The Black Cauldron is an old AGI adventure game based on the classic Disney movie. The game follows the story of the movie quite closely and does a great job of providing a player with the sense that they are playing the movie.
The basic story is you play as a pig keeper whose pig can see the future. The evil king of the land wants to use the pig to raise an army of undead soldiers to help him rule the land.
The Black Cauldron is an old AGI adventure game based on the classic Disney movie. The game follows the story of the movie quite closely and does a great job of providing a player with the sense that they are playing the movie.
The basic story is you play as a pig keeper whose pig can see the future. The evil king of the land wants to use the pig to raise an army of undead soldiers to help him rule the land. Your goal is to protect the pig and stop the king. You meet quite a few interesting characters along the way. Some characters include a tribe of fairies, a princess and small dog-like creature and the evil henchmen
of the castle.
The gameplay is very similar to Sierras early quest games however the game play has been made easier by removing the text parsers and replacing it with an action button. This makes the game much easier to play and suits the target audience of the game quite well. There are some annoying 'action' sequences such as climbing a rope and swimming across a river which require save a trial. You also have to remember to drink and eat every now and then to avoid dying. Collecting and using items to solve puzzles is quite straight forward however it is possible to forget to pick up an item then become stuck much later in the game so save often.
The graphics are the standard agi affair but they do a good job of conveying the landscapes from the film. The sounds are the old bleep and bloop of the PC speaker however they are acceptable and not too annoying.
This is a great little adventure game for younger or less experienced adventure gamers. It has a certain charm about it that seems to make a bit more timeless than other sierra games of the same era. If you like the movie at all you will love this game or even if you like fantasy stories you will find some enjoyment in saving the land from the black king. Considering the age of the game it is still highly playable and manages to create an atmosphere for the player to be immersed into.
I would rate this game as 3.5/5 mainly because of the story and charm that the games has but also because it has aged well. I would mainly recommend the game to younger players or people who are familiar with the movie in anyway.
