Companions of Xanth
Game developer: Legend Entertainment
Game publisher: Legend Entertainment
Game release date: November 1993 year
Game status: Released
Legend made some pretty well known adventures when they started like the spell casting series, they were basically interactive fiction but with added graphics. Companions of Xanth was the first game from Legend that had a fully mouse driven interface though the origins of the game are pretty clear, there is for instance a WAIT button something I have never seen before on any other point and click adventure. The interface is fairly obvious with actions on the left, your inventory on the bottom, and the main screen takes up the rest.
The game's intro shows that two demons in de land of Xanth have made a deal, each will pick a mundane (human) who has to win a game. Whoever of the two mundanes wins the game will allow one of the demons to win. You play as Dug, a guy who's girlfriend wants to break up with you and as a dare your friend asks you to play this game called Companions of Xanth or he will be allowed to date your girlfriend. You can pick from four companions but only Nada Nage will actually be helpful since the rest will get you killed right away. Right after that you meet your rival called Kim who notices that you look like a computer screen and deducts that you don't believe in magic or the realness of Xanth which obviously helps her in her quest to win. Neither of you know that you are playing for a demon though.
Right after that you can start the game in earnest and though you are not quite sure what the goal is you do know that you are competing for a mysterious prize. You'll travel throughout Xanth in order to find out what you are looking for and Nada can provide you not only with some advice but in some situations she is crucial to many puzzles. Later on you will switch companions with your rival Kim which is explained in the book Demons don't dream (on which the game was based) which was provided with the game and you'll even have to mount a rescue for Nada after she has been captured.
Some of the puzzles are very obscure to say the least and occasionally you will have to resort to the compendium of Xanth which is provided at the start of the game to look up some facts about Xanth. There are loads of puns in the game like trying to beat the evil Com-Pewter or getting rid of the Censor-ship that censors everything the townspeople say. I know there are people who don't like these puns or kind of humor Legend has in some of their games but I guess you will have to see for yourself how you think of it. I enjoyed the game quite a lot and if you can get hold of the CD version I can recommend it because the voice acting is pretty good.
Game genre: Adventures
Platform/System: MS-DOS Games
Companions of Xanth : Is it worth playing?
