Developed by Adventure Soft and published by Blittersoft in 1994

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Foreword: I noticed that the CD32 version plays speech through the left channel only, which sounds rather peculiar. Therefore, I decided to convert the sound from stereo to mono so that speech and music play through both channels simultaneously to improve enjoyment of this fantastic game.

One of the biggest advantages that the Amiga (and PC) platforms afforded gamers over the older 8-bit microcomputers, aside from the obvious increase in graphical and audio fidelity, was the inclusion of the mouse. The ability to control a cursor and to move it anywhere on screen, with a level of precision that has yet to be bettered even today, gave rise to a multitude of new gaming genres and ideas that simply weren't possible before. As an evolution of the text-based adventure, the the mouse gave rise to the 'point-and-click' adventure, a genre that remained popular for well over a decade before falling out of favour.

While LucastArts and Sierra were churning out classics like Monkey Island and the Quest series of adventures across the pond, plucky Brit-soft developer, Adventure Soft, released Simon the Sorcerer on Amiga and PC platforms in 1993.

Although the initial release came on floppy disks, the advent of affordable, consumer-grade CD-ROM technology meant that a revolution was unfolding in the world of gaming. Whereas adventure games had been limited to text to represent character's speech, the new CD technology allowed developers to produce 'talkie' versions of their games, with a full digital voice-overs recorded by real actors. Simon the Sorcerer would receive a 'talkie' edition in 1994, launching on PC CD-ROM and Amiga CD32 formats. Voiced by Chris Barrie (Red Dwarf and The Brittas Empire), this remains one of my favourite point-and-click adventures.

The player controls Simon by using the on-screen cursor to move around and to interact with objects by selecting from one of the action 'verbs' located to the bottom of the screen. Much of the game focuses on solving puzzles and working out where items should be used in order to progress the story.

As a character, Simon is an ordinary teenager who gets sucked into a parallel dimension and is tasked with defeating the evil wizard, Sordid, and saving the world from certain doom. Although initially a generally likeable, if somewhat sarcastic teenager, Simon shares similarities with Rincewind, the hapless wizard and one of the the pantheon of (much missed) Terry Pratchett's Discworld characters. Much like Rincewind, Simon solves problems using common sense and practical solutions than by actual magic.

Many of the game's locations and characters are influenced by folklore and childhood fairy tales, usually spiced up with a twist of distinctly British humour. Much of the game's dialogue is genuinely funny and there are some great animated sequences that are guaranteed to amuse even the grumpiest of gamers. Of all the game's scenes, my personal favourite remains the one involving the three billy goat's gruff, a picketing troll and a whistle...

One thing that struck me whilst recording the video was just how beautiful the game's artwork is. Although I played the game on PC CD when it originally launched, I don't think I really gave much though to just how much time and effort must have gone into drawing all the background artwork and animating the sprites for each of the cut-scenes. In fact, many of the game's screens feature no interactive elements and are there to increase the sense of walking through a living, breathing world, but still required the same attention to detail as the rest of the scenes.

The fully voiced narration, courtesy of Chris Barrie and the rest of the cast really helps to bring the game (and story) to life. Considering this is still an early example of a 'talkie' CD adventure, the professionalism with which the actors deliver their lines is admirable and none of the performances feel wooden. There are a couple of sections where the audio files are missing or are rather scratchy, something that quality assurance failed to pick up, but they're not crucial to the story and don't spoil enjoyment of the game. The only thing wrong with the game, and something of a surprising omission, is the inability to display the original subtitled text/speech - you are utterly reliant on being able to hear the game's audio and speech.

Blessed with great sound, amazing graphics and a unique sense of humour, Simon the Sorcerer is a great adventure game and one that any fan of the genre really should take the time to play.
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