Jewels of Darkness#Colossal Adventure

{{Infobox video game

|title = Jewels of Darkness

|image = Jewels of Darkness Cover.jpg

|caption = MS-DOS cover art

|developer = Level 9

|publisher = Telecomsoft

|released = 1986

|genre = Interactive fiction

|modes = Single-player

|platforms = Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum

}}

Jewels of Darkness is a trilogy of text adventure games by Level 9. The individual games were initially released separately in 1982. They featured some themes and names inspired by the books of J. R. R. Tolkien and so became known as the Middle-Earth Trilogy. The individual releases were available for the BBC Micro unlike the compilation.

In 1986 the three games were revised, expanded and rereleased together as a compilation. For legal reasons the references to Middle Earth were removed and the trilogy was retitled Jewels of Darkness. The games include simple static graphics.

The games

=''Colossal Adventure''=

An expanded version of the original Adventure by Will Crowther and Don Woods

=''Adventure Quest''=

Similar in structure to the previous game, the player must defeat the Dark Lord, Agaliarept.

=''Dungeon Adventure''=

A continuation of the previous game; following the defeat of the Dark Lord, Agaliarept, the player must explore his dungeon looking for treasure.

Reception

{{Video game reviews

| rev1 = Zzap!

| rev1Score = 92%

}}

Computer Gaming World stated that the compilation's claim that the games had been "significantly revised to incorporate the latest innovative techniques" was false. It described the puzzles as illogical, the Commodore version's graphics as "crude", and, like the parser, below the standard of previous Firebird text adventures.{{cite magazine | title=Jewels of Darkness | magazine=Computer Gaming World | issue=44 | date=February 1988 | url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1988&pub=2&id=44 | access-date=24 April 2016 | last=Seacat | first=Douglas | pages=23, 26}}

"[The graphics are] colourful but they're not great works of art. And the location descriptions and scenarios have always struck me as being good enough on their own."

Zzap! issue sept. 1986Jewels of Darkness review in Zzap! issue 17, sept. 1986, p. 74, ISSN 0954-867X [http://www.zzap64.co.uk/cgi-bin/displaypage.pl?issue=17&page=74&magazine=zzap here] It received a Your Sinclair Megagame award.Your Sinclair magazine, Reviews section, issue 13, page 104

References

External links

{{WoS game|id=0011293}}
{{abime|id=797}}
{{Lemon64 game|id=1369}}
{{Lemon Amiga game|id=3129}}
[http://l9memorial.if-legends.org/html/jdt.html Jewels of Darkness] at The Level 9 Memorial
[http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/jewels-of-darkness/ Jewels of Darkness] at The Bird Sanctuary
[http://www.c64sets.com/set.html?id=105 Images of Commodore 64 version of Colossal Adventure box and manual] at C64Sets.com