King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella is arguably the greatest of the King's Quest chronicles. We begin our story immediately following Rosella's rescue from the evil three headed dragon by her brother Alexander. With the family together, King Graham must choose an heir to the throne. As he tosses his hat across the room to Rosella and her brother, he is leveled by a severe heart attack. Distraught, Rosella finds herself wishing she could help in some way when what should come to her help but a magic mirror.
Rosella learns that she can help her father by obtaining a certain fruit that grows in the mystical land of Tamir.
In Tamir, we start with nothing but the hope that we will soon see our ailing father and rescue him from his fate. The path to the cure is challenging, but very fulfilling one. Along the way, Rosella meets many creatures and crosses paths with many of our favourite children’s stories from the Seven Dwarfs, to Jack and Beanstalk, to the Frog Prince. Danger lurks around every corner and if you’re not ready for it, you will surely jump off of your seat a few inches when it rears its head. I died a hundred times trying to climb those darn steps and every
time is was shocked by that classic falling sound.
The game play is one for the old-school gamer. If you can type fast, you’ll do better. In fact, because of this game, I can type ‘open door’ faster then anyone I know. The games ‘map’ is quite large and Rosella is free to roam just about anywhere, making the journey that much more difficult.
As for the graphics, they are the classic scheme but are much better then the previous games in this series. Accompanied with the classic music, you’re sure to be whisked away to a time where gaming was far more simplistic then today’s current hi-tech juggernauts.
To summarize, this is one of my favourite games of all time. If you want it to, it will keep you occupied for weeks whilst you try and solve the many puzzles and riddles that it offers you. Of course, if you’re impatient, you can always Google the walkthrough :).
I was excited to see that I could download it and play it again, and I encourage you to do the same…you will not be dissatisfied!
