King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

There are some video games that, when played as a child, will capture your imagination and hold it forever. The adventures of Prince Alexander of Daventry in the Land of the Green Isles is exactly one of those games.

For a basic game summary, the King's Quest VI storyline sees King Graham take a back seat in adventuring to son Alexander, who, in his longing for a young maiden seen in the magic mirror, sets off on a quest to find the young lady. Alexander's travels take him to a chain of exotic, yet politically turmoiled, islands from which the search for fair Cassima takes many exciting twists.

In terms of controls, this game takes the same form as KQ5, that being point and click. Think of it as "Myst Lite" from a third-person perspective. As Alexander, you basically go around solving "simple" (or not so simple!) logic puzzles, except (unlike Myst) the puzzles are based not on mechanical devices but on crazy cartoon characters and exotic locals. You'll find yourself, in this game alone, meeting a bookworm, participating in an honest to goodness fairytale, scaling a cliff, and entering the underworld, among other places.

What makes this game the best of the entire KQ series, though, is the cleaning out of bugs and great storyline. From the very beginning, you (the player) are drawn into Alexander's moreso than any King Graham adventure. The voice acting is superb, the characters are all interesting, and the plot unfolds in a way that keeps you involved yet challenged to find "the next thing". Also, no more "Heap Space" error, or missing something in the very beginning that cuts you down in the end. By and large, this game won't let you move on to the next adventure until you have all the required supplies/experience. It isn't perfect, but it isn't nearly as infuriating as its predecessors could be in that area.

Overall, the simple fact is that King's Quest 6 remains one of the most purely entertaining video games I have ever played. I have probably played the game through at least 4-5 times all the way through (introducing various family/friends to Alexander and his magic map!) and it never gets old. The perfect blend of drama, action, adventure, puzzling, and just pure wholesome fun!

This is the best one of the King's Quest games. My friend and I will spend all day playing it, watching it unfold like a movie. The characters are different. There is such a wide variety of people and creatures you could never be bored. The puzzles are great. Going to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain is one of the best adventures. Everything is so well thought out and creative (and I mean creative as in, yes, the idea has been done before, but the way it is done is terrific). Plus, it's funny to try and image Robby Benson saying "Zounds".

This game is one of the treasures of my childhood. I grew up playing KQ4-7, (They're how I got so good at spelling! What other 5-year-olds could spell "Go Under Bridge"?) and this one is my favorite. It is hilarious, creative, and contains a wonderful fantasy world. The puzzles are tests of lateral-thinking, and the landscape is rife with puns. The characters are memorable, and the storyline is engaging. My favorite part was the Dangling Participle, found on the Isle of the Beast. I also loved to play the labyrinth over and over again, and would imagine myself stalking and being stalked by the minotaur. What more could anyone want?

The story: You're Prince Alexander (Gwydion from King's Quest 3) and you've travelled to the Land of the Green Isles to meet Princess Cassimma (Mordac's servant girl from King's Quest 5 who was rescued by Alexander's father King Graham). However enroute Alexander gets shipwrecked which leaves him stuck there, and to make matters worse Cassimma's parents both died while she was gone and is now being forced to marry the Vizier who has assumed power since their death. In addition to this all the islands that make up the country are bickering with each other over the loss of of their prized treasures (whom each believes another island has stolen). Can Alexander sort out this mess and be reunited with Cassimma?

The 6th game in the famous King's Quest saga was unfortunately the beginning of the end for the series. Whilst the game had a good protagonist and the story was interesting it just never gelled for me. Most of the puzzles on a particular island were often only solvable by doing tasks on other islands that gave no indication of order or logic - usually the only way to get through the game was keep continuing as far as you could on a particular island and then try somewhere else when you hit a dead end (often resulting in major reloads back to earlier points in the game). This coupled with the now infamous 'sudden death syndrome' (ie. a sudden game ending scenario with no forewarning that occurs simply because you forgot to do something earlier in the game) that plagued nearly all Sierra adventure games made it very frustrating to play. Whilst it could be argued that many of the other games in the series are also guilty of this, all the King's Quest games (up until King's Quest 5) relied a lot on classic fairy tales for their stories and puzzles which helped give the player clues on how to proceed. From Number 5 onwards though the writers became more dependant on their own story ideas which just made it more confusing for gamers as they had no known source material to draw inspiration from.

The thing that really hurt this game (and the series as a whole) however was the competition that was now coming out. Games such as the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Alone in the Dark plus a little game called Myst were bringing fresh ideas to a growing-stale genre and Sierra was still stuck in the past (most of the King's Quest games - and most of the other Quest games for that matter played a lot alike each other). King's Quest 6 did try to branch out a bit by supplying a few different endings and 2 different routes to the end but this was a bit too little, too late for many gamers.

All in all, the game held promise but was unfortunately out of date with the times in which it was release and most gamers knew it. The next King's Quest game (King's Quest 7: The Princeless Bride) was released 2 years later in 1994 and flopped, and when the latest (and last) King Quest game (King's Quest 8: Mask of Eternity) was released in 1998 it abandoned most of the standard elements of the series in favour of a more action-oriented game with a 3D engine to try and draw in new fans.

In the end, play if you're a big fan of the series, but adventure gamers may be better of looking at some other games from around the same time (see previously mentioned games in the 3rd paragraph).

Yes, I think this was probably the best King's Quest ever. It's certainly my favorite. I've played them all, but none were quite like KQ6. For one thing, Alexander is probably the most compelling character a game could have. Of all the quests, his is the most compelling, exciting, and even touching.

Aside from that, the interface is convenient, the gameplay is smooth, and the puzzles are challenging, but they're possible. And for once, not having to be constantly on the lookout for enemies to hack apart is kind of a relief. So go play King's Quest, you'll be better for it.