Portal of Worlds 2: The Portal of Time
by Daniel Eriksson
Get a QBasic version of Myst gaming!
| You must find the portal of time and find the second Super Power Ball of Demror! | |
| While I like the idea of walking through a world and examining objects, this game fell short of being like Troll's Tale, a game I remember from the Apple II. In it, you basically walked around and picked items up, while learning about the story and the world. You never died in the game, but you did have to avoid the troll. Basically, if you played long enough, you will beat the game. Portal of Worlds 2 is similar in that you cannot lose in this game, but it is not as involving. There doesn't seem to be a large amount of story to be involved in either. Basically you pick things up and try to get access to one of the worlds, but you are left with an uncertainty as to why. My main problem with this game is that you cannot exit it once you start playing. This is annoying because I should not have to keep playing the game if I do not want to. Also annoying is the fact that the game forces you to install it where it wants to be installed. You have no choice in the matter, which is a terrible shame. |
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| The best part of the game. While the first game used wireframes, this game claims to have used Gouraud shading, although it looks more like faceted shading. Of course, this is not in real time but in GIFs that are loaded on each screen. Oddly enough the screen redraws with a flash any time you make a choice, even if you don't leave the area. The game looked pretty cool, but you wish you could explore more of it. | |
| You press numbers corresponding to the choices. No frills. | |
| You get a nice PC speaker intro, and then the game is silent. Once you beat it, you get another bit of fanfare, but that is the extent of the sound in this game. No sound effects when you pick up items or anything of that nature. | |
| This game is not challenging in the least bit. The most you will have trouble with is trying to enter a world without the proper equipment, so you just explore some more until you find what you need. The only other challenge is trying not to press the wrong number when making choices. | |
| I initially was brought back to my younger days, playing on my Apple II....then after I made my first choice I saw that this game was not as involving nor as fun. A game engine like this should have you exploring the countryside or at least capturing you with a story so involving that you would think you were really there. Unfortunately this game does neither of these and basically pulls you towards the end before you realize it. Poorly done. | |
| I felt that the potential was there, but that was it. The game itself fails to bring much in terms of gameplay. If you download this game, do it for the graphics, which are interesting in their own way. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this game. | |
| .exe self-extractor: 255KB download | |
| V Planet |