Transylvania III review
By Simon Walmsley
Copyright (c) 1990 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
Die hard (Apple) II fans will remember the name "Antonio Antocha". Yes, the person from Penguin Software way back in the dim dark past was responsible for the creation of 'The Graphics Magician', a draw and fill single hires program. The graphics magician allowed you to create pictures using a draw/fill editor that you could then call up from your programs. Antonio used this to write 'Transylvania', a graphics adventure game for the Apple II.
A few years passes, and double hires became available (at least semi-standard on Apple IIe with extended 80 column card), and with it came 'Transylvania II - the Crimson Crown', by Antonio, but this time from Polarware. Same graphics / text format, and the familiar flashing dot as the input character was back.
Now, with the advent of super-hires graphics and the Ensoniq chip in the GS comes "Transylvania III'. This adventure is the most impressive of the three, and when I saw the packaging, I thought that the sample screens must have been taken from the Mac II, but NO, it was only available on the GS.
I purchased the game in early April, and the dates on the disks were late March, so I guess the game has not been out for long, but I must say that the way the program combines graphics, text, and sound is very impressive. A 90% screen graphic (some with palette cycling) with text scrolling up the last four lines (reminiscent of standard hires) provides the player's screen. Hitting <RETURN> toggles between graphics and text (just like hires adventure games). Each scene has continuous sound appropriate to the scene - horses galloping, soldiers fighting, wind howling, evil vampires laughing, streams gurgling, brigands boozing etc.
The basic plot is pretty simple - you have to kill Lord Drakul (a vampire). There is one small problem - at the end of Transylvania II you were killed (so you have a unique start to the game in that you are dead already). You don't stay this way for long though, and soon you are confronted with several 'loose-ends' after exploring the countryside. After a confrontation in the inn (knowledge of Slavic is necessary) you are given three quests. The first is not too tough, the second was pretty severe, and the third was pretty simple (because I'd spent so long on the second that when the third quest was given I knew exactly what to do). Now the forces for good (ie you) join to battle the evil vampire, and there are extra things to worry about. Right now I am in what appears to be the almost final room (in the castle in the midst of a battle). I have the stake, but every time I follow the vampire into the final room he kills me. Hmmm... It's probably something I've missed.
The game's protection is simple - you cannot solve it (although you can play it) without the manual.
It comes on two Prodos 8 3.5"s (volume names "ONE" and "TWO"), but cannot be put onto a hard disk (as the paths are hardcoded onto the programs) unless you are prepared to patch the object code - I was prepared to do this for faster load time - the number of times I had to restart the game and load the first few rooms was ridiculous.
Overall, this is an excellent adventure, with just the right combination of graphics, sound, cryptic and simple clues, jokes, and size. It won't take you 300 years like Ultima VI, and you won't solve it in an hour or so either.

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