Transylvania

The Good
"Transylvania" (1982) was one of the first computer games I played on the Apple II/GS. I had never played a graphic adventure game before and instantly fell in love with the graphics, strange locations and characters as well as the text based commands. The storyline smoothly mixes fantasy, horror and even science fiction elements together and it requires a healthy bit of creative thinking, and a sense of humor, to solve all the puzzles in time to save the princess.

The Bad
Initially, one of the challenges with the game was figuring out the precise word commands. In the days before the user friendly, point n' click interface of adventure gaming, you needed to type in your commands. The game had a time limit, which bothered me, and a steep limit on the number of items that you could carry at once, which could get really annoying.

The Bottom Line
"Transylvania" (1982) is the first in an exciting trilogy of graphic adventure games from the folks at Penguin Software. It’s got humor, mystery as well as some familiar creatures from fantasy, horror and science fiction genres. All of the games in the trilogy are certainly worth playing.

The Good
Transylvania is one of those games that helped to define and improve upon the genre. Adventure games would now have text and graphics (pretty darn cool for the day).

You play a hero on a quest to rescue a kidnapped princess, which seems simple, but this is actually one complex and well designed adventure game.

The princess will die at dawn, and even if you do manage to find her, you still need to master a bit of magic to wake her up, and safely return her to her father.

What's stopping you? A vampire hangs out in the castle, and a werewolf is hunting you where ever you go. Both monsters will take great delight in feasting on your body.

In addition, their is a rude goblin with a key, a black cat guarding a witch's home, and an imprisoned extraterrestrial (yeah, you read that right) who will be very grateful for your assistance.

Solving these and other puzzle requires exploring the games many different locations, picking up items (don't try to carry too much) and, hopefully, saving the princess.

The Bad
The game uses a fairly limited vocabulary, as did many early adventure games, which can add an extra layer of difficulty in solving certain puzzles.

The Bottom Line
Transylvania is a fun text and graphic adventure game that will give you some chills, thrills and even a warm chuckle. The first in a trilogy of games, it is unfortunate that only the first entry in the series has been given a re-release.