The Colonel's Bequest

Game developer: Sierra On-Line
Game publisher: Sierra On-Line
Game release date: October 1989 year
Game status: Released

The Colonel's Bequest is somewhat of a departure from regular Sierra adventures, it is a bit of a murder mystery in which you play a very important part. You star as Laura Bow, a student of Tulane university in New Orleans, who has been asked by her friend to join her in her mansion. During dinner Henri Dijon, the colonel, reveals that he will share his fortune with everyone present except for Laura. The people start to fight about who will get the biggest share and soon people start turning up dead and you will have to figure out who's the killer.

The game begins right after the intro and you are in your room where you are staying the night. Progress is split up in eight acts covering an hour each, each hour is split into 15 minute segments in which you get to explore the mansion and find clues to what is going on. This can be objects but more often you will have to listen in on conversations as most of the people aren't willing to talk with you a lot. While snooping in you will find out a lot about the relationships the people in the house have and wether or not they are good or bad. Once you discover certain clues the clock will advance to the next segment. Very often you will find the bodies of people lying around and you sometimes get the feeling you might be the next victim as well. Even if the killer doesn't get you there are other dangers around like crocodiles and apparently Laura can't swim well either as you drown when you fall into the water.

Laura Bow is probably one of the lesser known adventure games from Sierra though there was a sequel made so it did have some following. The interface is your standard Sierra affair where you can walk around but have to type in actions. The graphics though only EGA are quire good and are more realisticly drawn than the less serious adventures. There no points system like most Sierra games but there is replay value because you can revisit the game after you get some clues as to what events you mist the first time. All in all a great addition to any adventure gamers collection.

Game genre: Adventures, Logic Games, Puzzles
Platform/System: MS-DOS Games, Amiga Games, Atari ST Games