Golden Path
| Developer: Magic Logic | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Firebird | Sound: |
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| Year: 1988 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
I’m unsure whether it’s my eyes or my screen settings, but the text colour choices in this image produce a rather trippy optical effect. The text in red and yellow appears to float above the blue text.
Golden Path was originally released on Amstrad CPC in 1986. It tells the story of a young Chinese monk, named Y’in Hsi, on a quest for enlightenment (before avenging the murder of his noble father by a usurper)…
It’s a sort of point-and-click avant la lettre (predating Maniac Mansion), controllable by mouse (in quite a baroque manner) and without screen scrolling. You must solve a succession of puzzles by using the right objects in the right places.
Hold down the left button to move in the direction of the pointer. Visited locations are connected by the screen edges (left or right). There are often two possible paths on the same edge, not at all easy to discern, which you select by targeting the upper or lower half of the screen.
The left click on your character commands picking up an object. The right click allows you to use it or throw it into the scenery (depending on the pointer position). Without an object in hand, the right click triggers an attack (a kick when the pointer hovers over the character, a punch otherwise). It should be noted that this is not an action game. Do not expect to solve all your problems in the manner of a Pai Mei or a Didi (and there, I’ve just exhausted all my cultural references about China).
While combat isn’t a major focus, most creatures still make it their mission to slap you silly. Keep an eye on your health, symbolised by the blooming vine at the bottom of the screen.
The book, at the bottom left, serves to obtain a description of the environment; useful if you cannot decipher the pixel mush presented to you. However, for the time, the illustrations were considered very beautiful (like the Amstrad version, if you can believe it).
It is, to my recollection, the oldest game in which I was able to guide a non-player character, supposedly following me from point A to point B … and it worked about as well as you’d expect!
Despite the archaic controls, the game retains a certain charm, and you’ll quickly get used to its rough edges. It’s not the kind of game that demands intensive manual-reading, although the 20 pages detailing the plot—steeped in Eastern mythology (and peppered with one or two quest-related hints)—are an integral part of it. Drawing a map might also prove helpful (and fun).
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