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Produced by: Level 9
Computing
Distributor: Level 9
Computing (original), Firebird (Jewels of Darkness in
the USA) and Rainbird Software (Jewels of Darkness in the
rest of the world)
Author: Pete, Mike and Nick Austin, after an original by
Willie Crowther and Don Woods
Year: 1983
System: ZX Spectrum, Oric-1, Lynx, Nascom, Memotech,
Commodore 64, BBC, Amstrad CPC, Atari 400, MSX (original) and ZX
Spectrum, Spectrum 128, Sinclair QL, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC,
Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 400, Atari XE, Atari ST, Amiga,
MS-DOS, Macintosh, MSX (as part of Jewels of Darkness)
Type: Text adventure, Jewels of Darkness has
illustrations
Distribution: Commercial
Availability: Out
of print
Licensed: No
This is Level 9's adaption of Crowther and Woods' original Adventure (aka Colossal Cave). The original was strongly influenced by Tolkien, and this version emphasizes that even more. Together with Adventure Quest and Dungeon Adventure, it came to form The Middle-Earth Trilogy (also know as the Colossal Trilogy). Later, Rainbird published the whole trilogy in one package and renamed it Jewels of Darkness, and in doing so they also changed all references to Tolkien.
Personal evaluation: Playing the original is a must for any adventurer. This version is extended, but still has most of the feeling from the original. Recommended!
A picture of the original version for Commodore 64 and the Jewels of Darkness version for ZX Spectrum. Note the minor differences in the text. These were necessary to fit the pictures into the Spectrum version.
