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‘Dream the dream...’
After a long absence the famous development team Magnetic Scrolls reappears in spring 1990. The curious ‘Fish!’ was their last adventure (actually it was ‘Myth’, but this game was never released outside of the U.K.) - and that was back in 1988! In the last one and a half year the team around Anita Sinclair had worked on a new adventure: ‘Wonderland’...
After its release on the PC the critics were great – it was one of the best text adventures at this time. However, it didn’t sell well. One of the principal reasons was a well known competitive product: ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’...
Because both programs were released at the very same time, adventure fans preferred the Lucas Arts product (certainly a great game, too!). In late 1990 text adventures weren’t as popular as in the past years. The ‘point and click’ adventure however, started its triumphal procession...
In summer 1991 ‘Wonderland’ was ported to the Amiga. Unfortunately on standard Amigas (1 MB main memory) the game loses much of its charm. But first things first...
‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland’...
Certainly the storyline of the game is based on the world-famous novel by Lewis Carroll. Readers of the book may have an advantage, but even people who didn’t know it will be able to solve the adventure – especially there’s an ‘online help’ like in the previous Magnetic Scrolls titles. So, if you confronted with a serious problem, you can make use of it. But in contrast to the prequels, where you’ve to type in terribly long codes, here a new system has been used. That lists the several topics, which are corresponding to the current situation. By clicking with the mouse pointer on the respective option, the solution will be uncovered stepwise...
Actually the whole user guidance was redesigned. Especially for ‘Wonderland’ the development team creates ‘Magnetic Windows’ – an interface similar to ‘Microsoft Windows’. Also here the player’s able to arrange the several windows on the screen or alter their size. Altogether there are six of them: session window, graphics window, map window, compass window, inventory window and ‘items in room’ window. Additionally the program offers ‘pull-down’ menus...
In plain language this means, that the player isn’t solely confined to the keyboard – he can select the most common verbs as well as substantives via mouse click. In the same manner you’re able to save or load your progress. Objects, locations and people will be depicted by small icons. Moreover ‘Wonderland’ features ‘automapping’ – similar to a role-playing game. By using the map window the player can revisit places without delay – one click on the respective icon will do it...
By pushing the right mouse button, while the pointer’s on a symbol, a context menu opens up – that displays the possible actions which are available at the current moment. Actions the player can’t use are greyed out. The compass window has two functions: primarily it allows you to move around - by clicking on the directional arrows (including ‘up’ and ‘down’) Alice sets herself in motion. On the other hand it marks all exits of the current location...
As you can see, there are three possible ways to play the game:
1. via traditional text input
2. via ‘pull-down’ menus
3. via context menus (right mouse button)
The interface for the text input is similar to a word processing program: several fonts and font sizes are available and even a ‘copy and paste’ function is integrated...
Furthermore by using ‘drag and drop’ you’re able to move items directly into the inventory window – just like in the adventures of the company Icom Simulations (e.g. ‚Déjà Vu II – Lost in Las Vegas‘) – cool! In theory you could play ‘Wonderland’ in style of a pure ‘point and click’ adventure...
From Book to Game...
So much to tell about the new user interface ‘Magnetic Windows’ – and so little to tell about the background story of ‘Wonderland’ itself. That is all-too familiar: during a family outing to the country, little Alice feels bored. Because her sister isn’t a good playmate, too, she runs away and catches sight of a white rabbit in a waistcoat carrying a watch. ‘Oh dear, oh dear! I’m too late!’, it mumbles frequently...
After she loses sight of it, she discovers its paw prints – these lead to a close-by burrow. ‘Cause Alice is a very curious girl she climbs down it and the adventure begins. During her excursion in ‘Wonderland’ she’ll meet such illustrious figures as the Cheshire Cat, the Hookah Smoking Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and of course the evil Queen of Hearts...
Unlike to the prequels, like e.g. ‘Corruption’, this time every place has its own picture – sometimes they are even animated! Admittedly they don’t fill the whole screen anymore – they appear quite small. Nevertheless the graphics are very nice again. Here and there you can even hear background music – great...
The texts are very well written and the deep atmosphere of the game casts a spell over the player in a moment. The user guidance is extremely easy to handle and the several puzzles are always solvable. Furthermore the adventure is very huge and you’ll need weeks to complete it! Also the program is much diversified – so there’s no place for boredom...
Baggage...
Not only the game itself is extensive, but also the content of the box: besides the four disks and the manual, the player gets a quick reference card, a nice poster and a map...
A High Admission Fee...
However, visiting ‘Wonderland’ requires a high performance. It’s strongly recommended to install the program on hard drive, because loading times appear quite often (and are quite time-consuming!)...
Furthermore there are four graphics modes:
1. low resolution 16 colours
2. medium resolution 4 colours
3. high resolution (interlaced) 16 colours
4. high resolution monochrome (no graphics)
The second and fourth possibility represent a kind of temporary solution and also the first option isn’t ideal: because here the screen is so small, that the several windows overlap each other constantly. Moreover in that mode the graphics are very grainy and appear acutely ugly...
The third option is doubtlessly the best choice. However, it requires a fast turbo board and a multiscan monitor – on standard monitors the graphics flicker badly! If you fulfil these conditions then nothing stands in the way for a fabulous game experience...
The Consequence...
Because ‘Magnetic Windows’ enjoys a great popularity, Anita Sinclair and her team decides to use that system on some of their older titles. So in late 1991 the ‘Magnetic Scrolls Collection’ was released. That contained the three all-time classics ‘The Guild of Thieves’, ‘Corruption’ and ‘Fish!’ – all these games were equipped with the comfortable user interface of ‘Wonderland’ and now shined in new splendour...
Here and there even new graphics and animations were included, which wasn’t contained in the original games. On the other hand the beautiful title pictures and their background music had been cancelled...
'Everyone has read ‘Wonderland’... but only one has dreamed it... until now!’...
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Although they're quite small, the (animated) graphics can satisfy. Also the innovative user interface looks very smart...
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The few background melodies sound quite nice – no more, no less. Sound-fxs are inexistent (like in the previous games)...
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The rating relates to an optimal performance – hard drive, turbo board and multiscan monitor are inevitable. Otherwise it makes no real fun. However, the novel user interface is impeccable...
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| With ‘Wonderland’ Magnetic Scrolls had created an absolutely masterpiece! Particularly the new user guidance add zest to the almost brilliant program. Sadly this book adaption was the last great opus of Magnetic Scrolls (at least on the Amiga). After the release of ‘The Legacy – Realm of Terror’ – a PC role-playing game – in 1993, the once legendary development team vanished into thin air... |
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