pretty ingenious myself, at the time, and I was totally in to it. I bought earth, fire and water back in the day. For me, there was something magical about those games then. (I think it was the sword title screen that was so shiny and unlike most anything I had seen at the time that promised of untold rewards if I won the game...) Now, though, they have lost some of their shine...

[G.Whiz]

I think Atari had always planned a sequel to its successful Adventure -- there were references to "Adventure II" for years in those clip-out order forms at the back of Electronic Games, etc. -- and eventually it turned into this four-cart epic. As for the game play, that's classic Atari thinking. By then, the news of the Easter Egg in the first had broke. And of course, what's better than an Easter Egg? A whole game full of them! Management sure missed the boat (and the whole point) on that one...

 

Hacker, I think, is a good example of taking the Easter Egg idea and turning it into a full game.

 

~G

[phitter]

$$$?