Pyramid: Review: Return to Krondor

Pyramid Review

Return to Krondor

Published by Sierra Studios

$39.95
Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 166+, 24 MB RAM, SVGA, high-color, 4x CD-ROM drive, Windows-compatible sound card. Recommended: Pentium 200+, 32 MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM, 3D accelerator card.
As a loyal fan of Raymond Feist's Riftwar saga and subsequent novels set in Midkemia, I thoroughly enjoyed Sierra's faithful rendering of that milieu in their 1994 release, Betrayal at Krondor. I've eagerly awaited the sequel, Return to Krondor, since the moment I heard it was in development. Unfortunately, Return fails to live up to the standard set by Betrayal.
In Return to Krondor, you play Squire James, aka Jimmy the Hand, one of the main characters from Feist's novels. He is accompanied at first by a Krondorian guardsman named William, another character from the later novels. Along the way, you pick up additional characters unique to the game -- Jazhara, a Keshian mage; Solon, a warrior priest of Ishap; and Kendaric, a mage from the Wrecker's Guild. True to Feist's style, the main characters separate and go off on their own directions through the game's 11 chapters. The story revolves around the search for a magical artifact, the Tear of the Gods, recently lost in a shipwreck. While James, Solon, and the magi scramble to raise the ship and retrieve the Tear, William tracks Bear, a madman bent on obtaining the relic for his own ends.
The story is good, but the game sticks to the story at the expense of player . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: January 15, 1999

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