Kingdom O' Magic

Infobox VG| title = Kingdom O' Magic


developer = SCi
publisher = SCi
designer =
engine =
released = 1996
genre = Comic adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ELSPA: 15+
USK: 6+
platforms = MS-DOS
media = 2 CD-ROMs
requirements = CPU: 486 DX33
RAM: 8 MB
CD-ROM drive: double-speed
Hard disk space: 10 MB
Display: VGA
Sound: SoundBlaster/GUS/Adlib/Ensoniq Soundscape/Roland Rap-10/Microsoft Sound System
OS: MS-DOS 5.0
input = Keyboard and mouse

Kingdom O' Magic (KOM) is a video game released by SCi in 1996. It is a comedic point and click adventure game, filled with bizarre humour, as seen in the instruction manual: "First published in 1876 under the title '101 fun things To Do with Trolls'. However the version on CD-ROM is specially calibrated for short people with red hair".

The game is a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, as seen in the names of some of the places in the game such as Rivendull and Minar Tragedy.

It was designed by Fergus McNeill who became famous during the eighties for games such as "Bored of the Rings" (influenced by, but not adapted from, the Harvard Lampoon book) and "The Boggit".

KOM was planned for release on four different systems: MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Apple Macintosh but fell through for the Sega Saturn.

Characters

;Thidney the Lizard Bloke, voiced by John Sessions.:"A seven-feet tall bright green lizard, with cherry disposition and a super tail! Thidney enjoys action movies, sport and drinking massive quantities of ale. He isn't brilliant at casting spells but, in his favour, he can sustain a lot of blows to the head with virtually no noticeable change to his mental ability.";Shah-Ron the Girlie, voiced by Lani Minella.:5"9, very intelligent, and built like a babe from planet Comely, she's a go-getting girl who has no desire to work with children or old people, and who hates all animals, especially the cute furry ones. Highly skilled at magic, she has little interest in more physical aspect of combat.

Quests

* The Good, Old Fashioned, Traditional Quest - "Here you and you alone must travel the length and girth of the Kingdom, battling monsters, righting wrongs and lowering property value wherever you go, until you can finally rescue the dragon, steal the princess and kill the treasure!"
* The Magnificent 7-11 Quest - "Flake town is going to be invaded, and you have been personally selected to wander aimlessly round the Kingdom, recruiting between 7 and 11 of the toughest characters you can find to help defend the liberty of the floating metropolis!"
* The Bizarre & Slightly Twisted Quest - "Oooooh it's dangerous! Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to prevent the end of civilisation as we know it (hey, bet you'd never heard that from a computer game before!) by seeking out and uncovering the Lost Lava Lamp Of The Ancient and, time permitting, thrashing the Dark Lord to within an inch of his life!"

Overview

Neither the protagonists nor the quests are pastiches on "The Lord of the Rings". The parody instead rests on the other characters of the game and their surroundings. For instance, The High Steward of Minar Tragedy, Don Elrondo of Rivendull and Queen Galadrag of De-Lorean. [ [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ekman/en/article1.html Review of Kingdom O' Magic ] ]

The game world feels quite alive with lots of characters moving around. For instance, there are frequent battles between karate elves and ringwraiths. You can talk with all the characters in the game providing they do not attack on sight. Conversation is handled by giving the player multiple choices to choose from, each directing the conversations in different directions. This is rather much like the old 80's game Law of the West.

Combat is not one of the game's strong sides; after approaching an NPC with a weapon selected, a cartoon cloud covers the altercation before the two combatants emerge and walk away as if nothing had happened, even re-approaching the player for a chat.There are also magic spells to suppliment the combat system, but their effects, while humorous, are largely unhelpful.

Hints

Some fun things to try out [ [http://www.hellonearth.com/hints/komplete.html Kingdom O' Magic - SOLVED! ] ]

* Ask Elfis for a clue. Ask what you get for one gold piece or accept the price.
* Ask the king o' De-Lorean about his tiger wife.
* Be very abrasive when talking to the Queen o' De-Lorean.
* Talk to one o' the elves about vandalism.
* Make a really bad pun with Terrence and the Wig-Meister.
* As Sha-ron, talk dirty to Terrence (or to anyone, really).
* Try to get thrown into prison by the Cop.
* Do try out the thermal detonator sometime. That's one way to finish the game VERY quickly.
* Don't put the Palentire Stone back in the box.
* Look repeatedly into the Palentire Stone after offing Marshgast.
* Talk with Timmy for a long time, repeatedly. Tell him his name.
* Try to get different favors from Don Elrondo and the Elf Guard.
* Comment on Pinhed's voice.
* Have a long conversation with the Beastie.
* Ask the Ninja Baker about his body odor.
* Look at the left tusk o' the Dark Lord's tower.
* Try to rumble.

Easter Eggs

* Call the number 171 585 3308 (SCi's actual phone number) on the cellular phone for a surprise.

Trivia

* Shah-ron was intended to be humorously overproportioned, although "Tomb Raider" raised that standard at the time of the shipping.
* The troubleshooting guide in the manual discusses sexual malfunction. The dialogue trees encourage the player to be abrasive and confrontational - "not doing so will cause you to miss out on much of the enjoyment, and many of the puzzles."
*SCi don't actually acknowledge the existence of KOM on their website.

References

External links

*moby game|id=/dos/kingdom-o-magic|name="Kingdom O' Magic"
* [http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/197728.asp "Kingdom O' Magic"] at Game Rankings