Torin’s Passage

Sierra On-Line, the long-time maker of richly designed software

adventure games for both children and adults alike, has released yet

another hit title with Torin’s Passage. Designed by Al Lowe, of

Leisure Suit Larry series fame, Torin’s Passage is an incredibly

involving adventure story that will be enjoyed by both adults and

children alike, playing alone or together. As Lowe puts it, “[A story]

that will make [children and adults] both laugh, although at different

times.”

Torin’s Passage begins on the planet Strata with our young hero Torin

wishing in vain that he could be anything but a farmhand, as he runs

an errand for his parents. When he returns home, he discovers that

someone has trapped his parents inside a magic spell. To save them, he

begins a quest to find the person responsible. Torin explores Strata,

trying to find Lycentia, who is supposedly the evil sorceress who cast

the spell.

Torin is accompanied by Boogle, who appears to be a dog of sorts, but

who has the ability to learn to change shapes, which is an endearing

and very useful trait for Torin’s quest. Boogle is one of my favorite

characters. Although he never says a word, his actions and sounds are

quite expressive, and children will get a kick out of watching his

antics. Torin is also an interesting character. You have the

opportunity to hear his thoughts at times, as well as his dialogue.

The only thing I don’t really like is that you have no control over

the dialogue. If you click on another person to talk to, the

interaction is set, and you can spend a considerable amount of time

just clicking and listening.

The environment is beautifully illustrated and animated, and although

the game’s structure will be familiar to veteran adventure gamers,

players of all ages will enjoy the high quality game environment.

Torin’s quest is blocked at times by a variety of puzzles and problems

to solve, and the hint/help system is excellent. If your children get

stuck in a particular section, the hints ought to help out. The only

thing I miss from some games I’ve played is the multi-level hints,

where, if one hint doesn’t work, you can get one or two additional

hints, hopefully providing a cumulative hint that works for you.

As with their animation, Sierra is a master at simple, yet effective,

interfaces. Torin’s Passage is easy to navigate, but the customizable

options give you some control, as well. The inventory section is

useful, and the control icon changes shades to indicate whether or not

items in the game or the inventory are useful. If you can’t click on

it, it won’t help. Sierra actively encourages you to click and explore

as much as possible. You never know when something will come in handy.

From a player’s viewpoint, Torin’s Passage is a rewarding and

enjoyable adventure game grounded in the Sierra tradition. From a

parental viewpoint, Torin’s Passage is also a real hit. Torin is a

polite young fellow, with excellent manners. The game never encourages

excessive risk-taking, and, in fact, will often warn you away from

particularly dangerous stunts. If you persist, and Torin does

something fatal, you get the “OOPS” dialogue box that explains that

your actions WERE NOT a good idea. You click on “OOPS” and you’re back

to the spot before you took your fatal course. In today’s world, full

of violence, foolhardiness, and rudeness, Torin’s Passage is an

enjoyable alternative to many contemporary games.

When considering this game for your family, be sure to pay close

attention to the specifications of your computer. Torin’s Passage runs

pretty smoothly on a 486DX4-100, but the hardware specs do recommend a

Pentium for best performance, and I tend to agree. Also, I have 16

megabytes of RAM, and that extra 8 MB does tend to make a difference

in games. Because there is quite a lot of CD-ROM interfacing, I

wouldn’t recommend anything less than a double-speed CD-ROM, and even

then, I found my quad-speed access to be reasonable, but not

incredibly rapid. There were times when I was forced to sit and wait

.. and wait … for a scene to load. Not long, really, but for

someone with a relatively fast machine, I’ve grown accustomed to not

needing to wait.

If you’ve got the hardware, and especially if you have children you

are looking for an excellent game for, then Torin’s Passage is an

excellent option. It is visually impressive, has an intriguing

Disney-like storyline, and most of all, it’s FUN to play.