Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse

• CPU: 386/DX 33 MHz
• RAM: 4 MB
• Graphics Card: VGA card

Al- Qadim: The Genie's Curse is a computer game of the U.S. game developer Cyberlore Studios from 1994 It is the first and only computer game, which is located in the campaign world Al- Qadim of the roleplaying rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.. The game is a computer role-playing game with action-adventure elements. It appeared in the distribution of the U.S. developer and publisher Strategic Simulations, Inc..

Action

The events play on the continent Zakhara the fantasy world Abeir - Toril and is an Arabian touch scenario similar to that fairy tale collection 1001. The character is Scion of the noble Al- Hazrad family, one of the leading hotels in the city Zaratan. Has a long- standing feud between Al- Hazrad and competing family Wassab. But just when suggesting a peace between the warring parties, the ship sinks with the Caliph and his daughter, the future wife of the player character. Survivors accuse the Al- Hazrads to be responsible for the shipwreck. This is enhanced by a confession Mulibans, the house spirit of the family, and with the exception of the player character, all family members will be fixed. The player's task is to free his Angehörigena from captivity to restore the family's honor and to free his future bride.

Gameplay

In contrast to the AD & D role-playing games previously released by SSI Al- Qadim has no character creation. The player can have a special name of his character though, the remaining character values ​​and character class as a corsair but implied. The gameplay is presented from a bird's eye view, the player controls his character directly through the game world. As is common in role-playing games, players take on tasks ( quests), for the fulfillment of which he will receive experience points. These may include militant clashes, in some cases, but solvable in a peaceful manner, including some dexterity puzzles. In the battle the player Nahangriffe, remote attacks and magic are available. The armament of the player character is genreunüblich specified with the family sword of Al- Hazrads and a slingshot. However, the continuous collection and upgrading of equipment is not required.

Reception

Editor Michael stallion by the Power Play described the connection of 1001 with its action-packed gameplay of Zelda successful. Both stallion and main tester Volker Weitz described the difficulty as low.

John Terra by the U.S. magazine Computer Shopper certified the game, the Al- Qadim scenario faithfully capture, and praised both graphics and sound " than typical SSI high quality offering." He also praised the handling and interpretation of the theme of honor that WOULD not corny.

Allen Rausch called Al- Qadim: The Genie's Curse in a GameSpy retrospective as an example of the competition between game consoles and the PC. Al- Qadim was SSIs response to the success of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. The result was a game that could ultimately inspire neither console gamers still role players, among other things, due to numerous simplifications of popular RPG principles.

In a similar retrospective on GameSpot authors Andrew Park and Elliott Chin described the game as " one in many Hinsich shortened, simplified role-playing game ," the hardcore RPG fans may not be appealed, the oriented accessibility gameplay but also some trailers found.

For the MMORPG Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands developers handle SSI back to graphics of Al- Qadim to finish the title despite scarce development resources in time.